AMD Radeon Software Crimson, Catalyst Control Panel Compared

[ujaansona]

The Video section of the Catalyst Control Center contains more submenus than every other category. The driver has many different options to enhance video that have been spread out over multiple pages.

Radeon Software Crimson manages to consolidate the majority of the same options into one single page. AMD provides seven different presets and a custom option that lets you adjust sharpness, brightness and color vibrance.

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

 

[sh4dow83]

Meh... I would have been excited had it said something about being able to set custom resolutions and refresh rates similar to the nvidia tools.
And extended settings that make RadeonPro unnecessary.
Maybe the capability of using the installed ICC profile for games that run in full screen mode.

But of course... How many users want such things. Better make it more accessible for people who would never look at their driver settings anyway.

 

[megablue]

It is pretty clear that this software is also .NET based which is just garbage. I didn't have chance to play with this because it fails to install...gets stuck at 2% and lot of people are reporting that issue. Some people wait and it takes up to whole hour to finish install. Overall another garbage release.

No... Crimson's UI is based on Qt. Qt based software is usually written with C/C++ unless you want to kill yourself with another layer of bindings.

 

[outlw6669]

When I tried to install, it said it was complete. I couldn't find Crimson anything afterward though. It happened to remove CCC, but there was nothing in its place. I tried a few times. I finally had to put CCC back on. Maybe it's because I have a HD 6870?

All the VLIW5 and VLIW4 based cards have been moved to 'Legacy' status.
Only GCN cards are supported with the WQHL Crimson driver release.
They did however release a final Beta driver for the legacy cards based on Crimson.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=legacy3&os=Windows%2010%20-%2032

 

[outlw6669]

Meh... I would have been excited had it said something about being able to set custom resolutions and refresh rates similar to the nvidia tools.
And extended settings that make RadeonPro unnecessary.
Maybe the capability of using the installed ICC profile for games that run in full screen mode.

But of course... How many users want such things. Better make it more accessible for people who would never look at their driver settings anyway.

Custom resolutions are supported

http://anandtech.com/show/9811/amd-crimson-driver-overview/3

 

[_zxzxzx_]

I think that it's great that AMD has decided to pick up it's game and try to bring something new to their drivers which have always been a source of complaint. I've never had any problem with them, but I do certainly know a lot of people who'd shy away from AMD just because of that.

The interface looks a lot more modern and user friendly, although I hope that it hasn't dumbed anything down and reduced the number of options or settings. I'll certainly be giving it a try.

 

[beegmouse]

I think this article highlights how out of touch Tom's can be. When the most mainstream hardware is unavailable to them and yet the Top end GPUs are fully reviewed and tested. And on hand to benchmark a software update Aimed at improving APUs and Dual Graphics.

Not everyone at Tom's is in the same place. There is offices all over the place and many people work from home, etc. Also, consider the drivers just came out yesterday. Setting up tests means setting up bench systems, updates, game installs, multiple tests, swapping item, fresh installs, This was a quick first look. Don't like it, go buy 100 GPU's and do your own review.

Then don't publish the review. It's like reviewing a new fuel efficient car and complaining it doesn't get good mileage when you only test it on an autobahn at 120mph.

 

[getochkn]

I think this article highlights how out of touch Tom's can be. When the most mainstream hardware is unavailable to them and yet the Top end GPUs are fully reviewed and tested. And on hand to benchmark a software update Aimed at improving APUs and Dual Graphics.

Not everyone at Tom's is in the same place. There is offices all over the place and many people work from home, etc. Also, consider the drivers just came out yesterday. Setting up tests means setting up bench systems, updates, game installs, multiple tests, swapping item, fresh installs, This was a quick first look. Don't like it, go buy 100 GPU's and do your own review.

Then don't publish the review. It's like reviewing a new fuel efficient car and complaining it doesn't get good mileage when you only test it on an autobahn at 120mph.

Where does it say it's a review?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Just installed it! It's a fantastic software.

