ATI Drivers

Discussion in 'Technical Archives' started by taufikp, Feb 21, 2012.

  1. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    With the availability of FXAA, MSAA, and a bunch of new anti-aliasing methods, I consider SSAA as the last hope, when all AA method fails. This had happened with rFactor build 49, where only SSAA could fix the aliasing. Thank goodness build 60 fixed that.

    This latest driver from AMD ATI, where the AA methods finally have good performance and quality, is also a good example of code optimization. The transparency handling seems to be better as well. In Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the foliage's now looking good and smooth, using 4xMSAA. With previous drivers, foliage looked jagged and crude. I haven't check the leaves and trees in rF1 and rF2 though.

    Since rF2 build 60, the HDR implementation is much, much better. The performance drop is also not that much, only ~3 FPS. Build 49 had the worst HDR implementation with the worst performance.
     
  2. Paul_Ceglia

    Paul_Ceglia Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2012
    Messages:
    676
    Likes Received:
    13
    I saw about 10 FPS increase with this driver in XFire 5870's 5040x1050
     
  3. djt

    djt Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Messages:
    80
    Likes Received:
    0
    The problem is that forcing SSAA when using an AMD/ATI video card is about the only way to get even close to what would be considered decent transparency texture (shimmer-less) image quality.

    I would be curious to know what if anything was actually done in build 60 to address the issue with ATI/AMD image quality. Could it be another case of placebo?

    The way a particular GPU’s architecture handles transparency texture shimmer weighs heavily on the driver and AA method not the application (game).
     
  4. CdnRacer

    CdnRacer Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2011
    Messages:
    1,894
    Likes Received:
    31
    Well I decided to download. No problems anyways. I haven't noticed any performance boost. Since build 69 I decided to let CCC do the AAA and texturing and that did give me a bit of a boost.

    All in all though I think AMD's inability to communicate with ISI are making things tough on us AMD owners. I've tried to get in touch with AMD but always get a returned email saying I sent it to the wrong department. AMD is impossible to get in touch with.

    I am personally not having this issue of being forced to use SSAA as some are. Maybe it's my eye?
     
  5. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    I thought that too. However, that was also the reality at that time. I also had experienced it first hand (well, many of us here had it too, I think). If you searched the build 49 archive, you would see many complaints about why rF2 had to use SSAA to achieve good anti-aliasing. Build 60 managed to fix this problem, but the quality of MSAA and AMSAA was not good, until AMD/ATI latest driver arrived.

    @CDNRacer the issue was not the quality (SSAA is the best) but rather the performance. If you still remember, many users were complaining about having low FPS when SSAA is on, and having low graphic quality when SSAA is off.
     
  6. CdnRacer

    CdnRacer Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2011
    Messages:
    1,894
    Likes Received:
    31

    O.K. A question then. Is there a racing sim that you can run SSAA and get good performance?

    I've never ran SSAA on any racing sim, flight sim or FPS. The performance hit was always too huge. Maybe on something like Total War but that's it. *shrug*
     
  7. Duvel

    Duvel Registered

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2011
    Messages:
    332
    Likes Received:
    22
    no performance boost here, no image quality fixes here.
     
  8. djt

    djt Registered

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2011
    Messages:
    80
    Likes Received:
    0
    I haven’t seen any real breakthrough with the latest Catalysts and my 7970 as far as super-sampling performance goes.


    Yes, I run rFactor2, iRacing, Game Stock Car and netKar-Pro all with 8x SSAA enabled, but that’s with a Nvidia GTX 580.
     
  9. CdnRacer

    CdnRacer Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2011
    Messages:
    1,894
    Likes Received:
    31
    I just tried netkar with SSAA and got 59 FPS with choppyness. Must be a AMD vs Nvidea thing foresure.
     
  10. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    I just tried rFactor1 using this driver,

    AA: 4xSSAA
    AF: 16xAF
    AI: 20 AI with 20 visible vehicles
    Res: 1920x1080

    All display settings are maxed out

    Vehicle: Team ORSM V8 Unleashed mod v1.1
    Circuit: Oran Park (The Big Pond) LiDAR version (laser scanned I think).

