Wednesday, April 25th 2012

AMD Releases the Catalyst 12.4 WHQL Driver

by
Cristian_25H
 Discuss (75 Comments)
AMD has today let loose the newest Catalyst release, the WHQL-certified Catalyst 12.4 which includes the 8.961 graphics driver and features support for the Radeon HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000, HD 5000, HD 6000 and HD 7000 Series desktop cards.

Download links Windows 7/Vista (32-bit) | Windows 7/Vista (64-bit) | Windows XP (32-bit) | Windows XP (64-bit)

Catalyst 12.4 Release Highlights

New Features

Windows XP support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- In addition to Windows 7 and Windows Vista support, Catalyst 12.4 now also introduces Windows XP (64-bit/32-bit) support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

Super Sampling Anti-Aliasing: Level of Detail (LOD) Image Quality enhancements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- LOD Image quality enhancements have been improved when enabling Super Sample Anti-Aliasing and Adaptive Anti-Aliasing through the AMD Catalyst Control Center for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications.
- Applications must support in game Anti-Aliasing for the feature to work (Forced on Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center is not supported for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications)

Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA): Significant performance enhancements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series, AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series, and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series
- MLAA now operates up to 80% faster than previous versions

Texture filtering quality improvements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- Improvements have been made to the texture filtering algorithm (for both DirectX9 and DirectX10/DirectX11 applications) to increase the quality of rendered textures, with no impact to performance

Resolved Issues

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

- Elder Scrolls: Skyrim: no longer hangs on single GPU configurations when used with AMD Catalyst 12.3 CAP1 and later CAP releases
- Elder Scolls: Skyrim: flickering square corruption is no longer observed.
- Rage: Vsync is no longer disabled after task switching.
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: no longer crashes when launched in High Performance Mode.
- Stalker - Call of Pripyat: flickering is no longer observed in trees with specific Catalyst Control Center settings.
- Tom Clancy HAWX 2: no longer crashes on game launch.
- Windows Media Center: no longer crashes when run in Eyefinity mode and High Performance mode settings.
- AMD Steady Video: an error message is no longer displayed when enabling AMD Steady Video for the Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 plugin.
- Duplicating displays no longer generates random corruption.
- Tearing is no longer observed on the third screen in 3x1 and 1x3 Eyefinity configurations.
- A system crash is no longer experienced when enabling Crossfire in a 4 display configuration.

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

- The Catalyst Control Center now renders correctly when launched while playing a Bluray disc using WinDVD.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

- Dirt 3: a system hang is no longer experienced when running game at maximum in game settings.
- Dragon Age 2: visual corruption is no longer observed.

The advanced video quality settings are now correctly displayed in the Catalyst Control Center.

Related News

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75 Comments on AMD Releases the Catalyst 12.4 WHQL Driver

#26
SK-1
Dos101What kind of performance bump did you notice with BF3 and Metro? I've got two 5870's that I've been trying to sell, but if these drivers make them last a little longer then I'll have to rethink selling them :laugh:
Same here! Metro smooth as silk and crisp now. And BF3 not only smoother but I actually ran Ultra Settings (minus X4AA) on a couple of maps (wake and metro) with little to no hiccups.
Posted on Reply
#27
TheMailMan78
Big Member
sk-1same here! Metro smooth as silk and crisp now. And bf3 not only smoother but i actually ran ultra settings (minus x4aa) on a couple of maps (wake and metro) with little to no hiccups.
y u no join us in ts when we play bf3?!
Posted on Reply
#28
TheGuruStud
SK-1Same here! Metro smooth as silk and crisp now. And BF3 not only smoother but I actually ran Ultra Settings (minus X4AA) on a couple of maps (wake and metro) with little to no hiccups.
I found BF3 itself is the problem. I had to set the render ahead limit to 1. If at default (3 I guess) it would drop tons of frames if sprinting and turning (but didn't do it if you were walking straight or strafing, JFC devs suck nowadays). Now, it's smooth maxed out. Why can't these game devs get their heads out of their asses?
Posted on Reply
#29
SK-1
TheMailMan78y u no join us in ts when we play bf3?!
:o On my IMMEDIATE list to do!
Posted on Reply
#30
Dos101
SK-1Same here! Metro smooth as silk and crisp now. And BF3 not only smoother but I actually ran Ultra Settings (minus X4AA) on a couple of maps (wake and metro) with little to no hiccups.
Awesome! Definitely installing 12.4 when I get home!
Posted on Reply
#31
ThE_MaD_ShOt
I see what they did there. They now support 7k series cards in the dieing os but don't add support for 4k series down in the new Os. Huh?
Posted on Reply
#32
fritoking
mistralwhoever wastes those cards on windows xp deserves to be shot.


