[eteknix] GoodBye Catalyst Control Center – Hello Radeon Software Crimson Edition!

[RussianSensation]

So this is the new "Omega" version that was leaked..

Some major changes, but the important one was the rumored performance boost.

I think the focus on this one is ease of use and functionality, not performance.

The UI for managing game specific profiles is much easier to navigate now.

Per game overclocking is going to be much easier to manage.

There is a unified panel for controlling VSR/FreeSync functionality on a per display basis in Eyefinity.

It's essentially just streamlining the ease of us by allowing the user to manage IQ vs. performance and video settings per specific application. The interface is better catered for new gamers entering PC gaming. I guess this interface will be easier/appeal more to console gamers trying to move into PC gaming for the first time.

Also the app no longer relies on .NET, unlike CCC. The speed of navigation/start-up of CCC has been a criticism of it for a while. I mean gamers for years have criticized CCC, and now AMD provided a change that's almost like a hybrid between GeForce Experience (catering to console gamers turned PC gamers, the demands for social media integration), while retaining some of the core CCC functionality.

As far as AMD's performance driver optimizations, I still think their biggest issues with Fiji are hardware bottlenecks. It could be related to DX11 API though but by the time DX12 games start coming out, they'll have 16nm GPUs already. I guess Fiji was a guinea pig for HBM and AMD making a 596mm2 die gave them confidence that they can in fact design Big die chips. I think where their drivers need more work is on the crossfire side, not for single GPUs. Looking at GCN performance vs. Fermi/Kepler/Maxwell in the last 3 years, AMD has produced superior single GPU drivers vs. NV as far as performance is concerned. That's why the Crimson's focus is on functionality, not performance.

The biggest takeaway for me is with Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) led by Raja, we are starting to see a more pro-active AMD. He has a lot more control and influence to make whatever decisions he feels are best specifically for Radeon graphics, while as part of the larger AMD, Radeon group wasn't as autonomous. Hopefully this means a lot of other changes in the future with respect to hardware & software strategies. A more focused, lean and autonomous Radeon group is going to be more competitive, at least in theory.

 

[Teizo]

Looks promising.

 

[tential]

The slide about faster start up time gave me an *$($)@. I remember CCC always took too long to open. NV Panel is just as bad.

These recent AMD changes inspire hope into my dead heart. I like what I've seen, they might just win me back!

Amd just needs to launch a gpu that is available at launch (fury x oos and 290x destroyed by miners) and competitive in performance and I'll buy day 1.

Problem is it takes months of drive updates and by then I'll just buy used or wait for new gpu.

 

[railven]

Looks promising. No wonder Nvidia is going all in on GFE now.

Ah, good connection. If AMD can tie streaming software into it, they pretty much NV Panel+GFE matched feature for feature.

I actually like that you can set individual clocks per game title. Reminds me of RAD Linker from back in the day. Kudos AMD. And I don't need to use a third party software like Radeon Pro! Double Kudos!

EDIT

Amd just needs to launch a gpu that is available at launch (fury x oos and 290x destroyed by miners) and competitive in performance and I'll buy day 1.

Problem is it takes months of drive updates and by then I'll just buy used or wait for new gpu.

Yeah, the last two AMD launches to me were lack luster. 290X from blower to miners and Fury X to me just couldn't stand up to the equally priced 980 Ti. If it were $100 cheaper, I probably would have gone Fury X. But I know AMD is in it to make [as much] money now.

 

[tential]

Very nice. In terms of parity with nvidia, I think they're only missing adaptive v-sync and downsampling from arbitrary resolutions, right?

Let me downsample from more resolutions and I'm happy. I'm a little hesitant to spend $1000 in gpu horsepower with minimal downsample options.

 

[Teizo]

Ah, good connection. If AMD can tie streaming software into it, they pretty much NV Panel+GFE matched feature for feature.

I actually like that you can set individual clocks per game title. Reminds me of RAD Linker from back in the day. Kudos AMD. And I don't need to use a third party software like Radeon Pro! Double Kudos!

They will not only have it matched feature for feature, but also in one simple application which is light years better that what NV is offering atm (no mention of needing an account to dl and stay updated as well).

I like the per game overclocking as well. That makes a ton of sense and is very nifty.

This software has been well thought out and you do have to give the Radeon team props for it.

 

[dogen1]

I like the per game overclocking as well. That makes a ton of sense and is very nifty.

Yeah and per game frame rate targets are super useful.

 

[tential]

They will not only have it matched feature for feature, but also in one simple application which is light years better that what NV is offering atm (no mention of needing an account to dl and stay updated as well).

