Are AMD CAPs for crossfire only?

[zokudu]

Can't seem to get a definite answer on this by Googling. Are the caps only for crossfire or are there profiles for single gpu setups?

 

[busydude]

Yeah, just for crossfire.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Yes

 

[(sic)Klown12]

No, not just for Crossfire. They do have some single GPU improvements, but not nearly as many as for multiple GPUs.

Here's a snip from AMD's site and you can see three mentions of single GPU fixes.



http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

 

[zokudu]

The reason I'm asking is because when I go to the driver download page under the CAP file download it says.

New profiles added to this release:
- FireFall: Resolve corruption when enabling Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center on single GPU configurations
- Test Drive Unlimited 2: Improves CrossFire performance
- Ridge Racer Unbounded – Fixes full screen corruption for single GPU configurations
- Stacking – Resolved image quality issues when enabling Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center on single GPU configurations
- Dirt 3: Fixes corruption found in particular scenes when CrossFire is enabled

Three of which mention single GPU configurations. Is that just for Crossfired Single Card solutions like the 6990?

 

[blackened23]

Can't seem to get a definite answer on this by Googling. Are the caps only for crossfire or are there profiles for single gpu setups?

99.9 % of them are for crossfire. Don't bother downloading them.

There are single gpu changes here and there but they are implemented into WHQL drivers as well, so no need to install a CAP.

 

[BrightCandle]

Presumably installing the CAPs does no harm though.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Primarily for crossfire and crossfire specific issues, a lot of the bugs they list in their fixes are only caused by using crossfire in the first place, any other generic game fixes tend to go directly into the drivers themselves.

But it won't hurt to have them installed.

 

[GotNoRice]

What is important to understand is that unless you are running beta drivers, you're basically using drivers that are a month or so old at least. The WHQL process just doesn't work any faster than that.

Since CAPs aren't subject to WHQL qualification, they offer a way for AMD to get fixes directly to consumers as fast as possible, even Single-GPU users.

 

[xboxist]

I have a related question about these profiles.

I guess I don't understand their significance. Do you need them before Crossfire will even work at all in a particular game? Or are they more like... drivers+ for people with multi-GPU?

I've just always downloaded/installed them without understanding what they were doing exactly. Figured it wouldn't hurt.

 

[(sic)Klown12]

Crossfire will work without CAPs, but there might be some bugs that were fixed after the driver that your using was released. They're just a way for AMD to help out customers with small bug fixes during the lull between driver releases.

 

[Tempered81]

No, Caps are not just for crossfire

 

[GotNoRice]

You're never running "without" caps. They are bundled with each driver so at a minimum you will be using those.

 

[xboxist]

Nice, that makes sense. Thanks.