AMD recently released an AMD Catalyst Omega special edition software update that will include enhancements to enrich the gaming experience for users of AMD graphics cards, according to a blog by Sasa Marinkovic, Head of Software Marketing for AMD.
Marinkovic notes that last year alone, AMD Catalyst drivers were downloaded more than 80 million times.
“Our software team has worked hard to enrich the user experience, and create a remarkable environment for developers by providing them the ability to create incredible new apps. The AMD Catalyst Omega driver was engineered to take full advantage of the advanced technologies built into AMD’s products that feature GCN Architecture, and help make them more powerful and capable,” says Marinkovic.
One of the biggest improvements is downsampling, or rendering a game for the best possible display and then making it fit on the user’s actual display.
AMD Radeon graphics and AMD A-series APUs featuring GCN architecture can get easy software upgrades that boost performance, enhance reliability, and help reduce heat and energy consumption. “Installing the AMD Catalyst Omega driver on select AMD products enables free software upgrades that install automatically and can improve your gaming performance.”
Marinkovic says that early buyers of an AMD Radeon R9 290X GPU who download and install the AMD Catalyst Omega driver can realize up to 19% faster gameplay on BioShock Infinite.
Similarly, users of AMD’s advanced APUs like the AMD A10 7850K can achieve up to 29% faster gaming performance on Batman: Arkham Origins.
“The AMD Catalyst Omega driver extracts the true potential of GCN-enabled AMD APUs and GPUs,” says Marinkovic.
The AMD Catalyst Omega driver offers built-in Ultra HD upsampling with frame rate conversion and HD detail enhancement that will convert 1080p videos to near UltraHD quality on 4K displays.
It also offers Perfect Picture UltraHD technology that strives for “pixel-perfect” images, with Compression Artifact Removal 2, and Frame Rate Conversion for Blu-ray Playback enabling pixel-by-pixel image processing.
Marinkovic cited some examples of AMD enabling developers to deliver outstanding user experiences. For example, the OpenCL 2.0 Support enables developers to extend the reach of their app content and functionality based on industry standards.
The TressFX Hair 3.0 introduces new gaming capabilities for game developers with TressFX, such as rendering of fur onto “skinned” geometries.
The CodeXL Tools is a comprehensive tools suite for the performance-aware developer to Debug, Profile and Analyze applications. Also included is a realtime display of APU power consumption that collects data on power consumption, core frequency, temperature changes and voltage and current levels.
“For all the aforementioned reasons, the AMD Catalyst Omega special edition driver is the biggest and the best software upgrade AMD has released this year,” says Marinkovic.
