According to AMD, SmartShift can boost gaming performance by up to 14 percent by providing more power to the GPU. The new section within AMD’s Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition makes it easy to visualize how energy is distributed between the CPU and the GPU.
Dell will be the only vendor offering AMD’s SmartShift technology in 2020 according to a recent tweet from Frank Azor, chief architect of AMD’s game solutions.
Azor, co-founder of Alienware (which is still a subsidiary of Dell), said that due to their debt, Dell was the first manufacturer to jump into new technology. “There are no more SmartShift laptops coming this year,” he confirms, but he adds that the team is working hard to find alternatives available by 2021.
It’s a brand new technology and to @dell credit they jumped on it first. I explained reasons why during my interview with @pcworld @Gordonung @BradChacos No more SmartShift laptops are coming this year but the team is working hard on having more options ASAP for 2021.
— Frank Azor (@AzorFrank) June 4, 2020
As ExtremeTech reports, AMD announced its SmartShift feature alongside a pledge for its Ryzen Mobile 4000 hardware earlier this year. In short, rather than allocating a specific TDP for use between the CPU and the GPU, SmartShift allows for a system to transfer power between these requirements based on workload.
The only Dell system with SmartShift technology is the G5 15 Special Edition already available starting at $ 879.99.
Whether SmartShift or not – or the Dell G5 15 SE – acts as a replacement for AMD in the mobile space remains to be seen. The chipmaker had been competing with Intel in this department but Ryzen could match. OEMs have undoubtedly seen the success that AMD has had on desktop and server lists – are we prepared to see similar mobile conversions?