I just got my 16 in today and was playing around to see what it can do.
I get a freeze/hitch when going from stuff running on the iGPU(APU) to GPU and again when the program is closed. I setup the AMD software that was included in the driver bundle and get a popup about switching from APU<->GPU when it happens.
The screen brightness also changes when it swaps from APU to GPU.
I have the driver bundle installed, made sure that Windows was as updated.
Has anyone else seen this issue?
If so have you been able to fix it?
Is there anyone running Linux that has the 7700, does it happen with Linux as well?
I did email support about this to see what they come back with.
At the moment it seems like its a software issue/AMD thing?
My quick and dirty “solution” for now is to leave a copy of FurMark open and minimized as it seems force windows into leaving the 7700 active.
Yes this would kill battery but I do not care about battery life when I am I running a GPU task/have wall power.
I don’t think it’s a hardware issue. As I mentioned in the linked topic, the MUX cannot be controlled manually, for example, in the BIOS. The only way to take advantage of the MUX is to use AMD Smart Access Graphics, which is a technology that automatically switches the MUX to the dGPU when you are gaming. And this switching between graphics cards probably takes some time, causing the freeze. By using the hybrid mode, you lose all the benefits of the MUX because the laptop acts as MUXless. MUXless “switching,” aka hybrid mode, works by the dGPU not being directly connected to the monitor but sending the resulting data to the monitor through the iGPU. This can impact performance. So unless you are experiencing other more serious problems, I would recommend keeping using the Smart Access Graphics.
Display frozen after smart MUX switching - We’ve seen instances where after closing a graphics-heavy application, the display will freeze as the display switches from the discrete GPU to integrated graphics on the APU. AMD has root caused this issue, and is preparing a driver update that resolves it. We believe there are reviewers who have also seen this issue, potentially including The Verge. Once AMD provides us the driver, we’ll package it up as part of a Driver Bundle.
Hi, I also have an FW16 and although I sometimes game (rarely these days, no time) I often find myself doing heavy duty work. By this I mean opening Excel files that are several MBs in size, having browsers with multiple tabs (10-20+) open, etc.
The switch between APU and GPU is A MAJOR PAIN!!! It not only freezes everything for about 2-3 seconds, today I actually had the first instance where everything completely crashed. The laptop even knew something was effed up - it rebooted itself after about 1-2 minutes without me having to force it.
I like the “GPU mode”. I don’t care if it consumes more energy or drains the battery faster. How can I enable the GPU in “always on” mode, with none of this dumb switching to-and-fro? It’s frustrating!
Thanks a lot in advance everyone.
PS1: I’m running Windows 11. All latest updates as of today have been installed.
PS2: Upon reboot, AMD asked me if I wanted to submit a form for them to review the crash. It’s way too long and it assumes I know wtf happened (e.g. asking me which AMD application caused/was affected by the crash…) I have no idea how to even fill it in. The hell am I supposed to know those things?
As of now I have not seen a way to set the MUX to stay on dGPU mode. From my understanding this would come down to AMD building a driver with the option.
One way to get the MUX to stay in dGPU mode is to have something that triggers it open in the background/minimized.
It can be something light like 3D Mark launcher. It sits with about 200MB~400MB of RAM used and almost no CPU/GPU usage as its just the launcher.
If you don’t own a copy the demo works as well, can be installed though Steam for free. Downside is its about 8Gb of space.
You can also try adding something you have running all the time to the Windows Graphics settings and telling it to uses/prefer the dGPU.
This is under Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Custom options for apps
It worked when I tried adding Excel then running it, it triggered the system into dGPU mode.
I don’t have stuff running on startup to add to see if it would trigger on login. If you’re running say Discord you could try and add that to see if it triggered the MUX on login. If it does then it would stay as long as discord running on the system.
You can confirm the MUX position in the AMD Adrenalin Software. Its under Gaming > Graphics > Mux Position.
Only issue doing it on login would be if the app/driver had issues and it crashed on login, forcing either a reinstall of the driver if Windows was stable or at worst a repair/roll back install of the system.
I agree it would be great to have an option to toggle on dGPU mode.
I had a crash the other day with the AMD display driver as well. It was caused by a game running on the APU vs GPU. I updated my GPU driver and it seems to have fixed it for now. I’m running the driver released direct from AMD. I’m not sure of Frameworks take on it, but in the past most companies don’t support direct drivers from AMD/NVIDIA, if you have issues and need help you have to roll back/install the drivers the manufacturer has released.
