AMD Catalyst 13.10 Beta for Windows 7 / 8 released [now Beta 2]

[Blín D'ñero]

Originally Posted by vipernig

I tried skyrim today and I don't know if this is new or not but I am having issues with flickering water and the sound buzzing for a second or 2. I did not notice this problem before but I haven't played it in a while either.

So I have the 1.9 update and again crossfire with 2 7970. I erased my ini file and started the game again to make sure that it is not due to some disabled vsync. It only happens with crossfire so I don't know if it is a 2 second microstuttering occuring. But when I enter a place I hear pans flying around. I open a chest and when I close it the stuff on top flies off. And most importantly I see water buzzing. It is not really flickering but more like the water buzzing or strobing with an a buzzing sound. Very annoying.

Anyone has a clue what is going on?

Stuff flying around... That sounds more like a physics (or Physx rather) problem you are having.

[The Mac]

you cant have more than 60fps, or that will happen.

physics is tied to vsync.

[Bitey]

Originally Posted by Blín D'ñero

Stuff flying around... That sounds more like a physics (or Physx rather) problem you are having.

Nah, he needs an Exorcism...

[Falcon1]

Secondary card still stuck to 99% usage occasionally with this driver. Really annoying

Originally Posted by The Mac

you cant have more than 60fps, or that will happen.

physics is tied to vsync.

This.
For some strange reason, the physics engine is tied to VSync in Skyrim. Force VSync via the CCC and you will be done.

[lmchv]

Today I updated to Windows 8.1 Pro and started having issues with the screen (flickering). Uninstalled the video driver, reboot and started installing the 13.10 beta driver. It just freezes the whole computer when trying to install the CCC.

Does anyone have the same issue?. Had to revert to Windows 8 Pro

I'm currently using 2 HD6970 in crossfire.

[the_gas]

Originally Posted by Falcon1

Secondary card still stuck to 99% usage occasionally with this driver. Really annoying




This.
For some strange reason, the physics engine is tied to VSync in Skyrim. Force VSync via the CCC and you will be done.

Disable ULPS.

[V1per]

How exactly does one disable ULPS?

never mind I found a utility that does it.

http://ulps.achromaticcomputing.com/

[Blín D'ñero]

How to disable ULPS:

1. Regedit > select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - > SYSTEM
   
2. Hit Ctrl+F (= find), type in
   EnableUlps
   and hit Enter
   
3. each instance you find (F3 for the next search), change the value from 1 to 0.
   (Only EnableUlps. Don't touch EnableUlps_NA.)
   
4. Reboot the PC for the changes to take effect.

[The Mac]

or use this:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088266/u...enable-disable

[WaltC]

Originally Posted by lmchv

Today I updated to Windows 8.1 Pro and started having issues with the screen (flickering). Uninstalled the video driver, reboot and started installing the 13.10 beta driver. It just freezes the whole computer when trying to install the CCC.

Does anyone have the same issue?. Had to revert to Windows 8 Pro

I'm currently using 2 HD6970 in crossfire.

Must be a Crossfire issue (related to ULPS as these guys have said) because with my single 2GB 7850, 8.1 RTM runs the 13.10's perfectly (so far) as WDDM 1.3 drivers...

[V1per]

Originally Posted by Blín D'ñero

How to disable ULPS:

1. Regedit > select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - > SYSTEM
2. Hit Ctrl+F (= find), type in
   EnableUlps
   and hit Enter
3. each instance you find (F3 for the next search), change the value from 1 to 0.
   (Only EnableUlps. Don't touch EnableUlps_NA.)
4. Reboot the PC for the changes to take effect.

Originally Posted by The Mac

or use this:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1088266/u...enable-disable

Thanks guys

[lmchv]

Tested again and no luck. The installer freezes the computer when trying to install the CCC.

[Blín D'ñero]

Originally Posted by lmchv

Tested again and no luck. The installed freezes the computer when trying to install the CCC.

Use AMD uninstall tool to delete every single bit of AMD software.
You then have to reboot on the prompt [But first make sure by disabling "auto-update" that WindowsUpdate will not kick in and install their generic AMD drivers before you know it].
After reboot, the system now on Standard VGA, reinstall Catalyst suite.

[lmchv]

I have already tried that, still doesn't work.