:twitch:
lol!
Posted on Reply
#33
LAN_deRf_HA
So does this fix the monitor sleep lock ups and or 2d clock issues?
Posted on Reply
#34
Volkszorn88
Best drivers to date for AMD. People who are shakey on whether or not to update their drivers, JUST DO IT!

Massive improvement with MLAA
Posted on Reply
#35
cedrac18
Yes yes yes yes on the Eyefinity tearing fix. i run 3x1 Portrait on a 5770 and whenever i launch a game the screen on displayport just starts tearing to hell.
Posted on Reply
#36
devguy
cedrac18Yes yes yes yes on the Eyefinity tearing fix. i run 3x1 Portrait on a 5770 and whenever i launch a game the screen on displayport just starts tearing to hell.
I just tried going from WHQL 12.3 to 12.4 and I still have the tearing "line" horizontally across my third monitor. Damn... I just ran the AMD intaller and installed over the 12.3; could that be the problem? I'm anxious to hear the results of others.

Edit: some depressing news I read over by the Catalyst Beta Testers at Rage3d:
Here is the explanation:

We had an issue where the tearing was really, really bad (actual gaps occurred where the tearing was), and accompanied by bad flickering and not the normal tearing that occurs when you have different display interfaces.

*edit* what it actually refers to is the flickering due to the clock speeds not being correct in Eyefinity which caused the corruption which is now resolved.
So, they have no software workaround for the difference of display interfaces (DisplayPort vs DVI/HDMI), and were just fixing some bug that caused worse tearing due to memory clock speeds. Meh...
Posted on Reply
#37
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
devguyI just tried going from WHQL 12.3 to 12.4 and I still have the tearing "line" horizontally across my third monitor. Damn... I just ran the AMD intaller and installed over the 12.3; could that be the problem? I'm anxious to hear the results of others.
Normally Installing ontop of drivers dont cause issues now. I Used to do complete removals but i dont have to no more.
Posted on Reply
#38
semantics
devguyI just tried going from WHQL 12.3 to 12.4 and I still have the tearing "line" horizontally across my third monitor. Damn... I just ran the AMD intaller and installed over the 12.3; could that be the problem? I'm anxious to hear the results of others.

Edit: some depressing news I read over by the Catalyst Beta Testers at Rage3d:


So, they have no software workaround for the difference of display interfaces (DisplayPort vs DVI/HDMI), and were just fixing some bug that caused worse tearing due to memory clock speeds. Meh...
is your 3rd monitor a different resolution?
Posted on Reply
#39
devguy
semanticsis your 3rd monitor a different resolution?
No, but it uses an active DisplayPort->DVI adapter. It's been a long standing hardware problem for Eyefinity, with the only current resolution being purchasing a card with 3+ DisplayPort connectors and using only those. Oddly, the tearing wasn't as bad on my old HD 5850, but my HD 6950/7950 both seem to have this terrible tearing "line" on the DisplayPort monitor.
Posted on Reply
#40
LAN_deRf_HA
This driver was the final straw for my friend. Jumping to a 680. It wouldn't even install despite trying every cleaner out there.
Posted on Reply
#41
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
LAN_deRf_HAThis driver was the final straw for my friend. Jumping to a 680. It wouldn't even install despite trying every cleaner out there.
no problems here
Posted on Reply
#42
cedrac18
devguyI just tried going from WHQL 12.3 to 12.4 and I still have the tearing "line" horizontally across my third monitor. Damn... I just ran the AMD intaller and installed over the 12.3; could that be the problem? I'm anxious to hear the results of others.
I have just uninstalled 11.4 (Yep didn't updating for a year felt they were getting worse and worse) i am about to run driver sweeper i will post the result later.
Posted on Reply
#43
jrs3000
LAN_deRf_HAThis driver was the final straw for my friend. Jumping to a 680. It wouldn't even install despite trying every cleaner out there.
Sounds like issue with interfering hardware or software. Regardless, good bye! Sell me your card for dirt cheap.
Posted on Reply
#44
cedrac18
jrs3000Sounds like issue with interfering hardware or software. Regardless, good bye! Sell me your card for dirt cheap.
Actually i had a bought a sapphire half height 6670 for my little brother on ebay and couldnt get the drivers installed for the life of me. What i had to do was have windows updates install the drivers then run catalyst to update the windows update ones. Catalyst would BSOD every time when i tried to apply the drivers directly.
Posted on Reply
#45
cedrac18
cedrac18I have just uninstalled 11.4 (Yep didn't updating for a year felt they were getting worse and worse) i am about to run driver sweeper i will post the result later.
Oh and OMFG no tearing with 12.4 drivers. Running 2 games at the same time and

Specs
Eyefinity using 2x Samsung F2380 via DVI and 1x NEC EA231wmi via Displayport
Asus M4A785TDV-EVO
Phenom II X6 1090T
Sapphire Radeon 5770 Reference card
16GB G-Skill 1333Mhz ram
Posted on Reply
#46
techtard
Gonna give these bad boys a test drive soon. I've been waiting for 12.4 and the new MLAA 2.0
Posted on Reply
#47
Prima.Vera
No word for fixing the 58xx CrossFireX in SWTOR....Damn!
Volkszorn88Best drivers to date for AMD. People who are shakey on whether or not to update their drivers, JUST DO IT!

Massive improvement with MLAA
Did they improve the quality or only the performance?? Still the blurred image and scrambled text???
Posted on Reply
#48
Rebelstar
devguyOMG, if this is true and they've finally fixed this, I will be a very happy man!
I'm on multi-monitor since 5XXX series and with 6XXX they invented new display logic (or something) and every user experienced tearing problem. I have currently triple screen setup and 2 of 3 displays suffer from tearing. I fed up already with AMD cards, OFCOURSE this new driver DIDN'T FIX any tearing. I did a whole driver uninstall and installed this 12.4, tearing is still here on DVI-DVI, DVI-DVI, DP-VGA setup. I know new Nvidia cards don't have that obscure problem. Fck AMD!! Time to move to something like GTX670 once they released.
Posted on Reply
#49
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
RebelstarI'm on multi-monitor since 5XXX series and with 6XXX they invented new display logic (or something) and every user experienced tearing problem. I have currently triple screen setup and 2 of 3 displays suffer from tearing. I fed up already with AMD cards, OFCOURSE this new driver DIDN'T FIX any tearing. I did a whole driver uninstall and installed this 12.4, tearing is still here on DVI-DVI, DVI-DVI, DP-VGA setup. I know new Nvidia cards don't have that obscure problem. Fck AMD!! Time to move to something like GTX670 once they released.
Your loss dude, only thing from NV worth upgrading to would be the 680.
Posted on Reply
#50
LifeOnMars
Oh dear, had issues with my new HD 7850 and CTD's/total freeze in games with weird pink vertical lines. 12.3 runs without issues in everything. Rest of the PC is 100% stable and stock.

I'll wait to see if anyone has the same issues.
Posted on Reply
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