AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA “Frame Pacing Fix” Drivers Finally Released/REVIEW

[ExDreamer]

AMD Releases Catalyst 13.8 BETA “Frame Pacing Fix” Drivers

 

The Catalyst 13.8 BETA drivers which have been launched today are not meant to boost the performance of the Radeon cards but instead fix the latency issues that have plagued the entire HD 7000 series against their counter parts from NVIDIA. The most badly affected from stuttering and frame pacing issues are the dual graphic cards and setups which include CrossfireX and the Radeon HD 7990. While the Radeon HD 7990 boasted massive FPS against its competitors, it failed to provide better image quality without displaying stuttering and fluctuating frame rates.

 

 

With the Catalyst 13.8 BETA drivers, AMD users now get a chance to enable Frame Pacing fix under CrossfireX or dual chip GPU operations. The latest Catalyst Control Center than comes with the 13.8 BETA drivers allows users to turn On/Off frame pacing fix in any game they want. The Frame pacing is set to On by Default but those who are aiming for performance are recommended to keep it turned off. It is however told by AMD that users would experience a certain drop of FPS when Frame Pacing is enabled in a game. So those of you who are benchmarking would need to turn it off to avail full power of the graphic card.

 

 

It should be noted that this Catalyst 13.8 driver is still in BETA phase which itself is its first iteration denoted by the “BETA 1″. So we may get one or two more BETA’s before AMD officially outs the WHQL certified release. Performance previews aren’t available yet since AMD hasn’t yet officially announced the Catalyst 13.8 BETA driver on its site yet but as soon as they do, we will do a round up of the various tech sites who provide their analysis of the Catalyst 13.8 BETA 1 Driver.

Read more: http://wccftech.com/amd-catalyst-13-8-beta-frame-pacing-fix-drivers-finally-released/#ixzz2ajNXiyjH

 

AMD has finally released the much anticipated Catalyst 13.8 BETA which would finally fix frame pacing and stuttering issues on Radeon graphic cards. Officially planned for launch yesterday, the AMD Catalyst drivers were postponed for a day since AMD had to run some additional testing with the drivers. AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA 1 Driver can be downloaded from the links provided below:

 

• AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA Desktop Download Link – Windows 7/8 64-bit
• AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA Mobility Download Link – Windows 7/8 64-bit

 

Installation instructions for Windows 8.1 users:

- Download the latest AMD Catalyst Win 8.1 Release Preview Drivers.

- Extract it.

- Replace the "Drivers" folder inside "Packages" with the one that comes with 13.8

- Run the setup.

 

 

 

 

Reviews:

• Guru3D
• Anandtech
• PC Perspective
• Hardware Heaven
• HardOCP
• Hot Hardware
• HardwareCanucks
• ComputerBase.de (German)
• PCGamesHardware (German)

 

Guru3D Conclusion

We are going to give credit where credit is due as AMD deserves that. In a relatively short time period the driver team has been able to tackle micro-stuttering significantly. Though they are not there 100% yet the overall latency differential has improved dramatically. Mind you that frame pacing only works with DX10 and DX11 titles for now. AMD is still working on DirectX 9, but that will be addressed in the upcoming Beta's.

Comparing apples to oranges, when you look at the charts NVIDIA still has a better overall solution as their latencies differentials for each even and odd frame are a hint better. But the difference with AMD is very close, so close that we doubt very much it can be seen visually. We are pretty sure that over time, AMDs frame pacing algorithm will get even more refined as remember, NVIDIA has been working on this rendering anomaly (or byproduct if you will) for a much longer time.

 

Anantech Conclusion

Ultimately we have to give AMD the kudos they deserve. They have come forward about their issues, set out a plan to fix them, and have begun delivering on those plans. There’s still room for further improvement within AMD’s drivers, so AMD’s job is far from done, but today they have taken the first step needed to settle the frame pacing problems that have been dogging their products.

