A Look at AMD's Catalyst 11.4 Driver

Rob Williams · 03-09-2011, 12:01 AM

With our look at AMD's Radeon HD 6990 out of the way, we've decided to shift some focus over to AMD's upcoming Catalyst driver, 11.4, to see all of what it's bringing to the table. Read on as we explore its improvements and additions, and also evaluate AMD's results for multi-monitor performance using its HD 6990.

You can read through our full look at AMD's Catalyst 11.4 driver, and then discuss the article here!

Doomsday · 03-09-2011, 05:40 AM

good to see they are putting in more resources into their drivers! Always seemed like they never gave a money penny!

03-09-2011, 12:05 PM

Nice that they rightly see drivers as critical mass but they also need to address Nvidia's architectural advantages in Physx and CUDA -- and do something about it. I'm willing to wager many power users don't buy ATI cards for that reason ...

Rob Williams · 03-09-2011, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Nice that they rightly see drivers as critical mass but they also need to address Nvidia's architectural advantages in Physx and CUDA -- and do something about it. I'm willing to wager many power users don't buy ATI cards for that reason ...

I do wonder about that also. I know a lot of people that purchase NVIDIA for the PhysX support, but I don't know a single person who relies on a CUDA-based app (that I'm aware of, at least). It's just unfortunate that AMD couldn't adopt PhysX if it wanted to, and I don't know how many competing technologies we'd want out there. It'd be almost foolish to have half the games support AMD's physics and then the other half support NVIDIA's.

Where AMD shines is with its multi-monitor support, but I agree, something a bit "extra" would sure be welcomed, especially since the adoption rate for multi-monitor is rather low.

03-09-2011, 12:01 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	A Look at AMD's Catalyst 11.4 Driver With our look at AMD's Radeon HD 6990 out of the way, we've decided to shift some focus over to AMD's upcoming Catalyst driver, 11.4, to see all of what it's bringing to the table. Read on as we explore its improvements and additions, and also evaluate AMD's results for multi-monitor performance using its HD 6990. You can read through our full look at AMD's Catalyst 11.4 driver, and then discuss the article here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

03-09-2011, 05:40 AM	#2
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	good to see they are putting in more resources into their drivers! Always seemed like they never gave a money penny! __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
AMD Releases Catalyst 11.4 Driver	Rob Williams	Video Cards and Displays	8	07-08-2011 02:09 AM
AMD Catalyst 11.1 and 11.1a Hotfix	BoySCouT	Video Cards and Displays	9	01-31-2011 03:11 AM
AMD Details Upcoming Catalyst Driver Changes	Rob Williams	Reviews and Articles	8	12-15-2010 10:07 PM
A Look at ATI's Catalyst 10.2 & 10.3 Drivers	Rob Williams	Reviews and Articles	6	02-25-2010 04:19 PM
ATI's Catalyst 8.3 Driver Will Open CrossfireX and Hybrid GPU Capabilities	Rob Williams	Video Cards and Displays	1	02-28-2008 01:10 PM

03-09-2011, 12:05 PM	#3
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Nice that they rightly see drivers as critical mass but they also need to address Nvidia's architectural advantages in Physx and CUDA -- and do something about it. I'm willing to wager many power users don't buy ATI cards for that reason ...