Did a bit more tests, all the beta releases with the exception of 13.8 freezes my computer. I tested this version on Win8 and Win8.1 and it's working fine, will keep it until there's a new official release.

I just finished configuring my computer with Windows 8.1 Pro with MC, finally it works!

[vipernig]

I created a profile for Skyrim and in frame rate control put wait for Vertical refresh to always on and it did not help. It still does that and fraps still shows frame rate at 120 and when it goes above or is loading is when stuff starts happening and I start floating and vibrating on the horse.... because I just got a horse. Sight....

[vipernig]

Well I solved my problem now. I installed the FPS limiter from the nexus mods. I limited to 80 FPS and now it is extra smooth with no more physics bugs and the GPUs are working less. And the game is maxed out at 2560x1600. 2 years later and now the game is bliss. Yay.

[magemaster]

Originally Posted by magemaster

Anyone else had problem on watching videos using HDMI?? The sound works for a while then starts muting , crackling.

Am I the only one in the world with this problem? Can't watch videos, with the radeon 7790 connected to a Denon receiver and using this driver , using the latest official WHQL works perfectly fine.

Did a fresh windows 8.1 install to try and only works if I downgrade the drivers, had to go back to windows 8 and use the old drivers.

If I install the this drivers on windows 8 the problem occurs too.

[The Mac]

Originally Posted by magemaster

Am I the only one in the world with this problem? Can't watch videos, with the radeon 7790 connected to a Denon receiver and using this driver , using the latest official WHQL works perfectly fine.

Did a fresh windows 8.1 install to try and only works if I downgrade the drivers, had to go back to windows 8 and use the old drivers.

If I install the this drivers on windows 8 the problem occurs too.

use whatever driver your want, and just downgrade the hdmi audio drivers.

[Blín D'ñero]

OK now i've put more time in testing.

• I uninstalled Catalyst 13.10 Beta + wiped all AMD using AMD uninstall tool.
• Uninstalled GPU-Z (solely used for for monitoring). Uninstalled Asus GPU-Tweak (solely used for for monitoring). Left over: MSI Afterburner 2.3.1. for monitoring.
• After reboot did a fresh install of Cat 13.10 Beta. Did not disable ULPS.
  Cards overclocked at 1100/1500 (+20 power) in CCC Overdrive as usual.
  • With MSI Afterburner monitoring the cards, i launched FEAR3 (DX11, max settings, vsync).
    Played 5 minutes. Quit game.
    Card 1: about 25% GPU usage (wobbly line). Card 2: 99% usage straight line, after quitting back to 0%.
  • I launched Crysis 3 (DX11, max settings, vsync).
    Played 5 minutes. Quit game.
    Card 1: about 92~98% GPU usage (wobbly line). Card 2: 99% usage straight line, after quitting back to 0%.
  • I launched Dishonored. (max settings, vsync)
    Played 5 minutes. Quit game.
    Card 1: about 37~55% GPU usage (wobbly line). Card 2: 99% usage straight line, after quitting back to 0%.
• Redid all tests but this time with overclock undone: cards running at default at 925/1375 (0 power) in CCC Overdrive. Same results.
  
  Hmm... Not right, it's disbalanced: in games, GPU2 usage is always 99% while AMD's ULPS is enabled. Although ingame i don't really see or feel that.
  
• Back on Desktop, MSI Afterburner monitoring still running, i install GPU-Z (0.7.3), and open it. And wow: GPU2 usage immediately rockets to 99% and stays there! Mind you: all by itself, not even running a 3D application.
  With AMD's ULPS enabled, GPU-Z when opened on desktop, immediately causes GPU 2 to rocket to 99% usage and stay there.

[Blín D'ñero]

• So, i rebooted. GPU-Z is set to not startup with Windows.
  
• With CCC Overdrive open, (cards still at default clocks) ULPS is working normally:
  GPU1 has default 300/150 clocks
  GPU2 has default 0/0 clocks
  
• I launch GPU-Z...
  GPU2 immediately rockets to Activity 99% with 925/1375 clocks.
• Now with GPU-Z open on the background, let's start a game.
  FEAR 3 (DX11, max settings, vsync). Plays/feels like normal.
  (And unlike previously, no 'massive artifacts that could be caused by the 99% activity bug' as i thought it was.)
  Nevertheless, with GPU-Z open on the background, after quitting game, GPU2 activity stays at 99% with 925/1375 clocks.
  
