# AMD Releases the Catalyst 13.12 WHQL Graphics Drivers



## Cristian_25H (Dec 18, 2013)

After months of Catalyst 13.11 betas AMD has now made available a new WHQL-certified graphics driver, the Catalyst 13.12. This release features support for the Radeon HD 5000, HD 6000, HD 7000, Radeon R7 and R9 Series cards and is available for Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1.

*Download:* Catalyst 13.12 WHQL 32-bit / Catalyst 13.12 WHQL 64-bit



*Feature Highlights*
​Support for the following new products:

AMD Radeon R9 290, 280, and 270 Series
AMD Radeon R7 260, 250, and 240 Series
​Improved AMD CrossFire​ scaling for the following game titles:

Call of Duty: Ghosts (multiplayer component)
Splinter Cell Blacklist
Saints Row 4
Metro Last Light
​New AMD Enduro Technology profiles for the following game titles:

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Need for Speed Rivals
Total War​: Rome 2
Battlefield 4
Saints Row 4
Splinter Cell Blacklist
FIFA 14
​Support For AMD CrossFire frame pacing

Frame pacing ensures that frames rendered across multiple GPUs in an AMD CrossFire configuration will be displayed at an even and regular pace
Frame pacing is enabled through the AMD Catalyst Control Center, or on a per application basis
Frame pacing is supported on DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications using resolutions up to (and including) 2560x1600 on a single display

*Resolved Issues*

May resolve intermittent black screens or display loss observed on some AMD Radeon R9 290X and AMD Radeon R9 290 graphics cards
Resolves intermittent crashes seen in legacy DirectX 9 applications
AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - Power Tune update to reduce variance of fan speed / RPM
PCI-E bus speed is no longer set to x1 on the secondary GPU when running in an AMD CrossFire configuration
Resolves incorrect HDMI Audio Driver information being listed in the AMD Catalyst Control Center
Resolves AMD Steady Video option being grayed out in the AMD Catalyst Control Center
Resolves intermittent flickering seen on some AMD Radeon R9 270X graphics cards
Resolves graphics corruption issues found in Starcraft
Resolves image corruption seen in Autodesk Investor 2014
Resolves flickering water corruption found in World of Warcraft
Resolves intermittent black screen when resuming from a S3/S4 sleep-state if the display is unplugged during the sleep-state on systems supporting AMD Enduro Technology
Resolves intermittent crashes experienced with Battlefield 4 on Windows 8 based systems
Resolves the display turning green when using Windows Media Player to view HD .avi format video in an extended desktop configuration
Resolves Metro applications experiencing frame drops during playback of interlaced video content
Resolves video playback corruption of .wmv format files in Windows Media Player

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## Delta6326 (Dec 18, 2013)

Downloading now.


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## nemesis.ie (Dec 18, 2013)

Hmmm, it doesn't seem to let me uncheck gaming evolved. Says it's already installed and up to date, but it isn't installed ...

Just installed and GE does not seem to be there, so maybe it unchecked but didn't display - weird stuff.


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## Red_Machine (Dec 18, 2013)

AMD hasn't supported Vista for months now.  You need to remove Vista from your list of supported OSes.


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## rougal (Dec 18, 2013)

Finally new drivers (non BETA).. downloading..


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## 95Viper (Dec 19, 2013)

Red_Machine said:


> AMD hasn't supported Vista for months now.  You need to remove Vista from your list of supported OSes.



AMD does support Vista.
You have to look for them.

AMD Catalyst™ Display Driver 32 bit
Description:
Package contains the following graphics drivers and dependent/required software for the products specified in the current version's official release notes for the 32 bit version of Windows Vista:
Display Driver ver. 13.251
OpenCL(tm) Driver ver. 10.0.1348.5
Catalyst Control Center ver. 2013.1206.1602.28764

AMD Catalyst™ Display Driver 64 bit
Description:
Package contains the following graphics drivers and dependent/required software for the products specified in the current version's official release notes for the 32 bit version of Windows Vista:
Display Driver ver. 13.251
OpenCL(tm) Driver ver. 10.0.1348.5
Catalyst Control Center ver. 2013.1206.1602.28764


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## fullinfusion (Dec 19, 2013)

About efn time!! Cant wait to get home and test this driver


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

oh sweet jesus


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## SK-1 (Dec 19, 2013)

Installing...


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

The system info and GPU-z seem to still say 13.11 You might need to clean install them just a heads up. Im going to do that now.


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## pr0fessor (Dec 19, 2013)

Are you serious AMD? I bought Windows 8, because I thought you do not support Vista anymore. Well, Windows 8 isn't that bad.


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## Lionheart (Dec 19, 2013)

Awesome! About time AMD


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

Did any of you get odd readings in GPU-Z? After a clean install I dont get a 13.12 i am assuming w1zz just needs to update it. But in the CCC I dont get 13.12 either I get a random reg string


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## lkiommmmyyyy (Dec 19, 2013)

I do not know there is no solution or fix 7790 black and restart the game to run test programs and software crashes and display driver has been restored questions
Stable yet


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## SK-1 (Dec 19, 2013)

CCC software info says 13.11


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

Solaris17 said:


> The system info and GPU-z seem to still say 13.11 You might need to clean install them just a heads up. Im going to do that now.





