September månads drivrutin för grafikkorten i Radeon-serien heter Catalyst 12.9 Beta och denna gång handlar det mesta om en ny funktion för bärbara datorer. AMD inkluderar stöd för tekniken Enduro, vilket i stora drag är det röda lagets motsvarighet till Nvidia Optimus.
AMD Enduro kan automatiskt växla mellan integrerad grafik och ett separat grafikkort efter behov, detta för att förlänga batteritiden. I kontrollpanelen går det att justera funktionen utefter individuella applikationer, exempelvis för att låta det kraftfullare diskreta grafikkortet gå igång vid krävande spel och den vanligtvis strömsnålare integrerade varianten ta hand om resten.
I ändringsloggen återfinns även en mängd buggfixar, däribland prestandaoptimeringar för påkostade Crossfire-konfigurationer med tre eller fyra grafikprocessorer tillsammans med flera skärmar i Eyefinity.
Samtidigt rättar AMD problem med för höga klockfrekvenser i strömsparlägen med överklockningsfunktionen Overdrive aktiverad samt grafikfel i webbläsaren Firefox med Crossfire-konfigurationer. Slutligen utlovas upp till tio procent bättre prestanda i Lost Planet 2 med en ensam grafikprocessor.
Catalyst 12.9 Beta finns till Windows 7/8, Vista, Windows XP samt Linux och går vanlig ordning att ladda ned från AMD:s webbplats.
Feature Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta: AMD Catalyst Mobility support for AMD Enduro Technology
AMD Catalyst Mobility now includes support for AMD Enduro Technology.
New features found in Catalyst 12.9 Beta:
AMD Enduro Technology for Notebooks delivers:
- Long lasting battery life
- GPU accelerated performance for gaming, video, and compute apps
- A Seamless and automatic experience
Re-designed Catalyst Control Center user interface:
- View all profiled applications
- View recently run applications
- Profile applications based on power source
- Expert mode control and customization
- Performance centric AC
- Battery centric DC
Feature Highlights of AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta Linux® Driver: New OS Support
This release of AMD Catalyst Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems.
- Ubuntu 12.10 early look support
- RHEL 6.3 production support
Performance highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.9 Beta (versus AMD Catalyst 12.8)
- Up to 10% in Lost Planet 2 in single GPU configurations
RESOLVED ISSUES
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta software suite.
Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
- Krater crashes when run on HD 7000 series products
- Dirt Showdown 8-Ball hangs when CrossFire is enabled
- The Amazing Spider Man stuttering experienced at certain game locations
- Deus Ex Human Revolution: Intro scenes stutter
- F1 2011: Vehicle textures flicker when game is run at low settings
- Dirt Showdown: Flickering seen when benchmark is run in DirectX 11 mode
- Battlefield – Bad Company 2: Flickering textures seen in CrossFire mode
- Alan Wake: freezes when run in DirectX 9 mode with a 3x1 Eyefinity layout.
- Portal 2: freezes when run in DirectX 9 mode with a 3x1 Eyefinity layout
- Catalyst Control Center Overscan settings are now correctly retained across reboots
- Tri and Quad CrossFire+ Eyefinity configurations – Certain DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications lower than expected performance
- FireFox – corruption observed in CrossFire configurations
- Enabling Overdrive settings increased clocks in all power states
- Availability of AMD Video Converter support in AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta Windows 7 and Windows Vista packages
Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
- Corruption seen during Blu Ray playback using Cyberlink PowerDVD 12
Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
- Riddick – Assault on Dark Athena : Tearing observed when run at High game settings in a CrossFire configuration
- The audio driver incorrectly installed
KNOWN ISSUES
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced with the AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta software suite.
Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system
- Max Payne 3: Lights may flicker when run in Direct X 11 mode in a triple Crossfire configuration
- Metro 2033: Menus may flicker when run in DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 mode
- Guild Wars 2: Texture flicker/corruption may be seen when changing graphics settings
