Catalyst 11.2 vs 11.4p

[Razi3l]

Hey there. I was comparing 11.2 and 11.4p and I posted my results on OCN, but since I didn't see any here I figured I'll post them here, in case anybody is interested how much of a difference these drivers may make for them. The following is all copied from my post on Overclock.net. Hope it helps.

Decided to see how much of a difference the new drivers make in a few of the applications they mentioned.

Up to 19% performance improvement in Aliens vs. Predator
Up to 22% performance improvement in Batman: Arkham Asylum
Up to 15% performance improvement in Crysis Warhead
Up to 26% performance improvement in FarCry 2
Up to 28% performance improvement in Metro2033
Up to 50% performance improvement in Unigine Heaven

It did mention "Users should see a boost, particularly with anti-aliasing" so that's why I set AA to full in most of these games. I used the benchmark tool in all of these btw. I didn't have some of the other games, and I don't (like to) play Black Ops and it's just a horrible game anyway. I didn't use a benchmark tool for BC2, instead i played through Crack the Sky. For AvP, I played through the Jungle map on the predator campaign (5 minutes) and used FRAPS to record FPS both times and tried to keep it as consistent as possible on every run. For all other games, the associated benchmark tool was used.

Stock 6950 / i7 920 @ 4Ghz HT on - 1920x1080 - Windows 7 64-bit

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The following games were not included in the release notes but I decided to test them anyway since they are quite popular.

 

[MoonPig]

Thanks, if only i had a 6 series card.

 

[MasterTB]

Impressive results!

 

[AnaMaria81]

I'm curious to see some Dragon Age 2 tests also...

 

[Wyverex]

Awesome results. Thanks for posting that.
Btw, at what resolution was that done?

 

[Over_Lord]

DOes HD5000 series benefit at all?

 

[Razi3l]

Impressive results!

Thanks

I'm curious to see some Dragon Age 2 tests also...

Don't have DA2 I'm afraid.

Awesome results. Thanks for posting that.
Btw, at what resolution was that done?

Thanks, It was done at 1920x1080, I forgot to mention that but updated now.

DOes HD5000 series benefit at all?

A few people are reporting improvements but I'm not sure. Possibly.

 

[Andrei23]

nice effort, although I think I will wait it out till these get officially released, current drivers are working as intended for me and there is no reason to screw up my drivers... yet

 

[Over_Lord]

I'm already on Catalyst 11.4 preview, but dont have any of the games installed. Painful to dwnload all of these from steam just for benchmarks

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

im running the 11.4s and had no issues performance in games was greatly improved in single and crossfire, well except for the fact my mobo or PSU is going bad haha

 

[horik]

in synthetic benchmarks i saw some improvements,not tested yet on games

 

[Derail]

I noticed something odd in furmark with my 5870 with the 11.4 drivers "had to try em" everything including 3dmark11 benchmarks i have had a gain in scores and fps and all games play very well, however in furmark i noticed something strange. Look at the image.....there is alot of black on the donut. On 11.2 this is not present. "will reinstall and post a screen but im sure you all know what is supposed to look like" Not thats its a big deal but just thought i would share...and see if this is happening on the 69 series cards as well with the new drivers. Speed and fps improvements may be due to a lack of rendering specific things...i dunno....

EDIT:
This is what it should look like...not my bench but just linking to show the difference....

http://www.ozone3d.net/public/jegx/201102/furmark_190.jpg

 

[Anusha]

I also can confirm the strange behavior with Furmark with a HD5870. It's a lot of black. Doesn't look like corruption though. I get a big boost in performance as well. Less power draw too. Looks like it made Furmark less stressful?

Benchmark preset 1080p
11.2 - 2193 points
11.4p - 2542 points

This is a Sapphire Vapor-X HD5870 @ 900/1250 with Overdrive.

 

[Razi3l]

Here are some results for 5800 series. It was with 2 5870s, so for all those who only run 1, It may or may not improve your performance but I didn't have the time to do single card benches.

