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Archive for the ‘News’ Category

ATI AMD 7970 reviews released

23 Dec

Shamelessly stole the links from DM at OCAU

AMD Radeon HD 7970-series Review Dump:
AnandTech http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/a…hd-7970-review

BitTech http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra…0-3gb-review/1

Expert Reviews http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/graph…radeon-hd-7970

Guru3D http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ra…d-7970-review/

HardOCP http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/…eo_card_review

Hardware Heaven http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review…roduction.html

Hardware Secrets http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic…rd-Review/1458

HardwareCanucks http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum…gb-review.html

Hexus http://www.hexus.net/tech/reviews/gr…n-hd-7970-3gb/

Hot Hardware http://www.hothardware.com/Reviews/A…ti-GPU-Review/

KitGuru http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr…s-card-review/

Legit Reviews http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1805/1/

MadShrimps http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/ar…#axzz1hFbx8NO2

MaximumPC http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea…re_performance

NeoSeeker http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha…s/AMD_HD_7970/

Overclockers http://www.overclockers.com/amd-rade…s-card-review/

PC Perspective http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic…ew-Tahiti-28nm

Techpowerup http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7970/

Tom’s Hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/…-gcn,3104.html

Vortez http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages…_review,1.html

Vr-Zone http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/amd-…ion/14308.html

Wide Screen Gaming http://widescreengamingforum.com/art…w-benchmarking

 

Needless to say if ATI can bring this card out a tthe same or even better lower than the NVIDIA 580 series then it has a winner (drivers permitting).

Now i know intel has the faster setup at the moment but you would think at least one review site would throw one of these at a Bulldozer for testing.

Hell give me one i,ll test the crap out of it :)

 

Anandtech are using an overclocked I7 3960x so that makes them pretty much the newest of the review setups that i can see.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/15

compare these two like results for example.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/22

B3 at full with 4x aa and 2560 for both reviews the only difference really is the cpu and the canucks one is overclocked to 4gig.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/49646-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-review-13.html

11 fps difference for the 7970

and about the same for the 580 so that shows very roughly you get 11fps boost with the newer cpu.

 

now show me an overclocked bulldozer galdangit :)

 

 

Overclocked AMD FX 8120 review

05 Dec

System

CPU: Fx8120

motherboard: gigabyte 990fx ud5 bios rev:7G

Speed 4.43 Ghz

BUS:200 x22

Memory : 2x4gig Corsair 2000 9 10 9 27

HDD: 2x WD black 1 Tb Raid 0

Video:5870 ati 875/1225

monitor 30 inch dell

cooling: corsair H60 dual 120ml fans intake

case:corsiar 500r carbide with large side fan drawing out

 

TESTS

GAMES

  • catalyst 11.11.3
  • res:2560 1600
  • 2xaa
  • 16xaf
  • all settings for all games set to as high as possibble including physx.
  • vysnc off

Half life lost coast

144 FPS

 

counterstrike source

239 FPS

 

hawx dx10(ambient occlussion on full)

avg:68 FPS

high:247 FPS

 

farcry 2

ranch long

avg:68.83 FPS

min:36 FPS

max:108 FPS

 

UT3

12 minute cutom demo

69 FPS

 

devil may cry

scene 1 144 FPS

 
 
 

Maxmem2 1.96

maxmem2 1.96

maxmem2 196

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
sunspider .091

 
 
 

Cinebench 11.5 x64

cinebench 11.5

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

X264

Results for

x264.exe r1913

==========================

 

Pass 1

——

encoded 1442 frames, 134.59 fps, 3911.61 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 136.70 fps, 3911.61 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 133.21 fps, 3911.61 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 137.19 fps, 3911.61 kb/s

Pass 2

——

encoded 1442 frames, 43.96 fps, 3958.68 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 43.93 fps, 3958.36 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 43.95 fps, 3960.22 kb/s

encoded 1442 frames, 43.71 fps, 3960.21 kb/s

 

 

7zip

7 Zip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aida64

 

photoworx result

aida64 photoworx

 

 

 

 

 

 

&
HASH results 

aida64 hash

 

 

 AES results (finally a win :) )

aida 64 aes

 

 

 

 

ZLib results (definately a reasonable result)

aida 64 zlib

 

 

 

V8 results (again a  reasonable showing)

aida 64 v8

 

 

 

 

Super pi 1.5

 

Summary

This shows the scaling of the Bulldozer is not bad but still well behind the 8 ball.
These tests were done using the windows 8 cpu drivers and i believe they have improved in a few places.
I do believe with some better bios updates (especially if they can add LLC to the UD5) and driver updates and code updates to apps and games these things could stretch thier legs a little.
but right now….not really
In saying that i have found everything i do on the computer smooth as butter and that is including multitasking such as encoding recorded tv shows while i write this and listen to music and a few other things….this chip isn’t even breaking a sweat.

