Inquirer Reports Catalyst 5.6 huge improvement

[Gamingphreek]

No... it's quite possible they are selectively optimizing those games. I still don't think it will pan out like they say, but there will be at least some improvement. Theoretically there is that potential though. Usually the graphics would be of lower quality as a byproduct of that. I guess doing this isn't "cheating"? This could be more of the Quack3 crap. What do you guys think?

Games are already optimized individually. You are confusing it with 3dMark, in which case they cannot optimize for each specific test. Of course there will be SOME improvement. However no where even remotely close to what Inquirer is stating.

Like i said earlier, if they were horrible drivers i could understand a performance boost of the caliber. Or if the drivers had a fundamental flaw. Or if there was a bug in the game. However ATI's drivers, as well as Nvidia's, really have none of those problems. The reason Nvidia may still have more performance left in drivers is because the NV40 architecture is completely new. ATI's on the other hand is based off of an existing architecture, therefore those drivers are very well refined.

-Kevin

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

No... it's quite possible they are selectively optimizing those games. I still don't think it will pan out like they say, but there will be at least some improvement. Theoretically there is that potential though. Usually the graphics would be of lower quality as a byproduct of that. I guess doing this isn't "cheating"? This could be more of the Quack3 crap. What do you guys think?

Games are already optimized individually. You are confusing it with 3dMark, in which case they cannot optimize for each specific test. Of course there will be SOME improvement. However no where even remotely close to what Inquirer is stating.

Like i said earlier, if they were horrible drivers i could understand a performance boost of the caliber. Or if the drivers had a fundamental flaw. Or if there was a bug in the game. However ATI's drivers, as well as Nvidia's, really have none of those problems. The reason Nvidia may still have more performance left in drivers is because the NV40 architecture is completely new. ATI's on the other hand is based off of an existing architecture, therefore those drivers are very well refined.

-Kevin

What did the article say?:

you should see around ten per cent plus performance increase in 3Dmark05, Aquamark 3 and Halo and Tomb Raider: AOD games and benchmarks. ATI did this by using some Z optimisations, removing unseen pixels before running through the pixel shaders. I guess that this is an allowed method and Halo might be running even fifteen per cent faster.

~10-[maybe]15% is NOT unreasonable . . . i already saw +10 from the 4x Cats to the 5x Cats in 3DMark05 . . . another 10% just means ATI learned how to optimize better.

TR:AoD is buggy crap anyway . . . looks like some 'room to improve' with Aquamark and probably Halo also.

The Chronicles of Riddick will work up to fifteen per cent faster than with the old Catalyst 5.5 drivers and ATI did more efficient storage of vertex data and gained some performance that way too.

UP to +15% . . .i think there is a LOT of room for improvement with the Starbreeze Engine - for nVidia especially with the 2.0++ SM. 😉

Doom 3 will work almost twenty per cent faster than with Catalyst 5.5 as ATI made more efficient use of memory.

Who knows? , , , ATI promised some OGl improvement - their current drivers ARE crap.

Even games such as Call of Duty will benefit from this new driver as the driver team managed to increase the game efficiency resulting in close to ten per cent faster performance

Wasn't CoD considered buggy? And we're LESS than +10%

The game that will benefit the most is Lock on: Modern Air combat where you will be able to see an incredible fifty per cent performance increase just by installing a new 5.6 Catalyst driver.

Not so incredible IF the current drivers are buggy or "ATI catalyst AI enables texture compression of the clouds resulting with no visual impact and massive performance impact at the same time."

Generally ~10% EXCEPT with Doom3's OGl [+20% add ati has definitely been LACKING here compared to nVidia - about time!]

So what's the BIG deal about the article? ATI always exaggerates 10% is minor but nice if true . . . . i'd be glad for +5% across the board. 🙂
:roll:

edited to BOLD points

 

[LocutusX]

ATI's D3D driver is considered good, but not their OpenGL driver. There is a lot of room for improvement in that one, and we may be seeing some of those enhancements in Cat 5.6.

