5 GPU Owners With AMD Adrenalin Settings Should Switch Immediately

If you’re a gamer or work in an industry that requires robust computer graphics rendering hardware, chances are you own a PC or laptop with a dedicated GPU. Most people go with Nvidia, but many customers buy (or switch to) AMD graphics cards. Comparing the two brands is like choosing between apples and oranges, especially when it comes to their software interfaces.

Every computer that ships with an AMD graphics card includes the proprietary software suite known as AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition (or just AMD Adrenalin for short). The app also downloads automatically when you install an AMD GPU on your computer. This program allows you to change various settings on your PC and in games on a case-by-case basis. Some settings are enabled by default, while others are intended for more computer-savvy users or those with specialized needs (for example, the Color Deficiency Correction setting helps people with various color blindness issues see their screen more clearly).

Although AMD Adrenalin defaults to settings that benefit the average user, like the Nvidia app, there are some settings you should change as soon as possible. Some of these options aren’t as universal as AMD would like, while others benefit gamers who want more specialized experiences. Read on to learn more about these settings and how to change them.

How many frames per second can the human eye see? Some say we can’t see beyond 60 FPS, but most modern computer monitors ignore this myth. However, a monitor’s advertised refresh rate (how many times per second it updates its displayed images) is only half the equation. You must ensure that a computer’s output matches the display.

Cheating a bit with this entry, but whenever you connect a new monitor to a computer with an AMD GPU or vice versa, you should first make sure that your computer takes full advantage of the maximum refresh rate. Higher refresh rates not only smooth out motion when you reorient your monitor windows, but also allow you to play games at higher frame rates. Even if you set your FPS to 120 or 240, if your monitor caps at 60 Hz due to a setting, the game will only display 60 FPS max.

Normally, AMD chipsets detect a monitor’s maximum refresh rate and automatically adjust their output accordingly. However, sometimes the program does not work and you need to go to your PC settings to fix the problem. We say this entry cheats a bit because, unlike the Nvidia app, you can’t change the refresh rate in AMD Adrenalin. Open your computer’s display settings. Then click “Advanced Display” and use the drop-down menu next to “Choose a refresh rate” to make sure the refresh rate is right for you and matches the advertised refresh rate on the large gaming monitor you just purchased. Be careful to avoid settings with asterisks next to them, as they will ruin your resolution.

Screen resolution has exploded thanks to advances in pixel technology, but these advancements are a double-edged sword. New games and shows look sharper than ever, but anything pre-HD looks blurry unless you use the built-in upscaling technology. Depending on the games you play on your AMD computer, you may need different upscalers.

FidelityFX Super Resolution, or FSR for short, is AMD’s standard upscaling technology. This feature sharpens images and makes them clearer without heavily impacting frame rates. In fact, depending on optimization, some games might run better with FSR. Normally, FSR should automatically upgrade older versions of FSR in games (i.e. FSR 3.1) to the latest implementation. Just make sure “AMD FSR Upscaling” is enabled in the “Graphics” tab of the “Games” window in AMD Adrenalin. Unfortunately, no two games use FSR scaling in the same way. Some titles have unique settings for different versions of FSR, while others simply implement FSR in the background as long as you enable FSR for antialiasing and scaling. You may have to go through different graphics settings to find what you’re looking for.

The beauty of PC gaming is that all titles are backwards compatible. You may need to modify your platform to run older titles, but they should work given enough time and elbow grease. However, many of these retro titles (and even some newer games) are not compatible with FSR, but you can still upgrade them with integrated technology, albeit older. If normal FSR doesn’t work, open the AMD Adrenalin game window, go to the “Games” tab, select the title you want to upgrade and click the drop-down menu next to “Radeon Super Resolution.” Select the option you want and AMD will do the rest.