 

gigabyte 970/950 boards bulldozer support

08 Oct

Taken straight from the gigabyte site today

970 d3 board

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3908

 

990fx ud5 board

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3891

890fx ud5 rev 3.1

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3781

 

 

gigabyte bulldozer support

970/950 bulldozer support

 

 

 
 

Duke nukem forever is coming

14 Mar

Duke nukem at mighty ape australia

Mighty ape have a very good price and a bonus baseball cap for preorders.

 

Catalyst 1.11 whql official drivers released

27 Jan

quick update

PUKE

tried installing these with my 5870

and

didn’t install
uninstall all reinstall
install crash
reboot
run ccc old 10.12 version of ccc even though it installed fresh
drivers are the same as the 26th

same power issues with it forcing mine down to 157/600 and crashing whenever video content in game came up

that’s when it wasn’t crashing.

so me on my 5870

back to 10.10e i goes

hope the 6xxx people have better luck or even the 5xxx series people me i,m cursed :)

oh and also look for the application profiles they are up to 10.12b i think it is

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

same as the 26th jan beta ones from what i have gathered so far.

so don’t hold your breath for miracle cures.

release notes

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.1 Windows release includes:

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.1 release includes:

  • F1 2010:
    • Performance increases up to 12% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
    • Performance increases up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
  • Left 4 Dead 2:
    • Performance increases up to 17% on AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single and Crossfire configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
    • Performance increases up to 8% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series single configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 11.1 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

  • Aliens vs. Predator game no longer fails to load with quad Crossfire enabled..
  • Text is no longer missing randomly in Nostradamus- The Last Prophecy demo.
  • Graphical corruption is no longer seen occasionally in Nostradamus- The Last Prophecy demo.
  • The Protoss Pylon Matrix is now rendered correctly in Starcraft 2.
  • Task switching in Dirt2 with Vsync enabled no longer causes a dual link monitor to go black.
  • System no longer crashes when enabling Crossfire with 2 monitors connected to the primary card and 2 monitors connected to the secondary card.
  • List of supported TV resolutions now includes 1080p 24Hz (if supported by the TV display).
  • Cyberlink PowerDVD no longer randomly exits when playing a blu-ray title with the “Aero-on” option enabled in the player.
  • An error message is no longer intermittently displayed when viewing a slideshow using Windows Live Photo Gallery.
  • Windows Media Player no longer displays a black screen when continuously playing several VC1 format files over a 4 hour period.
  • “Host Application not responding” error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

  • Video corruption is no longer randomly seen during DVD playback using Windows Media Player.
  • Progressive scan DVD content no longer causes Windows Media Center to hang.
  • Interlaced DVD content no longer exhibits frame drops and jerky playback.
  • “Host Application not responding” error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

  • Frame drops are no longer observed when playing HD interlaced content in Windows Media Center.
  • Call of Duty – Black Ops no longer randomly hangs on AMD Radeon HD 57xx series products.
  • Crossfire using AMD Radeon HD 68xx series products no longer hangs intermittently when running 3dMark 2006.
  • “Host Application not responding” error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst Control Center.

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

  • Blocky video corruption may be displayed randomly when playing back SD DVD content using Windows Media Player.
  • Video may flicker randomly when using PowerDVD to play the blu-ray edition of “Iron Man 2”.
  • Screen may flicker and objects may be duplicated in Medal of Honor under DirectX 11 with Crossfire enabled on AMD Radeon HD 69xx series products.
  • Objects may be duplicated in Dead Rising 2 when Super Anti Aliasing is enabled on AMD Radeon HD 69xx series products.

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

  • AVIVO options do not take effect on WinDVD 10 blu-ray playback.
  • Doom 3 and Quake 4 may display corruption when running on a AMD Radeon HD 47xx series product.

Known Issues under all Windows Operating Systems
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under all supported Windows operating systems in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

  • An error message may be displayed if the power plan is changed several times (from Power Save to High Performance) when the AMD Catalyst Control Center is open.
  • The AMD Catalyst Control Center may flicker when adjusting brightness using a hotkey.
 

Catalyst 10.12 whql driver released with new control panel

16 Dec

The new 10.12 driver has been released with an optional preview to the new control panel.

Personally i think it is the old one in a new set of clothes and honestly not that good.

