Wednesday, July 8th 2015

AMD Releases Catalyst 15.7 WHQL Software

AMD released the Catalyst 15.7 WHQL driver suite, its first WHQL-signed Catalyst driver in 212 days (since 14.12 Omega). These drivers add official support for all the new AMD Radeon R9 300 series and R9 Fury series graphics processors launched in the past two months, and comes with a ship load of new features and game optimizations. They also include WDDM 2.0 support, letting you use them with Windows 10.

To begin with, Catalyst 15.7 WHQL adds support for AMD FreeSync in CrossFire setups, on DirectX 10 and higher 3D applications. Features such as VSR (virtual super-resolution) and FRTC (frame-rate target control) are now official. CrossFire profiles have been added/improved for over a dozen games since 14.12 Omega. Frame-rates have been increased for Far Cry 4 and Tomb Raider.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 15.7 WHQL for Windows 8.1/10 64-bit | Windows 8.1/10 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit | Windows 7 32-bit
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114 Comments on AMD Releases Catalyst 15.7 WHQL Software

#76
Octopuss
SNMI used re-install from Device Manager window...will do once more...and look whether it changes something...otherwise will downgrade to the last one. thanks anyway. :-D
That's not what you were suggested. Use DDU.
Posted on Reply
#77
Capitan Harlock
im happy for the new drivers but for some obscure reason when the installation is near to be complete the screen goes black and my pc freeze .
I unistalled all the drivers with ati unistaller too but nothing same thing so now im with the beta because i cant upgrade for some reason.


Edit: i used ddd too and after the driver installation was complete at reboot my screen tell me hdmi no signal input XD so i dont know what to do.
Posted on Reply
#78
KainXS
on my 7970 these drivers work fine but on my 7850's they don't have vsr(even after full sweep) and break mem overclocking.
Posted on Reply
#79
Frag_Maniac
Steevo said
Much smoother gameplay in GTA5 on my 7970,...the microstutters are gone for the most part,...CPU usages seems lower
Just ran the in game bench with Cat 14.12 Omega last night and plan to compare to 15.7 WHQL tonight. Even if I don't get any FPS boost I'll be fine with it if it's just smoother. I know what you mean by microstutter, it's annoying. Be great if CPU is relived a bit too, esp on my old 950.

With the way the movement, gunplay and response times are slower in this game compared to prior GTAs, you need the performance as smooth as possible. Some of the firefights have felt downright geriatric.
Posted on Reply
#80
Octopuss
No performance difference from 15.4 beta, for the better or worse, here.
Posted on Reply
#82
manofthem
WCG-TPU Team All-Star!
Installed this last night. Today loaded up Alien Isolation, and I got some sort of corruption with the lettering on on-screen prompt type things, first time its ever happened.

Haven't tried to fix it yet or reinstall, but I'll be doing that later.
Posted on Reply
#83
Frag_Maniac
I just tried installing this and I can't get it to install so that Windows and GPU-Z recognize it as actually installed. What's weird is Driver Sweeper will recognize the display drivers as being installed, and the Cat Uninstall Manager only shows non driver features to uninstall, but it's useless because Windows only sees a generic driver being installed.

I take it this is supposed to work with W7 64 bit because when I add it into my spec info on AMD's site it shows 15.7. Anyway, I uninstalled it and put 14.12 back on for now, and was going to try either overwriting 15.7 onto 14.12, or using AMD's auto detect and install on their site, but after everything I've heard, I'm not sure it's even worth it.

Seems they need to tweak this thing some more. The thought of going Nvidia next upgrade is looking better all the time.
Posted on Reply
#84
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
When looking at the Fury review the Fury X haven't gained anything from this update.
Posted on Reply
#85
ValenOne
HumanSmokeThe A8-4500 isn't an Ivy Bridge SKU, so why bother quoting LightningJR's post? Are you that desperate to divert any dissention amongst the ranks, that you'll dive straight off topic? :slap:
Stop being a hypocrite.
Posted on Reply
#86
manofthem
WCG-TPU Team All-Star!
manofthemInstalled this last night. Today loaded up Alien Isolation, and I got some sort of corruption with the lettering on on-screen prompt type things, first time its ever happened.

Haven't tried to fix it yet or reinstall, but I'll be doing that later.
More issues. Just came to my PC today and screen is all corrupted, can't make anything out. You can decipher certain responses, like ctrl/alt/del make the overall color turn blue, but it's all lines and messed up.

