AMD Catalyst 14.2 Beta v1.3 for Windows is Now Available

[btarunr]

AMD launched Catalyst 14.2 Beta v1.3, the second major public release of its software suite this year. The driver brings stability and performance improvements to Mantle, and comes in time for Thief, the second AAA game title that supports Mantle and AMD TrueAudio. The driver also corrects frame-pacing for dual-graphics in non-XDMA (classic CrossFire) setups, at resolutions above 2560 x 1600 pixels. The installer now re-integrates AMD Gaming Evolved app by Raptr, which optimizes games for your hardware at the click of a button.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Catalyst 14.2 Beta v1.3

The change-log follows.

• Thief: Crossfire Profile update and performance improvements for single GPU configurations
• Mantle: Multi-GPU configurations (up to 4 GPUs) running Battlefield 4 are now supported
• Frame Pacing for Dual Graphics and non-XDMA configurations above 2560x1600 are now supported with Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4
• Dual graphics DirectX 9 application issues have been resolved
• Minecraft: missing textures have been resolved
• 3D applications no longer see intermittent hangs or application crashes
• Resolves corruption issues seen in X-plane

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Jack1n]

And still no support for Tahiti...

 

[erocker]

And still no support for Tahiti...

Huh? You sure about that?

 

[progste]

And still no support for Tahiti...

if you mean mantle support it was there since the last beta driver, if you mean in general the tahiti gpu works pretty well, i have one.

 

[harry90]

catalyst 14 beta drivers are still buggy. i actually lose over 400 3dmark score and games seems to run slower, could be a bug or glitch. But best driver was the 13.12. also have to do a restart after a cold boot for the r290x to work properly otherwise it gets way to low fps in many games. never had it in 13.12 which shows a driver issue.

 

[fullinfusion]

I guess im skipping this one.

 

[natr0n]

Played a few rounds of bf4 with mantle no stuttering works well here.

 

[_larry]

"3D applications no longer see intermittent hangs or application crashes"

Sold. I have been having this problem a lot lately. I will report back my findings.

 

[NeoXF]

Anyone with CrossFire tried this? The more cards in the setup, the better... I'm really curious of what kind of FPS they get with this driver and 3-4 R9s especially, even with a hexa i7, such setups should be very CPU limited in BF4 most of the time under D3D11, so gains should be huge, on top of other gains.

 

[broken pixel]

Vsync with crossfire is still broken. Anything after 13.11 beta 8 drivers have this issue.

 

[fullinfusion]

Vsync and crossfire is still broken. Anything after 13.11 beta 8 drivers have this issue.

Could you explain whats broken with crossfire?

Just like to know before I pop in my other 290

 

[erocker]

Played a few rounds of bf4 with mantle no stuttering works well here.

Same here. Mantle is working great and I'm even getting a few extra frames in DX11 mode.

 

[broken pixel]

Could you explain whats broken with crossfire?

Crossfire & v-sync together.

Just like to know before I pop in my other 290

Crossfire and using v-sync is broke and has been since 13.11 beta 9.

When I use crossfire and vsync I get lower fps If I use any driver after 13.11 beta 8.

If I use the 13.11 beta 8 drivers with vsync I have no issue and keep a contant 100 fps @ 100Hz refresh rate.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

well, my kid can finally play Mincecraft on the 7770 again. 14.1's caused missing textures aplenty >_<

 

[agent00skid]

It's still a pain in the arse to update drivers on my dual graphics rig. :S At least I can play Minecraft now.

 

[manofthem]

Looks like a pretty great release. I'll be installing as soon as I can.

 

[Ja.KooLit]

Have a huge 3dmark 11 score difference with these driver compared to 13.12. Same settings

+ almost 5000 Graphic score
+ 400 physix score
almost 2000 overall score

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/8032261/3dm11/8001317

Had a quick run BF4 single performance.

With direct 11, it is smoother than mantle.
observed some fps drop / spiking with mantle, overall directx 11 still smoother although not so much difference in fps with BF4

I do observed though that with these driver and with mantle, BF4 uses more the CPU compared to direct11 API +5-10%.

one more thing, RPM sensor still broken or not detecting at all GPUZ and AB

 

[broken pixel]

To get the rpm to display correct with AB click the fan tab off then on and it will read the rpm.

 

[harry90]

Have a huge 3dmark 11 score difference with these driver compared to 13.12. Same settings

+ almost 5000 Graphic score
+ 400 physix score
almost 2000 overall score

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/3dm11/8032261/3dm11/8001317

Had a quick run BF4 single performance.

With direct 11, it is smoother than mantle.
observed some fps drop / spiking with mantle, overall directx 11 still smoother although not so much difference in fps with BF4

I do observed though that with these driver and with mantle, BF4 uses more the CPU compared to direct11 API +5-10%.

one more thing, RPM sensor still broken or not detecting at all GPUZ and AB

yup same thing here

 

[vinibali]

catalyst 14 beta drivers are still buggy. i actually lose over 400 3dmark score and games seems to run slower, could be a bug or glitch. But best driver was the 13.12. also have to do a restart after a cold boot for the r290x to work properly otherwise it gets way to low fps in many games. never had it in 13.12 which shows a driver issue.

this is what a beta driver means...
however, still better than this

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Anyone tried this on Thief yet? I DLed it but have yet to install it. I played some Thief last night with same file edits I use in Dishonored to bump the graphics quality beyond max. There's a bit of lag for a few seconds after entering the map for the first time in a session, and frames will now and then dip to 50 or so, but there's no perceptible lag during gameplay (Cat 13.12)

I just don't want to risk this new driver causing problems with other games, and I've not even seen any feedback on whether it really does improve single GPU performance in Thief.

 

[Mussels]

i was looking for news of a new driver yesterday... well, better late than never!

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Initially this dtiver stopped bf4 working on mine I had to delete all config files to get it to work again and hey presto it works but. All my save game was gone gdamn me and my zelous deleting

 

[rogerthat1945]

I have a Z87 Asus ROG mo-bo with an i5 and Crossfire HD7770 and my 14.2 install gives a BSoD on install.

Went back to 13. whatever. No problem.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Put this driver in last night and ran another Thief benchmark. Got the same 51 ave FPS I did with with Cat 13.12. It also made all the ambient sound cut out in the benchmark, only footsteps can be heard. In game there's no audio problems but performance doesn't seem any better than with Cat 13.12.

After playing the game further I've found it lags in spots, it appears poorly optimized for an UE3 game. They def need to patch this game.