AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta's available

[t_ski]

Here's the 64-bit driver:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...w_vista64.aspx

Post your results & opinions here.

[erocker]

Waiting for release notes...

*Found some:


Performance highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.9 Beta (versus AMD Catalyst 12.8)
Up to 10% in Lost Planet 2 in single GPU configurations

Resolved issue highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.9 Beta driver
Tri and Quad CrossFire + Eyefinity configurations – Users will no longer see lower than expected performance in certain DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications
FireFox – corruption is no longer observed on CrossFire configurations
Enabling Overdrive settings no longer increases clocks in all power states

[UbErN00b]

Originally Posted by erocker

Waiting for release notes...

*Found some:


Performance highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.9 Beta (versus AMD Catalyst 12.8)
Up to 10% in Lost Planet 2 in single GPU configurations

So the only performance improvement is for a 2 year old game that I have never even played

[erocker]

Originally Posted by UbErN00b

So the only performance improvement is for a 2 year old game that I have never even played

So what? You don't have to install them, they are beta afterall. Besides, as many who have installed different drivers in the past, you'll most likely find other benefits or the opposite of installing new drivers. It's up to you to try and see if you like them. All configs are different.

Trying them now... Aero doesn't want to work with these drivers. Working fine.

[UbErN00b]

Originally Posted by erocker

So what? You don't have to install them, they are beta afterall. Besides, as many who have installed different drivers in the past, you'll most likely find other benefits or the opposite of installing new drivers. It's up to you to try and see if you like them. All configs are different.

Trying them now... Aero doesn't want to work with these drivers. Working fine.

Yes I understand they're beta drivers though unfamiliar with AMD drivers for the last couple of years (GTX 470>570 owner previously) but do the release notes normally change from the beta ones? just seems a very nominal change for a new driver release with the exception of

Enabling Overdrive settings no longer increases clocks in all power states

which may also prove useful, dunno, guess I was expecting more as only had my card a week and was hopeful for some free performance gains

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by UbErN00b

Yes I understand they're beta drivers though unfamiliar with AMD drivers for the last couple of years (GTX 470>570 owner previously) but do the release notes normally change from the beta ones? just seems a very nominal change for a new driver release with the exception of which may also prove useful, dunno, guess I was expecting more as only had my card a week and was hopeful for some free performance gains

Yes, the release notes can change from version to version. Sometimes, the full release version that comes out after a beta release doesn't even have ANY of the "fixes" the beta does!


For me personally, I've been waiting for a driver to fix the issues I have had with 3- and 4-card Crossfire, so I'm just about to install these and see what happens. The last driver that worked somewhat for me (running 3x HD 6950 2 GB) was the 12.3 driver.

[theoneandonlymrk]

The drivers include Cap profile 12.9 which then lists these optimised profiles, so all in there are more new changes just some available to any(recent) driver and not tied to the latest out.

here.

This release of AMD Catalyst™ delivers support for the latest AMD CrossFireX™ profiles in a separate executable file ensuring users have access to the absolute latest set of profiles installed on their PC.



New profiles added to this release:

- World of Warcraft - Mist of Pandaria (DX11, DX9): Fixes texture flickering observed when enabling high graphics settings with CrossFire enabled

- World of Warcraft - Mist of Pandaria (DX9): Resolve corruption when enabling Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center (Anti-Aliasing should be enabled through the applications settings)

- World of Warcraft - (DX9): Resolves performance issues observed with the 64-bit variant of the client

- Tribes Ascend: Improves CrossFire performanceen running in CrossFire mode

- F1 2012: Improves CrossFire performance, resolves texture flickering in reflections

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Yes, the release notes can change from version to version. Sometimes, the full release version that comes out after a beta release doesn't even have ANY of the "fixes" the beta does!


For me personally, I've been waiting for a driver to fix the issues I have had with 3- and 4-card Crossfire, so I'm just about to install these and see what happens. The last driver that worked somewhat for me (running 3x HD 6950 2 GB) was the 12.3 driver.

you should just sell those 6950s and your mobos and get a 690 or a few 680s hah!

[james888]

Whats the difference between the 12.9 beta and 12.9 beta with .net 4.0 support

[erocker]

The 12.9 beta has .net 4.0 included with it if it is not already installed on your system.

[Jstn7477]

Makes sense that they are requiring .NET 4.0 as a minimum now. In Windows 8, .NET 2/3 support is disabled by default and to use older programs you have to enable it via the "Enable or Disable Windows Features" menu in Programs and Features.

[james888]

Originally Posted by erocker

The 12.9 beta has .net 4.0 included with it if it is not already installed on your system.

Should of known that... I was like "I already have .net why would they offer that." Der der

[AlienIsGOD]

trying out my first set of Beta drivers, so far so good

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by UbErN00b

Yes I understand they're beta drivers though unfamiliar with AMD drivers for the last couple of years (GTX 470>570 owner previously) but do the release notes normally change from the beta ones? just seems a very nominal change for a new driver release with the exception of which may also prove useful, dunno, guess I was expecting more as only had my card a week and was hopeful for some free performance gains

just use the 12.6 or 12.8s till Drivers become official.

