AMD company produces not only a wide range of video cards for different price categories, but also provides a complete set of software that allows you to configure their equipment for various purposes. This list includes drivers, control panels, gaming applications, and more. In this article, you will learn how to configure a video card for AMD Radeon games using various utilities and programs.
Customization methods
Let's consider each of the methods for tuning and improving the performance of a video card in the form of step-by-step guides. Further there will be instructions:
- driver updates;
- setup through a proprietary control panel;
- customization in AMD Gaming Evolved ;
- optimization within the game.
Each of the methods allows you to achieve performance gains in various computer games.
Drivers
The first reason even modern games will slow down on a powerful graphics card is outdated drivers. You can update them and speed up the video card in this way through:
- The official site of AMD.
- Standard Windows application.
You can download the package of drivers and utilities from the official site. To do this, open the resource http://www.amd.com/ru and go to the "Drivers and Support" section. In the column “Selecting a driver manually” select your video card model, operating system version and download the archive.
Before installing a new driver, be sure to remove the old one. To do this, open the "Device Manager". You can do it this way:
- Right-click on the “Computer” icon and select “Properties”.
- Next, go to the "Device Manager" section.
- In the "Video Adapters" branch, locate your video card and click on it with RMB. In the properties you can find the characteristics of the AMD Radeon graphics card and driver settings.
- Click on the “Remove Driver” button. After removal, a decrease in screen resolution is possible.
Now we proceed to install the new driver version. Unpack the downloaded archive into any folder on your hard drive and run the installer. During the installation process, the display may flicker and disappear for a few seconds. After the process is complete, be sure to restart the computer.
So you can speed up the video card in modern games, because with the release of almost every major project, AMD releases new versions of the driver with optimization and correction of previous errors.
You can install the driver using standard operating system tools:
- Go to the "Device Manager".
- Right-click on your video card and select "Properties" in the menu.
- In the second tab of properties, click on “Update Driver”.
- Next, select the automatic method for searching for updates and wait for the procedure to complete.
- The system itself will find new versions of the software and offer to install.
AMD Catalyst Control Center
This utility is an analogue of the control panel from Nvidia. It is automatically installed with the driver package from the official site, so we recommend that you use the first method for updating the software. Through a standard driver search, Windows will not install the control panel for you.
Default setting
To open the application and configure the AMD Radeon graphics card for games, you need to right-click on the desktop and go to the AMD Catalyst Control Center. In the window that opens, click on the "Options" button. Here you can select advanced or standard view. If you are an experienced user, you can configure each parameter and characteristic of the video card separately using advanced features. However, we do not recommend that you experiment in this section without knowing which settings this or that parameter is responsible for.
Select the item "Standard View" and open the section "Games". Next, go to the "Performance in Games" subsection. Setting up an AMD Radeon graphics card for games is presented in the form of visual sliders with a choice of graphics quality. The set parameters will change the picture in the game, regardless of the internal settings. So you can achieve high performance on weak graphics cards or, conversely, improve the picture on more powerful systems.
In the first tab, you select the smoothing options between disabled, 2X, 4X and so on. The picture will show the changes in the quality of the graphics. Next is the adjustment of the smoothing method. To get more FPS in the game, move the slider towards the “Performance” position.
The third item is anisotropic filtering. Here you need to uncheck the box next to “Use application settings”. After that, the video card will ignore the anisotropic filtering in the game and set its settings. This ends the parameters in the standard representation.
Detailed setting
Click Options again and now select Advanced View. Programs for tuning the AMD Radeon graphics card allows you to set the parameters that will be used in all running games.
Now you need to open the "Games" subsection in the left part of the window. Here you can select different modes and features. You also have the opportunity to set the parameters of smoothing, filtering and frame rate for each game separately. This feature allows you to achieve maximum performance in different applications. This utility allows you to configure AMD Radeon on Windows 7, 8 and 10 without any problems.
Using Gaming Evolved
AMD also has a separate application, which is an analog of the Nvidia GeForce Experience. Its main task is to collect information about installed games and optimize them for the power of your personal computer.
In the list of all games found, you will see everything that is installed on the PC. If any game has not been added, it can be entered manually. The application also collects statistics on simulated hours and so on.
In the table you will see the current graphics settings that are set by the game itself, and in the next column a list of optimal picture quality parameters, at which you will achieve maximum balance between performance and a beautiful image.
Using a separate slider, you can choose settings aimed at performance, quality or a compromise between two extremes. The operating principle of the application is the same as with the AMD Catalyst Control Center.
Advice
Do not change the graphics card settings in the advanced settings without the proper knowledge. Otherwise, you will have to restore all the default values or reinstall the driver again.
Always check for new driver releases. All new projects suffer from poor optimization after the release, so the graphics accelerator manufacturer software can help.
Conclusion
Now you know how to set up an AMD Radeon graphics card for games so that your computer displays the maximum number of frames per second without drastically lowering the quality of the graphics. The methods described in the article will be relevant for weak computers, where every frame counts.