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The AMD Driver Thread
- Thread starter LtMatt
- Start date
Soldato
The CAPs (Catalyst Application Profiles), thats what it was that AMD used to release all the time so you didn't have to wait a month or so for the next driver, knew id remember, why not go back to them, why go backwards, and make people wait a month odd again, makes no sense.
There is no difference waiting for a CAP than waiting for a game specific beta driver, except this way there is no confusion with how do i install it, activate it, which cap is compatible with which drivers..ect
Fair enough, but then they should release more frequent beta's even if they contain only minor updates, such as game profiles.
If it means two in a week, then so be it...
Caporegime
I thought the CAPs worked with any drivers, when a new game came out, couple of days later, or however long it took em, AMD would put a CAP out, that you just downed and installed to get Xfire working in said game, so no more waiting a month or whatever for the next driver that had it.
It was a long time ago mind
It was a long time ago mind
Soldato
Well the beta are not released to a schedule, they are released when they are ready just like the CAPs
Soldato
I thought the CAPs worked with any drivers, when a new game came out, couple of days later, or however long it took em, AMD would put a CAP out, that you just downed and installed to get Xfire working in said game, so no more waiting a month or whatever for the next driver that had it.
It was a long time ago mind
Nope they didn't work with any driver, there would be a note saying that you need a minimum of this driver and then the issue of a particular driver not playing nice with a particular cap because you could have multiple caps that in theory can be used with multiples drivers and people forgetting to update the caps, things can become a bug hunt nightmare.
Caporegime
Soldato
I would like to see AMD bring back the independent CAPs like others have suggested. It's a pain in the backside having to wait for each driver for updated/added profiles, it used to be that way so why did it change?
They said it was to "Improve The Customer's Experience And Quality Of The Drivers" quote on quote.
Soldato
Thing is, when they had monthly driver releases I can see the point of that; you'd wait a month to month and a half tops for a new driver, and usually there were betas out sooner.
With the new, less regular release pattern however, it would seem NOW would be the perfect time for CAPs to return.
With the new, less regular release pattern however, it would seem NOW would be the perfect time for CAPs to return.
Soldato
Whatever is in the CAP can be put in a beta driver, so if there were going to release 4 caps in one month because of new releases, then instead they would release 4 beta drivers in that month instead, the fact is the profiles are not ready and game releases atm are a shoddy mess which is making things even harder.
Soldato
You're right, game releases are a bit of a mess right now, that said, the CAPs used to help in exactly these sorts of situations, and potentially could help resolve many issues before a full/beta driver is released if they contain minor fixes/profile updates which built off the previous WHQL. I mean that was kind of the point of them; get profiles out quicker, and mean they don't feel pressurised to release a beta driver etc every time they want to put out an update, where this is possible.
Arguably your suggestion is far far messier, I'd prefer 4 caps with additional profiles designed to work from a base WHQL onwards than 4 beta drivers which may or may not contain further tweaks and issues. (Unless the beta itself is actually justified). In addition the caps were quite small so its less a waste of bandwidth for all involved, which ultimately means it would cost AMD less to issue than a beta driver. I am not of course saying that AMD perhaps also need to focus/refocus on getting these profiles ready in the first place.
Nvidia essentially do this right now via thier experience programme and SLI profiles, when they used to be a lot slower (which is why EVGA released thier own enhancement packs) so this, especially in light of the drop of monthly release, is a step backwards.
Don't get me wrong, CAPs and monthly releases, I can kinda see why they dropped, but now with a few months between WHQL or even betas, CAPs would seem fairly justified.
Last I checked AMD also had auto-update/update check functionality in thier drivers, so it would seem childs play to add a CAP/Profiles check to minimise confusion on latest profiles.
Arguably your suggestion is far far messier, I'd prefer 4 caps with additional profiles designed to work from a base WHQL onwards than 4 beta drivers which may or may not contain further tweaks and issues. (Unless the beta itself is actually justified). In addition the caps were quite small so its less a waste of bandwidth for all involved, which ultimately means it would cost AMD less to issue than a beta driver. I am not of course saying that AMD perhaps also need to focus/refocus on getting these profiles ready in the first place.