[Phusius]

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

just use the 12.6 or 12.8s till Drivers become official.

I agree, the 12.8's have been the best drivers in quite some time imo, though I never had a real major problem with any of them so far. 12.8 seems very solid though, I may not even upgrade to 12.9 official or 12.10.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by Phusius

I agree, the 12.8's have been the best drivers in quite some time imo, though I never had a real major problem with any of them so far. 12.8 seems very solid though, I may not even upgrade to 12.9 official or 12.10.

started off on 11.9s updated to 12.1s then 12.4s, 12.6s, 12.8s no issues here on 6770.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by MxPhenom 216

you should just sell those 6950s and your mobos and get a 690 or a few 680s hah!

Was that your offer to purchase them, or are you just thread-crapping?


Back on topic:

Drivers seem to be working fine so far, now showing the scaling I see with 12.3, although, actually, even if a wee bit slower, but at the same time, games appear more fluid, too.


Will have to try more!

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Was that your offer to purchase them, or are you just thread-crapping?


Back on topic:

Drivers seem to be working fine so far, now showing the scaling I see with 12.3, although, actually, even if a wee bit slower, but at the same time, games appear more fluid, too.


Will have to try more!

ya he was thread crapping/trolling

[Jstn7477]

I was definitely having a low FPS/low CPU/low GPU problem with my 7950 and the 12.8s and probably earlier, but it seems to be resolved with these drivers! Now getting 80-90 FPS (mostly 90) in Tribes: Ascend with much reduced artifacting, and TF2 seems to be holding 120FPS VSYNC now instead of being a POS and dropping to the 80s when both the CPU and GPU were at 20%. Now TF2 is using 30% and Tribes is using 50-60% of my 4.5GHz i7-2600K w/ HT on. Minecraft runs about the same but I'm using a 256x texture pack.

As usual, I uninstalled the old drivers via Programs and Features, rebooted into safe mode, ran Treexy Driver Fusion (the new Driver Sweeper), rebooted, installed drivers, rebooted and started testing my games. Hopefully the rest of my games run better as I was seriously considering throwing my card out the window.

If these drivers also stop my 7950 from turning its fans on and off repeatedly while the screen is off (resulting in a loud "crunching" noise every time the fans turn back on), I will be even happier.

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Was that your offer to purchase them, or are you just thread-crapping?


Back on topic:

Drivers seem to be working fine so far, now showing the scaling I see with 12.3, although, actually, even if a wee bit slower, but at the same time, games appear more fluid, too.


Will have to try more!

here is my Vantage score using these ,Have not tried Bf3 yet,You try BF3 Dave? i use to get black screen at game start up under Win8.


Score 1
P21405 3DMarks << 12.9 Betas
Score 2
P22017 3DMarks << 12.8
Name


Description


User
H82LUZ
H82LUZ
Result
Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark Vantage
Version
1.1.0.0
1.1.0.0
SystemInfo Version
4.11
4.6
Valid Result
No
Yes
Created
9/27/12 4:08:50 AM
8/19/12 6:40:22 AM
Id
4312257
4247205
Graphics Card
Graphics Card
AMD Radeon HD 6970
AMD Radeon HD 6970
# of cards
2
2
SLI / CrossFire
On
On
Memory
3072 MB
3072 MB
Core clock
880 MHz
880 MHz
Memory clock
1375 MHz
1375 MHz
Driver name
Driver version
9.1.0.0
8.982.0.0
Driver status
Not FM Approved
FM Approved
Processor
Processor
AMD Phenom II X4 965
AMD Phenom II X4 965
Processor clock
3793 MHz
3813 MHz
Physical / logical processors
1 / 4
1 / 4
# of cores
4
4
General
Operating system
64-bit Windows 8 (6.2.9200)
64-bit Windows 8 (6.2.9200)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3A79-T DELUXE
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3A79-T DELUXE


12.9 seem slower is true.

[johnnyfiive]

I'm having weird issues with the Hawken alpha, maybe these will help?

[erocker]

Originally Posted by johnnyfiive

I'm having weird issues with the Hawken alpha, maybe these will help?

Well.. it's an alpha. It couldn't hurt to try different drivers I suppose.

[Boneface]

I tried these and BF3 didnt like them, lower fps so went back to 12.8s and all good!

[FierceRed]

erocker, seeing any problems in BF3 with these drivers?

Need a bit of guinea pig assessment before I try them.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by FierceRed

erocker, seeing any problems in BF3 with these drivers?

Need a bit of guinea pig assessment before I try them.

They are working great with my triple 6950's. I haven't heard erocker complain at all, he's been playing BF3 nearly every day.

Ultra @ 2560x1600 was super-crap before, works fine now, 60+ FPS all the time, so I'm happy!