Regarding Catalyst 11.3 and future releases

[FierceRed]

I just wanted to post a significant tip to all you guys, not just for TPU related niche interests like Catalyst releases, but for everything you could possibly care about as I'm sure it will provide perpetual returns for you well into the future.

Use Twitter.

I know there's perhaps a stigma about Twitter and other newfad media like Facebook and et cetera among the more intellectual among us, but hopefully that's in the minority and growing smaller. Whereas companies flocked to Facebook/YouTube because that's where the eyeballs of the disposable income demographic moved to from television - just like they flocked to the Internet and websites in general a la popup ads - with Twitter, companies are actually giving a shit about informing the people who care to know what's going on with what's going on.

Case in point? I came to the TPU forums today expecting that some well respected enthusiast(s) would've already posted comparative bench scores between 11.3 and the latest Mjolnir preview package and a healthy discussion regarding AMD's messed up version numbering techniques would be in full swing. Instead, I found that many veteran posters were flailing about in the dark regarding 11.3's release and speculating widely about the existence of it or the reasons for its delay.

So a quick touch of enlightenment:

CatalystMaker was formally the AMD Twitter contact for all thing's Catalyst. People regularly fired questions and concerns to him regarding driver performance and he has reciprocated with explanations and comments that weren't all Marketing fluff and the Company Line. He's recently been shifted to the Fusion side of AMDs operations but still offers gaming comments, review links and Catalyst related updates from time to time.

His successor, CatalystCreator, is now the one stop shop for Catalyst questions, joining in early February. The obligatory "When is Catalyst 11.x being released" questions are already being asked by random obligatory production hamsters out in the Interwebs so really all one needs to do is tune in and catch up on the comments every few days to be in the know.

How useful is this feed from the Catalyst camp? Well:

• On March 17th, he clarified that the latest 11.4 previews were going to be newer than whatever 11.3 contained on its release.
• On March 21st, he informed everyone that 11.3 would be coming next week, but that an 11.4 preview refresh was coming as well.
• On March 23rd, he reiterated the above, but also alluded to the driver packages "not including a fix yet" which might mean...
• ...the Crysis 2 CF flickering fix everyone is talking about, which on March 24th and 25th he confirms is being worked.
• Around 5pm EST yesterday, the 28th, he stated that 11.3 would be coming today, with a CAP fixing the Crysis 2 CF flickering issue aimed to be released tomorrow.
• He has posted a link to the amd_catalyst_11.4_preview_win7_march23.exe driver package today that some of us already have from other threads, but others might not.
• He has been liaising with people regarding the 99% GPU bug since mid-March, and confirmed they're trying to reproduce it.

So yeah, judge for yourself, but I think that's a shitload of information that a lot of the confused and uninformed would love to know, but that I've only seen disseminated through Twitter; and a lot of it coming from a week ago or earlier.

Make a fake account if you have to - which will backfire when you actually want to ask someone questions or link with people in your personal life - but I've used Twitter for only a couple of months and don't regret it in the slightest, either for niche tech interests or my other endeavours. Time to wise up friends.

Cheers.