AMD Catalyst 14.4 RC Windows and Linux Drivers Released

By Nathan Kirsch

AMD has released Catalyst 14.4 Release Candidate video card drivers for those with both Windows and Linux systems. The AMD Catalyst 14.4 RC drivers bring official support for the Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card and the OpenGL 4.4 standard. There are also AMD CrossFire improvements certain configurations and then game specific enhancements for Crysis 3, Far Cry 3, Anno 2070, Titanfall, Metro Last Light. AMD also introduced some Mantle API improvements for Battlefield 4 gamers for Windows users. Those on Linux get all the Radeon R9 295X2 support, full OpenGL 4.4 support, Ubuntu 12.04.4 support and then a fair number of Linux bug fixes. The full change highlights can be found below.

AMD Ruby

Highlights of AMD Catalyst 14.4 Windows Driver

  • Support for the AMD Radeon R9 295X2
  • CrossFire fixes enhancements:
    • Crysis 3 frame pacing improvements
    • Far Cry 3 3 and 4 GPU performance improvements at high quality settings, high resolution settings
    • Anno 2070 Improved CrossFire scaling up to 34%
    • Titanfall Resolved in game flickering with CrossFire enabled
    • Metro Last Light Improved Crossfire scaling up to 10%
    • Eyefinity 3×1 (with three 4K panels) no longer cuts off portions of the application
    • Stuttering has been improved in certain applications when selecting mid-Eyefinity resolutions with V-sync Enabled
  • Full support for OpenGL 4.4
    • OpenGL 4.4 supports the following extensions:
      • ARB_buffer_storage
      • ARB_enhanced_layouts
      • ARB_query_buffer_object
      • ARB_clear_texture
      • ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge
      • ARB_texture_stencil8
      • ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev
      • ARB_multi_bind
      • ARB_bindless_texture
      • ARB_spare_texture
      • ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture
      • ARB_indirect_parameters
      • ARB_compute_variable_group_size
      • ARB_shader_draw_parameters
      • ARB_shader_group_vote
  • Mantle beta driver improvements:
    • BattleField 4: Performance slowdown is no longer seen when performing a task switch/Alt-tab
    • BattleField 4: Fuzzy images when playing in rotated SLS resolution with an A10 Kaveri system

Highlights of AMD Catalyst 14.1 Linux Driver

  • Support for the AMD Radeon R9 295X
  • Ubuntu 12.04.4 support
  • Full support for OpenGL 4.4
    • OpenGL 4.4 supports the following extensions:
      1. ARB_buffer_storage
      2. ARB_enhanced_layouts
      3. ARB_query_buffer_object
      4. ARB_clear_texture
      5. ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge
      6. ARB_texture_stencil8
      7. ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev
      8. ARB_multi_bind
      9. ARB_bindless_texture
      10. ARB_spare_texture
      11. ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture
      12. ARB_indirect_parameters
      13. ARB_compute_variable_group_size
      14. ARB_shader_draw_parameters
      15. ARB_shader_group_vote
  • Resolved Issue highlights:
    • Corruption and system hang observed while running Sanctuary BM with Tear Free Desktop enabled
    • Memory leak about hardware context
    • EGL create context error for glesx
    • GPU hand in CrossFire Mode
    • [Piglit] Test “spec/arb_vertex_array_object” failed
    • [Piglit] Test “glx/GLX_EXT_import_context/free context” failed
    • [Piglit] Test “spec/ARB_seamless_cube_map” failed
    • Piglit] Test “texture swizzle with border color” failed
    • Glxtest failures observed in log file
    • Blank screen observed while running steam games with Big picture
    • 4ms delay observed in the glxSwapBuffers when vsync is enabled
    • RBDoom3BFG the game auto quit when use the security camera terminal
    • ETQW segmentation fault