The Hidden AMD Feature Everyone Forgets To Turn On

If you recently built a PC with an AMD processor and graphics card, you might be missing out on a straightforward performance boost. There is a specific system setting that many builders forget to enable, and turning it on can increase your frame rates by up to fifteen percent at no extra cost.

What Is This Overlooked AMD Feature?

The feature is AMD Smart Access Memory, commonly referred to as SAM. Under normal circumstances, a computer processor can only access a small fraction of your graphics card’s video memory at any given time. This limit is usually restricted to 256 megabytes, which creates a data bottleneck when you are running modern games with high-resolution textures.

Smart Access Memory removes this restriction. By expanding the data channel between your components, your Ryzen CPU can access the full VRAM buffer of your Radeon GPU simultaneously. This is a fundamental hardware feature that delivers measurable frame rate gains in your games.

Why This Feature Stays Disabled

Motherboard manufacturers design their hardware to work with every possible combination of components. Because SAM requires a modern AMD processor, a compatible Radeon graphics card, and specific motherboard support, manufacturers leave it disabled by default to ensure maximum compatibility out of the box.

Unless you manually enable it, your system will continue running with the 256-megabyte bottleneck in place.

How to Turn On Smart Access Memory

To enable SAM, you need to change a few settings in your motherboard’s BIOS. The process is straightforward and only takes a couple of minutes.

Step-by-Step Guide: Enabling Smart Access Memory

Shut down your computer completely. Turn it back on and immediately start tapping the Delete or F2 key on your keyboard until the BIOS screen appears. From there, follow these steps:

1. Switch your BIOS to Advanced Mode, which is usually done by pressing F7.
2. Look for a tab labeled Advanced, PCI Subsystem Settings, or PCIe Configuration.
3. Locate the setting named Above 4G Decoding and change it to Enabled.
4. Find the setting right below it named Re-Size BAR Support and set it to Enabled or Auto.
5. Save your changes and exit. Your PC will reboot into Windows with SAM active.

Verifying the Feature Is Active

Once you are back on your desktop, verify that the setting applied correctly. Open your AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition application. Click the Performance tab at the top, then select Tuning from the sub-menu. Scroll to the bottom of the page, where you should see a toggle for Smart Access Memory. If it shows as Enabled, the feature is active.

Other AMD Settings You Might Be Missing

While you are adjusting your system configuration, there are a few other settings worth checking to get the expected performance from your AMD hardware.

AMD EXPO: Running Your RAM at Advertised Speeds

Buying high-speed DDR5 memory is not enough if you do not tell your motherboard to use those speeds. By default, your RAM will run at basic, lower speeds out of the box. You need to enable AMD EXPO—or DOCP on older motherboards—in the BIOS to load the profile that runs your memory at its advertised speed. Forgetting this step is a common oversight in PC building.

Adrenalin Tweaks: Anti-Lag and Image Sharpening

Inside the Adrenalin software, two specific toggles are worth enabling. First, turn on Radeon Anti-Lag. This feature keeps your CPU and GPU synchronized to reduce input latency, making games feel more responsive. Second, enable Radeon Image Sharpening. It adds visual clarity to your games with virtually zero impact on your frame rates.

Leaving these settings at their default values is like buying a sports car and never shifting it out of second gear.

Taking a few minutes to audit your system settings ensures your hardware operates at its intended capacity, rather than its default baseline.