• With CCC -> AMD Overdrive page still open, i exit GPU-Z. After about 6 seconds, GPU2 activity goes to 0% with 0/0 clocks.
• To recheck i launch GPU-Z again, and GPU2 immediately rockets to Activity 99% with 925/1375 clocks.
  I exit GPU-Z, and after about 6 seconds, GPU2 activity goes to 0% with 0/0 clocks.
  
• I launch MSI Afterburner. Cards' behaviour stays normal.
• I start a game, play and quit.
  MSI Afterburner monitoring shows GPU2 rockets to 99% usage when game starts, after quitting it goes back to 0%.
  
• I re-apply the overclock in AMD Overdrive: both cards now at 1100/1500 (+20 power).
  I launch FEAR 3, play, quit.
  MSI Afterburner monitoring shows GPU2 rockets to 99% usage when game starts, after quitting it goes back to 0%.
  
• I manually disable ULPS in Registry, and reboot the PC.
  • MSI AFterburner is open for monitoring.
  • I launch and play FEAR 3 (DX11, max settings, vsync).
  • Result: absolutely fine and balanced behaviour:
    GPU 1: about 23% GPU usage
    GPU 2: about 23% GPU usage
  • After quitting, GPU 2 goes to 0% (like GPU 1) as it should, and
    CCC shows
    GPU 1: 300/150 clocks
    GPU 2: 300/150 clocks
    
  • With Afterburner and CCC open, i launch GPU-Z (0.7.3.), and nothing extraordinary happens; GPU 2 stays normal (0% usage, 300/150 clocks).
    With AMD's ULPS disabled, GPU-Z has no effect on GPU 2, its behaviour stays normal.

Conclusion: disable ULPS, as it's the only way to get normal crossfire behaviour (balanced GPU usage across both cards) during gaming.

[The Mac]

try using aida64 instead and see if the same behavior continues

ULPS is not Powerplay. Its Ultra Low Power Saver. If PowerPlay was disabled, your clocks would never change. lol.

[Blín D'ñero]

Originally Posted by The Mac

try using aida64 instead and see if the same behavior continues

ULPS is not Powerplay. Its Ultra Low Power Saver. If PowerPlay was disabled, your clocks would never change. lol.

Right. Thanks, it's not the first time i mixed the two up and just called it powerplay. I'll edit the post.

I don't do anymore testing, been 3 hours now, enough. I personally disable ULPS anyway, and then there's no issue in crossfire. This is more a response to Falcon1, to stress to him the importance of disabling ULPS, he didn't want to. It's the only way to get normal crossfire behaviour.

[Falcon1]

Originally Posted by Blín D'ñero

This is more a response to Falcon1, to stress to him the importance of disabling ULPS, he didn't want to. It's the only way to get normal crossfire behaviour.

Ha
The only right way would be, that AMD fixed that bug

I'll see if I'll disable ULPS meanwhile until this gets fixed.

[V1per]

There is one draw back to disabling ULPS. If you use RadeonPro to disable crossfire for a given game/app it will no longer work.

A simple test is to enable ULPS and start up Firefox. You will notice in CCC that both GPU's are active. (Firefox uses crossfire)

Make a profile in RadeonPro to disable crossfire for Firefox and you will notice in CCC that only one GPU is active. (good)

Now disable ULPS and start up Firefox and you will notice in CCC that both GPU's remain active regardless of the profile you just made in RadeonPro to disable crossfire.

So basically what this means for me is that with ULPS disabled I can no longer disable crossfire for certain games with RadeonPro.

[Blín D'ñero]

OK but i don't use Radeonpro. If i want to disable crossfire i do that via CCC.

What you describe seems a Radeonpro issue: unable to shut down crossfire when ULPS is disabled. I mean: manually you still can.

But i agree: ULPS should work flawlessly, period.

[Ulukay]

Originally Posted by lmchv

Today I updated to Windows 8.1 Pro and started having issues with the screen (flickering). Uninstalled the video driver, reboot and started installing the 13.10 beta driver. It just freezes the whole computer when trying to install the CCC.

