Catalyst 9.3: 1st Unified Windows 7 Driver?

[exfileme]

Will ATI's Catalyst 9.3 drivers--set to go live today--be the industry's first unified driver with Windows 7 support? The company says "yes."

Catalyst 9.3: 1st Unified Windows 7 Driver? : Read more

 

[thedipper]

" the latter will implement new features from the upcoming operating system including Aero Shake and Aero Peek."

Those are OS-level features and have been working since... well, since the builds in which they were included.

 

[curnel_D]

"Note: The Windows 7 driver is not final and is provided "as is." It is not supported by AMD, and may contain software bugs. It has not completed full AMD testing. Use of this software is at your own risk."

Sounds pretty beta to me, meh.

I'll post results soon. Might even redownload lost planet just to check out the gains.

 

[curnel_D]

Ok, finished a quick runthrough of benchmarks. I have an ATI 4850x2, and a core 2 at 3.2Ghz.
Crysis had lower framerates, but out of the normal games I play, it was the only one. CoD4 stayed the same, nothing noticeable. But with Farcry 2, World in Conflict, and neverwinter nights 2, I noticed a performance increase anywhere between 5 and 15 percent.

Granted, I did this pretty quick, and only one runthrough of each game, so there should be some differences if I did things a little more complete. I might download lost planet here in an hour or two.

 

[scrumhalf]

Just curious, what makes this the 1st? Nvidia already has Win7 drivers, and I thought AMD did too. What exactly is special about this release?

 

[curnel_D]

[citation][nom]scrumhalf[/nom]Just curious, what makes this the 1st? Nvidia already has Win7 drivers, and I thought AMD did too. What exactly is special about this release?[/citation]
"According to AMD, the new Catalyst drivers will be Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1 compliant, "
Basically, real Win7 support. They've both had situational beta support, but no real full unified driver support. ATI is the first, though still with a beta-like warning.

 

[Niva]

Now if only they'll release a stable driver for linux I'll be sold. ATI/AMD's linux stability has always been so far behind nvidia's it's not even funny. Not that I blame them though, concentrating for the masses is a good business strategy, I know I'm an exception.

 

[gnesterenko]

Lost Planet is great and all, but how about optimizing for GTA IV? I know its a poorly ported game, but I'm sure theres SOME room for improvement?

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

 

[jerreece]

The advanced state of our Windows 7 drivers this far ahead of the final Windows 7 release is yet another proof point of our graphics industry leadership.

Give me a break. Just because you're the first to officially complete a Windows 7 Driver doesn't mean anything. Now, if you're the first, and your driver performs very well, and is completely stable, then it might be something. But that doesn't necessarily provide proof in and of itself that you're the industry leader in my opinion.

I think AMD is tooting it's own horn a bit to much here.

 

[curnel_D]

[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom] Now, if you're the first, and your driver performs very well, and is completely stable, then it might be something.[/citation]

So far, it's been all of those things. Despite ATI's driver team being notorious for bugs and poor performance upgrades, they've done a pretty stellar job with Win7 so far.

 

[truehighroller]

I am on these drivers with my right now "single, because I just had to order a FPS power booster to be able to use my second card. My power supply can't handle all the AMPS being pulled with this setup." 4870 1GB HIS card and everything seems good.

I benchmarked a score of 10880 with 3DMark Vantage and I have to mention my Q9450 is at 3.86GHZ as well so that does help a little with the score.. They installed a lot easier then normal. I was waiting to have to go into local and local low folders and delete stuff to install but nope. My 9.2 Drivers however had to be forced off my system with .net driver cleaner because of a uninstall glitch that made the program hang.

 

[curnel_D]

[citation][nom]truehighroller[/nom]I am on these drivers with my right now "single, because I just had to order a FPS power booster to be able to use my second card. My power supply can't handle all the AMPS being pulled with this setup." 4870 1GB HIS card and everything seems good. I benchmarked a score of 10880 with 3DMark Vantage and I have to mention my Q9450 is at 3.86GHZ as well so that does help a little with the score.. They installed a lot easier then normal. I was waiting to have to go into local and local low folders and delete stuff to install but nope. My 9.2 Drivers however had to be forced off my system with .net driver cleaner because of a uninstall glitch that made the program hang.[/citation]
You're lucky then. INstalling mine took half a dozen restarts and one blotched install, along with driver cleaner every time. lol

 

[nukemaster]

Looks like this release fixed the OpenGL full screen flashy buggy glitch too. The performance still needs some work under OpenGL, but this is a HUGE step in the right direction Waiting for Nvidia's latest to test next.

 

[curnel_D]

[citation][nom]nukemaster[/nom]Looks like this release fixed the OpenGL full screen flashy buggy glitch too. The performance still needs some work under OpenGL, but this is a HUGE step in the right direction Waiting for Nvidia's latest to test next.[/citation]
OpenGL performance is always going to suck until the ATI driver team admits their mistakes and fixes the driver on a basic level. I'd go into it more, but it'd take an entire page up.

 

[magicandy]

[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom]Give me a break. Just because you're the first to officially complete a Windows 7 Driver doesn't mean anything. Now, if you're the first, and your driver performs very well, and is completely stable, then it might be something. But that doesn't necessarily provide proof in and of itself that you're the industry leader in my opinion.I think AMD is tooting it's own horn a bit to much here.[/citation]

New to the GPU market are we? They both have these types of press releases all the time. GUTI.

 

[nukemaster]

OpenGL performance is always going to suck until the ATI driver team admits their mistakes and fixes the driver on a basic level. I'd go into it more, but it'd take an entire page up.

Ok, Suck less. Nvidia had the very same issue under 7 as well.

 

[curnel_D]

[citation][nom]nukemaster[/nom]Ok, Suck less. Nvidia had the very same issue under 7 as well.[/citation]
Well, ATI's problem isnt just under Win7. They have the same problems universaly. It has to do with the OpenGL vRam management that the Catalyst team has totally botched.

 

[curnel_D]

Has anyone found full release notes for this version yet?

I'd like to see what kind of performance gains they're offically claiming.

 

[curnel_D]

Ok, found them actually. Seems they posted them on the driver page just recently.

"Catalyst™ 9.3 brings performance benefits in several cases where framerates are CPU-
limited. Some measured examples are:
Lost Planet: Colonies gains up to 20% on 4800 series products, and up to 50% on
4600, 4500 and 4300 series products"

This is likely why I noticed a large increase in games like World in Conflict. About to test Lost Planet now.

 

[curnel_D]

Yup, about a 15 to 20 percent increase for lost planet.

 

[nukemaster]

Well, ATI's problem isnt just under Win7. They have the same problems universaly. It has to do with the OpenGL vRam management that the Catalyst team has totally botched.

The problem i speak of is ONLY under windows 7. In fact i have no OpenGL issues with any of the games I play under Vista.

I know they DID botch the texture memory thing for OpenGL, but for the games I end up playing its simply not an issue.

The Win7 Issue involves ALL OpenGL games running in full screen flashing or having a strange blinds effect(in a window this problem does not happen). I tested this on both ATI and Nvidia hardware. This has nothing to do with ATI vs Nvidia and was just a small driver fix that was needed.

 

[Guest]

I'd be careful saying you'll be the first!
You never know if another company is ahead of you!

 

[Guest]

I have a ATI X1950 PRO and the 9.3 driver fails to install on windows 7. (

 

[Guest]

Unified? Is that why it doesn't work on the Radeon 9600 PRO + Windows 7?