GUIDE AMD Control Center

[Kesta]

It'd seem they made card-specific apps actually. I don't have Radeon settings, but FirePro settings (using a pro-card instead of a gaming one).

 

Also, what are your feelings about this new "Gaming Evolved" thing ? (I think eveyrone has it). Seems rather decent for recording, and it is offering automatic game optimisation (although I have no idea what they mean by that...)

[GrantSP]

I always use "Custom" when it comes to installing software and the first thing I did was NOT install Gaming Evolved!

I see no use for it with my system. The game specific settings as far as I can tell are just pre-made settings for the game that do exactly what we are already doing in the profiles, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

[Greg]

So it's basically the same thing with a shiny new interface?

[Kesta]

I also use custom. But I like trying new toys. I mean, it kinda feel like I'm modding windows instead of TES/Fallout :P 

[GrantSP]

So it's basically the same thing with a shiny new interface?

That about sums it up.

[CovertSlinky]

So it's basically the same thing with a shiny new interface?

 

That about sums it up.

Not true. The new driver comes with a few new features, one being that FRTC can now work with DX9 games instead of just DX10 or 11. ShaderCache is new. Can now adjust frame flip queue. And some stuff related to eyefinity. However the flip queue thing I think is only available to people who have monitors with amd freesync. They made some actual improvements feature wise, which is why I thought this was going to be good. However they also removed some things that I enjoyed being able to use, most important to me was hotkeyed presets. They are gone, so I am rolling back to catalyst. Because of that, and also the new per game basis overdrive doesnt work very well. sometimes when the game launches it kicks in and then goes off, or just doesnt come on at all. Is easy to notice whether it is functioning if you turn on manual fan set it to 100 along with that game profile. But buggy drivers, is the norm for us AMD goers.

[Kelmych]

I had a lot of problems with the Gaming Evolved app when I let the installer include it a while ago. It took me a while to determine that it was the cause of some significant problems I had after the updated installation.

[sgtnapalm]

Not true. The new driver comes with a few new features, one being that FRTC can now work with DX9 games instead of just DX10 or 11. ShaderCache is new. Can now adjust frame flip queue. And some stuff related to eyefinity. However the flip queue thing I think is only available to people who have monitors with amd freesync. They made some actual improvements feature wise, which is why I thought this was going to be good. However they also removed some things that I enjoyed being able to use, most important to me was hotkeyed presets. They are gone, so I am rolling back to catalyst. Because of that, and also the new per game basis overdrive doesnt work very well. sometimes when the game launches it kicks in and then goes off, or just doesnt come on at all. Is easy to notice whether it is functioning if you turn on manual fan set it to 100 along with that game profile. But buggy drivers, is the norm for us AMD goers.

I think they mean insofar as settings and usage for this guide go for the standard user, in which case they are correct; To the average end user, this represents not much more than a UI update with some under-the-hood changes that can generally be ignored. No major updates to the CCC guide are needed which is the important part, though down the line it may be desired to remain consistent with current drivers and to not appear out-of-date. (If I was a new member reading this guide and came across the CCC guide 3 months down the line I would assume that the guide was out-of-date and not be sure how to proceed.)

 

As to others commenting on AMD Gaming Evolved, this is essentially AMD's answer to the GeForce Experience. All game optimization does is replace configuration files with community-submitted presets. Now, as far as I know, Performance is meant to give the most framerate at any settings, Quality is meant to give the highest quality at any framerate, and Balanced is meant to give the best possible graphics at a target framerate for your machine (I believe 60). At least, this is what I assume it does because I can find no documentation as to what these presets actually mean. In any case this has no bearing on how the guide works and should not be included. Obviously you would not want the app to optimize Skyrim for you after you've done your own tweaks.

Edited December 3, 2015 by sgtnapalm

[Greg]

The one feature AMD has so far fallen flat on is a customized fan profile. In all the Catalyst versions I've installed so far, the only options are AMD's underperforming and excessively hot profile or a manual fixed speed. I keep hoping at some point AMD will let the user manage the fan profile so I don't have to run third-party applications to do this. My current profile bumps the default speed a few percent but makes a tremendous difference in temperature.

[GrantSP]

The one feature AMD has so far fallen flat on is a customized fan profile. In all the Catalyst versions I've installed so far, the only options are AMD's underperforming and excessively hot profile or a manual fixed speed. I keep hoping at some point AMD will let the user manage the fan profile so I don't have to run third-party applications to do this. My current profile bumps the default speed a few percent but makes a tremendous difference in temperature.

Then the "Profile Overdrive" might be the feature you are after. It monitors: Activity, GPU Clock, Memory Clock, Temp. & Fan speed and provides a method of assigning limits to your GPU Clock & Power via a graph. Haven't used it myself, just stuck with the presets they provide, but it might be useful.

[Spock]

But buggy drivers, is the norm for us AMD goers.

Dunno, I haven't had any problems with my drivers so far, aside from one very specific black screen issue in 3d mark firestrike.

NVidias drivers have their problems too. Mainly that they distort performance. Once the NVidia generation gets old and driver optimizations (which are amazing for NV) don't get attention, the card suddently falls behind big time.

[Greg]

Then the "Profile Overdrive" might be the feature you are after. It monitors: Activity, GPU Clock, Memory Clock, Temp. & Fan speed and provides a method of assigning limits to your GPU Clock & Power via a graph. Haven't used it myself, just stuck with the presets they provide, but it might be useful.

AMD Overdrive in Catalyst has that as well, and it's not what I want. I'm currently using Sapphire Trixx that has a temperature/fan speed graph. The default fan speed profile in the ROM is very linear and maxes out at roughly 45% or 50% fan speed. Quite frankly, I think throttling the fan speed this low is bad because my GPU runs about 90 degrees Celsius while playing Skyrim. Yeah, that's bloody hot.

 

I used this graph to increase the fan speed as the temperature increases and now the GPU runs about 70 degrees Celsius. The obvious disadvantage is that Trixx has to be running for the GPU to use this fan profile and I'd rather have it baked into the driver or the ROM.

 

 

[paradoxbound]

There is one thing I can not do with the new Radeon settings that may effect the guide. I can no longer override the Anisotropic Filtering mode. The only option I have is "Use application settings".

[Rebel47]

Paradoxbound, I'm also using Radeon Settings and you can indeed override Anisotropic filtering mode, I have literally just checked and tested this. where the option box is for Anisotropic Filtering you'll see a grey switch essentially, you can click it and the switch moves over to the right and turns a white color, this in turn allows you to further customize your Anisotropic Filtering further.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Rebel47

[paradoxbound]

Thanks for the pointer, I just checked and I had no slider, however I updated my drivers and now I have one.