Catalyst 10.12 Performance Analysis
Benchmarks and Conclusion
Here are the charts comparing performance across the AMD Radeon drivers released in the last two months, 10.11 and 10.12. The benchmarks are self explanatory with average frame rates (or scores) compared directly to each other. Wins are in red and if there is a tie, both results are coloured.
At this point, I would conclude that the AMD Catalyst 10.12 driver has brought some performance improvements. However, it also lost to the 10.11 driver set on a few occasions. My verdict here is neutral and my recommendation is to use whichever driver gives better performance for the games that you play. There is no clear-cut victory here.
Also to keep in mind is the new Catalyst Control Center interface. If you prefer it, then you will either have to use 10.12 or wait for 11.1 driver set to also (maybe) cash in on some performance gains as well.
The Catalyst 10.11 was the first driver set to carry the AMD name and as such was officially called the AMD Catalyst 10.11 drivers. The new splash screen is shown below.
Now the AMD Catalyst 10.12 is the first to carry the new Catalyst Control Center (CCC) interface. It seems that AMD has made sure to overhaul their driver software so as to start fresh in 2011.
Without a widespread representation, it is important for me to say that this performance improvement should continue across the rest of the 5000 series, given that the HD 5830 is a good basis on which to draw such a conclusion. The results can also stand in for the 6000 series cards due to the similarity in performance with that of their 5000 series counterparts.
Bottom Line: Catalyst 10.11 and 10.12 trade blows in the performance department. Catalyst 10.12 definitely wins though in the Graphical User Interface (GUI) segment. I chose to go with Catalyst 10.12.
Check back later this month as we look to analyze the performance of Catalyst 11.1 versus the 10.12 drivers. Until then, happy gaming!
Leon Hyman
Senior Editor
Please join us in our Forums
Become a Fan on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
For the latest updates from ABT, please join our RSS News Feed
Join our Distributed Computing teams
- Folding@Home – Team AlienBabelTech – 164304
- MilkyWay@Home – Team AlienBabelTech – 3090
- SETI@Home – Team AlienBabelTech – 138705
- World Community Grid – Team AlienBabelTech
