With the AMD FMFR 2.0 preview sneaking onto a range of handheld gaming PCs, we grabbed my ROG Ally and leapt ahead to see what kind of performance the update might hold for the market.
On the go gaming has taking something of a turn in the last few years. Those of us used to hunkering down on the morning commute no longer need to pick between dropping thousands for AAA performance with an unwieldy desktop rig replacement or making a homestead in Nintendo’s walled garden. Thanks to manufacturers like MSI, Valve, Lenovo, and Asus we now have a healthy horde of handheld gaming PCs to bring your library of untouched loot on the go. Now, AMD’s latest software update might make my own handheld bargain a desktop player. Initially released as a preview around the end of July 2024, AMD’s newest FMFR capability piqued my curiosity. AFMF is part of a suite of software enhancements delivered by AMD to generally improve the overall gaming experience and I wanted to see if it’s going to move my desktop experience at all.
Handheld Desktops Are Here To Stay
With a wave of second-generation options on the horizon, it’s increasingly clear that size does matter. Bigger budgets and larger footprints provide room for more frames and top tier performance. Between leaks and official announcements, we’re expecting the imminent Ryzen AI 300 series chips, Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and RDNA 3.5 support to bring some serious stopping power to future iterations of the handheld market. Rumours of an official Lenovo Legion Go 2 docking station further cement the idea that this form factor is here to stay and might even replace your desktop. So why get hyped about some software drivers now?
Cost Competition
Before we even start talking frame rate and big budget titles. It’s worth talking about other numbers. I took the plunge quite recently, picking up a second-hand ROG Ally for under £400. Alongside similar devices, these come in brand new at less than $500 / £500 and included the prospect of playing just about any game in my existing back catalog. Everything from retro emulators to the latest MMORPG are now potentially available to go or setup on a desk. It’s a compelling argument for a new wave of mobile gaming platforms that broke into the mainstream thanks to the iconic Steam Deck. Combined with the ability to double up as a fully functional Windows or Linux desktop, this puts the many first-generation handhelds on par with budget gaming rigs.
The Problem
The problem with this new age of flexible format adventuring is physics. With a limited size for silicon, battery power, and adequate cooling there will always be obvious limits to what handhelds can do. That’s where I’m convinced the new AMD FMFR 2.0 drivers might make a huge difference.
Similar in concept to Nvidia DLSS, this second major release of the AMD frame generation tech is supported on AMD RDNA 2 architecture-based graphics cards and can generate extra frames in among those natively shown on screen. It increase frame rates and smoothness by using a range of integrated systems to create in between images of the best potential quality and giving you an artificial FPS boost. The concept, on its own, won’t always overcome slowdown and lag, but FMFR 2.0 ties together a bunch of impressive updates to considerably improve overall quality and performance without downloading any more RAM. The overview from AMD covers the way the latest drivers couple anti lag tech with variable quality settings and general improvements to make this worth looking at. While that means RX 6000 and 7000 desktop GPUs can expect some serious improvements, it also means my ROG Ally might make use of this to drive a playable experience in AAA games,
The Plan
Thankfully for my big screen aspirations, the ROG Ally is host to the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor and AMD RDNA 3 Radeon Graphics. That also means with a bit of tweaking, I was able to install the recent technical preview and get the latest AMD FMFR 2.0 compatible drivers running on an ROG Ally. While I won’t get into the how, I will delve into the result of this setup. Firmly ready to do battle with some punishing recommended specifications, I set out to see if I really could use the Ally to cut down monster machines in big budget PC gaming titles and maybe do away with the need for my 7900XT altogether.
I’ve got something of a habit of being frivolous with extra desk space, so for this desktop installation I wired up my ROG Ally, plugged in a 100W power connection, hooked up the JSAUX 6-in-1 Multifunctional Docking Station, and plugged it into Philips Gaming 329M1RV, the bigger sibling to the 4K 279M1RV we reviewed previously. Tests include a limited selection of titles that regularly feature on performance graphs and all come with an in built benchmark. Each game was tested for Average FPS over time A default set of tests run each of these benchmarks at native 3840 x 2160 without the aid of any AMD enhancement. Subsequent runs utilise HYPR-RX mode, that includes FMFR 2.0 where available, to hopefully enhance the experience. Beyond this one click change, using AMD Adrenalin software, in-game settings were not tweaked or altered, because not everyone is n enthusiast.
4K Desktop Gaming
The baseline testing dumped all the effort directly onto the system hardware in its base state. While the ROG Ally was tuned to Turbo mode, we otherwise just hit play and let the games play out.
While some of these vary from basically unplayable to S Box Series S competition, desktop gaming on the ROG Ally seems to be a solid maybe. So, I set out to see if AMD’s new enhancements make much difference.
Turn On HYPR-RX
Thanks to AMD’s own Adrrenalin software, it takes one button to tune up more frames, or that’s the idea. HYPR-RX mode turns on AMD’s full suite of optimisations , including the latest FMFR 2.0 frame generation and Radeon Super Resolution upscaling. This should both inject extra frames and allow players to Lower in-game resolution to desired input level, while still displaying images at the native 4K resolution
Turning to AMD Adrenaline and running the built in optimization scored me some extra FPS for sure. Ashes of the Singularity isn’t exactly a new game but it crunched out well over 75FPS n a 4K display thanks to AMD dark magic, while the rest of the titles managed 66, 29, 57, and 52 FPS averages. On the surface, this makes everything but the crushing requirements of Assassin’s Creed pretty playable on 4K. This tiny monster that AMD unleashed on desktops really might be able to make it as a budget gaming rig. The reality is a bit more nuanced. Left to its own devices, AMD’s amalgamation of FMFR 2.0 and Ai upscaling can see some wild swings in frame rate with Shadow of the Tomb Raider spiking as far down as a few FPS between benchmark transitions. Realistically, you’re also never going to game in 4K with any budget rig, and when we tweaked things for a quick check on the native display, the ROIG Ally suddenly gets teeth.
Escape the Desktop
While pushing the ROG Ally up to 4k might be a bit hit or miss during gaming, there’s no doubt that recent in driver upgrades and software magic make for a better experience when you dial back expectations a little. Detaching from the 4K screen or even just brining a a FHD resolution display into the mix stabilises proceedings massively. Average frame rates for the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy landed at 54 FPS when the native screen resolution was set to FHD. More importantly, and just as an anecdotal example, frame rates were visibly smoother all around and games were playable when not stretched out to a crushing 4K. I short, if it’s not far away at 4K, then it’s in a good place for FHD gaming. Sure there are caveats with any AMD gaming system,. Don’t expect ray tracing. AMD upscaling and FMFR 2.0 still won’t work with everything either. If you want a handheld but simply aren’t convinced to give up the desktop and don’t want to indulge in some ill advised water cooling solutions, then three’s plenty of untapped power in the market yet. With Black Friday deals dropping on a bunch of Z1 Extreme powered handhelds very soon, I’m convinced that budget gaming is the realm of the handheld now. maybe not 4K,but the value market is shifting thanks to this sort of software. You can find out more about AMD’s FMFR 2.0 and the handheld platforms it’s coming to on the official AMD website. Official plans for this software upgrade are still fluid, but even if it involves a bit of DIY, I’m sure that’s no road block for this value proposition. We’ve already seen reports of the Legion Go hitting over 150 FPS in Warframe while handheld, and this mini experiment confirms my suspicion that the final driver launch will upend the budget gaming rig scene.
