The displayed 0% under processing load gives us reason to believe that the dedicated graphics card is deactivated, but we can't be absolutely certain. Even the AMD System Monitor tool we installed still leaves us with unanswered questions. There is no relevant icon in the taskbar, and Catalyst Control Center (CCC) is also not able to indicate which graphics options are currently in use. We weren't able to find any indication of which graphics option was in use with the Sony Vaio VPC-CA29. The following comparison is intended to highlight how the two solutions present themselves to users during daily use and where the strengths and weaknesses of the two technologies lie. In addition, this comparison was made taking into consideration prior knowledge obtained from individual reviews of Nvidia Optimus and AMD Switchable Graphics with various other notebooks that are available. GPU manufacturer Nvidia, who provided the first fully automatic GPU switching solution in the form of the Optimus solution, and competitor AMD with its 'Dynamic Switchable Graphics' now offer relevant solutions to enable consumers to easily have the appropriate graphics option activated at any one time.įor the sake of fairness it is necessary to mention that the following review was carried out with notebooks provided by Nvidia, although the models are readily available on the market, and were checked for currently available up to date drivers. The goal: Lowest possible power consumption during times of little processing load, and maximum performance for relevant applications. The basic principle behind this: The graphics card is active in cases when the performance is required, while the CPU and graphics chip provide graphics processing for the remaining time. Along with numerous power-saving features, such as Speedstep or Turbo-Boost for processors, a new feature for graphics chips has become prominent over the last several years - the so called hybrid solution, which is the combination of a reduced performance but energy efficient processor and graphics chip, and a high performance dedicated graphics card. The rule of thumb is relatively simple - if more performance is required from a notebook, then the battery life becomes an increasing concern. It provides a complete overview of resource utilization in live mode without you lifting a finger.Ever since the introduction of mobile electronics there has been a divergence between performance and battery life. A favorable verdictĪll aspects considered, AMD System Monitor seems like a versatile asset that should be a part of your software collection if you own a computer equipped with AMD hardware. For RAM usage, you will get a chart that indicates how much memory is in use, modified, in standby or free. Moreover, the distribution of the workload is further emphasized with the aid of easy to interpret graphs, where you can view a progressive evolution over time. The report includes APU, CPU and memory utilization, together with per core details such as frequency. Rich and comprehensive consumption overviews A modern and intuitive interfaceĪMD System Monitor adopts a stylish interface, which is organized in such a way that information related to APU, CPU and memory resources is displayed clearly, therefore it is easy to watch the behavior of specific hardware. Moreover, the focus falls on monitoring computers equipped with Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), although using it with a different AMD computer is also possible. General considerationsĪMD System Monitor was designed specifically for AMD systems, therefore using it on hardware produced by a company other than AMD won’t pay the expected results. The monitoring process is an on-going activity, therefore you will be informed at all times regarding the state of both the CPU and GPU. AMD System Monitor is a powerful utility intended to measure the workloads that your AMD CPU and graphics card are sustaining in live mode.
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