It is only a preview version so therefore beta but still thinsg like overclocks are off features are either missing or hidden and it just plain and simply crashed to often.

The 10.12 driver though seems ok so far, nothing exciting for a single 5870 but my guess is the 6970/6870 etc crowd should get a boost.

Release notes: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles…easeNotes.aspx
Official download via AMD: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa…downloads.aspx

AMD Catalyst™ Software Suite Version 10.12

 

This article provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s software suite, AMD Catalyst 10.12. This particular software suite updates both the AMD display driver, and the AMD Catalyst Control Center. This unified driver has been updated to provide enhanced level of power, performance, and reliability.

Package Content
The AMD Catalyst™ software suite 10.12 contains the following:

  • AMD display driver version 8.801
  • HydraVision™ for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
  • Southbridge/IXP Driver
  • AMD Catalyst™ Control Center version 8.801

Important !

 Caution !

  •  The AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for better stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same AMD Catalyst™ release.
  • The AMD Catalyst™ Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes.

  •  When installing the AMD Catalyst™ driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst™ driver.
  • These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/.
  • ATI Eyefinity™ technology gives gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics horsepower required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes.
  • Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst™ software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website
  • The Drag and Drop Transcoding feature is a beta level feature provided only for evaluation purposes. The Drag and Drop Transcoding feature is only supported on single and dual core CPUs, and supported on devices that support Media Transfer Protocol (MTP).
  • When upgrading from a non-Stream™ Edition driver suite to a Stream Edition driver suite with the ATI Stream™ SDK v2 installed, it is recommended that you uninstall the ATI Stream SDK v2 Developer component from the system prior to installing Stream Edition driver suite
  • When installing the ATI Stream SDK v2 after a Stream Edition driver suite has been installed on a system, you may encounter a maintenance dialog for the developer component of the SDK. This is normal and can be ignored by canceling the dialog box.

AMD Product Compatibility
The AMD Catalyst™ driver is compatible with the following AMD products.

AMD Desktop Product Family Compatibility
AMD Radeon™ HD 6800 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 4670 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5900 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 4650 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 4600 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 4550 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5600 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 4350 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5500 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 3800 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 5400 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 3600 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 X2 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4700 Series  
Note:
Driver compatibility for AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series is currently available for Windows Vista® and Windows 7® only.

 

AMD FireStream Product Families
AMD FireStream™ 9350 AMD FireStream™ 9250
AMD FireStream™ 9270 AMD FireStream™ 9170

 

 

AMD Chipset Product Families
ATI Radeon™ HD 4290 ATI Radeon™ 3200 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 ATI Radeon™ 3100 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 4200 Series ATI Radeon™ 3000 Series
ATI Radeon™ HD 3300 Series  

AMD Mobility Product Family Compatibility
AMD Catalyst™ Mobility is a notebook reference graphics driver with limited support for system vendor specific features. When used with Windows Vista or Windows 7, users may have unwanted experiences.

The Installation Verification Software will prevent driver download on certain notebook products. This is to protect against the installing of drivers that may disable features or functionality provided by the system manufacturer. If unwanted experiences occur using Catalyst™ Mobility, it is recommended to revert back to the driver provided by your system vendor for your specific platform. Please contact your system vendor for the most recent drivers for your notebook.

AMD Mobility Product Families
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5800 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3800 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5700 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3600 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5600 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3400 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5400 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3200 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5100 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ 3100 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4800 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 2700 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4600 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 2600 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4500 Series ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 2400 Series
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4200 Series ATI PowerXpress™ enabled notebooks

using AMD chipsets

ATI Mobility Radeon™ 4100 Series

 

The following notebooks are not compatible with this release:

  • Any notebook launched after this driver release
  • Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel® chipsets.
  • Toshiba® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
  • Sony® VAIO® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
  •  Panasonic® notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

Compatible Operating Systems
The latest version of the AMD Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

  • Windows 7 32-bit version
  • Windows 7 64-bit version
  • Windows Vista 32-bit version
  • Windows Vista 64-bit version
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Windows XP Home Edition
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition
  • Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 10.12 Windows release includes:

New Features:

  • Support for DivX on the AMD Radeon 6800 Series
    • With DivX® software installed on an AMD Radeon™ HD 6800 Series and later GPU and the DivX Accelerated™ solution, consumers can enjoy an improved DivX video playback experience by lowering CPU load, extending computer battery life on notebooks, reducing noise on home theater PCs and improving overall computer operation.
    • Grab the DivX Accelerated download from here (will be available Dec 15)  http://go.divx.com/accelerated
  • Support for OpenGL 4.1
    • New features introduced in OpenGL 4.1
    • Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs for easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms
    • The ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
    • The capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
    • 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs for higher geometric precision
    • Multiple viewports for a rendering surface for increased rendering flexibility
    • New ARB extensions introduced with OpenGL 4.1
    • Linking OpenGL sync objects to OpenCL event objects for enhanced OpenCL interoperability
    • The ability to set stencil values in a fragment shader for enhanced rendering flexibility
    • Features to improve robustness, for example when running WebGL applications
    • Callback mechanisms to receive enhanced errors and warning messages
  • AMD Stream 2.3 SDK release
    • Performance improvements for AMD’s OpenCL toolset
    • Support UVD video hardware component through OpenCL driver (Windows 7 only)
    • Support for the Stream Profiler on Linux (command line version)
    • Support added for AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
    • Support for FFT and BLAS-3 libraries
    • Stream Profiler enhancements (including timeline visualization)
    • Resolves a number of bug fixes from the Stream SDK 2.2 release

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 10.12 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

  • DivX interlaced content no longer intermittently shows corruption.
  • Tom Clancy’s Endwar no longer randomly hangs during game cutscenes.
  • Crossfire no longer gets randomly disabled in some games after task switching.
  • Random black streaks are no longer seen on menus in Metro 2033.
  • Corruption is no longer randomly seen with certain graphical settings in F1 2010.
  • Screen is now rendered correctly in Splinter Cell Conviction with Crossfire enabled.
  • Random tearing is no longer observed when playing back XVID video files on an extended display.
  • Random crashes are no longer observed when playing the Stone Giant DX11 Demo when Crossfire enabled.
  • Random crashes are no longer observed when changing video settings in Supreme Commander 2.
  • Need for Speed Shift no longer displays random corruption during game play if 2 races are played consecutively without exiting the game.
  • WMV playback no longer goes blank occasionally after switching from 32bit to 16bit color.
  • Random mouse cursor corruption is no longer seen
  • The screen is does not intermittently display garbage when running 3dMark06.
  • Dragon Age Origins no longer hangs intermittently during gameplay.
  • Changing resolutions in Starcraft2 with forced AA no longer causes random application crashes.
  • The desktop does not darken occasionally after exiting Eve Online.
  • The desktop does not dim randomly after exiting Mafia II on some Radeon 4890 products.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows Vista  Operating System

  • The overscan/underscan slider is no longer occasionally disabled in certain optimized / customer modes.
  • Enabling dynamic contrast no longer displays random fade-in effects when playing Yozakura.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

  • The water surface in World of Warcraft no longer displays random corruption when Anti Aliasing is enabled.
  • Random flickering is no longer observed in F1 2010 in systems with Crossfire enabled and forced Anti Aliasing enabled in the Catalyst™ Control Center.

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

  • Green texture corruption may be observed when resolution / video settings are changed in Metro 2033.
  • Playing Dead Rising 2 in an Eyefinity configuration may display a black screen with a mouse pointer if Vsync is turned off.
  • Video settings might not be retained after enabling / disabling Crossfire.
  • The screen may flicker and objects may be duplicated when running Medal of Honor DX11 with Crossfire enabled.
  • Texture corruption or missing text may be observed when running Nostradamus the Last Prophecy.
  • Menu and Action bar borders may shimmer occasionally when MLAA is enabled in World of Warcraft.
  • 8X Anti Aliasing may not be available in certain 3D applications.

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

  • Launching Left 4 Dead 2 in portrait mode may display the “Failed to create D3D device” error message.
  • Performing bezel compensation on a 3×2 Eyefinity configuration may cause certain bezel group resolutions to be unavailable.

Known Issues Under All Windows Operating Systems
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

  • Green playback may be observed when playing multiple HD streams from Youtube using Flashplayer 10.1.

Installing the AMD Catalyst™  Software Driver
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit AMD Customer Care

 

AMD HD 6970/6950 released to the world

16 Dec

Not much to say except the cards are not as good as hoped and are basically aimed dead at the nvidia 570 and failing that one a few times as well.

Pricing is the important thing here and in Australia the release price is ludicrous so it will have to come back in line to compete….that’s the 6970….the 6950 on the other hand is sitting pretty in it’s own niche BUT it too has to drop in price under the 570 to compete.

stole the list from below from DM thanks :)

Be careful reading the reviews as some use older drivers and the figures are skewed.

