AMD lanza los controladores gráficos Catalyst 14.9 WHQL

AMD lanzó unos nuevos controladores gráficos con unas mejoras más que necesarias para los usuarios con tarjetas gráficas de la serie AMD Radeon R3/R5/R7 y R9, hablamos de los AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL, los cuales llegan para aumentar el rendimiento en una gran cantidad de juegos de ultima hornada como Assassin's Creed IV, Murdered Sould Suspect o Watch Dogs.

Más allá de las mejoras gráficas, nos encontramos con mejoras en la API AMD Mantle (soporta GPUs móviles bajo la tecnología Enduro y mejoras de rendimiento en juegos bajo dicha API), y habilita a la plataforma AMD AM1 la aceleración para la decodificación JPEG y una descompresión JPEG más rápida.

Seguimos con mejoras que tienen que ver con AMD Eyefinity integrando una nueva arquitectura que mejora el rendimiento y amplía las capacidades de una configuración con resolución mixta con el alineamiento de la imagen. Puedes ver todo lo comentado y más información detallada en el propio listado de mejoras que aporta la compañía después de los enlaces de descarga.

• Equipos de sobremesa

AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL (Windows 7/8/8.1 64 bits)
AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL (Windows 7/8/8.1 32 bits)
AMD Catalyst 14.9 (Linux 32 y 64 bits)

• Equipos portátiles

AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL (Windows 7/8/8.1 64 bits)
AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL (Windows 7/8/8.1 32 bits)

Mejoras encontradas en los AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL

Soporte para la AMD Radeon R9 285

Mejoras de rendimiento (comparando los AMD Catalyst 14.9 vs AMD Catalyst 14.4)

3DMark Sky Diver improvements
– AMD A4 6300 – improves up to 4%
– Enables AMD Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire support

3DMark Fire Strike
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – improves up to 5% in Performance Preset

3DMark11
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 4% in Entry and Performance Preset

BioShock Infinite
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – 1920×1080 – improves up to 5%

Company of Heroes 2
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – improves up to 8%

Crysis 3
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 10%

Grid Auto Sport
– AMD CrossFire profile

Murdered Soul Suspect
– AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560×1440, 4x MSAA, 16x AF) – improves up to 50%
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 6%
– CrossFire configurations improve scaling up to 75%

Plants vs. Zombies (Direct3D performance improvements)
– AMD Radeon R9 290X – 1920×1080 Ultra – improves up to 11%
– AMD Radeon R9290X – 2560×1600 Ultra – improves up to  15%
– AMD Radeon R9290X CrossFire configuration (3840×2160 Ultra)  – 92% scaling

Batman Arkham Origins:
– AMD Radeon R9 290X (4x MSAA) – improves up to 20%
– CrossFire configurations see up to a 70% gain in scaling

Wildstar
– Power Xpress profile
– Performance improvements to improve smoothness of application
– Performance improves up to 30% on the AMD Radeon R9 and R7 Series of products for both single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations

Tomb Raider
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – improves up to 5%

Watch Dogs
– AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 9%
– AMD CrossFire – Frame pacing improvement
– Improved CrossFire performance – up to 20%

Assassin’s Creed IV
– Improves CrossFire scaling (3840×2160 High Settings) up to 93%  (CrossFire scaling improvement of 25% compared to AMD Catalyst 14.4)

Lichdom
– Improves performance for single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations

Star Craft II
– AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560×1440, AA, 16x AF) – improves up to 20%

 

AMD Mantle enhancements

• Mantle now supports AMD Mobile products with Enduro technology

• Battlefield 4:  AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1366×768; high settings) – 21% gain
• Thief: AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920×1080; high settings) – 14% gain
• Star Swarm:  AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920×1080; medium settings) – 274% gain
• Enables support for Multi-GPU configurations with Thief (requires the latest Thief update)

AMD AM1 JPEG decoding acceleration

• JPEG decoding acceleration was first enabled on the A10 APU Series in AMD Catalyst 14.1 beta, and has now been extended to the AMD AM1 Platform
• Provides fast JPEG decompression
• Provides Power Efficiency for JPEG decompression

 

AMD Eyefinity enhancements

• Mixed Resolution Support
  • A new architecture providing brand new capabilities
  • Display groups can be created with monitors of different resolution  (including difference sizes and shapes)
  • Users have a choice of how surface is created over the display group
    1. Fill – legacy mode, best for identical monitors
    2. Fit – create the Eyefinity surface using best available rectangular area with attached displays
    3. Expand – create a virtual Eyefinity surface using desktops as viewports onto the surface
• Eyefinity Display Alignment
• Enables control over alignment between adjacent monitors
• Driver detects layout of extended desktop
  • Can create Eyefinity display group using this layout in one click!
• One-Click Setup

New user controls for video color and display settings

Greater control over Video Color Management:

Controls have been expanded from a single slider for controlling Boost and Hue to per color axis

Color depth control for Digital Flat Panels (available on supported HDMI and DP displays)

Allows users to select different color depths per resolution and display