Solaris17 said:


> Did any of you get odd readings in GPU-Z? After a clean install I dont get a 13.12 i am assuming w1zz just needs to update it. But in the CCC I dont get 13.12 either I get a random reg string





SK-1 said:


> CCC software info says 13.11


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## SK-1 (Dec 19, 2013)




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## Steve Kosh (Dec 19, 2013)

It's also showing as 13.11 for me, but I did not do a fresh install.


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

Ya I had to do a clean install

Reboot

still showed 13.11

went into dev mgr

right clicked display adapter

uninstalled (checked box to delete) driver

Scanned for new hardware changes

microsoft driver was installed

then ran cat 13.12 installer again.

got the above readout.

but its the same number as 13.11


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## Divide Overflow (Dec 19, 2013)

Did those showing an older Catalyst version number do an uninstall of the old driver first?

I did a simple uninstall first and show the same driver version string as Solaris17.


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## SK-1 (Dec 19, 2013)

Damn. Wonder what the hell is going on over at AMD

I did a clean install


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

nvidia did this iirc awhile ago were they ran a beta for awhile 333.1/.16/.22/.48 333.58 WHQL

but they were similar drivers. maybe they just didnt update the build number? Not sure I will continue to test tomorrow. I really do not want to go through alot of this for new drivers.

EDIT:: MSI afterburner doesnt even detect a driver.

EDIT 2:: The attached is my current attempt at an install driver is the same build version as the 13.11 betas

EDIT 3:: These drivers dont seem like they were set at 400º for 20min. I have a few reports

Here

Here

that indicate others are running into problems


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 19, 2013)

AMD 13.12 WHQL seems to be working perfectly fine for me.  Not having issues.  Just installed it like 2 hours ago.  PCIe Bus is showing 16x 3.0 for all three R9-290x's.

The Gaming Evolve crap wasn't listed in the list of things being installed.  I'm glad they took it out.  All the previous Beta Drivers, I unchecked them.


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## The Von Matrices (Dec 19, 2013)

"Resolves graphics corruption issues found in Starcraft"

This is good.  I thought my card was dying due to all the issues I was seeing in the game.



Serpent of Darkness said:


> The Gaming Evolve crap wasn't listed in the list of things being installed.  I'm glad they took it out.  All the previous Beta Drivers, I have unchecked them.



Of course it's not in the WHQL drivers, because raptr is a program in beta.  I would expect it to remain in the beta driver releases and to be integrated into the WHQL releases when its beta status is removed.


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 19, 2013)

pr0fessor said:


> Are you serious AMD? I bought Windows 8, because I thought you do not support Vista anymore. Well, Windows 8 isn't that bad.




They've always had Support for Vista.  AMD, and I think NVidia as well, have dropped support for Win XP.  I bet eventually, when Win9 comes out--talks about it have been hitting the media, will probably be around the time when Support for Vista will be dropped.  MS wants to get you buying their products again some how...


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

Serpent of Darkness said:


> AMD 13.12 WHQL seems to be working perfectly fine for me.  Not having issues.  Just installed it like 2 hours ago.  PCIe Bus is showing 16x 3.0 for all three R9-290x's.
> 
> The Gaming Evolve crap wasn't listed in the list of things being installed.  I'm glad they took it out.  All the previous Beta Drivers, I unchecked them.



Can you confirm this with a screen shot? You don't exhibit any of the odd readings we do? Does your Oc program detect a driver? Mine does not. i'm using after burner.


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 19, 2013)

Solaris17 said:


> Can you confirm this with a screen shot? You don't exhibit any of the odd readings we do? Does your Oc program detect a driver? Mine does not. i'm using after burner.



Looking at it closely, I can confirm that MSI AB 3.0.0 Beta 17 and ROG Techpowerup GPU-z 0.7.4, isn't indicating a driver version.  I'm not going to put a picture up to confirm this.  On MSI AB, Driver Version is blank.  There's nothing listed.  In my GPU-Z where it say "Driver Version,"  the following is listed: atiumdag 13.251.0.0/Win7 64.  In SK-1's screenshot, there should be a "(driver version)" in between the 0.0 and /Win7 64.  It's not there, and I am not worried about it to be honest.


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## ClassicEnergy (Dec 19, 2013)

This is why I will never buy another Amd product. It takes month and months of beta drivers to get to this. Good thing I went nvidia this time around.


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## john_ (Dec 19, 2013)

pr0fessor said:


> Are you serious AMD? I bought Windows 8, because I thought you do not support Vista anymore. Well, Windows 8 isn't that bad.



http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

The problem with AMD is that it's site is a TOTAL ABSOLUTE AMAZING MESS. Couldn't they have just ONE download page? And not just that. I was looking in the past for raid drivers for SB750 (the floppy kind for Windows XP I think) and the driver was there in my face with only one problem. It was saying that it was for SB850 only.


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 19, 2013)

If those don't fix the CrossFireX crashes in COD:Ghost, that's it for me with AMD.


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## H82LUZ73 (Dec 19, 2013)

*Description:*
Package contains the following graphics drivers and dependent/required software for the products specified in the current version's official release notes for the 64 bit version of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1:
Display Driver ver. *13.251*
OpenCL(tm) Driver ver. 10.0.1348.5
Catalyst Control Center ver. 2013.1206.1602.28764
Languages:

If your seeing this in you CCC or GPUZ you have 13.12 Installed .....AMD has had a fault with the beta drivers for the last year with it not reading the proper driver version under WHQL.Give it another 6 months when the next driver WHQL certified is released and it should read it again right.

PS i might also add that you would need to do fresh Windows install to fix it so i just live with it .


