It might seem like just a few weeks ago that we posted about AMD's Catalyst 14.1 beta drivers --and that's because it was. The 14.1 beta drivers saw the delivery of Mantle to the general public, which would later be applied in a large (>1GB) Battlefield 4 patch. Of course, I've yet to discover a software application that can release patches without introducing new issues. Catalyst 14.2 attempts to address some of the leftovers from 14.1 and prior.
14.2's major changes bring TrueAudio and Mantle support for the impending launch of the new Thief game; TrueAudio, if you're unaware, is AMD's way of driving surround-style audio through the video card (offloading some processing). The experience as a whole is pretty unique and promising, though we've only tested the "studio version" at CES, where the environment and equipment were fairly optimized.
Anyway, alongside the support for Thief's (not-yet-released) Mantle & TrueAudio integration, AMD put out several bug fixes for Battlefield 4, CrossFire, and Mantle.
Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst 14.2 Beta V1.3 Driver for Windows
- Thief: Crossfire Profile update and performance improvements for single GPU configurations
- Mantle: Multi-GPU configurations (up to 4 GPUs) running Battlefield 4 are now supported
- Frame Pacing for Dual Graphics and non-XDMA configurations above 2560x1600 are now supported with Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4
- Dual graphics DirectX 9 application issues have been resolved
- Minecraft: Missing textures have been resolved
- 3D applications no longer see intermittent hangs or application crashes
- Resolves corruption issues seen in X-plane
Known Issues
- Notebooks based on AMD Enduro or PowerXpress™ technologies are currently not supported by the Mantle codepath
- Thief does not render the right eye when CrossFire and Stereo 3D is enabled
Thief's minimum system requirements are listed as:
- CPU: High-end dual-core or quad-core
- Memory: 4GB
- GPU: AMD 4800; NVIDIA GTS 250 or better - dX 10 support required.
- Storage: 20GB
Recommended specs are:
- CPU: FX-8000 or better; i7- or better.
- Memory: 4GB+
- GPU: R9 or better; GTX 660 or better - dX 11 support.
- Storage: 20GB.
The drivers can be downloaded here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx
- Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.