    Start from the back of the grid: 71 FPS
    Max: 94 FPS
    Min: 62 FPS

    The 3D objects look awesome and smooth. Hopefully rFactor2 could reach this level of performance for the final release. I'll the post the video (no post production special effects) soon.
     
  11. SimonV6

    SimonV6 Registered

    Joined:
    May 30, 2011
    Messages:
    219
    Likes Received:
    3
    there are some newer driver floating about the net too dated 15th march. But i am getting great results from the 8.95.5 so have not bothered downloading them?
     
  12. Cracheur

    Cracheur Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2012
    Messages:
    315
    Likes Received:
    8
    if you want to get ihn touch with AMD: here's a reply a got from them:

    "Thank you for your feedback
    I will forward your request to our engineering team. In the meantime can you submit your feedback to the catalyst crew feedback which will go directly to our engineering team, in this link: http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D27E29B0E3
    You can check our upcoming drivers release notes to see if your issue has been resolved"

    Tim, at what level are you stuck with AMD?"

    So my first response was pretty positive and maybe if they get some more requests, they will start to move.
     
  13. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    :D I just downloaded, but I haven't install it yet.

    edit:
    I think I'll stick with 8.950.5 Feb 24 for a little longer, before trying the 12.4 8.96 Mar 15 driver.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 26, 2012
  14. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    AMD Catalyst 12.3 WHQL 64-bit

    AMD Catalyst 8.951.0 March 8, 12.3 driver, for Windows 7 x64 and Vista x64.

    For 32-bit version or WinXP, click here.

    Full Support for AMD Radeon HD 7000 series of products
    Catalyst 12.3 now fully supports the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800 and AMD Radeon HD 7700 series of products

    RESOLVED ISSUES

    Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

    This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.3 software suite for Windows 7. These include:
    • AMD Catalyst Control Center startup issues/ delays have been resolved
    • Tom Clancy HAWX: No longer crashes after task switching with MLAA (Morphological Anti-Aliasing) and Anti-Aliasing enabled
    • Furmark Benchmark: No longer crashes when launched in High Performance mode.
    • Quake 4: No longer display corruption after task switching when run in High Performance mode
    • XPlane: Textures no longer exhibit flicker and corruption
    • Skyrim: No longer displays flickering and texture corruption.
    • Alan Wake: A system crash is no longer experienced when running the game in DirectX 9 mode with Crossfire enabled
    • Far Cry 2: A random system hang is no longer experienced when running the game at high in game setting


    Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

    This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.3 software suite for Windows Vista. These include:
    • AMD Catalyst Control Center startup issues/ delays have been resolved
    • Enemy Territory Quake Wars : no longer exhibits random corruption

    KNOWN ISSUES

    Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system

    The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:
    • Vsync may be disabled after task switching when playing Rage
    • Enemy Territory Quake Wars may crash when launched in High Performance mode
    • Crysis 2 may hang randomly when run in DirectX 11 mode.

    Known issues under the Windows Vista operating system

    The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:
    • The Catalyst Control Center may not display if launched while using WinDVD to play a BluRay disc.

    Known issues under the Windows XP operating system

    The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:
    • The system may hang when playing Dirt 3 at maximum in-game settings
    • The system may hang when launching Crysis – Warhead at maximum in game settings
    • Dragon Age 2 may display random graphics corruption.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD from Guru3D
    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD from AMD

    For 32-bit version or WinXP, click here.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 29, 2012
  15. CdnRacer

    CdnRacer Banned

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2011
    Messages:
    1,894
    Likes Received:
    31
    are you using any sort of driver sweep?
     
  16. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    Nope. Never use any kind of driver cleaner. I also rarely uninstall my previous driver. And when I do, I use ATI uninstall function in their installer. Usually I will just install the new driver on top of previous driver. The installer will do the necessary cleanup for me. Hasn't disappoint me so far.