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## Solaris17 (Dec 19, 2013)

H82LUZ73 said:


> *Description:*
> Package contains the following graphics drivers and dependent/required software for the products specified in the current version's official release notes for the 64 bit version of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1:
> Display Driver ver. *13.251*
> OpenCL(tm) Driver ver. 10.0.1348.5
> ...



I seriously doubt a fresh windows install would fix it. Its a missing registry string.


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## Cheeseball (Dec 19, 2013)

When you guys did a clean install, do you mean you used the clean install option during the driver installation or did you do the "DriverSweeper clean up, restart then driver install" method?

Use the old DriverSweeper 3.2.0 version, not the new Treexy Driver Fusion bullshit that they currently have.


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## niko084 (Dec 19, 2013)

Cheeseball said:


> When you guys did a clean install, do you mean you used the clean install option during the driver installation or did you do the "DriverSweeper clean up, restart then driver install" method?
> 
> Use the old DriverSweeper 3.2.0 version, not the new Treexy Driver Fusion bullshit that they currently have.



Uninstall of old driver package, reboot, install new driver package, reboot, should normally do the trick.


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## Cheeseball (Dec 19, 2013)

Generally it should, however I've found a couple of ati*.dll files being left over (no leftover registry entries though), so I made it a habit to use DriverSweeper to completely clean out any leftover files.


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## RCoon (Dec 19, 2013)

ClassicEnergy said:


> This is why I will never buy another Amd product. It takes month and months of beta drivers to get to this. Good thing I went nvidia this time around.


 
Take your AMD hate post to a relevant thread of equally juvenile users. Your comment is not in the slightest useful to anyone, and merely detracts away from the topic, and altogether makes me all flustered when i read such ill-thought-out posts.


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## fullinfusion (Dec 19, 2013)

Here's what I show after 30 min of pissn around.. 

Man those AMD Beta drivers ever screw with Windows during an un-install.


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## 63jax (Dec 19, 2013)

they're broken, doesn't work with my 5830, Resident Evil 6 crashes on load and shutter in menus, i haven't tried other games though. I reverted on 13.9 and everything is nice now, wtf, AMD???


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## AnasHSN (Dec 19, 2013)

Can anyone tell me why I am having Catalyst as 12.10 ? I did a clean install (*uninstall old beta completely*)


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## _larry (Dec 19, 2013)

I'm not even gonna touch this update with all the wacky screenshots of different driver versions after install. It may not be a big deal, but it makes you wonder what else AMD forgot while making this driver...


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 19, 2013)

_larry said:


> .... it makes you wonder what else AMD forgot while making this driver...


They forgot to give a $hit about, that's all....


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## erocker (Dec 19, 2013)

I've seen the "not updating version" issue before. These drivers are working fine here.


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 19, 2013)

AnasHSN said:


> Can anyone tell me why I am having Catalyst as 12.10 ? I did a clean install (*uninstall old beta completely*)



Something tells me you didn't do a complete or full uninstall.  There may have been left over files in the AMD folder.  You just did a complete uninstall, or what you thought was one, and just installed the new WHQL into the original folder.

This is what I recommend.  After you do a complete or full uninstall in the setup.exe file, get Drivefusion or Drive Sweeper to pick up the left over registry files. Before you log off for a restart, go into your device manager, locate your "Video Graphic Array", and uninstall that too.  If you have 3 Graphic Cards, then you need to uninstall all three of them in the device manager. Restart your computer once or twice.  You can tell it's at default when the resolution is extremely small.  Do another drive sweeper sweep again to get any left over registry files listed that were in use earlier.  Do a fresh install of the new driver, and it should work properly.

I was going to recommend using AMD_Cleanup_utili_1.2.1.0.exe.  It isn't listed on the AMD site anymore, and I don't have any issues with it.   I'd also recommend getting CClearner to properly fix your registry unless you have other programs that do the same job like Norton 360, TrendMicro, or something else.

CCleaner can be found at the following website:  http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

The Catalyst 12.10 listed on your Hardware from the Catalyst Client, is probably coming from a registry code that wasn't properly deleted from your previous beta driver installation.  If you did a proper uninstall of the previous driver, 12.10, and you did a install of the new one, you'd probably be in the same boat as the rest of us.  The Driver Version wouldn't be listed.


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## 95Viper (Dec 19, 2013)

erocker said:


> I've seen the "not updating version" issue before. These drivers are working fine here.



Yep, there was a thread way back about the whql not updating the "catalyst_version" entries in the registry when you updated from the betas.
I believe it was around version 12.3 or 12.4 of the CCC installers.

Although, it worked fine for me, too.


Spoiler


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## pr0fessor (Dec 19, 2013)

I miss the days when the driver came every month. Even without any update within. Never mind like nVidia. Finally 8.1 is officially supported and my HDMI output signal is back to normal.


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## fullinfusion (Dec 19, 2013)

So wth?

Amd going to fix this? and do we cross our fingers we don't have a big screw around UN-installing the driver just to update the version?

-or is a Microsoft update going to fix this?


