AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL

AMD Catalyst 14.9 WHQL

Build Info:

Driver Packaging Version: 14.301.1001.0000

Catalyst Control Center Version: 2014.0915.1813.30937

Catalyst Version: 14.9

2D Driver Version: 8.01.01.1407
Direct3D Version: 9.14.10.01061

OpenCL Version: 10.0.1573.4 (OpenCL 1.2)

OpenGL Version: 6.14.10.13084

Mantle Version: 9.1.10.0034

AMD Audio Driver: 7.12.0.7719

Highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 14.9 Windows Driver

 

» Support for the AMD Radeon R9 28

 

»Performance improvements (comparing AMD Catalyst 14.9 vs. AMD Catalyst 14.4)

• 3DMark Sky Diver improvements
  • AMD A4 6300 – improves up to 4%
  • Enables AMD Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire support
• 3DMark Fire Strike
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - improves up to 5% in Performance Preset
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series - improves up to 4% in Entry and Performance Preset
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – 1920x1080 - improves up to 5%
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series - improves up to 8%
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 10%
• AMD CrossFire profile
• AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560x1440, 4x MSAA, 16x AF) – improves up to 50%
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 6%
• CrossFire configurations improve scaling up to 75%
• AMD Radeon R9 290X - 1920x1080 Ultra – improves up to 11%
• AMD Radeon R9290X - 2560x1600 Ultra – improves up to  15%
• AMD Radeon R9290X CrossFire configuration (3840x2160 Ultra)  - 92% scaling
• AMD Radeon R9 290X (4x MSAA) – improves up to 20%
• CrossFire configurations see up to a 70% gain in scaling
• Power Xpress profile
• Performance improvements to improve smoothness of application
• Performance improves up to 30% on the AMD Radeon R9 and R7 Series of products for both single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series – improves up to 5%
• AMD Radeon R9 290 Series / R9 270 Series – improves up to 9%
• AMD CrossFire – Frame pacing improvement
• Improved CrossFire performance – up to 20%
• Improves CrossFire scaling (3840x2160 High Settings) up to 93%  (CrossFire scaling improvement of 25% compared to AMD Catalyst 14.4)
• Improves performance for single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations
• AMD Radeon R9 290X (2560x1440, AA, 16x AF) – improves up to 20%
• 3DMark11
• BioShock Infinite
• Company of Heroes 2
• Crysis 3
• Grid Auto Sport
• Murdered Soul Suspect
• Plants vs. Zombies (Direct3D performance improvements)
• Batman Arkham Origins:
• Wildstar
• Tomb Raider
• Watch Dogs
• Assassin's Creed IV
• Lichdom
• Star Craft II

» AMD Eyefinity enhancements

• Mixed Resolution Support
  • A new architecture providing brand new capabilities
  • Display groups can be created with monitors of different resolution  (including difference sizes and shapes)
  • Users have a choice of how surface is created over the display group
    1. Fill – legacy mode, best for identical monitors
    2. Fit – create the Eyefinity surface using best available rectangular area with attached displays
    3. Expand – create a virtual Eyefinity surface using desktops as viewports onto the surface
• Eyefinity Display Alignment
• Enables control over alignment between adjacent monitors
• Driver detects layout of extended desktop
  • Can create Eyefinity display group using this layout in one click!
• One-Click Setup

» New user controls for video color and display settings

• Greater control over Video Color Management:
  • Controls have been expanded from a single slider for controlling Boost and Hue to per color axis
• Color depth control for Digital Flat Panels (available on supported HDMI and DP displays)
• Allows users to select different color depths per resolution and display