Uninstalling and cleaning now and going to try to reinstall, see what happens.
Posted on Reply
#87
Frag_Maniac
Just an update, got it installed via AMD's auto detect tool. I noticed immediately when downloading the one it picked, the file was worded differently. Apparently the manual detect tool is sourcing the wrong file for W7 64 bit.

So now Windows and GPU-Z detect it as 15.7. Only difference is, now Device Manager lists it as R9 200/ HD7000.

I first ran the GTA V bench again and saw a slight increase in FPS, averaging 58 FPS now vs 55. Minimum frame rates though increased a whole 5 FPS from 30 to 35. A near 17% increase on resisting frame dipping. I haven't really played yet since it was late last night when I finally got the driver installed, but if gameplay is smoother it will probably have a lot to do with the higher Min FPS.

I did however fire up Doom 3 BFG Edition just to check out the VSR, which I of course enabled in CCC, as well as 65 FPS in FRTC. Currently I'm limited to 2560x1440 on VSR due to using a DVI to HDMI adapter to get the RGB 4:4:4 option, but I plan to test some games at 4K on straight HDMI.

That said, I wasn't expecting VSR to work the way it does for desktop use. CCC after rebooting showed a popup stating it detected a high DPI display and asked if I wanted to enable VSR for desktop. I clicked yes and I now have a 2560x1440 res option in Windows res selector.

Rather than making 1080p look clearer, in both desktop and games it looks as if it's actually displaying a 1440p res. What I mean is the fonts and HUD get noticeably smaller. I was assuming it's just supposed to add more clarity to each pixel while in 1080p.

Anyway, I put my desktop res back down to 1600x900 because W7 does not holistically adjust fonts when re-sizing them. Files, folder names, etc, become extremely difficult to read.

Can someone explain to me why it is not just a clearer 1080p I'm getting? I'm kinda worrying it will harm my 1080p limited display. Is VSR enhancing 1080p, or over-driving the res of the display?

BTW, I've got both GPU Scaling and VSR enabled in CCC.
Posted on Reply
#88
AsRock
TPU addict
Been running VSR since it was added and same here using it on the desktop is only good too 1920x1200 altering the DPI helps a little but it's nothing like when in a game with 3200x1800 which looks so much better.

Maybe it's a 2D 3D thing.

Reason mine probably looks ok on 1920x1200 as i believe the display can do it as back in XP days it used to be a option
Posted on Reply
#89
Frag_Maniac
Hmmm, I'm still only getting up to 2560x1440 option with VSR even on HDMI.

Why? Is the 7970 limited to that?
Posted on Reply
#90
AsRock
TPU addict
Is it going though your A/V ?, maybe that's the reason just guessing. I find it odd that going though my Yamaha 375 only get 3200x1800 which i find odd as it can do 4k.
Posted on Reply
#91
Frag_Maniac
AsRockIs it going though your A/V ?, maybe that's the reason just guessing. I find it odd that going though my Yamaha 375 only get 3200x1800 which i find odd as it can do 4k.
No, the video goes straight into my PC. After further research, it appears to be a limitation of the GPU model. Older models like the 7000 series are capped at less than 4K for VSR, while newer models like R9 and Fury can do 4K.

On W10 the cap is 3200x1800, but on W7 I'm only seeing 2560x1440.

AMD uses hardware to do the VSR, while Nvidia uses shaders, so I'm not sure they'll ever open 4K for the 7000 series, but it would be nice for older games.

www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1077050

HardOCP talks about the cap as well, and it being hardware related, but they seem to be saying the 1800p cap is related to the 290s, so my card could very well be limited to 1440p.

"If you have a 1080p display you can run at 2560x1440 VSR or 3200x1800VSR and 3840x2160 VSR but only on R9 285..."

www.hardocp.com/article/2014/12/08/introducing_new_amd_catalyst_omega_driver/2#.VaG8_vlViko

Eventually I'll be using W10, but I really hadn't planned on switching until Dx12 games come out. Right now I'm really more concerned about how stable this driver is, esp since a lot of people have mentioned having strange problems.
Posted on Reply
#92
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Frag ManiacJust an update, got it installed via AMD's auto detect tool. I noticed immediately when downloading the one it picked, the file was worded differently. Apparently the manual detect tool is sourcing the wrong file for W7 64 bit.

So now Windows and GPU-Z detect it as 15.7. Only difference is, now Device Manager lists it as R9 200/ HD7000.

I first ran the GTA V bench again and saw a slight increase in FPS, averaging 58 FPS now vs 55. Minimum frame rates though increased a whole 5 FPS from 30 to 35. A near 17% increase on resisting frame dipping. I haven't really played yet since it was late last night when I finally got the driver installed, but if gameplay is smoother it will probably have a lot to do with the higher Min FPS.