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## kn00tcn (Dec 19, 2013)

guys... i cant believe you're falling for this!

it's not like you're new customers & nvidia does it the same way






it's merely a string... change it if you want, very few things ever use this number (BF3/BF4 minimum driver version check for example)

but seriously, dont you all think you would notice:

different build number
different filesize
bugs fixed
performance change
dates of the driver dlls change
date in the properties of the driver device manager (!? one of you was in device manager i think)
like what  we dont replace a whole tower when a component acts funny, software isnt any different

my fault for not opening TPU again yesterday, i was actually on it like an hour before this news post, could have saved you so much wasted time & stress

by the way, that build number that changes everytime, dont you notice a date in there? 13.251-*131206*a-165817C-ATI = december 6, 2013 

as for WHQL, that's completely useless outside of apps that actually request it (win8 metro apps that use the gpu i hear)

just as i expected, they didnt waste resources building all those betas for vista until the very last one, now i dont have to worry when i get a 290 for my vista installation (i need a base driver at least, still need the partition working with a driver even if i'll migrate things over to a win7 partition or something)

it also looks like the custom cooled 290s launched at the same time as the WHQL+vista driver, it all makes sense really

(EDIT: by the way again, this is not the first time this version number 'issue' has happened, surely there are google results & you might even spot my posts from back then... on guru3d... i should just make a post on my site so people not these forums can stop worrying or reinstalling)


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 19, 2013)

Anyone else having random crashes in Ass Creed 3, mainly on naval battles?


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## Disruptor4 (Dec 20, 2013)

BF4 is such a noob and still reports me having 13.4. Oh well. At least I know I actually updated.


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## fullinfusion (Dec 20, 2013)

CCC driver 13.10bv2 is still the best looking and running driver imo!


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## Steevo (Dec 20, 2013)

63jax said:


> they're broken, doesn't work with my 5830, Resident Evil 6 crashes on load and shutter in menus, i haven't tried other games though. I reverted on 13.9 and everything is nice now, wtf, AMD???


Seriously I also have a old card and.........these drivers offer no new fixes for it, so I am not going to install them and then complain when my system runs perfect without updating to a driver package optimized for GCN and NOT VLIW.


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 20, 2013)

They specify clear that the drivers support also include the 5XXX series. A BS lie. If they don't do squat about us with 5xxx generation cards, at least they should remove the support and be done with it. Those drivers offers 0 improvements over previews ones for my CFX cards....


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## Octopuss (Dec 20, 2013)

You misunderstand the statement. Just because the driver WORKS with those cards doesn't mean they get any improvements. Support in this particular case simply means you can install the driver with such card. That's all.


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## Steevo (Dec 20, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> They specify clear that the drivers support also include the 5XXX series. A BS lie. If they don't do squat about us with 5xxx generation cards, at least they should remove the support and be done with it. Those drivers offers 0 improvements over previews ones for my CFX cards....


Specifically if your feet were in a vat of liquid nitrogen and your head on fire your average temperature would be OK too. But specifically we both know that its a bad idea, so when you find a driver that has no issues, stop installing new ones, that is unless you want to try and create issues to complain about.


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 20, 2013)

Steevo, you drunk?


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## Solaris17 (Dec 21, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> Steevo, you drunk?


have you seen him irl? he could probably drink you under the table


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## Frag_Maniac (Dec 21, 2013)

Can anyone confirm whether the driver number after install is just a read error? I really don't want to install this until I'm sure it's actually a 13.12 driver.


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## Disruptor4 (Dec 21, 2013)

Frag Maniac said:


> Can anyone confirm whether the driver number after install is just a read error? I really don't want to install this until I'm sure it's actually a 13.12 driver.


I reckon it is just a read error. It's happened before.


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## Steevo (Dec 21, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> Steevo, you drunk?




Not yet. That starts tomorrow night. These drivers do nothing for us other than cause problems, so much like Nvidia doesn't supply drivers on a regular basis for all cards, ATI/AMD doesn't take the time to test drivers with every board, CPU, Memory, OS and service pack and hotfix, and game in that combination, so sometimes you are better sticking with a good stable driver.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx

It requires Java on their main download page so you can only install their recommended version, if AMD did this everyone would scream bloody murder and how horrible Java is and the thread would easily reach 10 pages. 

If you look at the 400 series cards the 331.93 is listed as Beta for them, as it may cause issues, and plausible deniability when shit does go wrong. Again  if ATI/AMD did this there would be a huge fit thrown about how cards aren't supported anymore. 

So at the end of the day you are better off sticking with a good known driver unless you want to take the chance to experience issues.


Solaris17 said:


> have you seen him irl? he could probably drink you under the table



LOL,


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## de.das.dude (Dec 21, 2013)

plz work on my 7790 like its supposed to -.-


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## agent00skid (Dec 21, 2013)

As their mobility download tool finally worked, I have now installed it on my laptop.

The version number updated correctly.


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## Constantine Yevseyev (Dec 21, 2013)

agent00skid said:


> As their mobility download tool finally worked, I have now installed it on my laptop.
> 
> The version number updated correctly.


Really? It did work?! I can't believe that! There's no confirmation on the Internet that this tool actually worked for anybody. Ever.

I was trying to make use of it since having my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 540v. Four different operating systems, three graphic cards - it just didn't work. I was searching for a proof that this tool can at least start downloading process since 2009. Can I have a look at screenshot?


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## Prima.Vera (Dec 21, 2013)

Steevo said:


> These drivers do nothing for us other than cause problems, so much like Nvidia doesn't supply drivers on a regular basis for all cards, ATI/AMD doesn't take the time to test drivers with every board, CPU, Memory, OS and service pack and hotfix, and game in that combination, so sometimes you are better sticking with a good stable driver. ...
> So at the end of the day you are better off sticking with a good known driver unless you want to take the chance to experience issues.



