AMD Catalyst 14.4 WHQL (14.100.0.0 April 17)

Always the same problem with 14.x drivers :

the first time i try Battlefield 4, the game freeze and i have the Mantle error "GPU Lost....". I kill the task and launch again the gain and then .... no more error i can play 4 hours without any issues !! But the first "cold" launch is a fail and always !!

 

Yep got the same thing although for me it's a hard lockup that i need to shut down and start machine again. Can you tell me the error u get or post a screenshot? I prolly got the same thin but never got to see the error

 

next time i'll post a screenshot

 

The link you gave is for Chipset drivers 13.4. The 14.4 Chipset drivers can be found here:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows 8 - 64

 

Double Post - Deleted

 

The filter driver also fixes some power saving issue, according to the readme changelog for it. There are other things also, but I can't recall them.

Performance shouldn't be the only concern. I don't have the readme in front of me, but there's plenty of power-saving and I think stability fixes for certain hardware scenarios. Unless you have some known issue, you should probably just install the AHCI/RAID driver (given you have an AMD chipset of course)

Honestly, the other drivers aren't too large at all to really affect the overall download size. And most people (from what I've seen) totally disregard anything chipset-related with drivers and assume it "just works" and is working the best it can, when really outdated drivers could be the reasoning for certain issues.

I saw a guy who mentioned his computer would basically become unresponsive during high-speed network traffic on Windows 8. Only one (of many) suggestion fixed the problem, and that was to install Intel's chipset drivers. He claimed he didn't even figure it to be a problem.

I'd rather see AMD just bundle the chipset drivers along with the graphics driver just to help people out.

Of course not; gotta do that Express install, and then complain later about how Catalyst "automatically" installed things you didn't want

14.4 Chipset was also shown on that page a bit further down; same with the 14.4 RAID package too.

 

Missed that. I stand corrected.

 

Here is the Mantle error i get :

http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=893399ErreurMantleBattlefield4.jpg

 

K so, see the big F**king headline on this page?

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+64

" AMD Catalyst™ Driver "

Where the F does it say " AMD Catalyst™ Driver + other motherboard chipset drivers you may not need or want but we are going to bundle them in anyways? "

The AMD Catalyst™ Driver should only contain exactly that: AMD Catalyst™ Driver.

And tell me just out of curiosity, say you express install because you think you are only installing the " AMD Catalyst™ Driver ", and then later express uninstall this " AMD Catalyst™ Driver " using the Catalyst Install Manager in the Control Panel / Programs and Features, what gets uninstalled? Just the AMD Catalyst™ Driver, or AMD Catalyst™ Driver + all the other drivers it happened to bundle in with it?

 

To be honest, the "chipset" drivers they do package with the graphic drivers all have some bearing and effect on GPU performance. For example the Pci Bus driver if I understand correctly updates the system for the pci lanes the system uses.

None of the "chipset" drivers are installed by default anymore, they are manual installs, but it would be nice if they pointed it out, so people could update these drivers to.

 

You do realize Catalyst is AMD's driver package name, and doesn't only mean the graphics driver right? Also, "Catalyst Software Suite", suite not being purely graphics... Oh, and how about these release notes that even state the package contents (check out that Southbridge/IXP Driver mention)

Also, please give me a scenario where you honestly don't want chipset drivers for your hardware being installed. Should also throw out there that the drivers are only installed if they're compatible with your hardware too (so Intel chipset users aren't going to have an AMD PCI Bus driver and etc installed).

I never do Express installs, and really don't understand why people bother doing them either. I highly doubt majority of users need that drag and drop transcoding thing, Hydravision, and even the gaming evolve app, and yet they unknowingly install it, and some even bother to complain that such software installed "without their consent".

Most of the chipset drivers get installed on my hardware; my desktop doesn't auto-install the SATA driver though for whatever reason, and I assume the PCI Bus driver doesn't get auto-installed because I'm not using Crossfire. My laptop however installs both.

My understanding of the PCI Bus driver is that it handles crossfired graphics card resources in a more efficient manner, but I don't know exactly. I manually install it on my single-GPU desktop with no (known) adverse effects.

As for the reasoning for inconsistent installs, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's a legitimate problem with device IDs and OS detection that just needs reported to AMD (I admittedly haven't reported the above yet).

 

For my 7790 theese are the best drivers.

 

Well.. i never use the express install either, and im glad i did not this round, cos the AHCI driver causes windows to stop booting when i install them.. So i guess if i were to use the Express install, id be stuck with a non booting system.

I understand the reasons to do what they do, but as you see they had to change the package and remove the AHCI drivers due to all the reported problems, so its not too stupid to make comments on this.

 

Anyone else with a HDMI TV have to set it back to Full RGB mode every time it is connected ?

Starting to get annoying, I have to unplug my HDMI LCD to attach the TV, and even though CCC states it is still set to Full RGB, it's not, I have to set it to limited RGB and then back to Full RGB to get it working again

 

Windows 7 and 8 have a 14.4 package, no surprises there.

But XP does and the newer Vista does not...

How does that work?:frown::boob:

 

Such a peculiar bug like that should be reported directly to AMD.

 

Sorry but the AMD Catalyst™ Software Suite was for graphics display driver updates only. Let me quote from that same release notes page:
" This particular software suite updates the AMD Catalyst Display Driver and the AMD Catalyst Control Center / AMD Vision Engine Control Center. This unified driver has been updated, and is designed to provide enhanced performance and reliability."