Does anyone have the same issue?. Had to revert to Windows 8 Pro

I'm currently using 2 HD6970 in crossfire.

thats because when the driver is initialised - ULPS is enabled by default.
you can try to disable "one" of your cards, and install the CCC. it may still crash, but the driver may be installed correctly. then boot into safe mode, and disable ulps in the registry.

[lmchv]

No need to do that, I reinstalled the whole Windows 8.1 from scratch and installed the latest 13.9 WHQL, this time it worked fine... There was something on my windows installation causing the problem.

[WaltC]

Originally Posted by lmchv

No need to do that, I reinstalled the whole Windows 8.1 from scratch and installed the latest 13.9 WHQL, this time it worked fine... There was something on my windows installation causing the problem.

13.10b is also officially compatible with 8.1, and I'm running them with no difficulty at all on 8.1, and I upgraded from 8.0 and kept all of my installed programs. Also, there is nothing in the 13.9's that is not in the 13.10's, but lots of good stuff in the .10's that is not in the .9's... IMO, that's what you ought to be running. You can update the 13.10's right over the 13.9's without any problems (I did it twice and both times checked the various driver versions and they all updated correctly--just don't try and install 13.9 over 13.10 because it won't work--you'd have to uninstall the 13.10's before installing the 13.9's.)

One thing I noticed is that 8.1 is incredibly backwards compatible with Windows games! If anything I think it is equally as good with Win7 if not superior to Win7 in that regard. There's definitely a difference between 8.0 and 8.1, as oddly enough 8.1 lists a program compatibility mode for "Windows 8"--which has to be 8.0, of course. Tell you what I noticed, though, both in 8.0 and 8.1. The stock installs for both are set to "Turn on DEP for essential windows programs and services only", with the alternate setting being, "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select ."

Don't know if you ever changed those settings yourself, but I noticed that several older games refused to run at all with the alternate setting, but ran just fine with the default DEP setting as mentioned above. This may or may not have had a bearing on your problems in going from 8.0 to 8.1, but just thought I'd mention my experience with DEP settings thus far with Win8/8.1. Rune 1.07 (HoV) is a game that runs perfectly under Win8.1x64 with the default DEP settings but won't run at all under the alternate DEP settings option. I have a fairly extensive list of old favorites that Win8.1x64 handles with ease--and the 13.10's never get in the way.

A couple of days ago I dusted off some old disks I'd forgotten I had--DWBradley's Wizards and Warriors--and the upshot is that the game runs beautifully for me @ 1280x1024/960 in D3d mode, no less (with the 13.10's)! I'm running the unofficial graphics patch (otherwise the game maxes out at 1024x768), and the 1.0b official patch the developers made for the game is available in a variety of NO-CD patches available from a number of Internet sources--just do a search--to avoid having to keep that pesky disk 2 in a drive. Here's a link for some W&W downloads in case you are interested:

http://www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/wiza...ownloads.shtml

Game runs wonderfully well under my 8.1x64 installation, and the ironic thing is that visiting the Ironwork W&W forums site:

http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/...splay.php?f=14

...I was amazed to see how many people could not get the game to run at all under either Vista or WinXP several years ago...! If I had done nothing except read their remarks before installing the game, I wouldn't have installed it on the grounds that if it wouldn't run under XP & Vista & Win7 it is likely not to run under Win8.1x64, too. Yet, it runs fab with 8.1x64, as it turns out! Microsoft has apparently done some needed work in that regard.

Anyway--just some stuff I picked up with 8.1 that you may or may not find of any value! Glad you got your initial problems straightened out!

[Falcon1]

What you guys think... Are we gonna see a new Beta driver this week? BF4 Beta starting tomorrow!

[Nascar24]

hmmm, I'm guessing this is a driver issue but noticing a few problems with these, got a 7 day free trial of WoW and said what the heck and signed in for the free 7 days, WoW now locks up within a min. of starting the game, after having this issue I decided to try Torchlight 2 which I have never had problems with in the past, pretty much unplayable at the moment, very bad stuttering, even tried a reinstall of the game on my SSD drive with no change. Tried a few other games such as Crysis 2 and 3 and they run without issues. Only other thing I can figure it being is I am on windows 8.1 although WoW is supposedly compatible.