I get what you're saying, unfortunately I am playing latest games, and have a CFX config, so if I'm not getting latest crappy drivers, I will have no chance of having CF working on those titles. Heck, BF4 works flawlessly only with the latest betas, while COD crashes like crazy. Also those drivers surprisingly are the only ones that enable proper CF in Ass Creed 3, however the game start to crash often now, and restarting PC....
As you see, I have no choice here, but to keep hoping that the next drivers will be better than previews ones.


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## Melvis (Dec 21, 2013)

No good, Pegs my second card at 100% GPU usage in games....AGAIN!!!! So back to 13.4's


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## SK-1 (Dec 21, 2013)

Fixed BF4. No more texture flashing   Haven't checked 2nd gpu usage but Id be happy with 100%...


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## Octopuss (Dec 21, 2013)

SK-1 said:


> Fixed BF4. No more texture flashing   Haven't checked 2nd gpu usage but Id be happy with 100%...


It's not the drivers, it's the recently released BF4 patch


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## SK-1 (Dec 21, 2013)

Octopuss said:


> It's not the drivers, it's the recently released BF4 patch


oops wrong thread lol...


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## agent00skid (Dec 21, 2013)

Constantine Yevseyev said:


> Really? It did work?! I can't believe that! There's no confirmation on the Internet that this tool actually worked for anybody. Ever.
> 
> I was trying to make use of it since having my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 540v. Four different operating systems, three graphic cards - it just didn't work. I was searching for a proof that this tool can at least start downloading process since 2009. Can I have a look at screenshot?



As requested.


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 22, 2013)

Melvis said:


> No good, Pegs my second card at 100% GPU usage in games....AGAIN!!!! So back to 13.4's



If the game doesn't support Crossfire, i.e. World of Tanks, then you'll always see a 100% GPU Load on the 2nd GPU.  This is with CrossfireX.  This happens especially with the newer R7 and R9 Series.  Basically all games and benchmarks that only use single graphic card setups, GPU 2's load will always do 100%, and GPU 1 will be at 0%.  This isn't an error or malfunction in the card.  It is the nature of AMD Graphic Cards.  Even complain to AMD about this on their forum, they will tell you that this is actually a natural function or state for their cards.  So whether you use Driver Version 13.4 or 13.12, it won't really make a difference on GPU 2 at 100% load.  Second GPU at 100% load is actually normal for AMD Cards.  The only major difference between 13.4 and 13.12 is optimization, profiles changes, bug fixes, etc...  Yes.  You can take ULPS, set it to 0 in the registry, but that just means that both (if you have 2) GPUs will be running 100% loads on a game that only needs 100% loads, or throttles less loads on a single GPU.  Both GPUs at 100% loads equate to more power consumption over time.  You also need to take into account that GPU Loads are approached differently between NVidia and AMD Graphic Cards.  GPU loads on NVidia cards try to mirror one another.  If GPU 1 is doing 43% for half section of frames, then GPU 2 will do 43% load for the other half section of the same frames, in SLI.  On the other hand, if GPU 2 does 88%, more than twice the first, then you know the SLI configuration is having scaling issue.  AMD GPUs throttle 99 to 100% loads amongst the different Graphic Cards.  The question then becomes for how long.  If it has to do it for a long time, then the GPU load will always cap at 99 to 100%.  When it's not required to do those loads for a small instant in time, the GPU Load could throttle down and up again.  This occurs more often when ULPS is set to 1 because their is a change in power consumption requirements over time for different loads.  While NVidia uses AFR 1 and 2, AMD only uses AFR 1, or whole frames from each Graphic Card.  So AMD Graphic Cards always do 99 to 100% loads for whole frames, per GPU, when frames need to be produced.

Basically, when you can only utilize 1 AMD Graphic Card, and you're running a CrossfireX setup, you will always see a 99% to 100% load on GPU 2.  What basically happens is that GPU 2, on Graphic Card 2, will produce the frames.  Frames will be created by GPU 2, sent to Graphic Card 2's framebuffer, transferred to Graphic Card 1's framebuffer from the CrossfireX Bridge, and then it's sent off to the Display Adapter.  We are talking about whole frames being transferred from one framebuffer to another framebuffer, in AMD's case.  On the other hand, if you do play a game that does utilize both Graphic Cards, GPU 1 will produce frames on it's frame buffer while GPU 2 does the same.  GPU 1 shoots a frame off to the display adapter.  Once the Frame leaves the framebuffer from the first card, it will receive the frame from the 2nd Graphic Card's framebuffer, and push that frame off to the display adapter.  From there, it's just a repetitive motion.  Frame Pacing Software was designed and needed to regulate this process.  Before the software, both GPUs would have a potential to produce partial frames instead of whole ones, and try to send it off to the display adapter.  When the graphic card realized it didn't produce a whole frame, it would drop the frame.  Nothing on a hardware level was regulating that to reduce runt frames from being sent off from the frame buffers.  AMD implemented software to control the way those frames were being pushed out.  AMD 7000 Series Graphic Cards had a potential to push even smaller Frame Times, but sacrificed the time needed to developed whole frames.  That was the tradeoff.  This is why AMD 7000 Series Graphic Cards had so much drop-age and bandwidth in their Frame Time Variance Graphs.  With the PCIe Based CrossfireX, it's allowed AMD the ability to better control and regulate whole frames with their software, and how it's being transferred from one framebuffer to the other.