I did however fire up Doom 3 BFG Edition just to check out the VSR, which I of course enabled in CCC, as well as 65 FPS in FRTC. Currently I'm limited to 2560x1440 on VSR due to using a DVI to HDMI adapter to get the RGB 4:4:4 option, but I plan to test some games at 4K on straight HDMI.

That said, I wasn't expecting VSR to work the way it does for desktop use. CCC after rebooting showed a popup stating it detected a high DPI display and asked if I wanted to enable VSR for desktop. I clicked yes and I now have a 2560x1440 res option in Windows res selector.

Rather than making 1080p look clearer, in both desktop and games it looks as if it's actually displaying a 1440p res. What I mean is the fonts and HUD get noticeably smaller. I was assuming it's just supposed to add more clarity to each pixel while in 1080p.

Anyway, I put my desktop res back down to 1600x900 because W7 does not holistically adjust fonts when re-sizing them. Files, folder names, etc, become extremely difficult to read.

Can someone explain to me why it is not just a clearer 1080p I'm getting? I'm kinda worrying it will harm my 1080p limited display. Is VSR enhancing 1080p, or over-driving the res of the display?

BTW, I've got both GPU Scaling and VSR enabled in CCC.
thats how it works, it lets you select a higher res and downscales it. Thats how its compatible with everything, because they believe the monitor is capable of that res.


edit for post above: 7970 is indeed limited to 2560x1440. hardware limit.
Posted on Reply
#93
AsRock
TPU addict
Frag ManiacNo, the video goes straight into my PC. After further research, it appears to be a limitation of the GPU model. Older models like the 7000 series are capped at less than 4K for VSR, while newer models like R9 and Fury can do 4K.

On W10 the cap is 3200x1800, but on W7 I'm only seeing 2560x1440.

AMD uses hardware to do the VSR, while Nvidia uses shaders, so I'm not sure they'll ever open 4K for the 7000 series, but it would be nice for older games.

www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1077050

HardOCP talks about the cap as well, and it being hardware related, but they seem to be saying the 1800p cap is related to the 290s, so my card could very well be limited to 1440p.

"If you have a 1080p display you can run at 2560x1440 VSR or 3200x1800VSR and 3840x2160 VSR but only on R9 285..."

www.hardocp.com/article/2014/12/08/introducing_new_amd_catalyst_omega_driver/2#.VaG8_vlViko

Eventually I'll be using W10, but I really hadn't planned on switching until Dx12 games come out. Right now I'm really more concerned about how stable this driver is, esp since a lot of people have mentioned having strange problems.
So what the hell has the 285 got what the 290 don't lol,
Posted on Reply
#94
Frag_Maniac
Musselsthats how it works, it lets you select a higher res and downscales it. Thats how its compatible with everything, because they believe the monitor is capable of that res.
Yes, I know it's downscaled, but I always thought that would mean it's just 1080p with cleaner pixels, vs actually looking like the higher res with smaller HUD/fonts.

Anyways, so far gameplay wise I've been testing 15.7 on GTA V at 1080p and it runs pretty well. Seems to be a bit smoother.

Might try reinstalling an older game to play at 1440p. Maybe RTCW or something.
Posted on Reply
#96
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Solaris17can i have a GPU-z with these im having alot of trouble installing on 10.

EDIT:: nvm the ones i the OP are labeled for windows 8.1 this is the link for the actual 10 drivers and they installed fine on both 10166 and 63

support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+10+-+64

@btarunr
... that might be why i dont have VSR or DX12 XD
Posted on Reply
#98
Jeffredo
SteevoUmm. its old, and Nvidia gives up on cards after like 6 months.
Nvidia just moved the Geforce 6000 era cards to legacy driver support... after 10 years of regular driver updates.
jigar2speedIt actually is, the dude just realized it now...

Ironically the dude also doesn't realize that his 3 year old Nvidia GTX 670 is now considered legacy - www.nvidia.com/page/legacy.html
There a huge difference between legacy products (previous generation) and legacy driver support.
Posted on Reply
#99
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
JeffredoNvidia just moved the Geforce 6000 era cards to legacy driver support... after 10 years of regular driver updates.



There a huge difference between legacy products (previous generation) and legacy driver support.
yep, look what they did with the Nforce chipsets - they just vanished one day.
Posted on Reply
#100
Melvis
All i get is the computer freezes completely on these drivers, crossfire 280X's (not that ive tested older drivers yet) Ran a game for about a minute then locks up, sigh =/
Posted on Reply
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