    I have installed this driver. And no problem found. Performance wise, roughly on par with 8.950.5 Feb 24. Here's my short review.

    Here's my new rF2 setting with this driver:
    - 1680 x 1050
    - HDR on, FXAA on, AA Level 1
    - In game Anisotropic 16x
    - Circuit Detail HIGH
    - Player and Opponent Detail FULL
    - Texture Detail FULL
    - Special Effects FULL
    - Shadows MEDIUM
    - Shadows Blur OFF
    - Sun Occlusion OFF
    - Road Reflection ON
    - Environment Reflection OFF
    - Wind Effect OFF
    - Visible Vehicle 20
    - Cockpit View with no steering wheel animation
    - FOV 24
    - Mirror ON
    - Number of AI 20

    With this setting, I run a race at Sepang at 2PM, using Formula Renault 3.5.

    FPS at start from the very back of the grid: 34
    FPS min: 30
    FPS max: 58

    I used to use 1360x768 screen res with previous drivers, and managed to get 71 FPS max in Monaco and in Sepang. And now, with 1680x1050, I got 58 FPS max. In my personal point of view, this is a good thing. Although the FPS max number is down, the screen vertical resolution is increased, and so the image quality is increased as well. In general, aliasing can be minimized by using very high vertical resolution (1600+), using anti-aliasing strategies, or using combination of both.

    In my system, the combination of higher vertical resolution and AA Level 1 is enough to remove most aliasing on screen, and still give me good playable FPS.

    Again, your mileage may vary.

    edit:
    just did a little test, running with the same setting but using 1360x768, here's the result:
    FPS at start: 44
    FPS min: 40
    FPS max: 79

    The FPS is higher, but image quality is declining. Aliasing clearly visible on the small windshield of FR3.5. The shimmer effect also more pronounced on fences.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 29, 2012
  17. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    ATI Catalyst 12.4 WHQL

    Click here to get the driver.

    This driver was released on April 25th 2012. I have it installed and noticed little difference with version 12.3.

    This is my setting
    - screen resolution: 1600x900, 32-bit, 60Hz
    - Driver 3D setting: 2xAA, AA method set to Multi Sampling (MSAA)
    - rF2 graphic setting: FXAA On, HDR off, AA off, VSYNC off, Anisotropic Filter 16x
    - Belgium Spa, Wet race, 20 AIs, 20 visible vehicles, start from the back of the grid, all classes in 1960 World Series

    All display detail settings in rF2 are set to full/max/on, EXCEPT
    - Track detail is high
    - Shadow detail is medium
    - Shadow blur is off
    - Environment Reflection is off
    - Wind effect is off
    - Sun occlusion is off

    Using previous driver (12.3) I got:
    - 23 FPS on start
    - max 55 FPS, min 28 FPS

    Using this driver (12.4) I got:
    - 23 FPS on start
    - max 58 FPS, min 30 FPS

    I was surprised when I changed my resolution to 1920x1080, I got:
    - 23 FPS on start
    - max 55 FPS, min 27 FPS

    So, in terms of performance, for me this driver is better than 12.3. I'm not using Crossfire and I'm using ATI HD5770 1GB.

    Still get very short stutter/pause when entering the first corner, and silky smooth afterwards 'till the end of race. This happens in all tracks and all conditions (dry or wet).

    I guess the AI physics may be the cause of this short pause/stutter, since I don't get any stutter at all in online races or offline races with AI less than 6.

    This is happening in my system. Your mileage may vary.