Another thing to point out is that I couldn't get the Metro 2033 benchmark tool to run properly, so I just played through the first 5 minutes of the prologue mission (which coincidently only lasts 5 minutes) and recorded FPS with FRAPS. Everything else was the same as it was for the 6950.

And for those of you who don't like to read loads of numbers, I did a table that shows the basic improvements in percentages, so you can just look at that if you want.

 

[jonathan1107]

Where can I download 11.4 ccc... Went to the AMD website, didn't find it...

Is this released yet? Where did you guys find 11.4??

 

[Zubasa]

I noticed something odd in furmark with my 5870 with the 11.4 drivers "had to try em" everything including 3dmark11 benchmarks i have had a gain in scores and fps and all games play very well, however in furmark i noticed something strange. Look at the image.....there is alot of black on the donut. On 11.2 this is not present. "will reinstall and post a screen but im sure you all know what is supposed to look like" Not thats its a big deal but just thought i would share...and see if this is happening on the 69 series cards as well with the new drivers. Speed and fps improvements may be due to a lack of rendering specific things...i dunno....

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh260/proud2teach/FurMark2011-03-1216-51-59-95.jpg

EDIT:
This is what it should look like...not my bench but just linking to show the difference....

http://www.ozone3d.net/public/jegx/201102/furmark_190.jpg

I also can confirm the strange behavior with Furmark with a HD5870. It's a lot of black. Doesn't look like corruption though. I get a big boost in performance as well. Less power draw too. Looks like it made Furmark less stressful?

Benchmark preset 1080p
11.2 - 2193 points
11.4p - 2542 points

This is a Sapphire Vapor-X HD5870 @ 900/1250 with Overdrive.

TBH both ATi and nVidia hate Furmark as much as they hate hell.
They are trying to kill this so call "power virus" at all cost since a couple years back.

 

[7.62]

Im getting better frame rates, higher fan speeds, and little colour artifacts during BC2.

1920x1080 4AA and 8AF

 

[AnaMaria81]

Where can I download 11.4 ccc... Went to the AMD website, didn't find it...

Is this released yet? Where did you guys find 11.4??

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx

 

[InnocentCriminal]

... little colour artifacts during BC2.

I've had that since I got my 6950. I got it more on the stock 6950 BIOS than I have with the 6970. I don't get it anywhere near as many as I did now I'm running the 11.4 preview set.

 

[discy]

I noticed something odd in furmark with my 5870 with the 11.4 drivers "had to try em" everything including 3dmark11 benchmarks i have had a gain in scores and fps and all games play very well, however in furmark i noticed something strange. Look at the image.....there is alot of black on the donut. On 11.2 this is not present. "will reinstall and post a screen but im sure you all know what is supposed to look like" Not thats its a big deal but just thought i would share...and see if this is happening on the 69 series cards as well with the new drivers. Speed and fps improvements may be due to a lack of rendering specific things...i dunno....

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh260/proud2teach/FurMark2011-03-1216-51-59-95.jpg

EDIT:
This is what it should look like...not my bench but just linking to show the difference....

http://www.ozone3d.net/public/jegx/201102/furmark_190.jpg

same for me! HD 6950

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I've had that since I got my 6950. I got it more on the stock 6950 BIOS than I have with the 6970. I don't get it anywhere near as many as I did now I'm running the 11.4 preview set.

Have the same small color artifacts in BC2 since 6970 purchase as well. Small purple circle of light that flashes very quickly. It's impossible to predict when and screenshot.

Sapphire 6970 2gb 1.200v 960c 1475m fan set at 40-45% Cat 11.2 It's never been above 64c even after lengthy BC2 sessions.

I'll be able to test 11.4p tomorrow night.

 

[Wrigleyvillain]

Ok yeah they rock 69xx what about 68xx? 11.2's been working great I'm reluctant to swap out for a "preview".