And the thing is, "general" OpenGL enhancements would benefit all ATI cards, not just the X8*0 series.

I don't play D3, but I still play some old OGL games, so perf. enhancements would be nice... might be able to bump it up to max quality.

 

[spazo]

Some sort of new driver will be released on the 8th to support the new X5xx(according to tech powerup). For "pulling a date out of its ass," INQ was pretty damn close with the date 😉

 

[Research]

I'm waiting ... it's 8th isn't it?

Originally posted by: spazo
Some sort of new driver will be released on the 8th to support the new X5xx(according to tech powerup). For "pulling a date out of its ass," INQ was pretty damn close with the date 😉

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: Research
I'm waiting ... it's 8th isn't it?

Originally posted by: spazo
Some sort of new driver will be released on the 8th to support the new X5xx(according to tech powerup). For "pulling a date out of its ass," INQ was pretty damn close with the date 😉

Not in Siberia Russia. 😛

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Research
I'm waiting ... it's 8th isn't it?

Originally posted by: spazo
Some sort of new driver will be released on the 8th to support the new X5xx(according to tech powerup). For "pulling a date out of its ass," INQ was pretty damn close with the date 😉

ATI will soon introduce its Catalyst 5.6 driver and we have the feeling that this might happen on the seventh of June, we might be wrong about the date, it's not yet specific but you never know.

"have the feeling"
"might happen"
"we might be wrong about the date"
"you never know"


yeah, they were being real specific

in related news . . . ATI shares fall during week

😛

:roll:


😀

 

[dev0lution]

While I'd love to get 20% more, it's June 8th and still no 5.6 download available.....

 

[BFG10K]

I expect we'll see the drivers when the G70 comes out later this month.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: apoppin



in related news . . . ATI shares fall during week

😛

:roll:


😀

Wow, nice trolling post.

In related news, NVs stock dropped 40% within 6 weeks, then went back up. Stocks do go up and down you know.

Originally posted by: apoppin

this thread should be locked and you should be banned for starting a flamewar.
:thumbsdown:

I find this funny. You want someone banned for starting a "flame war", then you make a post like above? Um..

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: apoppin



in related news . . . ATI shares fall during week

😛

:roll:


😀

Wow, nice trolling post.

In related news, NVs stock dropped 40% within 6 weeks, then went back up. Stocks do go up and down you know.

Originally posted by: apoppin

this thread should be locked and you should be banned for starting a flamewar.
:thumbsdown:

I find this funny. You want someone banned for starting a "flame war", then you make a post like above? Um..

you find a lot of stuff "funny"
:roll:

and WHY don't you quote ALL of my post? Perhaps you could understand it if you actuially read it all . . . but i doubt it . . .

looks like YOU are trying to "start something"
:thumbsdown:

 

[Sentential]

Perhaps ATi finally fixed their half-assed OGL support.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Link

Told ya 🙂

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Link

Told ya 🙂

Yep LOL. The interface looks good anyway, I like the looks.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I agree with you. Nvidias may be very nice but, i like ATIs look.

-Kevin

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I agree with you. Nvidias may be very nice but, i like ATIs look.

-Kevin

Yep i liked CCC a lot, never had problems with it (despite some people seem to have them) and the interface wa pretty.

 

[Megatomic]

I might try the CCC this version myself. And it's too bad about no performance improvements. Not that my X800XL is poor in gaming or anything.

 

[clarkey01]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: gsellis
The Inquirer's 5.6 article

Dang, I figured this would be the lastest "Yeah, Right" thread going. Leaking news (remember, The Inquirer does not sign NDAs), they say 5.6 will be a huge improvement in many games, with LOMAC gaining 50% (not that I play it).

Just so expectations are set, expect to see ATI, nVidia, and The Inquirer trashed in this thread. 😉

I call BS right now.

They "have a feeling" it will be released on June 7 😕!?! Wtf is that. That whole article is BS.

-Kevin

Quoted for future analysis.

!

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
I find this funny. You want someone banned for starting a "flame war", then you make a post like above? Um..

