AMD rilascia i driver Catalyst 12.8 per schede Radeon HD

AMD ha reso disponibile, a questo indirizzo, la versione 12.8 dei driver Catalyst, compatibili con schede video Radeon HD delle serie 5000, 6000 e 7000, introducendo quale principale novità il supporto ufficiale integrato al sistema operativo Microsoft Windows 8. Questo implica, tra le varie, anche il supporto alle API DirectX 11.1 e al driver model WDDM 1.2.

Non mancano ottimizzazioni dal punto di vista delle prestazioni velocistiche, con vari incrementi tra il 3% e il 25% a seconda del titolo rispetto a quanto registrato con i driver Catalyst release 12.6, quella certificata WHQL più recente a disposizione prima del rilascio dei driver 12.8.

E' possibile inoltre scaricare, da questo indirizzo, la release 12.7 CAP3 dei Catalyst Application Profile Update, aggiornamento software che migliora la compatibilità con i giochi 3D dei sistemi dotati di schede video in configurazione Crossfire.

Di seguito le note a corredo con i nuovi driver Catalyst 12.8:

Featuring support for the DirectX 11.1 and the new WDDM 1.2 driver model:

• AMD’s first official unified and logo certified driver for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista
• Target-Independent Rasterization (TIR):  TIR is a new rendering path that enables superior anti-aliasing in Direct3D driver applications
• Native Stereo 3D Support:   Windows 8 natively supports stereoscopic 3D gaming and videos via compatible applications
• Unified Video API:  Video playback has been integrated into the DirectX® 11 API, enabling simultaneous video and gaming content.  Transcoding performance may also be improved for supporting applications.
• Optimized screen rotation for rotation aware devices
• Improved sleep/resume performance
• Optimized GPU power consumption
• Major technologies / features also supported under Windows 8:
  • AMD Eyefinity technology
  • OpenCL™
  • OpenGL
  • Unified Video Decoder (UVD)
  • AMD Dual Graphics
  • AMD CrossFire technology
  • AMD Overdrive
  • AMD Catalyst Control Center
  • Vision Engine Control Center

Performance highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.8 (versus AMD Catalyst 12.6)

• Up to 25% in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
• Up to 3% in Battlefield 3
• Up to 6% in Batman: Arkham City
• Up to 3% in Dues Ex: Human Revolution
• Up to 6% in Crysis 2
• Up to 15% in Total War: Shogun
• Up to 8% in Crysis Warhead
• Up to 5% in Just Cause 2
• Up to 10% in Dirt 3

Resolved issue highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.8 driver

• Over/underscan settings are correctly restored on system reboot
• Audio is no longer disabled if the connected HDTV Is switched off/on
• Shogun 2 : Flickering text is no longer experienced
• Star Wars – The Old Republic : In game cinematic no longer experience flicker when using the arrow keys
• Dirt Showdown: 8-Ball track No longer hangs with Crossfire enabled
• Max Payne 3 : A black screen is no longer observed when launching game in DirectX 11 mode with Crossfire enabled

A seguire quelle che accompagnano i nuovi Catalyst Application Profile Update 12.7 CAP3:

• The Secret World (DX11): Resolves corruption seen in HUD/options when running in CrossFire mode
• TorchLight 2 – Improves single GPU performance, and disables CrossFire due to incompatible support when running in a Multi-GPU configuration
• Hawken: Improves the CrossFire performance