Windows 7 Catalyst 11.1 discussion thread

[kemical]

Please post any remarks, 3D Mark scores and general observations in this thread primarily for the new Cat 11.1 Driver..

 

[kemical]

First results are promising. I ran the Heaven benchmark, first with full Tessellation and then again but using the driver settings to back the tessellation off. The dfference was amazing, seemingly lot's more frames but for minimal image loss (tessellation). I need to fully test these further but initial results do look good.

 

[kemical]

As promised I ran some tests on the new Tessellation slider in the lates 11.1 Catalyst Preview. These settings work for both 6 series as well as 5 series cards.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

As you can see from the above image the slider is variable which will be fantastic for the cards with a little less horsepower.
I've taken a series of screenshots showing the difference between certain settings.
Let's start with a picture of DX11 in all it's glory with the slider setting at either 64x or AMD Optimized or lastly 'Use Application settings', all will produce the same result.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

Taking the slider back to something like 32x is hardly noticeable and it's not really until 8x that we really begin to see some difference here..

Link Removed due to 404 Error

This is almost the same shot but the setting is now reduced to 4x. You can still see large amounts of Tessellation with frame rates rising significantly as well.



Link Removed due to 404 ErrorOur final screenie is with the setting at all the way off but even with the setting at 2x a surprising amount of tessellation was still being generated. This is great news to those with lower end GPU's and may even bring Tessellation to the onboard graphic engine!

Seriously though, any kind of driver improvement is always welcomed although if the 4 series chip is to receive any, is as of yet uncertain..

If you have any comments on this driver please add them below..

 

[Highwayman]

nice to to see the morphing etc features now in by default without needing reg mods on 5000 series

 

[cybercore]

Nice post Ross and thanks for trying this out. I have just installed my beta from Guru3d and am very happy all the new features are available to me an ATI 5000 user. No reg hacks needed at all. Nice to have controllable tessalation, which is the core feature of Catalyst 11.

This is almost the same shot but the setting is now reduced to 4x. You can still see large amounts of Tessellation with frame rates rising significantly as well.

Indeed, my impression is that anything above 2x looks pretty much the same and I hardly notice any change in frame rate either. Although I can tell reduced tessalation by the flags on rooftops waving more slowly. Tested on Dirt 2 and Unique Heaven 2.1. The latter gives me up to 47 FPS 1920x1080 AF-8x AA-4x. (ATI 5870 min. 17, avg 25, max 47)


Tessalation 64X:







Tessalation 2X:

 

[Highwayman]

I was so quick to glance it over I never spotted Tessalation tweaks.... very nice

 

[cybercore]

I was so quick to glance it over I never spotted Tessalation tweaks.... very nice

He he, that's what Catalyst 11 is all about!



Link Removed

· The Catalyst Control Center includes an early prototype of some new tessellation controls. Our goal is to give users full control over the tessellation levels used in applications. The default selection "AMD Optimized" setting allows AMD, on a per application basis, to set the best level of tessellation. The intention is to help users get the maximum visual benefit of Tessellation, while minimizing the impact on performance. Currently no applications have been profiled, so the "AMD Optimized" setting will be non-operational until further notice.


· The "Use Application Settings" option gives applications full control over the Tessellation level. Users can also manually set the maximum tessellation level used by applications with the slider control


· The long term goal for the "AMD Optimized" setting is to use the Catalyst Application Profile mechanism to control the AMD recommended level of tessellation on a per application basis. AMD’s intention is to set the tessellation level such that we will not be reducing image quality in any way that would negatively impact the gaming experience.

 

[kemical]

I hardly notice any change in frame rate either

Really??

After reading the above I went back and tested Heaven again.
This the set up for first run:

Link Removed due to 404 Error

Result is as follows:

Link Removed due to 404 Error

I then backed the Tessellation slider off to 2x and ran the test again:

Link Removed due to 404 Error

The result is as follows:

Link Removed due to 404 Error

As you can see there is a significant increase although I did notice that when I first tried to run the test at 2x the results returned back unchanged. I then checked the settings and discovered that the catalyst tesselation setting had jumped back into it's default position. Perhaps you were getting the same issue?

 

[cybercore]

Really??

Yep, the delta in FPS doesn't look impressive to me and FRAPS shows me pretty much the same frame rate.

First let me set up default clocks before I run Heaven again. This is to be absolutely positive my OC makes no difference. Which I doubt of course, but anyway:

CPU @ 2,66 Ghz
Videocard 800Mhz 1200Mhz (4800 effective)

~~~~~~~~


Here I go:

--> 64X

--> 2x

As you can see the min. FPS is even bigger with 64x Tesselation.


~~~~~~~~~~


Lol, GPU-Z detects Catalyst 11.1 beta as Catalyst 10.12 - did you Guys notice?

 

[kemical]

As you can see the min. FPS is even bigger with 64x Tesselation. Link Removed - Invalid URL

Your max frames is showing higher in the 2x! I also wouldn't make much of the minimum figure as that tends to be a bit all over the place anyway. Run Heaven with fraps or something and you'll see that there is more fps at 2x. Stands to reason I guess as the engine isn't having to work so hard with the Tesselation turned down.

 

[kemical]

Take a look at these two shots here:

Notice the Tesselation and frame count 64x

Link Removed due to 404 Error


Ok, again look at the Tessellation and frame count 2x.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

See how the Tessellation is ramped back?

 

[cybercore]

Your max frames is showing higher in the 2x! I also wouldn't make much of the minimum figure as that tends to be a bit all over the place anyway. Run Heaven with fraps or something and you'll see that there is more fps at 2x. Stands to reason I guess as the engine isn't having to work so hard with the Tesselation turned down.

That's what I did like I said, fraps doesn't show me too much difference - there is some but not like "wow". Maybe it's more noticeable on weaker cards, as you mentioned.

Stands to reason I guess as the engine isn't having to work so hard with the Tesselation turned down.

Makes sence. Yep.

Notice the Tesselation and frame count

There is certainly some difference like +- 15 FPS in the current frame rate and that's noticeable. The current frame count sure matters but I also judge by our final results:

yours - Link Removed - Invalid URL Link Removed - Invalid URL

mine - 2x 64x


Overall yes, different tesselation levels yield different results. I would not even try to deny that. : )

 

[Highwayman]

Found this post:- might be worth investigating

"The folks at [H]ard|OCP have received a news from AMD saying the driver development team has found (after a quick reading of this news perhaps

) and fixed an OpenGL tessellation bug that invalidates the Heaven scores posted in the earlier update. What’s more the bugfix brings some significant performance gains in TessMark. If it’s true, AMD is totally forgiven for this leaked hotfix. I can’ wait to test the new Catalyst 11.1!

I would like to inform you that there’s an update to the new catalyst 11.1a Hot-Fix that I sent out on Monday evening. This update fixes an OGL Tessellation bug that our Driver team had discovered. The Heaven scores reported in my earlier email are no longer accurate due to this fix. However, in TessMark there has been some significant gains in performance."

Sounds like theres two versions of 11.1a floating about which indicated why some are getting varied benchmark scores, dated 19th Jan are the updated ones to get, 14th Jan ones are bugged.
​

 

[kemical]

I'm just hoping that it will help out a little when Crysis 2 is released cuz I bet it's gonna be a pc guzzler!