 

[sh4dow83]

Custom resolutions are supported

http://anandtech.com/show/9811/amd-crimson-driver-overview/3

My bad, thanks for pointing this out!
I thought we would never get to see the day, considering I used custom resolutions years ago already when I was still using nVidia cards. Finally...

 

[chicofehr]

I find the interface confusing and hard on the eyes. I like the old more personally. I just want better drivers with SLI equivalent crossfire performance. Tired of playing 3x30" on a single card running like a slide show forcing me to go single monitor.

 

[seth89]

Shader Cache is great. BF4 loads multi player rounds in 38 seconds for me every time.
Ive timed it three times on three different maps ranging from 17 players to 63.
I am very happy with this.

 

[beetlejuicegr]

So i go to extra options and boom, old catalyst menus, amd is so lame 🙁 .

 

[hagjohn]

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

The Video section of the Catalyst Control Center contains more submenus than every other category. The driver has many different options to enhance video that have been spread out over multiple pages.

Radeon Software Crimson manages to consolidate the majority of the same options into one single page. AMD provides seven different presets and a custom option that lets you adjust sharpness, brightness and color vibrance.

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

The Video section of the Catalyst Control Center contains more submenus than every other category. The driver has many different options to enhance video that have been spread out over multiple pages.

Radeon Software Crimson manages to consolidate the majority of the same options into one single page. AMD provides seven different presets and a custom option that lets you adjust sharpness, brightness and color vibrance.

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

They probably just haven't been migrated yet. When in display settings, click on "Additional Settings" and the old CCC will come up.

 

[ujaansona]

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

They probably just haven't been migrated yet. When in display settings, click on "Additional Settings" and the old CCC will come up.

It doesn't contain the missing menu/options. Using old CCC with new drivers.

 

[TJClark]

Dear Sirs,
SYSTEM: Gigabyte FX990 XFXR290 AMD 8350 16 Gigs Crucial Ballistic DDR 3 @ 2133 MHz OCZ SSD WD HDD
I have to laugh. I installed Crimson on November 25, 2015. The installation suite gave me the option of the entire package OR MINIMUM package. I used minimum and chose what I wanted it to install. I still have CCC and the new driver is listed in the software menu. Plus, I have the entire Radeon Suite. It only took a couple minutes and one re-start.
I experienced ZERO installation problems. Plus, I've used CCC for years and have never had a problem using that utility, anyhow. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS READ and KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SET UP.
What SERIOUSLY happened with Crimson Software ? Far Cry 3 and Sniper Elite 3 ran 10 to 15 degrees C COOLER.
Those 2 titles have always run hot. NOT ANYMORE. Tomb Raider never ran hot with CCC. That's on Ultra. VSR has made my PC look like a whole new world. No, I don't have a SUPER monitor....( LG 27 inch 1920 X 1080 ) Far Cry 3 on Medium is beautiful. I can barely tell the difference between medium and ultra. The variation in detail on Sniper Elite is minute between medium and ultra. Temps between medium and ultra DID NOT CHANGE ! ! ! Now, about FRTC. I think it's just another name for V Sync. I can cap my monitor at 60 FPS or let it fly.
Load times for CCC versus Crimson ? I have NEVER seen CCC take 30 seconds to load. LOL....where did that come from ? HAVE A VERY, MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Timothy

 

[TJClark]

Is this some kind of joke? Because I don't get it. ALL CUSTOM/MANUAL VIDEO CONTROL/QUALITY settings are GONE!! What am I supposed to do with PRESETS when I have no idea which specific items are being changed?!

1. Basic Video Color
2. Color Vibrance + Slider => Replaced by three fixed levels!
3. Video Gamma + Slider
4. Flesh-tone Correction + Slider
5. Brighter Whites
6. Dynamic Range
7. Deinterlacing Setting
8. Pulldown detection
9. Edge enhancement + Slider => Again replaced by three fixed levels!
10. De-noise + Slider
11. Mosquito Noise Reduction + Slider
12. De-blocking + Slider
13. Dynamic Contrast

All of the above are non-existent in any useful form!! This seems to be some new trend (....cough.. windows 10 .cough...) where perfectly functioning options are removed for no apparent reason.

