AMD Catalyst 13.35 BETA Driver With Mantle and HSA Support

[TOMPPIX]

AMD is preparing new software updates for their latest generation of APUs and GPUs in January beginning with the Catalyst 13.35 BETA Driver which is scheduled for launch at the end of January.

 

The Catalyst 13.35 Driver will feature support for various new technologies which include proper support for the Kaveri APUs by fully unleashing support of the Mantle API, Dual Graphics Frame Pacing, HSA feature and AMD’s TrueAudio technology. In addition to that, the new Catalyst will also come with a new UI and an auto-update feature which will notify users of the latest WHQL certified and BETA drivers so that their PCs don’t remain out-dated. Another important tool will automatically detect the device ID and provide users with correct drivers and profile packages making sure you don’t use a mobility driver for your desktop graphics card.

The new driver aims to further enhance frame rendered across multiple graphic cards in CrossFireX or Dual graphics configuration to be displaye at an even and regular pace. The frame pacing solution would also be expanded over to the Kaveri APUs with a new Kaveri beta support driver available by the end of January followed by a WHQL version month later. This is great news considering those who are getting Kaveri APU at launch three days from now won’t have to wait too long for a new Catalyst driver to enhance their gaming experience whether their running the APU in standalone mode with the onboard Radeon R7 series graphics or in dual-graphics configuration.
Drivers for Kaveri is still immature at this state and the following performance graph from AMD shows off the difference the Catalyst 13.35 driver makes in Tomb Raider. Mantle API would further leverage performance for these APUs and a setup of AMD’s A10-7850K and Radeon R9 290X will deliver upto 45% improvement over the DirectX API. You can check out the frame pacing feature performance chart below, notice that the performance is beging compared against an OlandXT (with old drivers) versus an OlandXT with new drivers (OlandXT is the chip fused inside AMD’s R7 250 graphics card and is one of only two cards which offer dual graphics compatibility with the Kaveri APUs):

 

 

 

While AMD doesn’t offer dual graphics option to Kaveri with high-end graphics cards, it does offer some new HSA features with the Radeon R9 290X graphics card. AMD did a demonstration behind doors demonstrating the Co-Processing nature of the Kaveri APU. What basically happens is that the Radeon R9 290X will render the graphics while the A10-7850K would handle the physics calculations utilizing HSA as a Co-Processor. This is similar to the NVIDIA PhysX technology where you can set a second GPU as a PhysX Co-Processor. AMD has also boarded this train and seems to be going in the right direction. Although we don’t know what upcoming games will feature HSA support but does which do can see an increase in performance due to offloading of physics processing from the discrete GPUs over to the 12 Compute Units inside the A10-7850K.

 

 

 

AMD is also bringing a new JPEG decoder which utilizes the power of the compute cores to decode pictures faster and new video features such as detail enhancement, contour removal and fluid motion video which delivers fluid and smooth video playback. The Catalyst 13.35 BETA driver arrives in late January and would be followed by a WHQL version later next month.

 

 

SOURCE

[MagnetSh0CK]

FINALLY!

[Guest GRRigger]

Well done amd Finnaly some progress. Hyped what HSA brings in future games.

 

This is good "What basically happens is that the Radeon R9 290X will render the graphics while the A10-7850K would handle the physics calculations utilizing HSA as a Co-Processor"

 

I think amd is pulling ahead of intel with this one

[MatheusSanzo]

Because f*ck linux, right?

[JcGross]

Yeah, now all we need are some games that support mantle and we are all set.

[JayD]

Has there been any mention of being able to use TrueAudio if you have let's say a 280X, that does not support TrueAudio, along with a Kavari APU that does support it?

[simson0606]

wouldn't the apu be too slow to be used as a coprocessor, like using a gtx 650 or something as a physics card?

[Fetzie]

wouldn't the apu be too slow to be used as a coprocessor, like using a gtx 650 or something as a physics card?

 

I think TrueAudio uses a dedicated chip, so the speed of the CPU is irrelevant.

[Kuzma]

wouldn't the apu be too slow to be used as a coprocessor, like using a gtx 650 or something as a physics card?

Considering physics calculations are usually intended to take advantage of the maximum number of FPUs a CPU has but since there aren't many in a CPU plus they're weak in comparison to a GPU, even a pretty weak GPU like a GT610 would be more than enough for compute.

[Testmann]

I think TrueAudio uses a dedicated chip, so the speed of the CPU is irrelevant.

But isn't that dedicated chip featured inside the Kavari APUs aswell as the graphics cards?

[dylandylandylan]

Oh yeeeeeeeeeeah. This is exciting news.

[UnderADyingSun]

Sorry I was too tired to read through this, are you saying Mantle is finally coming?!!? Like, soon?

[LoneGun]

Finally some use for those garba.... I mean... "resting" graphic cores inside the CPUs. If there's enough single thread CPU performance boost for the next gen AMD CPU "Carrizo", one can finally make a case for buying an AMD CPU over Intel for a mid end PC. Your move Intel! 

[Daniellynet]

Lots of things I've been waiting for are finally coming. Quite excited.

[Gunjob]

Isn't it meant to be 14.1? since AMD's driver naming scheme goes Year/month. I suppose this is a wccftech article, when do we stop posting their articles? 

 

An actual article with the correct information. http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/amd_catalyst_14_1_beta_loaded_with_new_features.html

 

Edit: I suppose they do link to the 14.1 driver announcement. 

[TOMPPIX]

Isn't it meant to be 14.1? since AMD's driver naming scheme goes Year/month. I suppose this is a wccftech article, when do we stop posting their articles? 

 

An actual article with the correct information. http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/amd_catalyst_14_1_beta_loaded_with_new_features.html

 

Edit: I suppose they do link to the 14.1 driver announcement. 

The 13.35 edition will focus on support for AMD's Catalyst variety of new technologies

[miyabwah]

By "Beta" does it mean the Beta BF4 is currently in?

[Andrew48]

This is excellent new! Bravo AMD!

[ZetZet]

Many people will build 7850k + 290x combo.

[plk4]

I wonder if the frame pacing only works on newer gen cards (HD7000s up) or older ones as well

[Fetzie]

Many people will build 7850k + 290x combo.

 

The idea behind using the 7850K in the demo is to show that a low end CPU (I don't care what AMD says, it is a low end CPU - and this is coming from an AMD fan) will not bottle-neck the performance increase from Mantle.

[DLM_012]

AMD with this driver support has been awesome lately.

[infernowheels]

I smell AMD awesomeness incoming.

[Vitalius]

Sorry I was too tired to read through this, are you saying Mantle is finally coming?!!? Like, soon?

Apparently. 

The drivers will be here by the end of January. 

Implying a February BF4 Mantle Release.

[it24]

Can't wait!Gj AMD