[eteknix] GoodBye Catalyst Control Center – Hello Radeon Software Crimson Edition!

[Azix]

Much excite

Launch video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd7dY2A8h_I

eteknix

So a few weeks ago we all heard the news that AMD has split up its Processor and Graphics divisions. Well, today we have the official word from AMD regarding the newly branded Radeon Technologies Group.

Something that AMD has previously struggled with in the graphics market is the software and drivers. While they worked, a lot of users experienced problems and that put a bad taste in a large portion of the enthusiast community. This new rebrand hopes to change things with the discontinuation of the Catalyst software and introduction of Radeon/ FirePro settings.

We will see the first introduction of Radeon settings in the form of Radeon Software Crimson Edition before the end of the year.

We were sent a press presentation to offer us an early look at what to expect from this new venture and Radeon Technologies Group (Radeon TG) want to drive home six key values of Pro Graphics, Gaming, VR/ AR, Immersive, Performance and Efficiency. Generally people would laugh at the efficiency part, but Fiji has certainly changed the minds of a lot of people.

 

[dogen1]

Looks nice.

 

[Elixer]

Well, using Qt for a interface means that it will be cross-platform.
As for the changes themselves... I vote for killing the bloat, and let me have a advanced menu where I can do whatever I want.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

I find it somewhat amusing they call it Crimson. They're like, "guys its red obviously!"

Looking forward to trying it.

 

[stuff_me_good]

Looking good and hopefully it has low memory footprint even though we all have SSD's, but still...

But I don't know what the use the overdrive has when it probably won't be as feature rich as afterburner and nobody will use id because of that.

 

[lamedude]

WxWidgets or GTFO

 

[Vaporizer]

Amazing. I look forward to be "crimson".

 

[Silverforce11]

So this is the new "Omega" version that was leaked..

Some major changes, but the important one was the rumored performance boost.

 

[Shmee]

Looks interesting...

 

[guskline]

Looks interesting...

I agree Shmee. I'll be interested in how it affects the performance of my 290s in CF, if at all.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

So it's a new skin. Yay? Unless they add the functionality RadeonPro has I'll never even see it.

 

[Krteq]

Hm, Qt based control center with per profile OverDrive settings and per profile framerate target control?

I like it.

 

[flopper]

awesome

 

[Krteq]

Hm, Qt based control center with per profile OverDrive settings and per profile framerate target control?

I like it.

I forgot a new shader cache settings

//EDIT: Official slide deck - radeon_software_crimson.pdf

 

[railven]

I'm not really sure I like it. But then again, I personally hate NV's panel. I preferred the simple CCC design, but it's been in use for over a decade. Perhaps in an attempt to bring in a new generation, they are giving it a "rad" new look.

The name is terrible. Absolutely terrible. I mean.

"Yeah, right click your desktop, open up Crimson, and then..."
"Are you sure you checked your Crimson settings?"
"It's in the Crimson tab for resolution."

Yuck.

 

[Sunaiac]

Name's "Radeon Software", not crimson.
If you said catalyst before and not omega, then you wouldn't say crimson

 

[tolis626]

Next one is gonna be called scarlet, I guarantee it.

On a more serious note, good to see AMD stepping up their game. Catalyst, as much as it has improved over the years, still reminds people of everything that used to not work with Radeon cards. Getting rid of it, or at least reskinning it, is like a fresh start. Having software that's intuitive and actually looks good is a nice change for AMD and I hope it's just a sign of things to come. For all their software improvements, CCC looked so 2000's compared to NVidia's software.

 

[KingFatty]

I really hope this improves intuitiveness/usability, and is not just slapping some lipstick onto their pig of a program from before. I really disliked how poorly designed their control center was, it was like fighting to find out where they hid this or that.

 

[railven]

Name's "Radeon Software", not crimson.
If you said catalyst before and not omega, then you wouldn't say crimson

Ah, I guess I should read everything before commenting. Haha. Crimson was a terrible name, but clearly I didn't understand it properly.

Next one is gonna be called scarlet, I guarantee it.

On a more serious note, good to see AMD stepping up their game. Catalyst, as much as it has improved over the years, still reminds people of everything that used to not work with Radeon cards. Getting rid of it, or at least reskinning it, is like a fresh start. Having software that's intuitive and actually looks good is a nice change for AMD and I hope it's just a sign of things to come. For all their software improvements, CCC looked so 2000's compared to NVidia's software.

The old familiar face of CCC...I sure do miss it. I don't think it was the interface that gave people chills, it was the horror stories on forums and word of mouth. I personally rarely had driver issues with my Radeon cards (frame pacing beta was the metaphorical straw), but I'd always read issues about em from other people. ANd then you had a good portion of people echo the "ATI/AMD drivers suck" but probably never even seen CCC in person.

/shrug

I do hope they pull it off. the Radeon TG name itself sounds...kind of weird. Just bring back ATI and call it a day!

 

[tolis626]

Ah, I guess I should read everything before commenting. Haha. Crimson was a terrible name, but clearly I didn't understand it properly.



The old familiar face of CCC...I sure do miss it. I don't think it was the interface that gave people chills, it was the horror stories on forums and word of mouth. I personally rarely had driver issues with my Radeon cards (frame pacing beta was the metaphorical straw), but I'd always read issues about em from other people. ANd then you had a good portion of people echo the "ATI/AMD drivers suck" but probably never even seen CCC in person.

/shrug

I do hope they pull it off. the Radeon TG name itself sounds...kind of weird. Just bring back ATI and call it a day!

Yeah, I never really had any problems with AMD drivers either. The only "problem" was when I tried to install Windows 8.1 to an old laptop with a Mobility Radeon HD4650 and installing drivers would lead to a black screen. But it was old, and it was bad. It works with the generic Windows driver though, so no complaints there. It's not like I game on that thing anyway.

My point it, it's something new, something that people haven't been seeing for the past 10 years or so. So it might lead to some believing it's actually something new, so that they may give AMD a chance. And IMO they deserve it. Most people that actually defend NVidia so passionately wouldn't even know what they are running in their PCs. I recently had a guy try to convince me his 750ti is actually better than my 390x. Ermmm... No, you idiot, it's not.

 

[Despoiler]

I forgot a new shader cache settings

//EDIT: Official slide deck - radeon_software_crimson.pdf

FRTC max is 200fps in that slide deck!

 

[tential]

I really hope this improves intuitiveness/usability, and is not just slapping some lipstick onto their pig of a program from before. I really disliked how poorly designed their control center was, it was like fighting to find out where they hid this or that.

It looks like it was improved all around.
Similar complaints it's not uncommon for me click every window before finding the setting I want.

 

[Mercennarius]

Do we know what day in November we can expect this?

 

[railven]

The slide about faster start up time gave me an *$($)@. I remember CCC always took too long to open.

These recent AMD changes inspire hope into my dead heart. I like what I've seen, they might just win me back!

 

[dogen1]

I forgot a new shader cache settings

Very nice. In terms of parity with nvidia, I think they're only missing adaptive v-sync and downsampling from arbitrary resolutions, right?