AMD to Stop Monthly Catalyst Driver Updates

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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AMD announced on Friday that as of the release of the beta version of Catalyst 12.6 drivers, it would no longer be issuing monthly updates. AMD will join its competition in releasing driver updates on an as-needed basis.

You just won’t see a new driver every single month. We are confident that this will only benefit the end user; you’ll only need to upgrade to a new Catalyst driver, when it makes sense.
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Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand they will not feel rushed to get a driver out the door just because they have to drop a driver this month, on the other hand without a regular schedule to keep, without the need to show some improvement on a monthly basis, they may not feel the need to work as hard to keep their drivers up to date.
 
I bet beta driver releases will continue.

Plus it will save them money since they won't be spending as much applying for WHQL certifications.
 
GORANKAR said:
Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand they will not feel rushed to get a driver out the door just because they have to drop a driver this month, on the other hand without a regular schedule to keep, without the need to show some improvement on a monthly basis, they may not feel the need to work as hard to keep their drivers up to date.
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I haven't seen major monthly improvements lately. Most of them have been pushed via the CAPs if anything.

It all depends on their internal management. I hope they're starting to realize that drivers are their Achille's Heel. Their hardware has been great for a number of years now, eclipsing Nvidia in many instances.
 
I only upgraded every so often usually every 2 months because the minor updates often did nothing for me. I waited for the major ones.
 
"During a phone chat with AMD, the editor asked if this restructured release schedule meant that AMD was cutting back on resources for the Catalyst team. He was told that this was not the case and if anything, they are increasing the driver staff."

Quality over quantity, super cool.
 
Scheduled updates keep them honest on keeping their nose to the grindstone on patch publishing. I wish I had confidence in them doing this "as needed" but I have a fear resources will be reassigned.
 
How does it "only benefit the end user"?

Seriously?
 
I also have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, no, drivers don't need to be released every month. Sometimes they need to be released less often and sometimes they need to be released more often. When I was last using an ATI/AMD card I never updated it monthly except for the times that I had problems that weren't fixed in the previous driver release (which happened on occasion).

But, on the other hand, I've had issues with their drivers in the past and knowing a new one is around the corner is sometimes a good thing.
 
DTN107 said:
How does it "only benefit the end user"?

Seriously?
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Well the logical reason is because they can focus more on problems instead of deadlines. Instead of rushing a driver out the door that may not fix certain problems or compatibilities, they can actually fix those problems first and then release it instead of waiting for the next release cycle to implement the changes.
 
The driver quality alone stopped me from buying AMD. I have a deep love for my Nvidia.
 
g0lden said:
The driver quality alone stopped me from buying AMD. I have a deep love for my Nvidia.
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I typically go with the card that offers the best performance at its price range (which has been AMD/ATi in all but two instances where I've purchased a graphics card) but I'll admit that I've never had an issue with nVidia drivers, whereas AMD's driver suite has given me issues. I've never had a problem directly with the driver, but the Catalyst software suite is such a pain in the neck.
 
This will suck for Linux users. Especially since AMD decided not to support anything bellow 5000 series graphic cards.
 
I've swapped from "green" to "red" and back again based on driver support over the years.

Nvidia has had it together for many years now and no matter the speed of the hardware I haven't seen a compelling reason to switch back. Not to mention, as noobman stated, Catalyst is a pain.
 
Thank goodness the madness is over.

Now if we can only get Firefox to do the same thing...
 
These deadlines used to be good back in the day. Those days are gone now and amd needs to concentrate on getting proper game support out faster.
 
Pitabred said:
I haven't seen major monthly improvements lately. Most of them have been pushed via the CAPs if anything.

It all depends on their internal management. I hope they're starting to realize that drivers are their Achille's Heel. Their hardware has been great for a number of years now, eclipsing Nvidia in many instances.
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They are leaps and bounds better than they were 5 years ago. Personally, I think they are on-par with nVidia when it comes to driver quality these days.

This move should make it even better.
 
they should have stopped monthly updates awhile ago...it was cool in the beginning but it quickly became more about trying to one-up Nvidia by rushing out a new driver every 4 weeks versus making sure each driver was performing well...even with monthly drivers there were only around 3-4 really good drivers every year max...so in that case why even bother?

Nvidia is doing it right with their beta and WHQL releases
 
I just want an AMD driver that actually works correctly. It has always be one issue or another with them. And a repeat of unfixed issues every other month.
 
My only issue with cats are upon uninstalling, for the past few months everytime I uninstall my monitor goes into sleep mode with blank screen as soon as it reaches vga driver uninstall. I have to manually reset and then continue the full uninstall process. Its weird.
 
I've been a ATI/AMD guy for a while now... 2000 - 7000 series... I've honestly had no problems until this round, but so far the support for my 7970's has been pretty pathetic. To say I've been disappointed is a massive understatement. The 12.5 beta was the first one that was actually useable for me since the release driver, and 12.6 beta finally promises to fix my BSOD's using Eyefinity! Anyway, I can't imagine anything getting worse, and my gut tells me getting rid of the monthly updates is a positive step. One of the things I'm betting/hoping will improve is the "fix one problem, create another" issue that's seems to have been pretty common lately. In my world that type of garbage (besides the fact it unacceptable) is a sign of rushing things out the door without proper QA testing. In theory, now that the pressure of monthly releases is gone, that "shouldn't" be an issue anymore, crossing my fingers...
 
So what? They stopped making drivers for my most recent ATi card a few years ago (X1950 crossfire setup)
 
Stayfr0sty said:
My only issue with cats are upon uninstalling, for the past few months everytime I uninstall my monitor goes into sleep mode with blank screen as soon as it reaches vga driver uninstall. I have to manually reset and then continue the full uninstall process. Its weird.
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I bet you used driver cleaner or some other strip-the-shit-out app at one time or another since your last OS load. Those things remove more than what the video card loads (which usually has a negative effect).
 
As needed? Really? They are always needed because AMD can't seem to roll the fixes from the last driver into the new one, EVER. Not to mention they can't figure out the golden rule of not fondling video signals.
Some engineer at AMD seems to think that just because video standard is 16-236, that they have to throw out everything that isn't in that range. This last time I actually had to DL a program to fix the black crush and allow me to calibrate my TV.

In the famous words of D-Mike. Read A Book AMD.
 
Way to go, dumbasses. You wanted it, you got it. Now you will get them eventually and will start bitching about it in 5, 4, 3, 2, .........
 
I approve. Let's do away w/ version inflation and only upgrade when needed.

Mozilla, are you listening?! :rolleyes;
 
Makes since to me. Release new drivers as needed. There's nothing special about the 1 month interval.
 
Nvidia can do as needed drivers because they are for the most part, have their drivers ready ahead of new card and game launches.
One the other hand, AMD is constantly lagging behind.
 
I don't mind so long as they work on making the drivers better. If it is an excuse to scale back on drivers to try and save money, screw them. If it is an effort to release higher quality drivers then awesome. We'll have to see how it goes in the end.
 
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