More realistically compared to Catalyst 11.2, where the image quality was re-changed again, this time for the better, AMD touts even larger performance gains with up to 59% in Call of Duty: Black Ops and up to 72% in Civilization V (see links above or the zip-files of the AMD Blog-posts attached) in various configurations.
Now that the official release notes are out, the Catalyst 11.4 WHQL driver suite, which - as far as AMD's product manager Dave Baumann remembers - is a superset of the 11.4 preview driver, the performance improvements seem a little less exciting. Here's a direct quote from the release notes site at AMD, which I also have attached as a zip-File below:
Performance Enhancements
A number of performance enhancements are seen with the AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series:
A number of performance enhancements are seen with the AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series:
- Call of Duty Black Ops gains of up to 15% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single GPU configurations.
- Battleforge gains of up to 15% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Batman Arkham Asylum gains of up to 20% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Aliens vs. Predator gains of up to 8% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Civilization 5 gains of up to 15% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Far Cry 2 gains of up to 6% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Just Cause 2 gains of up to 9% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
- Lost Planet 2 gains of up to 10% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
Anyway, here are the version numbers for April 2011:
- Catalyst Version 11.4
- Open GL ICD 6.14.10.10666
- Direct3D Driver 7.14.10.0825
- 2D Driver 8.01.01.1142
- Catalyst Control Center 2011.0405.2218.38205
- Packaging 8.841-110405a-116954C-ATI
As always, the Catalyst 11.4 WHQL is basically covering the whole line-up since AMD's first DirectX 10 capable cards in the HD 2000 series. The only notable exception from the rule is the salvage part for Barts, the Radeon HD 6790 (Barts LE), though Evergreen-based HD 6770/6750 cards are supported.
As always you can go over to AMD's official download-site or use the links below - they might work or not though:
Background and useful links regarding AMD Catalyst driver
1. AMD App SDK 2.4
If you are into open standards as AMD is, you should try installing the AMD App SDK 2.4 formerly known as Ati Stream SDK. OpenCL 1.1 conformance is assured by AMD for basically all DirectX 11 conformant Radeons, meaning from the HD 5400 series up to the HD 6900 series with the exception of HD 6700 series which includes some renamed Juniper-based SKUs as well as the Barts salvage part HD 6790. Also - and quite curiously - the HD 6990, which with it's two-GPU-power of over 5 TFLOPS would be quite a nice computing device, is not supported as of the list posted on April 16th 2011 and additionally, HD 5970 is only supported in single-GPU mode.
Beta support for OpenCL 1.0 is available for Radeon HD 4890, 4870 X2, 4870, 4850 X2, 4850, 4830, 4770, 4670, 4650, 4550, 4350. The general support in the Stream SDK 2.4 is true as well for the corresponding FirePro and Radeon Mobility variants. Since version 2.3 AMD is supporting their Fusion-APUs C- and E-series in OpenCL as well as the Radeon HD 6900 based on the Cayman chip, double precision calculations are still limited to the CPU as I only get a not supported message when trying to run them on my HD 5870.
- AMD APP SDK 2.4 Windows 7/Vista x86
- AMD APP SDK 2.4 Windows 7/Vista x64
- AMD APP SDK 2.4 Linux x86 (openSUSE 11.3, Ubuntu 10.04/9.10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5/5.4)
- AMD APP SDK 2.4 Linux x64 (openSUSE 11.3, Ubuntu 10.04/9.10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5/5.4)
As you may have noticed, separate versions for Windows XP are no longer offered. A footnote on AMDs developer website indicates that XP support is still included in the 32 and 64 Bit installers respectively; but that surely is a hint of a soon-to-be-announced discontinuance for Windows XP support in the APP SDK.
2. Archived Drivers - for the bug-ridden of you
Also, there's the special page for the now inofficial AGP-versions of the drivers. God knows why they're not worthy of a WHQL-sign any more (my guess it's cost-related ).
For all you brave souls hanging onto your trusty Radeon 9x00, X300, X550, X600, X700, X8x0, X1K, X2100 and Radeon Xpress integrated graphics, there's little hope. Sometimes, when the stars' constellations are aligned just right, a new driver for the officially no longer supported graphics chipsets is spawning at the following sites:
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for Vista/7 x86 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for Vista/7 x64 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for XP x86 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for XP x64 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for Vista/7 x64 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for XP x86 (currently: 10.2)
Catalyst Legacy-Drivers for X1K and older cards for XP x64 (currently: 10.2)
Overview about supported standards and functionality
And now for the GPU-Tech.org added value, I am promising to deliver. Here's the supported standards and tech for most of the recent desktop Radeon cards - something that's not very well documented on the web, not to speak of being crammed into one single place.
Radeon HD 6990/6970/6950 (Cayman based):
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (OpenCL Codename Cormorant)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream), HD 6990 not yet officially supported
Double Precision at 1/4th speed
FMA at full speed
Triangle-setup at double speed
Radeon HD 6870/6850/6790 (Barts based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (OpenCL Codename Cormorant)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream), HD 6990 not yet officially supported
Double Precision at 1/4th speed
FMA at full speed
Triangle-setup at double speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (OpenCL-codename Buzzard)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 6770/6750 (Juniper based, renamed for OEM usage): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (OpenCL-codename Buzzard)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 6670/6650 (Turks based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 6450 (Caicos based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at 1/4th rate
Radeon HD 5970 (Cypress based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at 1/4th rate
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (single-gpu mode only)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream) *single-GPU mode only*
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 5870/5850/5830 (Cypress based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1 (single-gpu mode only)
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream) *single-GPU mode only*
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 5770/5750 (Juniper based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 5670/5650/5570 (Redwood based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
* Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
* Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 11 (Compute Shader 5.0, 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at half rate
Radeon HD 4890/4870/4850/4830/4730 (RV770/790 based): OpenGL 4.1
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.1
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
FMA at 4/5th speed
Triangle-setup at half rate
DirectX 10.1 (Compute Shader 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 4770 (RV740 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 10.1 (Compute Shader 4.1, 4.0) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 4670/4650 (RV730 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision at 1/5th speed
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 10.1 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Triangle-setup at full speed
Radeon HD 4550/4350 (RV710 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Triangle-setup at full speed
DirectX 10.1 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Radeon HD 3870/3850 (RV670 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
OpenCL 1.0
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
DirectX 10.1 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision (at 1/5th speed)
Radeon HD 3650 (RV635 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
Double Precision (at 1/5th speed)
DirectX 10.1 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Radeon HD 3470/3450 (RV615 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
DirectX 10.1 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Radeon HD 2900 XT/Pro/GT/OEM (R600 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
DirectX 10 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Radeon HD 2600 XT/Pro (RV630 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
DirectX 10 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
Radeon HD 2400 XT/Pro (RV610 based): OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
DirectX 10 (no Compute Shader though) and lower,
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL ES 2.0
no OpenCL
AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing, short APP (formerly known as Ati Stream)
No Double Precision Support
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