AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview

It would seem 11.12 has decimated the performance of one of my favorite PC games, SCII; so I found this, and was hoping we could use it? Or will it not work as we are mobility?

AMD Catalyst? 12.1 Preview driver

 

Good question. I play mainly SC2 (which runs well, thankfully) and BF3 (which crashes on average every 20 minutes).

However, you say that 11.12 hurt performance in SC2. I actually see a slight (1-5%) increase in performance. I am about to test BF3. If it still crashes, then I'll try the preview driver.

 

Guys the AW guys seem to have mixed results. See Post 81 to end of thread, http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/631827-official-11-12-drivers-released-9.html

 

AMD drivers are always 'mixed results,' which is why I stopped buying from that company . Had nothing but issues with 10.4-10.11 that were only fixed when I traded up for an nVidia GPU!

Sorry, but it has to be said. With AMD drivers your mileage will definitely vary. Find a version that works for the games that you play at settings that are acceptable for you and make sure you keep a copy of those drivers should you try testing newer versions and find yourself wanting to go back.

 

I tried the 11.12 drivers in BF3, and they did NOT fix the crashing. I just finished installing the 12.1 preview drivers. Will report back momentarily...

 

Performance in BF3 hasnt been that great for me either for the past several releases, though I havent tried it with 11.12 or 12.1. SCII is the only one Ive tried on 11.12 and I took a huge hit, had to lower my settings quite a ways to get decent frames. I look forward to seeing how 12.1 do then, if they do indeed work on our cards.

 

Just tried the 12.1 preview driver in Battlefield 3. I was hopeful cause I went for almost an hour without crashing, but alas it still happened. Performance is not an issue for me in BF3 or Starcraft 2. I'm running BF3 on high and have never noticed the frames get choppy (which I can tell when around 30-40 fps). In Starcraft 2 on Xelnaga Caverns, I get up to 200 fps (most settings on Ultra except for Shaders on Medium) which is the highest I've gotten with any drivers. If the crashing would get fixed, then I'd be happy. I know it's not my hardware, because I still get crashes at stock settings, and no other game crashes on me. Temperatures are good at < 80 Celsius for the video card and < 80 Celsius for the cpu.

 

I so far had not a single crash in BF3 on my G73JH with Cat 11.11 performance 3 drivers (and neither with 11.11 stock). Maybe your overclock is still to high, or maybe old soundcard drivers.

 

I installed the 12.1 on my jh and everything was choppy. From netflix to WoW. i went from a 40-50 fps on ultra in busy places to 5-15. it didnt work for me at all.

 

Same problem at stock clocks. I have no problems performance-wise in any game. No other games crash, only BF3. It's kind of a bummer, but my only viable option at this point is to just stop playing. That's what I've done!

 

Hey guys,

I am using 12.1 Preview on my JH, and I am not seeing any video stuttering. (Currently streaming from YouTube my Alice 720p video) Then again, I have an Intel WiFi. (FireFox 9.0b6 w/ hw accell enabled)

I express uninstalled my old ones first, reboot, then installed 12.1 Express Install.

Heaven 2.5 results:

17.1 FPS
Score:432

Min 8.5, Max 37.0

DX11, 1080p, Shaders high, Textures High, Filter trilinear, Aniso 4x, Occ: enabled, refraction enabled, Volumentric enabled, tessellation Normal

stock clocks

19.1 FPS
481 Score
10.1 min / 42.1 Max

820/1100 OC

I'll come back with some SCII observations.

EDIT: SCII playing fine here, even with a nice 810/1100 OC. Smooth play, not jitters.

 

Chastity!!! Welcome back! Thanks for the detailed info, I'll be interested to hear your performance from SC2.

 

I hear that man! I was under the impression that there would be a mobility version of 12.1 I can not seem to locate it on the AMD site