AMD : Battlefield 4 Patch, Mantle API and Catalyst 14.1 Update

[Elfear]

The title of the thread has Mantle API in it. There are no release notes, and it certainly appears that the purpose of this beta driver is to release Mantle on the public. What is there to discuss about these drivers that isn't Mantle related?

*Puts on mod hat*

His statement is pretty self-explanatory. The pros and cons of Mantle aren't up for discussion in this particular thread. Whether you think it will solve world hunger or cause Armageddon are not relevant to the topic of when the public will receive the Mantle driver.

 

[Red Hawk]

Fingers crossed for a relatively bug-free and decently, if not totally, optimized release. The moment of truth for Mantle approaches!

 

[OCGuy]

Hello,

The press will receive the driver first to review. About the driver launch, being available for download through our Driver and Support page, it won't be released today; I will keep you updated.

Thank you for the info!

 

[Lonyo]

No one is saying there are no GPU optimizations. However, based on AMD's OWN benchmarks, they could mean squat if your system is GPU limited.

By most people's standards, 2.7/1.4% improvement is moot.

That level of improvement is just benchmark variance, not actual improvement.
It's basically 0% improvement but that's to be mostly expected in GPU limited situations.

Would be interesting to see if there is any ability to improve FPS with low end GPUs by putting settings to the lowest possible, for instance. Just for investigative reasons.

 

[Imouto]

I just want to see min frame rates with Mantle.

Those "OMG 2-7% so low increase" in performance when GPU bound are screaming min frame rates improvements.

 

[richiegore]

Minimum frame rates are what im interested in too.... That and any word on real triple buffering....

 

[Haserath]

I just want to see min frame rates with Mantle.

Those "OMG 2-7% so low increase" in performance when GPU bound are screaming min frame rates improvements.

Or max frame rate when you look at the sky.

 

[Venomous]

Hello,

The press will receive the driver first to review. About the driver launch, being available for download through our Driver and Support page, it won't be released today; I will keep you updated.

This is wrong because you guys have been hyping this for months. Now we have to wait 24 hrs ontop of the driver release for press? You guys have lied to us!

This WILL BE my last AMD purchase because you guys have been lying about having a mantle driver ready, then blaming dice for not having a mantle patch in December. When all the while, it's AMD who can't even get a driver out and your paying customers get pushed to the side by the press.

 

[Subyman]

Venomous, really? 24 hour press delay and you are never buying AMD again? I'd think by now most people know that "release dates" are fluid especially on BETA drivers.

 

[Venomous]

Venomous, really? 24 hour press delay and you are never buying AMD again? I'd think by now most people know that "release dates" are fluid especially on BETA drivers.

They promised us a date... They have been doing press spins on this from the beginning... I can careless about the presses experience because if you look around, I don't see any real bf4 benchmarks being used in reviews... Do you? I'd rather test this myself as I was promised... Not bait and switched.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

This is wrong because you guys have been hyping this for months. Now we have to wait 24 hrs ontop of the driver release for press? You guys have lied to us!

This WILL BE my last AMD purchase because you guys have been lying about having a mantle driver ready, then blaming dice for not having a mantle patch in December. When all the while, it's AMD who can't even get a driver out and your paying customers get pushed to the side by the press.

Paying customers are not as well equipped to deal with broken installers on drivers as select few hardware reviewers that amd is able to help personally.

Its not that big of a deal. They are getting it right before release.

 

[blackened23]

Venomous, really? 24 hour press delay and you are never buying AMD again? I'd think by now most people know that "release dates" are fluid especially on BETA drivers.

Just throwing out a hypothetical situation here, and let me know what you think. If AMD had the driver ready today (and I don't know if they did), and they had a choice of:

A) meeting their commitment to customers, after promising Mantle in January

or

B) reneging on that promise in A, and instead giving it to the press

Are you okay with that? I would think that given the circumstances, customers get the priority over press. Also, I can't think of any situation where press was given a driver before the public. Has that ever happened? I mean, why not just release it? It's not like review websites aren't able to test it. They just don't get exclusivity.

Just saying. I don't know if the driver was done today. But if it was, and press has it now while consumers don't, that's not really a cool situation after telling customers "we'll release it in January". Know what i'm saying? The press doesn't go out and buy cards. They're provided cards for free, that's my impression. The customers are the ones paying for the stuff, so why not throw the customers a bone instead of the press.

 

[Venomous]

Paying customers are not as well equipped to deal with broken installers on drivers as select few hardware reviewers that amd is able to help personally.

Its not that big of a deal. They are getting it right before release.

Really? Who do you think created these review sites, lol... End users and let's be honest, a lot of them are a joke anyhow.