And that is the point right there. The Catalyst suite was for Graphics card driver updates. Now they are dropping other drivers in the package. And if Catalyst suite is meant for all chipset drivers et al, why have a page like http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows 8 - 64 Kind of redundant would you not think?

Don't want chipset drivers installed? I would already have chipset drivers installed. I think you mean the updating of chipset drivers. Updating chipset drivers is ok IF you want to update chipset drivers. Sometimes it is not necessary to update drivers unless it will result in a fix for an issue you have come across or it provides a marked performance increase.. Some peeps like the 'if it is not broke don't fix it' mantra.

I don't know the percentage of general users that would click the express install, but I am going to guess it would be the majority. And whether they need it or not, that other graphics related software don't mess with your Motherboard - they are benign so it is no harm done. Chipset drivers on the other hand..

The point is not whether you install those extra drivers or not, the points is why are they there at all? You want to update chipset drivers, go to : http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows 8 - 64

Your sata and pci bus driver probably don't get installed because you already have them up to date.

Crossfire is dependant on the PCI bus driver. The PCI bus driver is not dependant on a crossfired setup. That is, if you want to run anything in the pci slots, you need the pci bus driver working, crossfire or no crossfire.

Lost me there. What I was asking was, if I were to express install the 14.4 Catalyst package ( which includes those other chipset drivers) and then I express uninstall through the Catalyst Install Manager in Control panel/programs and features, what will get uninstalled? Just the graphics display drivers? Or all those chipset drivers too?

Fact is, most are downloading the Catalyst Software Suits to update their display driver. They are not looking for or expecting chipset drivers bundled in the package. And then they get caught out. Look at these 14.4 whql when they first came out. Peeps updating their display drivers and ending up with a computer that won't boot up cause the AHCI update didn't work.

 

You can have an AMD motherboard/chipset and not use an AMD GPU. There are also uses of legacy GPUs who can't use the latest Catalyst graphics package, but could benefit from updated chipset drivers. Both usage scenarios would probably have users who would rather download a small chipset package, than the full-scale 200MB+ Catalyst + GPU stuff package.

On the other end of the scale, I doubt most people would mind the little bit extra size of the Catalyst package with the chipset drivers included.

While you might have a point, one could just... not update their chipset drivers then.

Catalyst doesn't force updating anything; you can pick and choose whatever components you want to install or update. Although I believe the real argument is just why they're included.

The release notes clearly say what the package includes. If a user wants to not read that and "assume" that the Catalyst suite only includes a graphics driver, and either has some dire reason for not updating their chipset driver(s) or ends up having a problem after updating their chipset drivers, that would be on them.

There's a risk to updating any driver, and if you require rock-solid stability, you probably shouldn't be blindly Express installing stuff...

I'm assuming it's because a large amount of people probably have no idea chipset drivers even exist, or even know where to download them from, and probably/can suffer sub-par performance (or even instability) in situations, which could then lead to silly things like people complaining about AMD motherboards and products. When a problem arises, I highly doubt most people consider anything related to the chipset/drivers, and I already gave a pretty nice example above.

I only discovered AMD's chipset link through their AMD Game page. Maybe I just don't see it, but try finding an easy download link to the chipset drivers from: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

Nope. I've seen it plenty of times on a fresh OS install. On Windows 7, the SATA driver installs automatically on my desktop. On 8.1 however, it doesn't. My laptop with both 7 and 8.1 automatically installs AMD's SATA driver.

As for the PCI Bus driver, it doesn't automatically install at all on my desktop, but it does on my dual graphics laptop.

Based on what I've heard in other places, the PCI Bus driver only really helps in Crossfire situations, and probably doesn't benefit single-GPU setups at all, which would make sense for it not to be auto-installed on my desktop.

Only real way I could test this for sure is to just throw another GPU in my computer at some point and do a clean Windows install...

You should lose everything AMD-related, both GPU and Chipset drivers, and any software (Hydravision, etc), but it seems certain drivers can remain on the system, either intentionally to prevent issues, or they're ignored. On my desktop, the PCI Bus and SATA drivers are left. My laptop leaves the SATA driver; not sure about the PCI Bus. USB Filter drivers are removed on both. No idea about any other driver.

There is/was some issue with Windows 8 where it wouldn't reinstall Microsoft's standard SATA controller if you removed AMD's SATA controller driver, and would thus cause a BSoD on boot. Perhaps AMD is just playing it safe and intentionally not removing the SATA driver, but who knows.

I see your point, but it's not as if it was some huge secret chipset drivers were present in the driver package.

It's unfortunate such a bug with the AHCI problem arose, but AMD took care of it, and I imagine users could fix the problem on their own end (or I guess learn a harsh lesson about driver stability).

XP isn't supported anymore. I imagine Vista just isn't popular enough to warrant driver support (it might cost AMD more money to get Vista drivers certified?), but I imagine the Win7/8 driver should work fine.

 

Prepare to be amazed...

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+XP+-+Professional/Home

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+XP+-+64

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+Vista+-+64

I tried both the XP and Win7/8 drivers, but CIM does not list the display driver in either for Vista.

 

Hmm, interesting; guess I should've checked that first

Can you manually install the driver from Device Manager, maybe even with signature enforcement turned off?