Ask Me Anything - Official AMD Radeon Representative

[Thracks]

...
Indeed, many of the firmware vendors are telling us that they’ve only needed to design and validate new firmware for many of their scalers to outfit them with the Adaptive-Sync support. Three companies basically own the scaler market: Realtek, MStar and Novatek. All three of them have committed to supporting Adaptive-Sync, with some combination of existing scalers upgraded to new firmware, and new-generation scalers built from the ground up with Adaptive-Sync in mind.
...

Since VESA has adopted Adaptive-Sync as part of the DP standard, are monitor manufacturers committed to incorporating scalers including Adaptive-Sync in all of their future monitors with DP connections? To rephrase, can we assume once manufacturers have begun to produce monitors with Adaptive-Sync technology they will make Adaptive-Sync part of their everyday monitor production process?

I think this answer from our official FAQ addresses this: http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/225

 

[TechyInAZ]

Mr. Hallock,

Will Project FreeSync be implemented in IPS monitors?

And will FreeSync be compatible with not only AMD Radeon, but Nvidia Geforce, and Intel HD graphics?

FreeSync is compatible with any sort of display type. There are several panel technologies currently being utilized on the monitors being validated for market entry. That's all I can say.

FreeSync is AMD's specific solution for using the refresh rate control provided by DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync. Anyone could adopt DPAS and design their own competing solution, and the market would be better for it because multiple vendors are now mutually supporting a free and open standard.

Thank you for the answer. Since FreeSync is completely compatible with all sorts of displays, can we be expecting TV's to get this technology? (I personally have been dying for a television with this since i'm so tired of the lag that low fps movies bring with them.)

 

[Ogrodnik]

Will features that are claimed to be "R series" specific (such as those in Catalyst Omega) work on the 7xxx equivalents to their R series rebrand?

For example 5k monitor support

5K Monitor Support:
Unparalleled display performance for professionals and gamers who require the highest resolution available and silky-smooth, fatigue-free graphics

5120x2880 at 60Hz
14.7 million pixels, 218 pixels-per-inch
Dual DisplayPort 1.2 input
Available on AMD FirePro™ and AMD Radeon™ R series GPUs

And "Perfect Picture Additions"

Available on AMD 7000 series APUs and AMD Radeon™ R series GPUs

Howdy. I think the release notes are pretty concise about what supports what. Is there anything you'd want to see added?

Why is that then?
I could understand if it just said if supported the 290(X)/260(X) being newer chips
but it just says "R series" which includes a lot of rebrands. Does that mean I could
flash a 7850 to a R7-265 BIOS and unlock features?

People use "rebrand" as some pejorative about certain products, but it betrays a certain misunderstanding about what those products truly are. They are unique products with their own engineering timeline, BIOS, board, fabrication, etc. That means they need their own specific engineering effort for software, their own validation cycle, etc. You can't just design a technique for the R9 270X, wave a magic wand, and have it work on an HD 7800 product.

People think it works like that. They want it to work like that. But it's not reality.

I'm pretty sure that True Audio will work on Radeon 7790 after flash to 260x

 

[renz496]

so FreeSync (in games) only work with GCN 1.1 and above. why it is not available in GCN 1.0 cards? also we know all GCN based card will get DX12 support. but what about 5k and 6k series? both also DX11 card like GCN based card. so will AMD extend DX12 support down to those card or simply people with those card will need to upgrade their GPU if they really want to benefit DX12 goodness?

FreeSync compatibility doesn't depend on GCN. It depends on a specific piece of silicon called the display controller. The display controller must be capable of highly dynamic refresh rate adjustments. The GPUs I've specified throughout this thread are capable--the others are not. It's a hard technical decision.

As far as DX12 is concerned, HD 5000 and HD 6000 Series users will need to upgrade.

thanks for the straight forward answer. really appreciate it. so why 5k and 6k excluded from getting DX12 support? is it lacking in hardware requirement or simply AMD want to focus more on GCN architecture in general? and probably my last question since its getting late here. Your recent Omega drivers mention support for OpenGL ES 3.0. what about OpenGL 4.5?

 

[Carlrg]

will there be 120 HZ 144HZ free sync monitors and how do you feel about the next gen AMD GPU's ,just a feeling

 

[junkeymonkey]

2ed time



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in your drivers foot/release notes this is stated

''◾Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website.''

lots of folks have asked about this but cant seem to find them so how about a link to it ???


