AMD has launched a new set of WHQL approved Radeon graphics drivers. AMD Catalyst 14.9 Windows is the first WHQL version since 14.4 was launched around five months previously. The graphics driver 'suite' brings along various performance improvements, reliability tweaks and WHQL support for the new R9 285 Tonga Pro based cards.
The release notes state that the Catalyst 14.9 WHQL display drivers support cards from the ATI (Mobility) Radeon 5000 Series and newer. Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are officially supported. A new Linux compatible driver has also been released.
Speed-ups
The new AMD driver brings performance improvements (compared to driver version 14.4) in the following games; BioShock Infinite, Company of Heroes 2, Crysis 3, Grid Auto Sport, Murdered Soul Suspect, Plants vs. Zombies, Batman Arkham Origins, Wildstar, Tomb Raider, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV, Lichdom and Star Craft II. Some of the improvements are as high as 50 per cent. Also AMD has improved CrossFire support and scaling in some of the above games. Improvements to the AMD Mantle API software brings performance gains in Battlefield 4, Thief and Star Swarm.
AMD Eyefinity has been enhanced with mixed resolution support, display alignment controls and a one-click setup system. Users now have greater control over colour management and settings. Power efficient and speedy AMD AM1 JPEG decoding acceleration is also in place for all processors on the AM1 Platform.
Fixes
Finally AMD notes that a number of configurations experiencing issues such as flickering and screen tearing have been fixed, as have Eyefinity problems in Grid Autosport and geometry corruption in State of Decay. Users are recommended to make use of DisplayPort-certified cables if they are using this monitor connection option.
Read through the full release notes here and you can download the new AMD Catalyst drivers here.