 

PCPER Conclusion

AMD deserves a lot of credit for stepping up and addressing these frame pacing issues with the 13.8 beta driver. It took a brand new testing methodology to really prove that there was an issue with CrossFire and even internally at AMD it seemed there was a debate if the results we published were "real." Not only does this driver validate everything we have worked on for the last two years but the fact that AMD has decided to enable the frame pacing fix by default emphasizes that fact even more. Evenly paced frames results in a smoother animation and does not mean that your input latency increases in any way.

 

 

"Phase 2 of the driver will come later this month. In Phase 2 CrossFire in Eyefinity resolutions will be supported. There will also be support for DX9 and OGL games in Phase 2. So if you game in Eyefinity, or across multiple displays, or higher resolutions than 2560x1600 then Phase 2 driver is what you will have to wait for. Also, if you want support in DX9 games."

 

[carolkarine]

downloading, even though I don't have crossfire.

[Helltech]

Will be looking forward to PCPer and Tomshardware (since those are the only two sites that do frame rating correct), benchmarks. 

[Jamdude]

Downloading now! :D

[SSOB]

Downloading mobility ones for my laptop ,just beacuse :p

[IGJoe2192]

I am going to wait until AMD releases it officially on their website.

[Fetzie]

With the Catalyst 13.8 BETA drivers, AMD users now get a chance to enable Frame Pacing fix under CrossfireX or dual chip GPU operations.

 

So not for single-card setups?

[ExDreamer]

So not for single-card setups?

You would get game optimization on this driver for single card setup. That is because single card did not have severe frametime issue.

[Jamdude]

So the Catalyst Control Centre now says my cards have a memory size of 6GB, my cards are now running about 10°C cooler at idle and I'm getting about 10fps more when playing Battlefield 3.  Definitely seems like a massive improvement :D

[ExDreamer]

So the Catalyst Control Centre now says my cards have a memory size of 6GB, my cards are now running about 10°C cooler at idle and I'm getting about 10fps more when playing Battlefield 3.  Definitely seems like a massive improvement :D

That's seem great news. 10C is a lot of improvement. Have you test it at load?

[JordanMac]

Will be looking forward to PCPer and Tomshardware (since those are the only two sites that do frame rating correct), benchmarks. 

Yeah this will be the real test to see if it is fixed, although i doubt amd will have realised the driver without some improvement.

[GamerDude]

Thanks dude, normally I go to guru3d for my AMD driver fixes, was looking thru some posts here when I noticed this....downloading as I'm typing this post. Thanks dude!

[watz up lenny]

It was going great in Metro Last Light, then it gave me a blue screen.

[warmmilk]

downloading even though I have Nvidia

/trolling :D

[Jamdude]

That's seem great news. 10C is a lot of improvement. Have you test it at load?

My 7870s max out at 70C under 100% load

[carolkarine]

IF YOU READ THIS BEFORE THE EDIT I FIXED IT

[carolkarine]

so I turned off frame pacing and now everything works. now let's see them temps and frames.

[carolkarine]

I can confirm +10fps in BF3 and -10c

[OneGun]

Far Cry 3 is now playable without RadeonPro on my 7950 crossfire setup..

 

That game use to be horrible..

[Levent]

this update makes metro last light unplayeable on my 7850 soo much shadow render errors 40ms average frame time 

downgrading to 13.4 whql

[ajoy39]

Will be looking forward to PCPer and Tomshardware (since those are the only two sites that do frame rating correct), benchmarks. 

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-Catalyst-138-Brings-Frame-Pacing-AMD-Radeon

[samuel]

did anyone else had the "unknow vendor" driver notificatiin when installing catalyst?

[Frix]

Its out officialy on there site, got a link from Facebook, anyone seen performance improvements with one GPU?

[Xelithium]

It is a huge improvement indeed.

 

[WoodenMarker]

Well, this was exciting.