AMD rolled out the Catalyst 14.9 WHQL driver suite, its quarterly release of WHQL-signed drivers for AMD Radeon discrete- and integrated GPUs. The drivers add support for some of the newer Radeon GPUs, such as the R9 285; and introduce a large list of game-specific performance improvements. The drivers also introduce AMD Eyefinity mixed-resolution modes, Eyefinity display alignment, new video-color and display settings in Catalyst Control Center, an updated AMD Mantle API runtime, and JPEG decoding acceleration for certain GPUs.DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL for Windows 8.1/7/Vista 64-bit | AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL for Windows 8.1/7/Vista 32-bit

The change-log follows.

1. Support for the AMD Radeon R9 285
2. Performance improvements (comparing AMD Catalyst 14.9 vs. AMD Catalyst 14.4)

• 3DMark Sky Diver improvements
  o AMD A4 6300 - improves up to 4%
  o Enables AMD Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire support
• 3DMark Fire Strike
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - improves up to 5% in Performance Preset
• 3DMark11
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series - improves up to 4% in Entry and Performance Preset
• BioShock Infinite
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - 1920x1080 - improves up to 5%
• Company of Heroes 2
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - improves up to 8%
• Crysis 3
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series - improves up to 10%
• Grid Auto Sport
  o AMD CrossFire profile
• Murdered Soul Suspect
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560x1440, 4x MSAA, 16x AF) - improves up to 50%
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series - improves up to 6%
  o CrossFire configurations improve scaling up to 75%
• Plants vs. Zombies (Direct3D performance improvements)
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X - 1920x1080 Ultra - improves up to 11%
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X - 2560x1600 Ultra - improves up to 15%
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X CrossFire configuration (3840x2160 Ultra) - 92% scaling
• Batman Arkham Origins:
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X (4x MSAA) - improves up to 20%
  o CrossFire configurations see up to a 70% gain in scaling
• Wildstar
  o Power Xpress profile
  o Performance improvements to improve smoothness of application
  o 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
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - improves up to 5%
• Watch Dogs
  o AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series - improves up to 9%
  o AMD CrossFire - Frame pacing improvement
  o Improved CrossFire performance - up to 20%
• Assassin's Creed IV
  o Improves CrossFire scaling (3840x2160 High Settings) up to 93% (CrossFire scaling improvement of 25% compared to AMD Catalyst 14.4)
• Lichdom
  o Improves performance for single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations
• Star Craft II
  o AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560x1440, AA, 16x AF) - improves up to 20%

3. AMD Eyefinity enhancements

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

4. New user controls for video color and display settings

• Greater control over Video Color Management:
  o 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)
  o Allows users to select different color depths per resolution and display

5. AMD Mantle enhancements

• Mantle now supports AMD Mobile products with Enduro technology
  o Battlefield 4: AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1366x768; high settings) - 21% gain
  o Thief: AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920x1080; high settings) - 14% gain
  o Star Swarm: AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920x1080; medium settings) - 274% gain
• Enables support for Multi-GPU configurations with Thief (requires the latest Thief update)

6. 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