AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta Driver Released with frame-pacing fix

[Scubie67]

AMD has just put online a new Beta version of its Catalyst drivers. As expected, it finally offers a fix to the problems of frame-pacing, ie the micro-stuttering we experience on Crossfire configurations.

Proposed as version 13.8 Beta 1, this driver implements the AMD fix for frame-pacing in Crossfire and in all resolutions, including 2560x1600, whether on DirectX 10 or DirectX 11. Particularly noticeable in some games, we think Far Cry 3, the frame-pacing results in a micro-stuttering image. The phenomenon is sometimes so strong that a title like Far Cry 3 played with a single Radeon HD 7970 may seem slow and jerky with two cards in Crossfire. But to believe that not only the Crossfire configurations are concerned since the phenomenon sometimes occurs also in single GPU, a case uncorrected to this day by AMD.

This new feature is activated upon installation but can be disabled for the rest in the Catalyst control panel either globally or for a specific application ... in case. Note that AMD says it will offer a solution second time for a problem of frame-pacing for higher resolutions to 2560x1600 also addressing the DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL applications.

Download AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA for Windows 7/8 64-bit from here.
Download AMD Catalyst 13.8 BETA Mobility for Windows 7/8 64-bit from here.

[jackalz]

In the case of multi-GPU, a second parameter comes in. Since several images are generally prepared in advance by the game engine to have a buffer that prevents some slowdowns, it may happen that two GPU (or more) draw from this buffer almost simultaneously. Two images with the expected range for the game engine is smooth and can be finalized and then automatically displayed almost at the same time when vertical sync is disabled. Loss of regularity that affects the fluidity is felt. Frame Metering and Frame Pacing tackle this problem by inserting an artificial delay between images when needed to force the display regularity thus.