AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta Frame Pacing CrossFire Driver @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

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AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta Frame Pacing CrossFire Driver - Has stuttering with CrossFire been getting you down? Today may make many AMD CrossFire owners happy. Catalyst 13.8 Beta includes Frame Pacing technology to create a more fluid CrossFire experience. At least up to 2560x1600 resolution, for now. Does it really do the job? We investigate this and tell you what the gameplay experience is like.
 
It's aboot time they did this. Though I'm currently with team green, if AMD can keep it up, I might consider switching back.
 
Just got in my 7970 just in time to experience some awesome drivers! Seeing how phase 2 goes, I'll see about getting a second 7970. But this looks good enough to make me want to go crossfire now.
 
sweet. waiting for a couple of my amd cards to come back from rma to try these drivers out.
 
Almost want to plug in my 5870's to just have a play.
 
I loved my old 5870's that I had back in 2010. These were AWESOME pieces of hardware. After the 10.5 drivers, my crossfire setup suffered from this problem...VERY POOR PERFORMANCE. Glad to see AMD/ATI finally getting around to a perm fix for this. I think the tech will improve over time....
 
The Cobra said:
I loved my old 5870's that I had back in 2010. These were AWESOME pieces of hardware. After the 10.5 drivers, my crossfire setup suffered from this problem...VERY POOR PERFORMANCE. Glad to see AMD/ATI finally getting around to a perm fix for this. I think the tech will improve over time....
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Hmmmm....considering moving my 7930s into my Main(replacing my GTX670) and see if they give Titan-like performance.
 
Since I use EyeFinity in my AMD computer, I'm waiting to see what the next release brings.

The data look promising though.:D

Very interesting article today, thanks.
 
Quick question about the support caveats - does "single monitor support" mean it will work on a multi-monitor configuration when the game is only displayed on one (non-eyefinity gaming)? Or does that mean single monitor period, desktop or gaming it doesn't matter.

To be more specific: I use a triple monitor desktop but only game on the center one, will phase 1 of frame pacing work in this configuration?
 
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great write up. very pleased to see AMD making progress in this arena. anxious to see what they can pull off eyefinity.
 
Seriously awesome news from AMD. Anything to make them competitive with Xfire. I like the big improvement in Crysis. Hitman already seemed smooth enough? Not sure if pacing did much for that game. Great article and glad to see them doing this. I've got 2 680's and might have to switch again if they keep this up. :)
 
Great news for owners of AMD cards. Unfortunately they have lost my business already. It shouldn't have taken this long to address a problem that was so evident.
 
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VERY glad to see this from AMD. Obviously more work remains, but this is a very impressive first step. I'd been waiting to see how these drivers did before pulling the trigger on a 2nd 7950, and a few hours ago I went ahead and ordered one. :)
 
Good news for me, I already have the drivers installed. Just waiting for UPS to deliver my second 7970 and my new 144Hz monitors. Hate that for some reason they almost never deliver to my house before 6pm...
 
inglewood78 said:
Great news for owners of AMD cards. Unfortunately they have lost my business already. It shouldn't have taken this long to address a problem that was so evident.
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It really wasn't so evident, I honestly can't tell the difference with these drivers, and if you read the anandtech article they discuss the choices AMD made regarding drivers. I don't know if Anand is correct, but I understand the reasoning assuming it's correct.

I am on crossfired 7850s, so maybe it's a 79xx thing. My 6850s were great too.
 
Its great and all that AMD is finally listening after YEARS of complaints from sites like this one and gamers across the board. You can reference thousands if not 10's of thousands of different sources citing how bad micro-stuttering had become on AMD Crossfire solutions in terms of the overall feel of any game.

This "Frame Pacing" feature should have be created years ago , part of the reason I stopped buying multi card AMD solutions , I just couldn't stand the jutterish nature of the frame rate peaks and valleys.

But its good that they are finally on board with something Nvidia figured out years ago.
 
Although i have moved back and forth this is great news. AMD driver advancements and Xfire improvement will have me looking at the next Gen (possibly goodbye to the 780 GTX's in SLI). Really great article and touches all the stuff i would want to know.
 
stealthy123 said:
It really wasn't so evident, I honestly can't tell the difference with these drivers, and if you read the anandtech article they discuss the choices AMD made regarding drivers. I don't know if Anand is correct, but I understand the reasoning assuming it's correct.