And it is a big deal... They said nothing about press getting it before the customer up until today.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Really? Who do you think created these review sites, lol... End users and let's be honest, a lot of them are a joke anyhow.


And it is a big deal... They said nothing about press getting it before the customer up until today.

My point was which is easier: supporting 30 hardware reviewers or 3,000,000 customers?

 

[desprado]

AMD is known as a liar and providing Bs statement and best and no1 in breaking the promise.

Infraction issued for thread crapping.
-- stahlhart

 

[VulgarDisplay]

AMD is known as a liar and providing Bs statement and best and no1 in breaking the promise.

Yeah that's my favorite part of the 14.1 changleog too.....

 

[Will Robinson]

Thanks for the updates Warsam...hope the Mantle launch goes well.
I'm pretty sure owners of CGN cards will be glad to receive this free performance update.

 

[sushiwarrior]

My point was which is easier: supporting 30 hardware reviewers or 3,000,000 customers?

Reviewers got the drivers because they weren't stable enough to release, they needed some extra tweaking. And let's be real, an extra 12 or 24 hours is nothing significant. Think about the bigger picture.

 

[blackened23]

Just throwing out a hypothetical situation here, and let me know what you think. If AMD had the driver ready today (and I don't know if they did), and they had a choice of:

A) meeting their commitment to customers, after promising Mantle in January

or

B) reneging on that promise in A, and instead giving it to the press

And it happened. Press precedence over a promise made to customers:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-mantle-drivers-download,25927.html

At least, one would think customers get the driver tomorrow. Which is still delayed from the initial release date, but not outrageously so. Gotta say, i'm not fond of AMD's style of reneging on commitments.

 

[Haserath]

Wasn't it AMD that said they were delaying the Mantle update because DICE was working on BF4 bugs first?

It's just surprising to me that Battlefield got the patch out before AMD had drivers ready. Seems like they should be a little more transparent about what is happening.

 

[Subyman]

Just throwing out a hypothetical situation here, and let me know what you think. If AMD had the driver ready today (and I don't know if they did), and they had a choice of:

A) meeting their commitment to customers, after promising Mantle in January

or

B) reneging on that promise in A, and instead giving it to the press

Are you okay with that? I would think that given the circumstances, customers get the priority over press. Also, I can't think of any situation where press was given a driver before the public. Has that ever happened? I mean, why not just release it? It's not like review websites aren't able to test it. They just don't get exclusivity.

Just saying. I don't know if the driver was done today. But if it was, and press has it now while consumers don't, that's not really a cool situation after telling customers "we'll release it in January". Know what i'm saying? The press doesn't go out and buy cards. They're provided cards for free, that's my impression. The customers are the ones paying for the stuff, so why not throw the customers a bone instead of the press.

I can think of a great reason why: feedback under NDA. If the press gets the driver and they say there are problems then that gives AMD time to remediate the problems such as delaying the proper release or doing a quick hotfix before it is live to the public.

I'm not here to speculate on why AMD is making these choices, but I highly doubt AMD is holding the driver back just to stick it to their GPU owners. There are legitimate reasons, whatever they are.

As for the original quote that I responded to, I thought it was comical that someone would hinge their "forever" future GPU purchases on a beta driver delay which only affects a preview of a feature only usable in one game. God forbid Nvidia ever hold back a beta driver, then there would be no choice of GPU for Venomous!

 

[james1701]

Will they release on a Saturday, or is next business day?

 

[OCGuy]

They want feedback from reviewers first. Same thing was done with Hawaii, people had to re-write reviews, and they delayed for a "firmware" update that just increased fan profiles.

 

[blackened23]

I guess the real question is whether these driver reviews will force reviewers to use unrealistic test conditions. If they're forced to test the 290X with a 7600k or something that isn't representative of "real world". I would hope not, hopefully the driver review system setups will be in line with reality - Namely, the type of CPU that is typical of what a purchaser of a 600-700$ GPU would get - and that aint going to be an APU. That's my only question at this point, whether reviewers have free reigns or will AMD force them to use highly unrealistic test beds.

Not that APU data isn't useful for someone who wants a really cheap HTPC, but the real question on everyones mind is how Mantle performs on representative systems for someone who buys a 600-700$ GPU. That's the most pertinent driver review data to me, the APU stuff can come later. Just IMO. In ANY case, glad to have independently tested data coming tomorrow hopefully.

Maybe Sam can shed light on this question, if he's around.

 

[BrightCandle]

I'm not here to speculate on why AMD is making these choices, but I highly doubt AMD is holding the driver back just to stick it to their GPU owners. There are legitimate reasons, whatever they are.

The beauty of this thread is its run from Sam from AMD and its stated purpose is for him to answer questions about the driver, exactly like those. No need to speculate, this is an AMD support thread after all.