AMD leaks details of new gaming features in upcoming GPU driver update

AMD has seemingly accidentally leaked details of new and significant features coming in its next major driver update, and they include some useful ways of boosting frame rates.

It's no secret that AMD has a driver update planned for its Radeon products this month, and there have been rumours before about the driver introducing official ray-tracing support. However, this time round, the rumours suggest the addition of features known as Adrenalin 2020 and Radeon Boost. 

Spotted via a Reddit user who noticed an interesting (now removed) footnote in AMD's gaming details page, the details have been a little fuzzy but no less interesting. 

Listed under the footnotes, GD-156 and GD-158, they respectively detail which GPUs are compatible with integer scaling and the Radeon Boost feature. Neither of which have been officially announced but would sound like something AMD would implement.

Integer scaling is known to be a technology that intends to make retro or retro-style games look the way they were intended to look. Ever tried to play an old game at an upscaled resolution and subsequently cringed at how badly it looks? That's because the rendered pixels and the actual display pixels don't align properly, because of the higher-resolution display. Integer scaling sets out to counteract this, effectively breathing new life into old titles. It's already available on Intel's iGPUs. According to the leak, all AMD GPUs since the GCN 7000 series will have integer scaling for DX11, DX12, and Vulkan.  

Radeon Boost is a much vaguer sounding feature. The footnote suggests it'll be compatible with all AMD GPUs since the 400 series, including Ryzen APUs, and that it'll be available on both Windows 7 and 10. That's all we have though. 

The closest to a logical explanation here is that it could be like HiAlgo's Boost feature, given AMD acquired the firm in 2016. AMD has already utilised HiAlgo's Chill technology with its products, so it could be the natural next step. If so, that means it effectively changes resolution depending on the situation as you play, optimising performance frame by frame, according to HiAlgo. As an example, it means you can enjoy the full resolution and detail while standing still in a game, with the resolution dropping once you're moving and less likely to notice certain details.

For now, when it comes to what these features could be, we're going to remain confidently hopeful that AMD's major update this month is a particularly good showing for the firm.