AMD Catalyst 13.2 BETA 7 (12.100.17.0 February 26)

I think you're wrong, but I'm not expert anyway.

The update updates and improves these:

Direct2D
DirectWrite
Direct3D
Windows Imaging Component (WIC)
Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP)
Windows Animation Manager (WAM)
XPS Document API
H.264 Video Decoder
JPEG XR codec

While what you posted concern devs and SDKs. In every case, these updates are welcome. They bring windows 7 to windows 8 level in the most important parts. But since on Windows 8 we didn't see any noticable improvement on gaming, I don't expect anything.

 

The amount of complete system freezes I've had in games since the first 13.2 beta was released is frustrating. Even games not even listed in the notes have been affected. The only way around it is to completely disable Crossfire via RadeonPro. Tempted to just go back to 12.11

 

I've had some weird issues with this and beta6.

When playing mkv videos, sometimes my monitor that is playing the video glitches out. The screen goes dark with vertical lines, sometimes flashing like it would when overheating or something.

The weird part is it only does it one the one monitor, my other one is perfectly fine. If I manage to close out the video player it instantly goes back to normal.

Has happened with mpc-hc/mpc-be/plex/xbmc.

On Win8x64, HD 7970 with a clean driver install. Did it on stock and OC settings.

Has happened so sporadically that I haven't worried about it to much yet. Has worked great in games though. lol

 

TressFX likes to kill my HD5870 so I'm guessing that graph is correct.

 

TreesFX is raping my framerate too, and is not that good looking IMHO (I can live without it, anasfwgtd).

BTW, no issues with this driver so far.

 

I have the same thing going on like you.
But it's so sporadically that I also don't worry about it ...
Not being the only one sounds like good news to me

also in win8x64 ... I was thinking of going back to windows 7 ...

 

I'm having around 55% GPU load and huge framedrops. Anyone else?

EDIT: Found culprit. It's the Vsync. Unfortunately RP doesn't work at all, so I'm forced to stop playing until AMD fixes this. Bummer.

 

You can use D3DOverrider to enable vsync properly

 

Not a bad idea. I shall try it out this instant.

EDIT: Nope. Won't work either.

 

When u say you can't get it to work, what exactly do you mean? You say you get lower gpu usage and lower frames...but that is an effect of vsync working properly. Why don't you compare vsync on/off. Vsync off should uave higher gpu usage and higher Max frames.

Also, there must be a different program that is messing with your ability to use vsync as radeonpro works perfect for me and many others on all 13.2 betas. Or your driver install is out of wack a bit

It is not an amd problem, there us something that either you are perceiving as "wrong" that isn't or there are different problems

 

I've seen Vsync act in 1 of 2 ways, it'll cap your FPS at refresh rate (usually 60), but if your FPS is below that, it'll cap to 30 or some other lower value (nothing in-between; traditional), or it'll cap at 60 and disable itself if lower than 60 (adaptive).

If the traditional vsync is implemented, then you would be experiencing the lower GPU usage because of Vsync limiting your FPS to something lower than refresh rate.

 

I'm using Vsync with all games I have and all of them are working as they should. Hell, even games like Alan Wake, Hard Reset and Serious Sam HD are smooth as butter. Just not Tomb Raider; FPS is jumping from 60 FPS to 20 FPS. Without Vsync it's jumping from 200 FPS to 50 FPS. While turning around at the same place! If this is OK, then I'm eat my week old socks.

No, RP is forcing Vsync just fine to my other games. Just not to Tomb Raider.

 

But not THAT much. Valley benchmark gave me around 85% GPU load, as well as Hard Reset. Maybe it's game that is buggy and not drivers.

 

Really? Source on this?
As a programmer I can confirm that vsync is hindering/blocking the game/rendering loop. You can clearly hear that the gpu is working less which is one reason that I use vsync, and also for tearing ofcourse. FPS counters are often added to the game loop in simple games, frameCounter++ at the end of the render call. Showing the pixels on screen does not take much resources. Check your gpu-usage while playing a game!

I might have slipped in on bananas, haven't read the last pages =)

 

Yes, I edited my post. My apology.

 

Have you tried reinstalling the game? There are a few patches coming out soon that may help correct the issue. If it is limited to tomb raider, than we know where the problem is.

 

First one is out, but performance is still poor. FPS are jumping up and down like crazy.

 

Very strange, i played the game perfectly fine on my 7870 with high and stable fps. Im on a intel platform though. I hope for you amd or square enix fix the issue fast couse its a great game

 

Yay, GPU load is back to normal! Almost 100%, as it should be. Now the question is if it is fixed by installing Win7, or fresh Windows installation, or both. But still, I'm happy.

EDIT: Spoke too soon. It seems that GPU load actually decreases during rendering of GPU heavy sceneries. That can't be right, can it?

 

If the scenario also requires heavy CPU power, or if another hardware component is overloaded (HyperTransport, PCI Bus, Northbridge, etc.) then yea, FPS could lower and GPU usage could drop too because of the lower FPS

I see a similar incident happen on GW2 during large battles (FPS and GPU usage drop because my CPU is overloaded).