Ask Me Anything - Official AMD Radeon Representative

[Thracks]

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

Yes.

 

[childofthekorn]

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

Thats a generalized guide in order to help you find the latest drivers for hat GPU, which may be included in the current releases. IE If you try to get drivers for a GT 7950 it'll give you the latest that compatible with it. That same driver will be unified with previous generations. Its literally the same thing for AMD graphics that anything from an HD 5000 series and above are all included on one driver.

 

[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.

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

Some monitors could, yes. However, I have no expectation that this will be an option. It is a costly mistake to have a failed firmware upgrade.

 

[childofthekorn]

When will we see 3rd parties getting their hands on FreeSync monitors so we can finally see a comparison of FreeSync VS GSync?

As far as FreeSync is concerned, are there any noticeable improvements in picture quality at higher FPS?

 

[Thracks]

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?

We provide direct developer support to all participants active in the Mantle project.

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.

BRB, getting my wallet. ;D

 

[Computer LVR]

Does zero core technology only work if you have two gpus?
or can it work if you have one gpu

 

[Thracks]

When will we see 3rd parties getting their hands on FreeSync monitors so we can finally see a comparison of FreeSync VS GSync?

As far as FreeSync is concerned, are there any noticeable improvements in picture quality at higher FPS?

We intend to sample monitors to press in Q1, after CES. There will be many vendors demonstrating production displays at CES as well.

I'm not sure I understand the second part of your question, except to say that FreeSync actually enables you to get >60 FPS without tearing. Even when the framerate is above the refresh rate of the display, these frequencies may be out of phase and produce tearing anyhow. We can solve that with FreeSync, and I would argue that's a noticeable improvement in picture quality at high FPS.

 

[Thracks]

Does zero core technology only work if you have two gpus?
or can it work if you have one gpu

It works if you have one GPU, when your monitor goes into a mode called "long idle," which is the blank screen/blinking light power save mode. The GPU will pretty much shut down in this case.

 

[bit_user]

I'm a developer and have dabbled a bit with OpenCL. I'm very interested in OpenCL 2.0, but I'm worried about end-consumer messaging around hardware capabilities. Essentially, the problem is one of how developers can release a product requiring or benefiting from OpenCL 2.0, if there's no easy way for end users to know which hardware supports it.

Some background on this: over on the forums at developer.amd.com, there's been enough confusion over which hardware is supported by the driver/SDK. And that's between AMD and developers. This makes the prospects for end consumers seem rather bleak.

I guess this is more of a concern I'm raising than a question. Apologies for that, but I wanted to raise that issue, in case you're not already aware of it.

 

[childofthekorn]

When will we see 3rd parties getting their hands on FreeSync monitors so we can finally see a comparison of FreeSync VS GSync?

As far as FreeSync is concerned, are there any noticeable improvements in picture quality at higher FPS?

We intend to sample monitors to press in Q1, after CES. There will be many vendors demonstrating production displays at CES as well.

I'm not sure I understand the second part of your question, except to say that FreeSync actually enables you to get >60 FPS without tearing. Even when the framerate is above the refresh rate of the display, these frequencies may be out of phase and produce tearing anyhow. We can solve that with FreeSync, and I would argue that's a noticeable improvement in picture quality at high FPS.

Apologies for the confusion but you answer it perfectly.

With the drivers picking up speed on the linux and windows environment with the release of the Omega GPU drivers, there is still a bad taste left in many previous AMD GPU owners mouths regarding AMD drivers for their GPU's. Is there anything that you are able to say about upcoming changes, updates or personnel changes in the Driversphere that we can get excited for?

 

[Daniel Sauvageau]

My point was that DPAS is the technology that enables the solution. Just because you've connected two DPAS-aware products doesn't mean you'll also magically receive dynamic refresh rate. That's all I can say for now.

Does that "secret sauce" / not-plug-and-play include an explicit support requirement from software developers?

If FreeSync requires application-specific support, I think it may require a re-design. I bet I could come up with something transparent to most software.

 

[Fr33Th1nk3r]

Any plans for more liquid cooled GPU's at varying budgets, example r9 290, 280x, > 295x2 ?

 

[Thracks]

My point was that DPAS is the technology that enables the solution. Just because you've connected two DPAS-aware products doesn't mean you'll also magically receive dynamic refresh rate. That's all I can say for now.