I like the per game overclocking as well. That makes a ton of sense and is very nifty.

This software has been well thought out and you do have to give the Radeon team props for it.

I refuse to use Radeon pro. I hate using a ton of 3rd party apps. The more functionality within the man program the better.
I'd rather everything from Radeon pro, afterburner, and Riva tuner be implemented into the main driver suite. If they get that functionality (at least the main features) then I'm happy.
Down sampling and triple buffered vsync are my main issues now.

 

[Headfoot]

Yeah and per game frame rate targets are super useful.

Yeah, this is probably the most useful looking thing. Per game oc and frame rate targets, aww yeah.

I wonder what the deal is with the shader caching feature?

 

[dogen1]

Yeah, this is probably the most useful looking thing. Per game oc and frame rate targets, aww yeah.

I wonder what the deal is with the shader caching feature?

It saves compiled shaders for use later. Reduces load times and stuttering.
Nvidia added the feature a while back.

 

[maddie]

I think the focus on this one is ease of use and functionality, not performance.

/condensed

That's why the Crimson's focus is on functionality, not performance.


I was under the impression that this [Crimson], is the new software user interface and that a new driver with performance enhancements in addition to Crimson is also coming soon.

 

[Despoiler]

I think the focus on this one is ease of use and functionality, not performance.

/condensed

That's why the Crimson's focus is on functionality, not performance.


I was under the impression that this [Crimson], is the new software user interface and that a new driver with performance enhancements in addition to Crimson is also coming soon.

It's going to be a one-two punch on functionality[Crimson] and performance[15.11 drivers showing in the slides] from what I am seeing.

 

[RussianSensation]

The slide about faster start up time gave me an *$($)@. I remember CCC always took too long to open. NV Panel is just as bad.

They are quoting 0.6 second start up.

 

[MajinCry]

That's a thing?

Catalyst only takes a second to load for me. Perhaps untick the web content box?

 

[Azix]

Is that startup time system boot or coming into focus from taskbar?

Some really useful new features. Per game overclocking and framerate targets. This is beyond anything I saw in nvidia panel. People will still say they are playing catchup or copying I bet

What will this mean for afterburner and the like? Better to OC for each game I would guess. framerate control as well becomes more useful.

 

[4K_shmoorK]

Looking forward to messing around with this whenever its released.

Wish people would reserve their oh-so constructive sentiments until the ACTUAL utility is released but...might as well be yelling at clouds.

 

[Phynaz]

Dear AMD,

We do not need links to your social media accounts in your driver package. Please continue firing the last of your marketing team.

 

[JEDI]

wait.. so now I can have both Catalyst for my mobo's onboard graphics, and Crinsom for my Radeon 6770?

(currently I'm running old Legacy Catalyst drivers because the new drivers don't work for my mobo's onboard graphics.
and I cant run 2 different versions of Catalysts at the same time. )

 

[Red Hawk]

Overclock settings for each game profile is probably the most interesting thing about this update, to me. Games can vary in their overclock stability, and some users may want to have different power limits per game as well. It will be much more convenient to have overclock settings for each individual game rather than having to adjust the settings every time you start up a game.

 

[WelshBloke]

Would it have killed them to stick with the windows ui guidelines?

 

[DarkKnightDude]

Where's the outrage to the blatant ads that AMD will be forcing down the throats of all it's users? I saw a lot of crying about NVIDIA's move to switch Game Ready drivers to GFE + email yet this seems much much worse:

There's game ads already in the current Catalyst Control program. Not sure why you're suddenly up in arms about it. And its not like AMD is forcing you to make an account to use this.

On a sidenote, it looks great so far. Both the Nvidia and the CCC Panels take longer then they should to open as well, so this faster speed is an obvious plus if it is that fast. Overclocking depending on game by game basis is really cool as well.

 

[Silverforce11]

IMO, NV's killer feature is the Gamestream, making local Co-Op games playable with a friend over IP.

AMD really needs that feature, just like Shadowplay for twitch streaming.

They are operating in reactive mode though, following NV's lead on features. It's been a long time since they pushed novel features and NV followed.

 

[3DVagabond]

They will not only have it matched feature for feature, but also in one simple application which is light years better that what NV is offering atm (no mention of needing an account to dl and stay updated as well).

I like the per game overclocking as well. That makes a ton of sense and is very nifty.

This software has been well thought out and you do have to give the Radeon team props for it.

Yeah. Those two guys are pretty amazing.

 

[guskline]

Glad to see this move by AMD.

 

[SPBHM]

ever since they moved from the 2002 style catalyst it has been pretty slow to launch, so it's good that they promise such a vast improvement on this area