They probably just haven't been migrated yet. When in display settings, click on "Additional Settings" and the old CCC will come up.

It doesn't contain the missing menu/options. Using old CCC with new drivers.

 

[TJClark]

I have BOTH utilities and totally agree with you. New utility is for noobs. CCC has a lot more flexibility. SEE MY POST....TJClark

 

[stevenrix]

I installed the new drivers without problem.
I confirm that on a R9 390X for black ops 3 with ultra settings and a freesync monitor i have no frames dropping whereas I had many many issues with the 980 TI @ 1080P.

 

[stevenrix]

I tested GRID 2 with the new drivers with ultra settings resolution at 1080. Maximum frame: 59.95 FPS and minimum frame was 58.53 FPS
It's pretty impressive. It was tested on a Core I7-6700K with 16 gigz of DDR-4
It can swallow many games at 1080P resolution (except the witcher, it's still slow, around 30 to 40 FPS).

 

[stevenrix]

Here is the test uploaded on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf6zKUioZKE

 

[eldragon0]

"We presently don’t have any matching GPUs from AMD’s current lineup to test Crossfire performance"
Come on

I'm not exactly sure what you expect, but we have not been given two samples of any one GPU, even from different vendors, from the 300 or Fury series cards.

When we do have hardware on hand to test these features you can expect to see a follow up, but I can't make graphics cards appear out of thin air.

So, are you saying you're oblivious to what crossfire is capable of? do you not have at least two cards in this list: 290, a 290x, 390, 390x, nano, fury, or fury X? AMD has been able to Crossfire different cards for a long time. you don't need two of the exact same card , let alone the same brand. For the sake of testing crossfire performance a comparison between old and new drivers are more important than the cards themselves.

 

[eldragon0]

"We presently don’t have any matching GPUs from AMD’s current lineup to test Crossfire performance"
Come on

I'm not exactly sure what you expect, but we have not been given two samples of any one GPU, even from different vendors, from the 300 or Fury series cards.

When we do have hardware on hand to test these features you can expect to see a follow up, but I can't make graphics cards appear out of thin air.

So, are you saying you're oblivious to what crossfire is capable of? do you not have at least two cards in this list: 290, a 290x, 390, 390x, nano, fury, or fury X? AMD has been able to Crossfire different cards for a long time. you don't need two of the exact same card , let alone the same brand. For the sake of testing crossfire performance a comparison between old and new drivers are more important than the cards themselves.

 

[stevenrix]

They will do more tests in depth in the next few weeks.
I've been an Nvidia guy for many years but sometimes i switch to ATI to check out what they do technologically, so I bought this radeon 390X a few days ago, and after testing a few games, i am extremely pleased with that card. I don't really care if this card can't beat up better graphic cards (980TI for example), but I do care when i have extremely smooth graphics that enhance the gaming experience and this is what this card does to the best compared to other cards.
Now i did not test the older drivers because i am first a gamer, so i cant talk about improvements, but i tested many games that were able to display 60 FPS without any slowdown. On my 980TI and i will repeat it again, I had a very disappointing experience with some games with ultra settings (black ops 3 was a nightmare on this card with windows 10). At this point, i am debating whether I should add a 2nd radeon 390X, but honestly i don't really see the point since i game at 1080P.
I still dont know if my monitor AMD freesync plays a big role with smooth frames, that might help i guess with the new crimson drivers, and that contributed to a better gaming experience with the 75Hz option.
I have a question: does this card support 75Hz in a quad monitor configuration with display ports?

 

[TJClark]

Card supports up to 6 monitors with Eyefinity.......That's according to @geektech on Twitter.....VIA PC Magazine.....