#2 --- what the deal with you drivers and this new windows update blocking the driver from loading ?? [ windows update - KB3004394 ]

 

[Jtaylor1986]

Are we in a new era where we realistically are going to see update cycles continue to lengthen going forward due to manufacturing technology stagation? Or has this just been a bump in the road due to issues at TSMC?

 

[closetwhisperer1]

Will you guys be focusing on energy efficency in the next series graphics cards?

 

[gogo8092201]

...From what you have seen, and water cooler talk, do you expect future improvements on how devs interact with Mantle could realize greater gains for high end hardware? Make a 6 or 8 core CPU more attractive? Share what you can, I understand NDA's when you can't.

Low-overhead APIs give the most to lower end CPUs, because it's lower end CPUs that suffer the most from API overhead. In other words, those are the platforms with more to gain.

There are many techniques in the Mantle API specification that can enable robust experiences on high-end hardware. See split-frame rendering in Civ:BE as a prime example of that. But Mantle is young, and developers are still learning Mantle as they go. The emphasis is definitely on a working implementation that addresses the most number of platforms with improvements. By the numbers, those are mid-range systems.

ooooooooooooooooooooh! Perfect. That is exactly the kind of breakthroughs I would expect. Leverage the concurrency advantage to the utmost! I work in multiple threads often, so I see the power, but also the scheduling nightmare this brings. Civ:BE is a VERY cpu intensive game, I would love to see this Split Frame Rendering solution expand to a FPS or RPG. DA:I January update?? lol (I wish). This does seem the perfect solution to "why bother getting a super expensive dual R9 295x2 machine".

Incremental updates are painful from a consumer's perspective, but understandable from a developers. I hope we see a new era in computer gaming with Mantle. I am sick of poor console ports that barely need my R9 270x to run.

Question 1:
Is AMD still working shoulder to shoulder with developers helping them implement mantle into their games like with Battlefield 4, or has that time passed?

Question 2:
Would AMD hurry up and just buy a Game Studio so they can have a game made with Mantle "they way it needs to be made" in order to fully flaunt its power? <- I think I am joking here, but.....sigh. Guess I just need to be patient.

 

[gogo8092201]

#2 --- what the deal with you drivers and this new windows update blocking the driver from loading ?? [ windows update - KB3004394 ]

I have this same issue. It isn't AMD's fault though. I just found the solution today, I'll give it a whirl when I get home. I totally blamed the omega driver update though lol. Just back out that KB install and you will be fine. That is what everyone is doing right now according to this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_update/windows-update-kb3004394-issues/ace25277-7f65-4486-bc44-c1b106907a18

 

[junkeymonkey]

@gogo8092201

I knew what the issue was 2 min. after it happened and posted it here at toms yesterday

 

[sea monkey]

Indeed, many of the firmware vendors are telling us that they’ve only needed to design and validate new firmware for many of their scalers to outfit them with the Adaptive-Sync support. Three companies basically own the scaler market: Realtek, MStar and Novatek. All three of them have committed to supporting Adaptive-Sync, with some combination of existing scalers upgraded to new firmware, and new-generation scalers built from the ground up with Adaptive-Sync in mind.

Does this mean that current monitors could support Adaptive-Sync with a simple firmware update?

 

[gogo8092201]

@gogo8092201

I knew what the issue was 2 min. after it happened and posted it here at toms yesterday

Then why the hell are you asking an AMD rep about an issue that is caused by MS and affects all driver updates and many other things??? I don't understand.

 

[esrever]

Are there more games coming that make use of true audio?

 

[Thracks]

Mr. Hallock,

Will Project FreeSync be implemented in IPS monitors?

And will FreeSync be compatible with not only AMD Radeon, but Nvidia Geforce, and Intel HD graphics?

FreeSync is compatible with any sort of display type. There are several panel technologies currently being utilized on the monitors being validated for market entry. That's all I can say.

FreeSync is AMD's specific solution for using the refresh rate control provided by DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync. Anyone could adopt DPAS and design their own competing solution, and the market would be better for it because multiple vendors are now mutually supporting a free and open standard.

Thank you for the answer. Since FreeSync is completely compatible with all sorts of displays, can we be expecting TV's to get this technology? (I personally have been dying for a television with this since i'm so tired of the lag that low fps movies bring with them.)

