Experiences with AMD Drivers?

[LegacyStijncat]

Hello, and thanks for reading this already!

 

Alright, so I've been using Nvidia happily for a few years now.

Yet, I'm planning a new build, and the R9 380 390 (Thanks @Nacho Marco Segui !) sounds like a way better deal than the GTX 970, and with the release of Crimson, it looks good for AMD.

Since I've used AMD on some other computers, I know how horrible and atrocious the drivers used to be.

 

Are the drivers finally good and stable now, with the release of Crimson?

Share your experiences, but also, do not start a f#@king flamewar. I will report any low jabs at Nvidia or AMD. Comparing is alright, trying to insult fanboys isn't.

 

Thanks in advance!

[don_svetlio]

Both AMD and Nvidia drivers are currently the same more or less - be it in a good or bad way

[Nacho Marco Segui]

You mean the 390 right? I have owned the 970 and right now i have the 390,and performance is the same for me,since i play at 1080p,and all my games run at 60 fps.I haven't had any issue related to drivers,the games i play(Fallout 4 ,BF4,CSGO and the Witcher 3) run smoothly

[Citadelen]

Lol that tag though.

My drivers have been fine and have worked perfectly.

[Guest]

My experience probably isn't that valid, simply because of the lack of it. But...

 

With this build, I actually intended to use a 290x (hence the 600w), but upon installing it I had relentless driver crashes (might have been a hardware problem). So ended up returning it, waiting a few month and getting a 970. Haven't had any issues with the 970. 

 

BUT, this was over a year ago... On my 270x in my previous build I had no problems either, so I guess both sides have their periodical driver issues 

[AresKrieger]

Launch day for many games amd tends to struggle (not necessarily their fault), but when they release a driver to fix issues they seem to be fine after that, so just keep up to date and keep that in mind if you buy a AAA game on launch day. They have gotten a lot better with their drivers as of late, with only one hiccup I know of. (This is only relevant Windows btw, amd and linux don't mix well)

[Shoob]

They are pretty solid. The only issue with the Crimson drivers now is the artifacts in FO4's radar, which is fixable by adding some DLLs in the install dir.

I'm pretty happy with AMD drivers at their current state, they offer more options compared to nvidia's. The only issue I can think of is that their WHQL versions are rarely released, but I haven't ran into any problems with beta drivers.

[Nena Trinity]

AMD drivers are mostly fine just do not download the Crimson one that caused fires then you are good. (unless you play on Linux AMDs drivers their are poor!)

[don_svetlio]

AMD drivers are mostly fine just do not download the Crimson one that caused fires then you are good. (unless you play on Linux AMDs drivers their are poor!)

That was fixed within 12 hours of first reports

[LegacyStijncat]

AMD drivers are mostly fine just do not download the Crimson one that caused fires then you are good. (unless you play on Linux AMDs drivers their are poor!)

"The crimson one that caused fires", wait what?

[Nena Trinity]

That was fixed within 12 hours of first reports

Yes but he better not download that driver o3o

 

"The crimson one that caused fires", wait what?

GPUs was not throttling and the fans was stuck at 20% which well killed a few 280s & 280Xs...

[don_svetlio]

Yes but he better not download that driver o3o

it's fixed and re-released without issues.

[Nena Trinity]

it's fixed and re-released without issues.

I mean the old version! >:c

[don_svetlio]

 

Yes but he better not download that driver o3o

 

GPUs was not throttling and the fans was stuck at 20% which well killed a few 280s & 280Xs...

 

The GPUs were throttling - some weren't due to certain power-saving settings being manually disabled IIRC

[Nena Trinity]

The GPUs were throttling - some weren't due to certain power-saving settings being manually disabled IIRC

Oh really?! (then its their own fault...)

[Prysin]

Both AMD and Nvidia drivers are currently the same more or less - be it in a good or bad way

pretty much this...

 

Nvidia sports better DX11 driver performance, but AMD has superior hardware... so AMD brute forces their way past Nvidia.

AMD has (for now) better DX12 driver performance, but Nvidia will surely catch up to them.

[Shoob]

"The crimson one that caused fires", wait what?

That's "slightly" exaggerated. There was an issue in the initial release of the Crimson drivers that locked the fan speed to the lowest possible setting, which caused overheating and damaged a few cards. However, not a lot of users were affected and even less had their cards fried.

[dalekphalm]

My HD 7950 (Slightly slower than an R9 280) has worked flawlessly for me, and I've had it for several years now. I've had very little/no driver issues to speak of, aside from trying to get various old legacy games to run on Windows 8/8.1/10 - which of course is a problem with Windows, not with the GPU drivers.

 

I would definitely check out the R9 380 or 380x if they are in your price range. If you can get the 380x for $10 or $20 more than the 380, then it's totally worth it.

[Nena Trinity]

pretty much this...

 

Nvidia sports better DX11 driver performance, but AMD has superior hardware... so AMD brute forces their way past Nvidia.

AMD has (for now) better DX12 driver performance, but Nvidia will surely catch up to them.

True DX12 seems like favoring AMD or just leveling the battlefield!

[LegacyStijncat]

pretty much this...

 

Nvidia sports better DX11 driver performance, but AMD has superior hardware... so AMD brute forces their way past Nvidia.

AMD has (for now) better DX12 driver performance, but Nvidia will surely catch up to them.

Will there be a huge difference if Nvidia catches up, in terms of performance etcetera?

[Prysin]

Will there be a huge difference if Nvidia catches up, in terms of performance etcetera?

depends on features being used.

 

900 series cards can just barely do "Async Compute"... so if you throw Compute tasks at Nvidia cards, AMD cards will surge ahead.

Async Compute is a DX 12.0 feature...

Some of the DX12.1 features however is, for now, only possible with Nvidia hardware... however since no game is out using even DX12.0, i wouldnt bother thinking about it for now.

 

Also, the features CAN run on AMD cards using emulation. but it cannot run natively.

[LegacyStijncat]

depends on features being used.

 

900 series cards can just barely do "Async Compute"... so if you throw Compute tasks at Nvidia cards, AMD cards will surge ahead.

Async Compute is a DX 12.0 feature...

Some of the DX12.1 features however is, for now, only possible with Nvidia hardware... however since no game is out using even DX12.0, i wouldnt bother thinking about it for now.

 

Also, the features CAN run on AMD cards using emulation. but it cannot run natively.

If you emulate, I assume you get a big performance hit?

[dalekphalm]

If you emulate, I assume you get a big performance hit?

Probably. But that's speculation, since we don't have anything that really benchmarks those features yet.

[Funtron5000]

I currently have issues with the installer for Nvidia drivers not working at all, and then my 760 turns into a basic VGA card and I have to manually direct windows to the driver to fix that. It's amazing really. But, the once installed, it's fine. My old AMD cards had no issue though.

[LokiFire]

AMD drivers were completely solid with my 7770 until it died. 2 years.