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AMD rolls out Catalyst 14.9 WHQL display drivers

by Mark Tyson on 1 October 2014, 10:05

Tags: Catalyst Drivers, PC

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacjrn

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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.



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Oh good, my new 280X (now a bargain given the recent 290 release), due to be delivered later today by the highly efficiently Scan, will now be even better!
Display scaling appears to be broken in Cat 14.9, it is for me at least. :(
Install crashes for me, 7970 matrix
AMD
We are aware that a small number of users are experiencing the following issues with the AMD Catalystâ„¢ 14.9 driver:

Random installation crashes or hangs
Intermittent black screen or BSOD error on reboot after driver installation
AMD Catalystâ„¢ Control Center intermittently crashes or fails to load

Hopefully it isn't too long before AMD can get this fixed.
And again, a freeze every time it enters ULPS. Is WHQL worth anything these days?