Does that "secret sauce" / not-plug-and-play include an explicit support requirement from software developers?

If FreeSync requires application-specific support, I think it may require a re-design. I bet I could come up with something transparent to most software.

FreeSync does not require any app-specific support.

 

[Thracks]

When will we see 3rd parties getting their hands on FreeSync monitors so we can finally see a comparison of FreeSync VS GSync?

As far as FreeSync is concerned, are there any noticeable improvements in picture quality at higher FPS?

We intend to sample monitors to press in Q1, after CES. There will be many vendors demonstrating production displays at CES as well.

I'm not sure I understand the second part of your question, except to say that FreeSync actually enables you to get >60 FPS without tearing. Even when the framerate is above the refresh rate of the display, these frequencies may be out of phase and produce tearing anyhow. We can solve that with FreeSync, and I would argue that's a noticeable improvement in picture quality at high FPS.

Apologies for the confusion but you answer it perfectly.

With the drivers picking up speed on the linux and windows environment with the release of the Omega GPU drivers, there is still a bad taste left in many previous AMD GPU owners mouths regarding AMD drivers for their GPU's. Is there anything that you are able to say about upcoming changes, updates or personnel changes in the Driversphere that we can get excited for?

I think this page on HardwareCanucks adequately touches on what Omega is, outside of the features it provides. What Omega represents is important, too.

We're very proud of that driver, and we brought a lot of new people/test infrastructure to make it happen, but the job's not done. The next "Omega", or whatever it is, has to be even better. Every driver has to be a rockin' piece of software--we know that.

We believe we have everything in place to make a world-class solution.

 

[crysisxforce]

Should I skip on upgrading this Christmas from a Phenom II and a 970 motherboard?

 

[Thracks]

Should I skip on upgrading this Christmas from a Phenom II and a 970 motherboard?

Gold star for cleverness.

 

[bit_user]

Hi, I am not a developer so I am unfortunately unable to answer many of your questions. However, as of Catalyst Omega, OpenCL 2.0 is supported on our recent products.

What a pity 🙁

I am waiting since years now for the corresponding informations. :/

Your best bet is probably to ask over on the developer.amd.com forums, if you haven't already. That said, companies are always shy about internal details and upcoming product plans.

 

[Mario Erdelja]

Do you have a Hotline for support?

 

[avri0n]

. What will freesync do to the monitor refresh rate if i watch a 23fps movie in a window and move the cursor to something else, what takes priority?
. What about multi monitor support? any limitations?
. Does freesync have a motion blur reduction function like gsync or benqs lightboost?

 

[gogo8092201]

Do you have a Hotline for support?

Mario, just uninstall the latest windows service pack update, it is a windows issue not AMD. This is what has already been discussed in this thread: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_update/windows-update-kb3004394-issues/ace25277-7f65-4486-bc44-c1b106907a18

 

[AndrewFreedman]

Hey all,

It's getting to be the end of the day. We're going to give our guest a chance to have dinner, relax, sleep, and reflect on all of the great questions he answered today.

Feel free to keep posting your questions to this thread, and Robert will come back tomorrow morning to respond to questions from overnight. Thanks everyone!

 

[lp231]

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.

Not only graphic drivers, but also all windows updates if the KB3004394 is installed.

 

[childofthekorn]

Is there any news you are able to share with us about current developments regarding DirectX 12 or OpenGL NG? To specify, I am curious to know if they actually are using portions of mantle in either of these API's, or what we might expect on AMD's end regarding these API's if portions of mantle are not ported over.

 

[KenZen2B]

After reviewing AMD's website for information concerning R9 295s support for 5K monitors, my question is still unanswered.

Does the R9 295 or R9 295x2 support 5K monitors at >60Hzon a single DP ? If not, when will you have a card that support DP 1.3 ?

From http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-catalyst-omega-radeon-driver,28155.html
"Dell's 5K UP2715K monitor, which the company announced a couple weeks ago, might have a very high resolution, but what's the point if your graphics card can't actually drive it properly? Well, now AMD has added support for the 5120 x 2880 resolution at 60 Hz. Do note that you will still need two DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces, because a single DisplayPort 1.2 connection simply doesn't have enough bandwidth to drive this display."

Can you have someone update AMD's website with information on 5K monitor support information ?

 

[ubercake]

Thanks for all of the info Robert!