 

General 6970/6950 Reviews:
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-R…-Enter-Cayman/
http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=1051
http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-rade…html?doc=10474
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/a…radeon-hd-6950
http://www.fudzilla.com/reviews/item…hd-6950-tested
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-6950-6970-review/
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/…eo_card_review
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum…50-review.html
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review…roduction.html
http://www.hardwarezone.com/features/view/109424
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=27983
http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1164.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/…yman,2818.html
http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/…launch_review/

6970 Specific:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph…=605&Itemid=72
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph…=606&Itemid=72
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra…-6970-review/1
http://www.legionhardware.com/articl…970_2gb,1.html
http://tbreak.com/tech/2010/12/amd-hd-6970-review/
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/
http://www.techspot.com/review/348-amd-radeon-6970/
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/373…ard/index.html
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr…s-card-review/
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-…-915716/review

6950 Specific:
http://www.eteknix.com/graphics/his-…rd-review-471/
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/produ…n_hd_6950.html
http://hitechlegion.com/reviews/vide…hd-6950-review
http://www.modders-inc.com/modules.p…Story&reid=340
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6950/
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/373…ard/index.html
http://www.vortez.co.uk/articles_pag…gb_review.html
http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/sapphire-6950
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-…view?artc_pg=1

Crossfire Specific:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A…950_CrossFire/
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr…s-card-review/
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr…50-cfx-review/

 
 

AMD catalyst 10.11

04 Dec

New version.

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

If you have a 5xxxx card or older use these.

if you have a 6xxxx or newer for the moment use the 10.e hot fix drivers.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/previous/10/Pages/radeon.aspx?os=Windows%20Vista%20-%2064-Bit Edition&rev=10.10

Release notes

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/1011releasenotes.aspx

 

3Dmark 2011 release date

04 Dec

Hello

It took us a little longer than planned, but 3DMark 11 has now gone gold. Earlier today we announced that 3DMark 11 will be released at 14:00 GMT on Tuesday December 7, 2010.

From that time onwards you will be able to download 3DMark 11 from the Futuremark website and start submitting results to the new online service. You will need the upgrade code from your pre-order confirmation email to activate the Advanced Edition so make sure you have it to hand on Tuesday.

Till then, happy benchmarking!

Warm Regards,

Oliver Baltuch

President

Futuremark Inc.

http://www.3dmark.com/

3DMark 11 is the latest version of the world’s most popular benchmark. Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

3DMark 11 will be released Tuesday December 7th.
Be prepared and get your Upgrade key today!

$5 discount for 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition users!

 

Catalyst 10.8 WHQL released to the wild

27 Aug

 

Downloads all oses: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloa…downloads.aspx
Release notes : http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/catalys…ease_notes.pdf

 

New Features:

-OpenGL ES 2.0 support – ATI Catalyst™ 10.8 delivers full support for OpenGL ES 2.0 specification
-Enables 3D accelerated graphics within a web browser that supports OpenGL ES 2.0
-Supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7

Video Quality default options

-The Default video options for ATI Catalyst™ have been greatly enhanced to deliver the best quality video viewing experience. Users can also choose to apply these settings to Internet Video via a new checkbox control within the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center
-In the “Advanced Color” section, the following defaults are now enabled:
Color vibrance (default = 40)
-Flesh tone correction (default = 50)
-Brighter Whites
-In the “Advanced Quality” section, the following defaults are now enabled:
-Edge-enhancement (default = 25)
-De-noise (default = 64)
-Mosquito Noise Reduction (default = 50)
-De-blocking (default = 50)

Performance enhancement for Eyefinity Quad ATI CrossFireX™
configurations

-Performance has been greatly improved for users running with ATI Eyefinity on a Quad ATI CrossFireX™ configuration

Anti-Aliasing support for StarCraft II

-ATI Catalyst™ Control Center enabled Anti-Aliasing is now available for StarCraft II

Catalyst™ Application Profiles – The following application profiles are available with this release of Catalyst™ 10.8

-Singularity – CrossFire™ profile update
-Mafia 2 – CrossFire™ profile update
-Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark – new CrossFire™ profile
-Lord of the Rings Online – new CrossFire™ profile
-Aliens Vs. Predator – CrossFire™ profile update

Performance Improvements – The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst™ 10.8:

-Far Cry 2
-Performance increases 2-6% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
-Performance increases 2-4% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
-Performance increases 3-8% on ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
- Left 4 Dead 2
-Performance increases 3-5% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series and CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 series configurations
-Stormrise
-Performance increases 5-10% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5600 series and ATI Radeon™ HD 5500 series configurations

I have tested these a little and things that work.

  • Starcraft 2 has AA but takes a big hit, but also so far no corruption like older drivers and seems alot smoother.
  • Internet video is definately filtered now and flash videos seem better.

haven’t run any real benches yet but will.