New Catalyst 13.11 Beta Supports The R9 290X

[phoronix]

Phoronix: New Catalyst 13.11 Beta Supports The R9 290X

AMD released the latest Linux beta today for the Catalyst 13.11 proprietary graphics driver...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTQ5NTk

[Detructor]

are the devs at AMD Supernatural fans? Because that's about the only explanation left for why they haven't released a stable driver version in half a year....instead of stretching and stretching they should just finish it up and release it.

Including a full changelog.

[Andrecorreia]

yes

are the devs at AMD Supernatural fans? Because that's about the only explanation left for why they haven't released a stable driver version in half a year....instead of stretching and stretching they should just finish it up and release it.

Including a full changelog.

i agree with you

[d2kx]

This driver includes dramatic OpenGL performance and input latency improvements (only tried Source Engine-based games so far). If you try it, make sure to set "gl_finish 0" again if you changed that before due to input lag issues.

Also it is 40 MB or so bigger, but I am not sure yet what exactly the reason is for that.

@above: There is no "stable" Catalyst driver. The "stable" Windows Catalyst is a random snapshot with a WHQL certification (because they're expensive and take time) and they release the same driver for Linux, too, because why not. The "Beta" drivers are what you should be using. Because of that there are no Beta watermarks anymore in the lower right corner.

[chithanh]

Sadly due to AMD's lack of cooperation there's no Linux coverage of this beautiful GPU.

This whining has to stop. AMD does send out review cards to Tier 1, Tier 2 and even some Tier 3 websites. While AMD certainly could send out more, they apparently expect better ROI from flying a bunch of journalists to Hawaii. So may I suggest to either become Tier 3 or better by publishing more quality articles, or find a way to cooperate with a website who receives review samples.

[Michael]

This whining has to stop. AMD does send out review cards to Tier 1, Tier 2 and even some Tier 3 websites. While AMD certainly could send out more, they apparently expect better ROI from flying a bunch of journalists to Hawaii. So may I suggest to either become Tier 3 or better by publishing more quality articles, or find a way to cooperate with a website who receives review samples.

I used to receive hardware from them and even flown for launch events but lately their PR/marketing teams have been incompetent.

[Detructor]

This driver includes dramatic OpenGL performance and input latency improvements (only tried Source Engine-based games so far). If you try it, make sure to set "gl_finish 0" again if you changed that before due to input lag issues.

Also it is 40 MB or so bigger, but I am not sure yet what exactly the reason is for that.

@above: There is no "stable" Catalyst driver. The "stable" Windows Catalyst is a random snapshot with a WHQL certification (because they're expensive and take time) and they release the same driver for Linux, too, because why not. The "Beta" drivers are what you should be using. Because of that there are no Beta watermarks anymore in the lower right corner.

uhm, but there is a stable driver advertised on their website. It's the 13.4 version. I do know that there is no real 'stability' when it comes to software but there is a difference between Beta and Released. Mainly a few test cycles.

Oh and thanks for the bits about performance! Interestingly I didn't had those input latency problems since a patch a few months ago (only tested in L4D2), but that game has such huge lag spikes (not sure if that's caused by GPU or CPU...but I guess it's a GPU problem)

[xpris]

So what, driver fixes:

- Performance in some games:
- Input delay (lag)

Is that correct?

What is the overall performance of the Catalyst 13.11 Beta 1? Games work on WINE?

Can anyone answer who tested?

[d2kx]

After some more testing, yes, performance is definitly improved and input latency much better with OpenGL games, but there are still areas that can be improved, e.g. AntiAliasing penalty shouldn't as big as of right now.

[molecule-eye]

are the devs at AMD Supernatural fans? Because that's about the only explanation left for why they haven't released a stable driver version in half a year....instead of stretching and stretching they should just finish it up and release it.

Including a full changelog.

The drivers seem stable to me, it's just that their performance has been a horrendous in games using the source engine up until 3.11 beta. (There's the gl_finish 1 "fix", but it breaks after some use in some games and causes video corruption on my system with lighting.) They also seem to be getting better with putting out updates frequently that actually make a difference, so I must say I'm pretty happy now. But I do have pretty bad indigestion from all that coffee.