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## Melvis (Dec 22, 2013)

Serpent of Darkness said:


> If the game doesn't support Crossfire, i.e. World of Tanks, then you'll always see a 100% GPU Load on the 2nd GPU.  This is with CrossfireX.  This happens especially with the newer R7 and R9 Series.  Basically all games and benchmarks that only use single graphic card setups, GPU 2's load will always do 100%, and GPU 1 will be at 0%.  This isn't an error or malfunction in the card.  It is the nature of AMD Graphic Cards.  Even complain to AMD about this on their forum, they will tell you that this is actually a natural function or state for their cards.  So whether you use Driver Version 13.4 or 13.12, it won't really make a difference on GPU 2 at 100% load.  Second GPU at 100% load is actually normal for AMD Cards.  The only major difference between 13.4 and 13.12 is optimization, profiles changes, bug fixes, etc...  Yes.  You can take ULPS, set it to 0 in the registry, but that just means that both (if you have 2) GPUs will be running 100% loads on a game that only needs 100% loads, or throttles less loads on a single GPU.  Both GPUs at 100% loads equate to more power consumption over time.  You also need to take into account that GPU Loads are approached differently between NVidia and AMD Graphic Cards.  GPU loads on NVidia cards try to mirror one another.  If GPU 1 is doing 43% for half section of frames, then GPU 2 will do 43% load for the other half section of the same frames, in SLI.  On the other hand, if GPU 2 does 88%, more than twice the first, then you know the SLI configuration is having scaling issue.  AMD GPUs throttle 99 to 100% loads amongst the different Graphic Cards.  The question then becomes for how long.  If it has to do it for a long time, then the GPU load will always cap at 99 to 100%.  When it's not required to do those loads for a small instant in time, the GPU Load could throttle down and up again.  This occurs more often when ULPS is set to 1 because their is a change in power consumption requirements over time for different loads.  While NVidia uses AFR 1 and 2, AMD only uses AFR 1, or whole frames from each Graphic Card.  So AMD Graphic Cards always do 99 to 100% loads for whole frames, per GPU, when frames need to be produced.
> 
> Basically, when you can only utilize 1 AMD Graphic Card, and you're running a CrossfireX setup, you will always see a 99% to 100% load on GPU 2.  What basically happens is that GPU 2, on Graphic Card 2, will produce the frames.  Frames will be created by GPU 2, sent to Graphic Card 2's framebuffer, transferred to Graphic Card 1's framebuffer from the CrossfireX Bridge, and then it's sent off to the Display Adapter.  We are talking about whole frames being transferred from one framebuffer to another framebuffer, in AMD's case.  On the other hand, if you do play a game that does utilize both Graphic Cards, GPU 1 will produce frames on it's frame buffer while GPU 2 does the same.  GPU 1 shoots a frame off to the display adapter.  Once the Frame leaves the framebuffer from the first card, it will receive the frame from the 2nd Graphic Card's framebuffer, and push that frame off to the display adapter.  From there, it's just a repetitive motion.  Frame Pacing Software was designed and needed to regulate this process.  Before the software, both GPUs would have a potential to produce partial frames instead of whole ones, and try to send it off to the display adapter.  When the graphic card realized it didn't produce a whole frame, it would drop the frame.  Nothing on a hardware level was regulating that to reduce runt frames from being sent off from the frame buffers.  AMD implemented software to control the way those frames were being pushed out.  AMD 7000 Series Graphic Cards had a potential to push even smaller Frame Times, but sacrificed the time needed to developed whole frames.  That was the tradeoff.  This is why AMD 7000 Series Graphic Cards had so much drop-age and bandwidth in their Frame Time Variance Graphs.  With the PCIe Based CrossfireX, it's allowed AMD the ability to better control and regulate whole frames with their software, and how it's being transferred from one framebuffer to the other.



But it doesnt happen with 13.4 drivers, they work perfectly for me, but 13.9 and 13.12 do the same thing, but 13.9 did it as soon as I opened Firefox, so annoying, but at least 13.12 doesnt do that, just in this particular game (payday 2) even if I turn on Vsync it doesnt change, or in menus' nothing, just runs flat out and then overheats my card, where 13.4's run the GPU at what it needs to run at, which is like 30-40% not 100% and runs alot cooler. But i havent tested 13.12 in other games so I dont know. If that issue was fixed then the drivers be great as I do get a performance increase, but how they are at the moment, ill pass.


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## NeoXF (Dec 23, 2013)

Melvis said:


> No good, Pegs my second card at 100% GPU usage in games....AGAIN!!!! So back to 13.4's


Isn't 100% usage of a GPU/multi-GPU setup and good thing?


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## Melvis (Dec 23, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Isn't 100% usage of a GPU/multi-GPU setup and good thing?




Not when its not needed. Both GPU's should be working at the same usage but with the newer drivers one will be at 20-30% (top card) and the bottom will be at 100% at all times no matter where you are at in the game, even in menu's


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 23, 2013)

NeoXF said:


> Isn't 100% usage of a GPU/multi-GPU setup and good thing?




Yes, you are correct.  Having 99% or 100% loads on an AMD Graphic Card is good.  It mean that one processing unit is taking up 100% loads to produce frames onto it' framebuffer.

