AMD have just released a tasty version of their Catalyst drivers, version 12.8. The biggest gem in this driver is most likely going to be the Windows 8 support, which includes AMD's first logo certified and unified driver for Windows 8 production. This includes:
- 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
There's also some performance improvements with Catalyst 12.8 when versed against 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
AMD haven't stopped there, they've also released the latest Catalyst Application Profile: AMD Catalyst 12.7 CAP 3 (to be used with the new Catalyst 12.8 drivers). This has now included The Secret World (DX11) which resolves some corruption issues when running CrossFire on the HD 7000 Series. TorchLight 2 seems some improvements in single GPU performance, and disables CrossFire due to some compatibility support when running a multi-GPU config. Spec Ops: The Line gets some improved CrossFire performance, and finally, Hawken receives "improved" CrossFire performance.
There's the usual bug fixes and resolved issue highlights of Catalyst 12.8:
- 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
And lastly, AMD have included Linux support for Ubunutu 12.04 production support.