» AMD Mantle enhancements

• Mantle now supports AMD Mobile products with Enduro technology
  • Battlefield 4:  AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1366x768; high settings) – 21% gain
  • Thief: AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920x1080; high settings) – 14% gain
  • Star Swarm:  AMD Radeon HD 8970M (1920x1080; medium settings) – 274% gain
• Enables support for Multi-GPU configurations with Thief (requires the latest Thief update)
• JPEG decoding acceleration was first enabled on the A10 APU Series in AMD Catalyst 14.1 beta, and has now been extended to the AMD AM1 Platform
• Provides fast JPEG decompression
• Provides Power Efficiency for JPEG decompression

 

» AMD AM1 JPEG decoding acceleration

• JPEG decoding acceleration was first enabled on the A10 APU Series in AMD Catalyst 14.1 beta, and has now been extended to the AMD AM1 Platform
• Provides fast JPEG decompression
• Provides Power Efficiency for JPEG decompression

 

Resolved Issues

• 60Hz SST flickering has been identified as an issue with non-standard display timings exhibited by the AOC  U2868PQU panel on certain AMD Radeon™ graphics cards. A software workaround has been implemented in the AMD Catalyst 14.9 driver to resolve the display timing issues with this display
  • Users seeing flickering issues in 60Hz SST mode are further encouraged to obtain newer display firmware from their monitor vendor that will resolve flickering at its origin. 
  • Users are additionally advised to utilize DisplayPort-certified cables to ensure the integrity of the DisplayPort data connection.
• 4K panel flickering issues found on the AMD Radeon R9 290 Series and AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series
• Screen tearing observed on AMD CrossFire systems with Eyefinity portrait display configurations
• Instability issues for Grid Autosport when running in 2x1 or 1x2 Eyefinity configurations
• Geometry corruption in State of Decay

 

Known Issues

• [404829]: Horizontal flashing lines on second screen in a clone mode with V-Sync on using AMD Mobility Graphics with Switchable Intel Graphics
• [404508]: Display takes a long time to redraw the screen after an S4 cycle
• [405432]: Mantle driver will TDR when running Star Swarm on the loading screen
• [404660]: GPU gets stuck in a low power state after it was previously stressed to max power
• [403032]: Severe flickering observed on default launch of SimCity 4
• [403449]: Playing any media sample in full screen in the 2x1/1x2 Fill SLS configuration leads to TDR
• [400573]: Intermittent application hang observed while launching Aliens vs. Predator
• [400693]: While running performance test, crash is observed with fault module atidxx32.dll
• [401386]: Severe corruption and flashing light observed with specific game settings in Grid 2
• [401289]: Flashing lights in Batman Arkham Origins game main menu

AMD Product Compatibility:

Desktop:

AMD Radeon™ R9 290 Series    AMD Radeon™ R5 230 Series
AMD Radeon™ R9 280 Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 8000 Series
AMD Radeon™ R9 270 Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series
AMD Radeon™ R7 260 Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 Series
AMD Radeon™ R7 250 Series    ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
AMD Radeon™ R7 240 Series   

 

All-In-One Desktop

AMD Radeon™ HD 7600A Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 6600A Series
AMD Radeon™ HD 7450A Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 6350A Series

 

Embedded

AMD Radeon™ E8860    AMD Radeon™ E6460
AMD Radeon™ E6760

 

APU

A-Series AMD Radeon™ R7 Graphics    AMD Radeon™ HD 8000G Series
A-Series AMD Radeon™ R6 Graphics    AMD Radeon™ HD 7000G Series
A-Series AMD Radeon™ R5 Graphics    AMD Radeon™ HD 6000G Series
A-Series AMD Radeon™ R3 Graphics    
AMD Radeon™ HD 8000D Series    
AMD Radeon™ HD 7000D Series    
AMD Radeon™ HD 6000D Series

 

Mobility

AMD Radeon™ R9 M200 Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 7000M Series
AMD Radeon™ R7 M200 Series    AMD Radeon™ HD 6000M Series
AMD Radeon™ R5 M200 Series    ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
AMD Radeon™ HD 8000M Series

Compatible Operating Systems

• Windows 8.1 (32 & 64-bit version)
• Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit version with SP1 or higher)