I have used AMD/ATI VGA products almost exclusively since 2002. Over the past 10 years, things have gotten more and more complex...and AMD's drivers have added more and more features, and that in turn has introduced more and more issues.
Since 2004 I have been buying AMD high-end VGAs in pairs or triples, from 9800XT to HD2900XT. I STILL have most of these cards in my posession. With the introduction of the HD2900XT, microstutter became an issue. I spent months and months on forums describing this issue, only to have 99.9% of people say such did not exist.
Today, most people know what Microstutter is.
With the launch of Windows 7, DirectX11, and the HD5870, I bought into AMD's Eyefinity, multiple monitors included, only to hve issues with Cursor corruption on the desktop, flickering secondary monitors, and countless other driver-related issues..issues that are only present in configs such as mine.
I RMA'ed no less than 9 HD5870's because of issues with Eyefinity and Crossfire, and the makers of those cards replAced my cards each and every time, because they noticed the exact same issues.
Since then, I've dropped using multiple monitors, and Crossfire, in most instances, because of the problems with such configurations. This is the "new" technology that AMD is hyping, and it is very much broken.
SIngle card, single monitor, is how I run my rig for gaming currently. I still have multiple monitors, and on every driver release, I do a fresh installation of windows and drivers, to see if the prevailing issues I've had for the last serveral years have been fixed...and they have not.
When Eyefinity was first planned, AMD had external boxes for multi-monitor use planned. These external boxes would have a single connection to the VGA, and then distribute the signal to multiple monitors, using DisplayPort.
Those devices were planned to launch in January 2010, called "MST hubs"(multi-stream transport hubs), have yet to hit the consumer market; a key part of the Eyefinity puzzle that has failed to make it to market, and lo and behold, my Eyefinity configuration, as advised by AMD, has failed as well.
Of course, most users aren't using Eyefinity, or multiple monitors, so would have no idea that this tech is very much broken, but it is borken, and it's not just me saying so. I am very glad to hear some users have no problems, but to deny there are long-standing driver problems that have lasted for years, unfortunately, is very foolish.
I used to post here that I was AMD's number 1 fanboy...my opinion has since changed. I have directly asked AMD for help, and they could provide none. Now I have invested into their tech, I feel ripped off, and many things that were promised, never materialized.
And I'll add, with a single monitor, and a single VGA...I don't have many problems either. There are a few, but they are very minor at this point. But that said, I stil lahve thousands of dolalrs of hardware here that AMD marketed as a working solution, yet they cannot help me get it working.
IF them slowing the release of drivers helps fix these issues, then fine, I'll be very happy with that, but if it doesn't, and these issues continue to exist, I think AMD needs to fire the current driver team, and get some fresh blood.
Anyone who would like to see proof of these issues, let me know. I'd be more than happy to put up videos showing them when I get some time, and I'd be far more than willing to try any fixes possible. At this point I have given up on AMD...both for CPUs, and for VGAs. I'm not about to go and buy into nVidia...but I definitely won't be buying anything form AMD any time soon, either! IF anything, I'll buy nVidia, just in spite, because AMD has promised much, and failed to deliver for me..,time and time again.
Yes, for me personally, this says AMD has given up on things. I stil lahve issues existing from years ago, that they have not fixed. TO say they will release less "fixes", less frequently, when I stil have existing issues, can only mean that to me. I've been waiting for years..literal YEARS..and now they say I have to wait longer?