Whatever happened to "Catalyst AI"?

I've just gotten a new computer after having been without one for ages, and as I download the latest drivers for my graphics cards - two Radeon HD 6990 in CrossFire - I can't help but notice that the entire CCC menu for "Catalyst AI" has been changed.

Way back then, there was a simple screen with the options between "Normal" and "Advanced". I've no idea what either actually did, but I do know for a fact that it would have a significant impact on performance. In some games, it was better to leave it on "Normal", and in others, it was better to keep it on "Advanced". This would have a lot to say for the FPS, although I honestly never really noticed any actual difference in graphical quality.

So imagine my surprise when I download the 11.8 drivers, and see that the entire Catalyst AI-layout has been changed. There is now a so-called "Texture Filtering"-slider with the choice between "Performance", "Quality" and "High Quality"; as well as a checkbox that reads "Enable Surface Format Optimization". I've no idea what any of this is.

Can someone please enlighten me? I have no idea how to navigate this foreign, new system, or what any of it means. Could anyone please be so kind as to give this n00b some info?

Thanks in advance.

 

I hear there is this thing called google and some tell me, it's helpful and actually works.

I hear searching this forum to a question that has already been answered a dozen times works as well.

 

He's been without a computer for so long. He doesn't know what google is...

 

Are you a real troll ?

 

In the time it takes for you to tell people to use Google, you could of replied with a useful response.... But no, then again I bet you don't even know what Catalyst A.I. does exactly without using Google yourself

Edit: Was talking specifically to ziddy123 and nexu

 

And in the time it took you to come with a attack against them you could have also helped him answer his question :banana:

To the OP:
Sorry I'm not sure hopefully someone will be able to tell you with more info as I'm not 100% sure exactly what it did and the info on where about.

 

You looking to get banned?

 

Welcome to Guru3D , heres some answer for your question , i hope it helps.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=128579

 

+1 i agree with you PillMonster , this guy (Ziddy123) has been trolling , name calling , starting flame wars and been rude ,unhelpfull for a long time now , i wonder how he manages to stay away from been baned ??? .
Just take a look at his profile and read his last 25 posts made by him then you will know wich kind of guy he is :3eyes:

 

Mate the Texture Filtering Performance/Quality options relate to the type of Anisotropic Filtering used in the game.

If performance is selected then Trilinear Filtering is used, but on the Quality setting full Anistropic Filtering (AF) is applied.

Basically this affects how much detail is a given to distant objects, less AF means objects will be slightly blurry and less detailed. It also affects how many objects like trees or buildings you can see in the distance.

A really good source of info is Tweakguides.com, there you'll find a much better explanation than I could provide...

And please ignore the obnoxious trolls.

 

Yeah I've already checked his post history and taken the appropriate course of action.

What's happening to this place dude - there used to be so many awesome members here...

 

I dont know whats happenning bro , this noobies want to run Guru3d around here , they troll , insult , name calling , start flamewars and been rude all the time , no wonder so many older Gurus have left , i miss the old times when evreyone was helpful to each other and we would have mutual respect to each other member and welcome the new incomming Guys to the forum , those times are gone now :/.

 

It's too bad, this is a forum for people with questions and answers and ideas, whether your a newbie or long time member. I bet there is about at least 10 people that should be banned from Guru. Anyways, now I'm contributing to a "non-topic" post on this thread!

 

For the benefit of the OP:

I tend to use all optimisations, ie: Anisotropic, Trilinear and Surface Format optimisations.

I also use Catalyst AI/Texture Filtering Quality (the new name) on the medium setting. This preserves the most visual quality while still allowing a few minor optimisations. I will use Cat AI on the highest if I know a title can take advantage of this, such as BC2 where I get a good 10% boost in performance.

Crossfire also requires Cat AI on the highest.

Also, the only settings to reduce visual quality are the Anisotropic and Trilinear optimisations, which will use lower anisotropic sampling for textures in the distance for example. For this reason, I don't use AF optimisations on car racing games, because it blurs the lines on the road at a distance.

 

Better question: What ever happened to Temporal Anti Aliasing?

That method should be combined with every form of AA that exists today. Sure it's only effective if you can hold a constant high framerate but that's an easy method to improve AA without having to come up with anything new and by the sound of things would be a minimal hit to resources these days.

 

@ Pill Monster and Chipsy. Man I dont know whats going on either. I miss the good old days of just The General being the guru3d troll. Even back then the fanboys werent so rude. They at least had some form of flawed logic to ramble on. I noticed alot of this started back when alot of people claimed bodar was full of bs before he proved them wrong. The last year and a half have been going downhill fast here.

Hopefully the OP got his answer and has figured things out. I can understand why some people would rather have a thread asking questions then just reading. Some people like to talk hardware and software and better understand it by talking with someone.

 

^Yeah totally agree...and a lack of active mods doesn't help either. PM shouldn't have to be used every time the garbage needs taking out, if u catch my drift..

ATT has the Temporal AA option but I'm not sure if it works properly...

I notice also with the new CCC there is no option to completely disable Cat AI, I always had it disabled in the past because I don't like any type of optimizations being used.

Also when enhanced AA is enabled in CCC, there is no way to select the amount of EQ used because the slider is greyed out. :bang:

 

No, i wasn't trolling. I was rather under the impression the OP was trolling. Consider his name is Lusketrollet and is a single post member.

Also, if someone can find Guru3D forum just to register and ask this question. It would be fair to assume that person could have also used Google to ask the very same question he just did on this forum. Not to mention there are actually several thread on this board explaining/discussing just that.

@NeoCyrus: It gotten all quiet around TAA after MLAA came out with the HD5k series. Last time i tried it still seem to work (on my HD4k serie GPU), but i need to activate it using RadeonPro.

@Phil: I'm pretty sure the grayed out slider for Enhanced AA is on purpose. This behavior is the same in RadeonPro.

 

Pill Monster / Neo Cyris

We really don't need temporal AA with 2gb graphics cards, it was only really there for lower end graphics that couldn't even run 2xaa without struggling. the new Edge AA option that has to be used along with MSAA is more than sufficient in upping image quality, at 8xaa enabling this option makes it into 24xEdgeAA.

 

You're missing what I'm saying. It could be combined with the current AA methods for an improvement. Why not as it essentially costs squat to do on a modern card? 24xEQ could be combined with TAA and hell, SSAA as well.

The best results I've ever seen were from using 2x2 SSAA with 8x MSAA through nVidia Inspector (I would have cranked it higher but on a GTX 280 that would have lagged). Yeah, as you can guess that means only nVidia users have the option of combining most of the AA methods. AMD users can only combine one form with FXAA by using FXAA files manually. That's the only combo method for AMD cards I know of.

I asked the author of RadeonPro about this and he doesn't want to include such options as they're not options AMD intended to use. That really blew me away since the entire reason anyone uses these programs is to use options not available through the original control panels.