    EDIT:
    Forgot to add: "Rain Drop" is Off.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2012
  18. Zizza

    Zizza Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2012
    Messages:
    431
    Likes Received:
    11
    same setting but with video res 5760x1080, i5 760 and 4 GB RAM, hd 6970
    Spa Wet race, 20 AIs, 20 visible vehicles, start from the back of the grid i have

    Using 12.4
    -13fps at start
    -min 21 max 37 1st lap

    -min 23 max 48 2nd lap

    now i'm testing 12.5 beta and i have
    -16fps at start
    -min 24 max 42 1st lap

    -min 29 max 54 2nd lap

    12.5 can be downloaded from here http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=giveme&dwn_id=1624

    but i think the real problem is the ram usage... with 8 gb ram i get 15+fps at same setting...
     
  19. taufikp

    taufikp Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2010
    Messages:
    609
    Likes Received:
    16
    I've been changing my setup around this new 12.4 driver, and finally found what I like so far, both in graphic performance and graphic quality. :)

    Here's my new setup:
    - screen resolution: 1920x1080, 32-bit, 60Hz
    - driver 3D setting: AA off/application setting
    - rF2 graphic setting: HDR ON, FXAA ON, AA off, VSYNC off
    - rF2 race setting: Belgium Spa, dynamic weather race (wet to dry), 20 AIs, 20 visible vehicles, start from the back of the grid, all classes in 1960 World Series

    All display detail settings in rF2 are set to full/max/on, EXCEPT
    - Track detail is high
    - Shadow detail is medium
    - Shadow blur is off
    - Environment Reflection is off
    - Wind effect is off
    - Rain drop is off
    (so, in this new setup, I'm turning on the Sun Occlusion, my previous setup had S.O. turned off)

    Here's what I got:
    - 21 FPS as start (from the back of the grid)
    - 21 FPS minimum
    - 71 FPS maximum

    Here's my brief review:
    Combination of high resolution screen and FXAA alone (not using other anti-aliasing strategy at all) could eliminate most of the aliasing in the scene. Turning both HDR and Sun Occlusion to On improve overall graphic look/quality, although still not as good as NVIDIA yet.

    To get the most beautiful scenes, you have to race/practice around 4.30pm or 7.30am. In my system, the combination of weather, Road Reflection, HDR, and Sun Occlusion really look the best around this clock. I'm using weather "fixed scripting" capability: Mostly Cloudy at 0%, Overcast/Rain at 25%-50%, and Sunshine for the rest of the race. The combination of wet road and dry road (with Road Reflection On) is beautiful. Unfortunately, changing Shadow Detail from Medium to High will drop the frame rate, ~5 FPS per scene (set Shadow Detail to Max will add another ~4 FPS drop).

    Again, this is happening in my system. Your mileage may vary. Experiment until you found the best setting for your system. It may took a very long time to tweak it, but the end result is worth the time spent.

    cheers, :)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2012
  20. Gary Corby

    Gary Corby Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2012
    Messages:
    43
    Likes Received:
    1
    The version 12.4 driver is a huge improvement for me. I'm just gobsmacked at the change. Suddenly the game's playable. Yay!

    My config:

    1920x1080 60Hz on Win 7.
    ATI Radeon 5830

    In Game:

    AA OFF
    FXAA OFF
    HDR OFF
    VSYNC OFF

    I have HDR off only because I dislike the HDR colours. It looks better to me without. I have FXAA disabled because I remain convinced it's not the best choice for a racing game, but obviously lots of people like it, so whatever.


    In Catalyst:

    AA: 8x
    Filter: Box
    Morphological filtering ON
    Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
    AMD Optimized ON
    Texture Filtering Quality: High Quality
    Surface Format Optimization ENABLED
    Mipmap: High Quality
    VSYNC OFF
    AA: Super-sample


    Game Detail:

    All Video settings at their MAX detail except reflections, wind and special effects which are off.

    With this I get 33+ FPS, even with super sampling AA. If that's reduced to standard AA then FPS goes to 80+. However, at anything less than super sampling many lines, such as the white lane markings, turn into dashed, jaggy lines. It's a trade-off depending on whether you can cope with the jaggies. Either way, it's playable, and with super sampling on and the halfway decent frame rate I feel like I'm seeing the game for the first time.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 29, 2012

Share This Page