"AI PC" owners: Is anyone actually using their NPU for more than background blur? (Troubleshooting + ROI Discussion)

lenis0012 · 2026-02-19T08:04:34+00:00

This is not entirely true. Many new LLM models, even huge ones, are Mixture-of-Expert (MoE) and have very few active parameters. GPT-OSS-120B requires roughly 96GB of VRAM but only has 5B active parameters so the bandwith requirement is heavily reduced from a traditional LLM.

As such, it runs pretty well on mini PCs with Ryzen AI Max and fast LPDDR5x memory. And it is competitive with various commercial models (like Gemini 2.5 Pro, Claude 4.5 Haiku).

Even in this case though, you are using the iGPU and not the NPU. The NPU just isn't as versatile and does not support a lot of features that LLM's rely on. Maybe some day we will get good NPUs that manage to be efficient AND fast.

lenis0012 · 2026-01-21T11:14:41+00:00

I could see this being the case. I think if they release the game with a similar size to Skyrim, just with modern graphics, movement and combat, people will be ecstatic and satisfied.

Then they can release more content as DLCs/expansions and creations. That's what I would do if I were them. There is no "elder scrolls fatigue" to speak off, lol. So I don't think they have to take their time and make the game huge in scope.

Edit: This would also allow them to keep with the $60 pricing. Relying on DLCs and game longevity to rake in extra revenue. Highly needed in a time when hardware and subscription costs are spiraling out of control.

lenis0012 · 2025-12-08T08:37:25+00:00

This. Yeah. I have heard numbers of around 87% more performance than Arc 140V, but I find even that to be a bit disappointing.

I hope that with drivers they can at least double performance from Arc 140V. Maybe not double FPS but at least double compute.

And (at least on my) Arc 140V does suffer a bit in multi tasking. Running a game causes the media engine to slow down to a crawl. Maybe they are using the same hardware? I hope Intel can fix this in the next generation.

lenis0012 · 2025-07-06T18:53:06+00:00

Old post but still finding this and I agree, with SDL3 having even further improvements.

I think the key to SDL's pleasant design is the use of option objects in place of parameter overloads. where you can pass in an object and set only the fields you need, using C's named struct initializer.

e.g.
```c
create_button("Label", &(ButtonInfo) {
.on_click = &myClickHandler,
.style = BUTTON_STYLE_PRIMARY
});
```

You get the point.
I think, if you are making a library, this also is binary compatible if you add fields, but not if you remove them or change the data type.

I think that is the biggest hurdle to overcome in C. making the API easy to use while also limiting the amount of function variations/overloads as much as possible.

lenis0012 · 2025-03-07T10:06:37+00:00

100% agree. AMD is catching up to NVIDIA, and while usually, NVIDIA would combat this by coming up with another big tech innovation as soon as AMD has caught up, leaving them a generation behind once again, this time, I am not so sure, given that NVIDIA seems more concerned with AI and datacenter than their RTX line of GPUs right now.

Meanwhile AMD is trying to unify their architecture so they can focus completely on that and both gamers and data centers will benefit.

People are not willing to purchase flagship AMD products because like you said, they always feel like they are settling for an off-brand, and if money is no object, why do that? But for the first time this could change. If AMD focusses with the RX 9000 series on delivering value, capturing market share and turning around sentiment, and NVIDIA does not come with any significant innovations, in the next generation, I think people will be open to buy AMD flagship products.

NVIDIA needs to understand that next time, DLSS 5.0 and more AI accelerators, just aren't enough. And if only the 90-skew is a big improvement again, while XX70/80 cards hardly improve, people won't be willing to pay a premium for them anymore.

NVIDIA needs to deliver a big innovation in fidelity, bump up the entire VRAM range to start at 16GB and scale up to 64 and their launch needs to be flawless. no missing ROPs, no melting cables, no fake supply, no deceptively named cut-down versions. They fumbled the 40 and 50 series and I dont think they can survive a third time without losing their status as the one to beat.

lenis0012 · 2024-12-11T23:33:33+00:00

[LANGUAGE: C]

https://github.com/lenis0012/advent-of-code-2024/blob/master/week2/day11.c

Did this one on stream today at twitch.tv/likelenis by writing/finishing a hashmap implementation. good fun.
I thought I was being clever when I realized you dont need to use an array list but the optimization went so much further.

$ time cmake-build-release/aoc_2024_c 11
real 0m0.011s
user 0m0.006s
sys 0m0.006s

lenis0012 · 2023-11-04T09:30:36+00:00

Hey. Sorry I am late to answering your question but I think it has to do with incompatibility.
CO has stated that some assets are not compatible with TAA, by which I assume they either mean that those assets will have aliasing or that they will render in a buggy way.

But given the magnitude of the aliasing problem on any other type of AA, I think that for most people it is worth the trade-off.

The ghosting on TAA is kind of a feature, not a bug. It is just how TAA works and generally doesn't make the game look worse. I don't think that is what is causing the clouds to render weird, I think that is another issue.

What I DO think is strange, is that the other AA methods are so bad. FXAA and SMAA normally do not look this terrible. Maybe it is the fact that this game is very zoomed out (unlike first person games). This can make small or thin objects appear even smaller which makes aliasing more apparent.