Nvidia essentially do this right now via thier experience programme and SLI profiles, when they used to be a lot slower (which is why EVGA released thier own enhancement packs) so this, especially in light of the drop of monthly release, is a step backwards.
Don't get me wrong, CAPs and monthly releases, I can kinda see why they dropped, but now with a few months between WHQL or even betas, CAPs would seem fairly justified.
Last I checked AMD also had auto-update/update check functionality in thier drivers, so it would seem childs play to add a CAP/Profiles check to minimise confusion on latest profiles.
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Caporegime
Yer, I told Eyetrip how to get Crossfire working on ED but it does come with flickering, which isn't ideal but there if he wanted to use it.
Soldato
But that is all on the assumption that putting the code in the driver takes longer than putting it in a CAP and that the driver is being held up for other reasons, we have beta drivers released for just one game and for no other reason, you take the last released driver add the profile for the new game and release it, you dont have to worry about drivers in progress, but as i have also mentioned sometimes just a CAP would not be enough because deeper changes are needed at the driver level so the CAP would have to wait for a new driver release anyway, hence why you would see a new driver and a new CAP released at the same time.
Also the game may need patching first.
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Soldato
Not solely on that basis; it would also be cheaper in terms of bandwidth for them to release CAPs rather than BETA. Probably small change to AMD but still, bandwidth costs and companies like saving money. (I seem to remember the CAPs being ~1MB, with a BETA driver usually looking a 250-300MB; so if the same number of people update, you can see there will be a cost implication there alone).
As I say above, I'm not purely assuming it's the time it takes the code into a driver either:
" I am not of course saying that AMD perhaps also need to focus/refocus on getting these profiles ready in the first place."
I am simply saying they used to be able to do it and want to do it that way, there would be reduced distribution costs, and it would be nice for this to be reinstated, or at least an honest answer as to why they are no longer doing it rather than marketing/oversimplified spiel.
If there wasn't a good reason or cost reduction for doing it that way, it doesn't explain why AMD used to do it or why Nvidia also do it now, despite the fact they also release BETAs.
As I say above, I'm not purely assuming it's the time it takes the code into a driver either:
" I am not of course saying that AMD perhaps also need to focus/refocus on getting these profiles ready in the first place."
I am simply saying they used to be able to do it and want to do it that way, there would be reduced distribution costs, and it would be nice for this to be reinstated, or at least an honest answer as to why they are no longer doing it rather than marketing/oversimplified spiel.
If there wasn't a good reason or cost reduction for doing it that way, it doesn't explain why AMD used to do it or why Nvidia also do it now, despite the fact they also release BETAs.
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Soldato
I would say the cost reason does not even come into it or they would still be doing it, the fact is it was done in the past and for whatever reason it has been stopped.
What i was witnessing on the forums with the CAP system was a mess, people installing the latest driver with the latest CAP, a user not liking the new driver for some reason, rolls back the driver which does not roll back the CAP, the older driver is incompatible with the new CAP which the driver will just ignore, WTF happened to my performance, why is it glitching in this game it was fine before with this driver...ect.
Or even people deliberately mixing CAPs and drivers that are compatible to try and get more performance in a particular game but end up causing issues elsewhere because the gap between the driver and the CAP was so great.
AMD have just started to be seen as on equal footing recently or even better by some when it comes to drivers who thought otherwise before, the CAP system was not a contributing factor.
The more options you give people the more they can screw up.
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Soldato
Matt,
Has anyone reports memory leaks with Alien Isolation? I've read some posts in other sites about it possibly being a driver issue, but so far, I've found nothing conclusive.
Help would be appreciated
snips86x
Has anyone reports memory leaks with Alien Isolation? I've read some posts in other sites about it possibly being a driver issue, but so far, I've found nothing conclusive.
Help would be appreciated
snips86x
Soldato
Not sure really!
I was playing for 20 mins this morning and watched it creep from 4gb to 7.5gb. At this point, I closed the game down and the usage dropped.
The 2 times this has happened, the system has been unrecoverable and I've needed to reboot.