AMD’s free Radeon feature gives you a competitive edge

AMD just revealed Anti-Lag 2, which is an updated version of the Anti-Lag feature that the company launched in 2019. Unlike the original, Anti-Lag 2 works within the game itself rather than through the driver, and AMD claims it offers upwards of a 95% latency reduction compared to the original Anti-Lag.

Right now, Anti-Lag 2 is available in a technical preview in only one game: Counter-Strike 2. If you recall, the original Anti-Lag was the source of some controversy with this title, as it landed players with a ban in the game if it was turned on. After about a week, AMD removed the feature from Radeon Software.

Months later, we have Anti-Lag 2. AMD says it worked closely with Valve to get the feature working in Counter-Strike 2, ensuring that it not only works, but also that it won’t earn players a ban. Given that Anti-Lag 2 is integrated in the game directly, it works similarly to Nvidia’s Reflex feature, rather than the driver-level latency reduction we saw with the original version.

AMD tested the latency in Counter-Strike with a variety of graphics cards and even the Ryzen 7 8700G desktop APU. Particularly at higher resolutions with more powerful graphics cards, Anti-Lag 2 provides an average of 95% more latency reduction than the original Anti-Lag, according to AMD’s numbers. It trims latency overall by an average of 37%.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

ReSpec

Subscribe

Check your inbox!

Privacy Policy

Some configurations stand out, particularly the top three results with cards like the RX 7900 GRE and RX 7600 XT. With the original Anti-Lag, you were only saving a few milliseconds. With Anti-Lag 2, AMD is able to nearly halve the latency. It seems the latency reduction for lower resolutions isn’t as extreme, however.

Although Anti-Lag 2 is available now, you’ll need to do a couple of things to use the feature. First, you need to download AMD’s latest technical preview driver. You’ll also need to update Counter-Strike 2 to the latest version. After that, Anti-Lag 2 will be enabled by default, and you’ll be able to toggle it on or off in the settings.

Anti-Lag 2 works within a game, but AMD says it still needs to communicate with the driver. Because of that, the feature only works on AMD graphics cards with the RDNA architecture or later. That includes RX 5000 desktop and mobile graphics cards or newer, as well as Ryzen 6000 processors with integrated graphics or newer. Lower-end Ryzen 7000 processors with the GCN architecture won’t work, AMD notes.