Maximum PC

To those with Radeon cards, ATI has released the latest drivers. If some reports are true, then you can see some pretty significant gains in performance.

Release notes.

Thanks for the info, downloading now...hopefully my radeon 5870 gets that 15-20% boost which those peeps are talking about!

I am seeing some conflicting reports on the gains, so hopefully somebody will do some definitive tests. Right now, my 5870 is still sitting in its box until I get a chance to put my new system together after the holidays.

Radeon 5770 test (dx 11)
OC 920/1385

Unigine Heaven benchmark 9.11 = 20.4 fps (1920x1200 2x AA)
Unigine Heaven benchmark 9.12 = 20.5 fps (1920x1200 2x AA)



I didn't run comparative dx9 and dx10 tests so maybe there is a difference there. There isn't anything that I can see for dx11 changes. I'm also STILL having constant monitor flicker on my 2nd lcd which is running at 1280x1024. Apparently monitors with different resolutions don't play together.

after not having some building textures in Borderlands, the update seemed to have added them back, so now i can see the floors and walls in the underground bunker areas or the lancer town.

Found this one About the 9.12 Catalyst Drivers:

From Tech Report. Com:AMD releases new Catalyst drivers, Catalyst hotfix

The AMD Site Page; ATI Catalyst 9.12 Hotfix; Last Updated 12/16/2009

Problem Description:

· performance drop is observed with a supported ATI CrossFireX™ configuration when using the thermal scope while playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare
· Performance drop during the opening cinematic of Resident Evil 5
· Wheelman freezes while loading the game menu and can't play further
· The desktop mouse cursor becomes enlarged at random while using Windows 7
· Flashing in various OpenGL titles – City of Heroes, Enemy Territories: Quake Wars, Riddick
· Heaven benchmark (DirectX 9 mode) – Grass flickers and white boarders observed around the edges
· DTS-HD and Dolby True-HD not working properly with certain receivers while using HDMI connection on ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Serie

This feature is supported on the following Products:
o ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5970 Series
o ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5800 Series
o ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 5700 Series
o ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 4000 Series
o AMD FireStreamâ„¢ 9200 Series
Note! This driver is provided as is and is not supported by AMD. It has not completed full AMD testing, and is only recommended for users experiencing the particular issue described above.

There's more but there is a link for the hotfix also. the dnld is 122MB So I don't know if this is just a hotfix or a complete rewrite and should be installed as such or if you just install it over the latest version. I mean 122MB is almost double the full v9.12 dnld.

Although it increases performance by a bit, the new driver still doesn't fix the powerplay bug which causes flickering in multi screen setups. Bah looks like I still have to use amd gpu clock tool to use more than one monitor without having horrible tearing on the 2nd monitor.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. My 2nd monitor drives me nuts with the screen tearing. <sigh> Maybe the next update......