 I think he is more concern that GPU 2 is only doing 100% or 99% loads, and not GPU 1.  I suspect he strongly feels that they, GPUs 1 and 2, are suppose to divide the load evenly amongst the GPUs.  AMD Graphic Cards don't approach producing partial frames for one another like NVidia does with SLI.  Simply put, AMD produces whole frames, and NVidia does multiple links of a whole frame, but divides the work amongst any additional graphic card in SLI.  If I am not mistaken, the links begin from the upper left of your screen.  If GPU 1 - NVidia isn't in SLI, then that Graphic Card does all links, or 100% of the load.  If their is a 2nd GPU in SLI, GPU 2 will be in charge of every evenly numbered link, and GPU 1 will be in charge of every odd numbered link.  Thus, this is why NVidia call its multi-gpu solution SLI, or Scalable Link Interface.  Fragments of a whole images on the NVidia card, are broken down into links on your screen like a grid, before the image is displayed on your monitor.  AMD doesn't do this, and that's why they don't share GPU loads.




Melvis said:


> Not when its not needed. Both GPU's should be working at the same usage but with the newer drivers one will be at 20-30% (top card) and the bottom will be at 100% at all times no matter where you are at in the game, even in menu's



Again, you cannot compare GPU Loads from NVidia cards and AMD cards in the same context.  Both companies approach the multi-gpu setup at different angles.  If you want your GPU loads to have the same percentage, then you should have invested in NVidia Graphic Cards.  AMD Graphic Cards work in a different way, and that work being done is generating "whole" frames.  Storing that information into it's framebuffers before the image is sent to your monitor.  When the GPU's Load is at 99% or 100%, the uptime indicates that the GPU is producing frames at full capacity.  AMD GPU Loads have a tendency to throttle up and down when it isn't necessary to produce whole frames.  Probably due to the fact that it's already finished it's load of work, and hasn't received instructions from the CPU.

Now the only scenario where I can see both AMD GPUs having the same load, and it's less than 99%, is when the graphic cards are overkill for the PC Game.  Older PC Games are like this where, because newer graphic cards have more streaming processors and higher core frequencies, it will take less latency to accomplish the same goal as older AMD Graphic Cards .  It will take less time to push the same amount of work.  This also means that less resources are needed to accomplish the same amount of work as an older GPU.  So that could translate to lower GPU Load Percentages.  If an AMD GPU Load drops down to 30%, then it only needed to utilize 30% of itself to produces frames at that small instant in time.  If the percentage goes up, then the GPU % goes up, and this is an indication that it needs to consume more power to produce the next batch of frames.


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## Melvis (Dec 24, 2013)

Serpent of Darkness said:


> Again, you cannot compare GPU Loads from NVidia cards and AMD cards in the same context.  Both companies approach the multi-gpu setup at different angles.  If you want your GPU loads to have the same percentage, then you should have invested in NVidia Graphic Cards.  AMD Graphic Cards work in a different way, and that work being done is generating "whole" frames.  Storing that information into it's framebuffers before the image is sent to your monitor.  When the GPU's Load is at 99% or 100%, the uptime indicates that the GPU is producing frames at full capacity.  AMD GPU Loads have a tendency to throttle up and down when it isn't necessary to produce whole frames.  Probably due to the fact that it's already finished it's load of work, and hasn't received instructions from the CPU.
> 
> Now the only scenario where I can see both AMD GPUs having the same load, and it's less than 99%, is when the graphic cards are overkill for the PC Game.  Older PC Games are like this where, because newer graphic cards have more streaming processors and higher core frequencies, it will take less latency to accomplish the same goal as older AMD Graphic Cards .  It will take less time to push the same amount of work.  This also means that less resources are needed to accomplish the same amount of work as an older GPU.  So that could translate to lower GPU Load Percentages.  If an AMD GPU Load drops down to 30%, then it only needed to utilize 30% of itself to produces frames at that small instant in time.  If the percentage goes up, then the GPU % goes up, and this is an indication that it needs to consume more power to produce the next batch of frames.



 I didn't say I was comparing Nvidia to AMD, just AMD, I get what your saying, but im not talking about anything to do with Nvidia here just the drivers and my set up.

This is what I mean the cards I use are overkill for the game (payday 2) so they dont need to work hard (100%) to get great FPS in this game, but with 13.9 and 13.12 it only pegs the second GPU at 100% when its just not needed. But 13.4 drivers work perfectly and evenly in this game, thats just how it is for me with my Crossfire 7870 XT's.


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## Blín D'ñero (Dec 25, 2013)

Serpent of Darkness said:


> If the game doesn't support Crossfire, i.e. World of Tanks, then you'll always see a 100% GPU Load on the 2nd GPU.  This is with CrossfireX.
> [...]
> Having 99% or 100% loads on an AMD Graphic Card is good. It mean that one processing unit is taking up 100% loads to produce frames onto it' framebuffer.
> [...]


*Stop spreading nonsense* PLEASE! Goddammit what a load of crap you made up.

The 99% usage on GPU2 is a bug caused by ULPS. ULPS is supposed to be a power saving feature for crossfire, but hasn't been working correctly for many Catalyst versions now.
So, Crossfire users must disable ULPS in the registry.

How-to:


In the search field (above the Start Orb) type
*regedit*
right-click on the regedit.exe shortcut that appears -> run as admin
In Registry, on the left highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Hit Ctrl+F, and in the Find field fill in:
*enableulps*
and hit Enter (or click Next) or hit F3 for next.
At Every instance of EnableUlps change the value from 1 to 0
Don't touch EnableUlps_NA
Close Registry
Reboot the PC
This is the workaround for the "99% usage on GPU2 in 3D applications (games)."- bug.
The downside is that GPU2 is no longer put to sleep mode when idle (in 2D).