I am on crossfired 7850s, so maybe it's a 79xx thing. My 6850s were great too.
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You might have a very high FPS already. Where this frame pacing really helps, is when you dip down to the 30-40 fps area. I noticed a big difference in Crysis 3. It is almost as smooth as running single card now, given same FPS.
 
x3sphere said:
You might have a very high FPS already. Where this frame pacing really helps, is when you dip down to the 30-40 fps area. I noticed a big difference in Crysis 3. It is almost as smooth as running single card now, given same FPS.
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True, the bigger FPS overrun you have the less obvious the stutter becomes.
 
x3sphere said:
You might have a very high FPS already. Where this frame pacing really helps, is when you dip down to the 30-40 fps area. I noticed a big difference in Crysis 3. It is almost as smooth as running single card now, given same FPS.
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ya i am only playing @ 1920 x 1200 with 7850s so maybe that's what it is. I generally don't max out AA so I guess I should max AA and revert to older drivers and see.
 
wow this is a pretty significant improvement. updated from the latest 13.4 drivers. running 3 WC 7970s. Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider game play is night and day improved @ 2560X1440. I personally have never seen such a significant game play difference from just a driver update.
 
one issue that i am having is futuremarks firestrike crashes my system with the 13.8 drivers. with 13.4 it ran flawlessly
 
Rauelius said:
Hmmmm....considering moving my 7930s into my Main(replacing my GTX670) and see if they give Titan-like performance.
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Wait a second... are you calling your 7870 LE's by the name 7930? That's silly.
 
stealthy123 said:
a ton of people have been doing that for a while, and yes, it's stupid.
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I'm amazed that was the first time I noticed it!

I guess if pretending it's a 79xx card makes them feel better about themselves, more power too 'em.
 
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'Bout time. I'll probably stick with Radeon Pro for now as it seems to be even more consistent, but this is certainly a positive step. Kudos to Nvidia for creating FCAT and making AMD better.
 
Thank God. About fuckin' time they addressed this issue. Still got some work to be done, though.

Thanks for the excellent article. I had been wondering when AMD/ATi would get around to handling this.
 
Good news for me, I just got a second 7950 in my system! I didn't really notice any microstuttering but maybe that's because of the high framerates I was getting.

I'll have to up the settings in all my games tonight and test! :D
 
Makes me want to get a good cooler for my other 6950 and x-fire. Has to remain 2 slot though...
 
FYI..using my 6800K APU + 6670 in Heaven benchmark I get a much smoother experience compared to before even though the avg frame rates are only around 29-30 fps. Step in the right direction!
 
satrafton said:
Quick question about the support caveats - does "single monitor support" mean it will work on a multi-monitor configuration when the game is only displayed on one (non-eyefinity gaming)? Or does that mean single monitor period, desktop or gaming it doesn't matter.

To be more specific: I use a triple monitor desktop but only game on the center one, will phase 1 of frame pacing work in this configuration?
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After an hour or so of testing BF3, it would appear this configuration is not working w/ frame pacing. I could have just been delirious, but I'm fairly certain.

On the other hand, when it did work (with 2 displays disabled), BF3 was a brand new game. I could even play with 4xAA turned on, which I've never been able to get reliable consistent performance with at 2560x1600. I can't wait until they get this hammered out for multi-display setups.
 
I usually don't install beta drivers (had some bad experiences before) but I might give these a try tonight.
 
stealthy123 said:
ya i am only playing @ 1920 x 1200 with 7850s so maybe that's what it is. I generally don't max out AA so I guess I should max AA and revert to older drivers and see.
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You don't have to install the old drivers, just disable frame pacing in the 13.8's. It's as simple as unchecking a box. :)

Personally, it's night and day in the games I've tested with. I can now get the same smooth performance with 2 cards in games where I used to have to use 3 to achieve it. Once I've had more time to test and the the phase II drivers are available I may just pull one of my cards out so that I can use it my ITX machine :)
 
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