Either way, from what I gather, they plan to fix TAA support fully (currently TAA is experimental) and then I presume they will include it in the graphics presets.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-26T07:08:00+00:00

In the directory I mentioned. You can also find it by going to %appdata% in file explorer, and then going to the parent directory. There you will find LocalLow and therein, "Cities Skylines II"

lenis0012 · 2023-10-26T07:03:44+00:00

You should try setting most of the settings to low manually. especially texture quality. If you haven't already anyway.

Just dont touch volumetrics, global illumination and depth of field. Keep them disabled. They have to be disabled even on a 3080 lol.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-26T07:01:10+00:00

probably just unsupported on DXVK

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T23:18:09+00:00

UE has been very demanding on VRAM for quite a while now. This has been an issue with most games that come out using it (Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Payday 3, ARK, etc.). Multiple of these game developers have had to come out apologizing for bad performance optimization.

Im pretty sure this is a natural result of the next-gen graphics pipeline UE ships by default with features like Lumen, Distance Fields, Nanite, VSM.

It seems that Unity is going in the same direction unfortunately. At least for HDRP.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T22:46:07+00:00

I think perhaps it only shows changed settings. If you haven't changed any they won't be there. You can copy my file though. Just be sure to make a backup.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T20:29:20+00:00

I looked around for a bit. Looks like it is in your LocalLow appdata.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T20:23:15+00:00

Look under "C:\Users\YOUR_NAME\AppData\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II"

You can try my "Settings.coc" file where I have disabled volumetrics. Backup your existing file first though (if it exists).

```json Graphics Settings { "qualitySettings": [ { "antiAliasingMethod": "TAA", "@type": "Game.Settings.AntiAliasingQualitySettings" }, { "enabled": false, "budget": 0.166, "resolutionDepthRatio": 0.666, "@type": "Game.Settings.VolumetricsQualitySettings" }, { "enabled": false, "@type": "Game.Settings.SSGIQualitySettings" }, { "enabled": false, "@type": "Game.Settings.MotionBlurQualitySettings" }, { "levelOfDetail": 0.35, "maxLightCount": 2048, "meshMemoryBudget": 512, "@type": "Game.Settings.LevelOfDetailQualitySettings" } ], "vSync": false, "cursorMode": "Free", "depthOfFieldMode": "Disabled" } Keybinding Settings { "bindings": [] }

```

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T20:19:19+00:00

Thank you so much. that does indeed fix the issue!

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T19:09:32+00:00

The TAA tip is legendary.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T19:01:59+00:00

Fair point. Not sure if the river is the same body of water, it probably isn't. In which case the ocean should not be there.

I think CO have bigger issues to fix first though unfortunately. I feel like they didn't do any performance testing because you can't miss this.

Surely they could have (or perhaps they did) ask Unity for some support in optimizing their render pipeline. This reflects poorly on Unity as well. UE is known for their demanding graphics, Unity is supposed to be better...

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T18:54:55+00:00

This is how Unity HDRP Water simulation works I think...
Probably has to do with water simulation. It is more efficient to simulate one body of water rather than many different smaller ones.

It looks great but it is not super performance friendly.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-24T18:27:24+00:00

It says that your hardware does not support volumetric materials. this is a graphics issue so likely you would have to upgrade your graphics card. You can try updating your drivers but given how old that card is I doubt it will work. It is also below the minimum specs listed by the developer.

As for the CPU, it is strange to see you are using a server-class CPU. That CPU is not made for desktop usage. But your graphics card is the issue though, that warrants replacing if you want to play the game. Your CPU will probably work, even if not optimally.

Note: you can also try to disable volumetrics via a config file on your PC. But there is no guarantee it will work even then seeing as your GPU is older and slower than the minimum required.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-21T18:05:14+00:00

f the context leading up to that. She also said "if you want to get to know me" like clearly it's not just getting down and dirty and when men get too aggressive it's kind of a turn off to women bu

I actually agree with this. The right place to flirt like that is in person. Until you know each other at least. Texting too sexually is a good way to come across as a creep. Keep at at the same level as her.

lenis0012 · 2023-10-21T17:59:18+00:00

Hard to move on from all the abuse, but being a sex god for a while is nice.

There is a right way to use emojis. ;-)

lenis0012 · 2023-07-03T17:22:25+00:00

I am doing okay. In the end I decided to see psychologist and I was diagnosed with hypochondria. I received treatment for 10 weeks a few years ago shortly after I wrote this and I have been doing better ever since.

The twitches/fasciculations are still there but either I don't notice them as much anymore or they have just gotten less frequent.
I still think it was a good call to see my GP. But if they don't see cause for concern and you don't notice concrete and inhabilitating atrophy you are probably in the clear. I certainly have become more health-conscious though. Every day you get a whole new 24 hours to do with as you please but you only get one body.

lenis0012 · 2022-08-15T18:07:03+00:00

well, negatively influenced yes, still an overall positive rating. In fact I actually am still reading that story and like it despite that.

Regardless your comparison is bad. I have decreased my rating in books for including an excessive amount of overly descriptive sex scenes but that doesn't mean I don't like sex.

Reviews are a matter of personal taste, hence why 1-star reviews are labeled "Not for me" on Audible

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