A TV manufacturer would need to adopt an LCD scaler that supported DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync. I don't know of any plans to this effect, but it is technologically possible for such a TV to be connected to a PC and gain smoother video playback with FreeSync.

 

[Thracks]

so FreeSync (in games) only work with GCN 1.1 and above. why it is not available in GCN 1.0 cards? also we know all GCN based card will get DX12 support. but what about 5k and 6k series? both also DX11 card like GCN based card. so will AMD extend DX12 support down to those card or simply people with those card will need to upgrade their GPU if they really want to benefit DX12 goodness?

FreeSync compatibility doesn't depend on GCN. It depends on a specific piece of silicon called the display controller. The display controller must be capable of highly dynamic refresh rate adjustments. The GPUs I've specified throughout this thread are capable--the others are not. It's a hard technical decision.

As far as DX12 is concerned, HD 5000 and HD 6000 Series users will need to upgrade.

thanks for the straight forward answer. really appreciate it. so why 5k and 6k excluded from getting DX12 support? is it lacking in hardware requirement or simply AMD want to focus more on GCN architecture in general? and probably my last question since its getting late here. Your recent Omega drivers mention support for OpenGL ES 3.0. what about OpenGL 4.5?

Because the VLIW4 and VLIW5 architectures of the HD 5000 and HD 6000 are a poor, if not incompatible, fit for low-overhead APIs. They are not programmable enough, and certainly not to the extent that GCN is.

I don't know the status on OGL4.5 and will have to check.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Why don't you guys have individual drivers like nVidia does? It would make getting the latest drivers for GPUs much easier.

 

[gogo8092201]

Mr. Hallock,

Will Project FreeSync be implemented in IPS monitors?

And will FreeSync be compatible with not only AMD Radeon, but Nvidia Geforce, and Intel HD graphics?

FreeSync is compatible with any sort of display type. There are several panel technologies currently being utilized on the monitors being validated for market entry. That's all I can say.

FreeSync is AMD's specific solution for using the refresh rate control provided by DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync. Anyone could adopt DPAS and design their own competing solution, and the market would be better for it because multiple vendors are now mutually supporting a free and open standard.

Thank you for the answer. Since FreeSync is completely compatible with all sorts of displays, can we be expecting TV's to get this technology? (I personally have been dying for a television with this since i'm so tired of the lag that low fps movies bring with them.)

A TV manufacturer would need to adopt an LCD scaler that supported DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync. I don't know of any plans to this effect, but it is technologically possible for such a TV to be connected to a PC and gain smoother video playback with FreeSync.

I am therefore getting the sense that FreeSync is something that would be enabled in CCC rather than in-game like I was originally assuming. Therefore it is an "always on" feature....right? Are there any instances you can think of off hand where this wouldn't be desirable?

 

[airborn824]

I recenlty won a 28" Samsung 4k monitor i think it is the UD590. Will it support free sync? i purchased a R9 290 PCS+ last week!!

 

[Thracks]

in your drivers foot/release notes this is stated

''◾Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website.''

lots of folks have asked about this but cant seem to find them so how about a link to it ???

This is an incorrect entry in the release notes and is being removed.

what the deal with you drivers and this new windows update blocking the driver from loading ?? (windows update - KB3004394)

KB3004394 unfortunately prevents the installation of graphics drivers on certain system configurations. Microsoft is aware this is a critical issue and is working to resolve. For now, it is recommended that users remove this hotfix.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Why don't you guys have individual drivers like nVidia does? It would make getting the latest drivers for GPUs much easier.

Nvidia have a unified driver meaning one size fits all, there are no "individual" drivers.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Oh, really? Didn't notice it. They had this thing before where you could select your GPU to get the drivers for it.

 

[Thracks]

I recenlty won a 28" Samsung 4k monitor i think it is the UD590. Will it support free sync? i purchased a R9 290 PCS+ last week!!

Samsung's decision. I cannot speak on their behalf.

 

[Thracks]

Oh, really? Didn't notice it. They had this thing before where you could select your GPU to get the drivers for it.

AMD and NVIDIA both have a unified driver, which means one driver package supports all compatible hardware. The act of selecting a specific GPU doesn't give you a special driver, but users seem to prefer this type of user interface because it offers the comfort of ensuring that the driver you're downloading does go with the GPU you picked.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Oh, really? Didn't notice it. They had this thing before where you could select your GPU to get the drivers for it.

They still do but unless your card is no longer supported that feature will always suggest the latest driver on offer.