If you play games on an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, you often have to make a choice: do you prefer higher frame rates or a higher screen resolution? Consoles don’t have enough graphics rendering power to do both, unlike PCs. However, even with the most powerful AMD hardware, some monitors may give you a similar, but ultimately different, problem.

GPUs and their drivers determine color and resolution settings by telling pixels how much memory to use and how to orient themselves. These are known as color depth and pixel format respectively, and their parameters are simultaneously separated and interleaved. The more bits you use in color depth, the more vibrant the color, but some monitors do not work well with all depths and may default to a pixel format that uses color compression. You don’t want your graphics to happen on you if you can help it.

Although color depth is important, for the best viewing experience, use the setting that enables a 4:4:4 pixel aspect ratio, which keeps each color uncompressed and preserves its own brightness. Open the Settings menu in AMD Adrenalin, then open the “Display” tab. Ideally, set the color depth to “10 bpc” and the pixel format to “RGB 4:4:4 Pixel Format PC Standard (Full RGB)”. AMD usually applies these settings automatically, but if AMD Adrenalin does not offer these options, reduce the color depth to enable the 4:4:4 pixel aspect ratio. Some AMD GPUs may default to “YCbCr 4:4:4 Pixel Ratio”, but this is just as viable as long as you change the settings using Lagom’s black level test.

While most PC gamers just want to enjoy their Steam and GOG libraries, some want to make sure they’re using their computer’s resources to the fullest. If framerates drop, where and why? Is the game consuming too much RAM? AMD Adrenalin has a built-in system that lets you monitor these factors, but you can only get the most out of it if you change the right settings.

AMD Adrenalin includes a built-in overlay that lets you monitor your computer and even enable certain settings (such as FSR) on the fly. Hold down “Alt” and press “R” to display it, then change the settings you want. Most importantly, the Performance tab shows which resources a game is using and to what extent. You can customize which stats you want to see by toggling the eye icons on the right side under “Tracking.”

If you don’t want to pause your game to monitor CPU and RAM usage, enable sidebar mode. Open the overlay as usual and click the button next to the “Close” icon in the upper right corner. It should look like a left-facing arrow inside a window. You can now scroll through settings without taking your eyes off the game. But if you want live performance updates during a gaming session, go back to “Performance”, select “Overlay” and enable “Enable Metrics Overlay”. Now AMD Adrenalin will tell you how many CPU cores a boss is using while you’re actively fighting it. Depending on your monitor and the game, you’ll likely need to explore different settings, such as “Location” and “Columns,” to create the ideal overlay setup. Remember to enable “Game Detection for Metric Overlay” so that AMD Adrenalin hides the overlay when you are not gaming.

Recording gameplay for videos and live streaming on Twitch is easier than ever. Many accessories can streamline the process, and there are many apps that serve as complete video recording/streaming suites. Even AMD Adrenalin offers an entry point into the world of game streaming…after reading the instructions, of course.

Before you get started in AMD Adrenalin, you’ll want to change a few settings that affect how the program records your gameplay. You can find them in the “Record and Stream” window under the “Settings” tab. The most important options are “FPS Recording” and “Video Encoding Type”. If you plan to post your video to YouTube, set the FPS to “60 FPS”. Although your computer can exceed these limits, YouTube itself cannot. “Video Encoding Type” allows you to save recordings in one of three formats: AV1, AVC and HEVC. AV1 offers the best compression but is slow to edit and doesn’t work on all platforms. AVC, on the other hand, is easy to edit but offers comparatively lower quality. While you enable “Enhanced Filtering” to improve AVC video fidelity, gaming performance will take a hit. This simply leaves HEVC as a happy medium between the two, with better video quality than AVC and a smoother editing experience than AV1.

Once you have changed the settings to suit your needs, you can record the game by opening the program’s “Record and Stream” window, selecting the “Record” tab and clicking “Start Recording.” You can also use the shortcut “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “E” to automatically start and end a recording. If you don’t like streaming or recording, you can safely ignore these settings.