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## Serpent of Darkness (Dec 26, 2013)

Blín D'ñero said:


> *Stop spreading nonsense* PLEASE! Goddammit what a load of crap you made up.
> 
> The 99% usage on GPU2 is a bug caused by ULPS. ULPS is supposed to be a power saving feature for crossfire, but hasn't been working correctly for many Catalyst versions now.
> So, Crossfire users must disable ULPS in the registry.
> ...



Disabling Ultra Low Power State doesn't stop only GPU 2 from pushing 99 to 100% usage on the new R9-290x versus the old 7970 Cards.  World of Tanks, and other PC games that don't utilize CrossfireX still show a 100% load on GPU 2, and 0% load on GPU 1.  ULPS is set to 0, and AMD CrossfireX Mode set to AFR.  On the other hand, if you used 2 7970 card, it will push 99% loads on both 7970s, in CrossfireX with ULPS set to 0.  It will push these loads in any game that does or doesn't support CrossfireX on the 7000 series cards.  So whether you think it's a load of crap or not, is irrelevant.

You do realize that the new Beta MSI Afterburner (3.0.0 Beta 17) has a feature that disables it for you.  It's convenient, easy, and idiot-proof.  Settings --> "AMD compatibility properties" under General --> "Disable ULPS."  Check the box, a window pops up asking if you want to restart your computer to let the changes take effect, and you're done.

No offense, but you wasted your time telling me how to turn off ULPS in the registry when I already knew that.  I've done it a billion times with my previous AMD 7000 Series Cards in CrossfireX.  I've done it from Beta Drivers 13.2 on up...

Did you know in certain games like Planetside 2, before the Oh Make Game Faster Update, if you didn't have ULPS set to 0, the second GPU would bug out, and lock in the frame on the 7970s.  When you tabbed out in full screen, and tabbed back in, you'd see a frame display for 2 seconds going as far back as 10 seconds ago to 5 minutes ago.  Then if you tried to utilize other programs like Sony Vegas Pro or Photoshop afterwards, the setup would BSOD upon load up of these applications?  I forget the BSOD Code, but the message had something to do with the un-sync clock frequencies of the secondary GPU, blah blah blah... Take that into account, and both AMD Graphic Cards weren't OCed at all...  The only way to fix this was to set ULPS to 0...

Have you seen the bug were you could tabbed out and back in, to any random PC Game, you could glitch your display.  It would show frames overlapping one another from the top, and they would drop to the bottom of your screen with some of the 13.8 and 13.10 Beta Drivers... I bet you haven't...  This has occurred with ULPS set to 0 on the 7000 series AMD cards....

Btw, only the 7000 series cards and below push 99% loads.  The new R9s push 100% load...  So what's so significant about that... I think it shows I've spent quite a lot of time dealing with both cards...  If I am not mistaken, the 6990s would only push 98% loads.  I'll have to check that out again if I ever get around to making my bitmining rig...


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## Blín D'ñero (Dec 26, 2013)

Serpent of Darkness said:


> [...]
> if you used 2 7970 card, it will push 99% loads on both 7970s, in CrossfireX with ULPS set to 0.  It will push these loads in any game that does or doesn't support CrossfireX on the 7000 series cards.
> [...]


And i am Batman.

You obviously have no clue... instead you are making things up, but why? What is your purpose posting this bullcrap? Why would you do that?

I bet you'll take it personal again like you did thinking i posted the how-to just for you. In fact when i post, i post for everybody. I add the how-to to my recommendation so that it is reproduceable for everyone. And without trusting a third-party tool. Every user can check on their own PC right away following the simple steps.

*Every crossfire user who followed the steps i posted will see that after disabling ULPS crossfire behaviour is normal again: balanced over both cards. *Whether game demands full load or just 40% or whatever, usage is equally distributed over both cards. And with it, no more crashes stutterings and BSOD's.

If you get the opposite behaviour (both full load) then you have serious issues on your PC (i bet on user error) and should be asking for help.


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## de.das.dude (Dec 28, 2013)

this works on my 7790. hurrah!


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## Pap1er (Jan 17, 2014)

This catalyst version pretty messed up my system with HD5770 CF
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...rossfire-yellow-green-tint-in-3d-apps.196954/
I will apreciate ANY suggestion how to solve my problem.


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## Blín D'ñero (Jan 19, 2014)

brandonwh64 said:


> I am using 13.10 without an issue with 5770 Xfire but if you do not play BF4 then I would recommend installing 11.11c performance driver cause it was the best I could find for 5xxx series cards.
> http://www.techpowerup.com/156030/amd-posts-catalyst-11-11c-performance-driver.html





Pap1er said:


> Problem SOLVED,
> my assumption was right. catalyst 13.12 had written some mess into system registy which caused color flickering in full screen mode.
> I physically exchanged 1. card with 2. card in motherboard slots, system then installed both cards as new devices and broblem has gone. I presume that upon installing both cards as a new devices system has made new registry record which effectively overcome the problem.


So all that was left to do was update this thread. I just did it for you.
Congratulations with your fix!


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## brandonwh64 (Jan 20, 2014)

Blín D'ñero said:


> So all that was left to do was update this thread. I just did it for you.
> Congratulations with your fix!



Why did you quote me? I am confused


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