AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 technical preview launched with performance, stutter, and latency improvements
Over the last couple of years, hardware enhancements like more powerful GPUs have taken a sort of a backseat to software features like DLSS when it comes to increasing performance in games. Frame interpolation techniques built into AMD FSR 3 and Nvidia DLSS 3 take this a step further with some impressive FPS gains. However, many gamers can’t take advantage of frame generation either because of hardware or software limitations.
For instance, although DLSS 3 enjoys wider support vs AMD FSR 3, it only works on RTX 40 GPUs. FSR 3, while supported on both RX 6000 and RX 7000 GPUs, isn’t available in many games. This is where AMD Fluid Motion Frames come in.
AMD Fluid Motion Frames or AFMF launched for the general public in January 2024 to provide a driver-level solution that theoretically works in all DirectX 11 and 12 games. Although the technique does afford a healthy performance boost in many games, it has some serious issues. For instance, AFMF doesn’t work with VSync and suffers from frequent stuttering, to name a few. AMD has now launched the second iteration of AFMF to address some of the problems with the original release.
AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2
AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2, which is now available as a technical preview, brings with it things like adjustable settings to reduce stuttering, different performance modes, etc.
For starters, with AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2, AFMF now works with OpenGL and Vulkan titles as well as DirectX games. This is a big deal since it will increase the list of supported titles considerably. Additionally, AFMF now also supports borderless full screen.
Secondly, AFMF now brings two configurable settings: Search Mode and Performance Mode.
In Search Mode, users can configure AFMF’s fallback behavior with the option to enable Auto, Standard, and High fallback. Per AMD, “Fallback refers to when AFMF frame generation is temporarily disabled in high-motion scenes to ensure the best interpolated image quality, which can sometimes cause jitter that impacts the smoothness of the gaming experience.” When the Search Mode is enabled and the resolution is 1440p or higher, AFMF will resort to the High setting in Auto mode, resulting in reduced fallback to minimize jitter. At 1080p, Auto makes use of the Standard option which AMD claims is the optimal choice for 1080p.
In Performance Mode, users can select between Quality and Performance to prioritize image quality or maximum FPS with the Auto option resorting to Quality on discreet GPUs and Performance on iGPUs. Naturally, selecting the Performance option will ensure the best frame rate at the expense of presentation.
AMD Fluid Motion Frames 2 brings even lower latency
In addition to image quality improvements and customizable settings, AFMF 2 brings even lower latency than before. According to AMD’s measurements, AFMF 2 and Radeon Anti-Lag deliver a combined 28% lower latency than AFMF 1 in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K with ultra-quality RT. iGPUs also enjoy the latency benefits with AMD reporting a 12% lower latency with Anti-Lag 2 and AFMF 2 in Counter Strike 2 running on the Ryzen 7 8700G with the Radeon 780M iGPU.
Finally, AFMF 2 can now be used with Radeon Chill. AMD claims that, with the AFMF 2 and Radeon Chill enabled, the frame rate stays below the max refresh rate of the display, preventing screen tearing artifacts.