Ackmed - Since I am the OP, I will comment. I find no flaming here. Apoppin is not a fanboy and is having a bit of fun. Note the clever use of emoticons. 😀

As for the rest of it. Link above I do believe goes to the AT ATI 5.6 review. At 16x12, there is apparently no benefit from the new drivers at the top end. But a huge win is support for mobile (Inq missed that one!). Maybe you get 50% better at 320x240 ;D

The Inquirer cannot be that far off. AT has an article on 5.6 drivers, so must have them 😉. Today for GA maybe?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Maybe you get 50% better at 320x240 ;D

I know of no laptop that uses 320x240 resolution. Hell that is just a bit larger than PDA size isn't it. Im thinking no 😛

Btw: I did catch that you were making a joke 😛 ... just wanted to make sure no one got any ideas.

-Kevin

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: gsellis

Originally posted by: Ackmed
I find this funny. You want someone banned for starting a "flame war", then you make a post like above? Um..

Ackmed - Since I am the OP, I will comment. I find no flaming here. Apoppin is not a fanboy and is having a bit of fun. Note the clever use of emoticons. 😀

As for the rest of it. Link above I do believe goes to the AT ATI 5.6 review. At 16x12, there is apparently no benefit from the new drivers at the top end. But a huge win is support for mobile (Inq missed that one!). Maybe you get 50% better at 320x240 ;D

The Inquirer cannot be that far off. AT has an article on 5.6 drivers, so must have them 😉. Today for GA maybe?

THANK-YOU!!!
{although to be truthful, i am an "ATI fanboy" that truly admires current nVidia cards}
😕

😀

ok, enough emoticons [for now] . . .

the inq was damn close on the date and they were also parroting ATI's "performance increase" numbers . . . Anand said:

We also ran these numbers with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. They were even closer in performance than these numbers show. Needless to say, we weren't very impressed with the performance improvement (or lack there of). It is possible that we could see a bigger performance improvement as CPU overhead becomes more of a factor (in other words, if ATI decreased the CPU load of their driver we might see low res performance increase). We just feel that if a performance gain isn't going to show under most conditions (not the least of which is heavy load) than it doesn't have a very large impact on user experience.

It goes without saying that we are disappointed in the performance of Catalyst 5.6. We had been expecting at least a small improvement in our OpenGL titles, but none of the games we tested showed any improvement (less than 1% improvement falls into the "noise" category).

While Lock On may have shown some significant improvement and application specific optimizations are of interest, a single game gaining performance isn't as compelling as a general improvement in OpenGL performance would be.

Maybe Cat 6.0 will show some increased performance in OGl . . . ati should certainly try before G70 is released . . .

ph, and yeah . . . Gamingphreek, YOU WERE RIGHT!

ok?
{public admission!, good enough?)

EDITED

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: apoppin
the inq was damn close on the date and they wwere also parroting ATI's "performance increae" numbers . . . Anand said:

We also ran these numbers with 4xAA and 8xAF enabled. They were even closer in performance than these numbers show. Needless to say, we weren't very impressed with the performance improvement (or lack there of). It is possible that we could see a bigger performance improvement as CPU overhead becomes more of a factor (in other words, if ATI decreased the CPU load of their driver we might see low res performance increase). We just feel that if a performance gain isn't going to show under most conditions (not the least of which is heavy load) than it doesn't have a very large impact on user experience.

I am wondering if that was still at 1600x1200. Performance could change with lower res.

In general, unless poorly threaded, I do not have CPU issues 😉. Hey, nearly maxed them last night using QT7 with 1080p. Was peaking above 75% on all "4". I need a new monitor and card. My Iiyama VisionMaster 450 with the 9600XT does not do 1080 horizontal without scrolling. That sure was exciting... errr... not.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Maybe Cat 6.0 will show some increased performance in OGl . . . ati should certainly try before G70 is released . . .

ph, and yeah . . . Gamingphreek, YOU WERE RIGHT!

ok?
{public admission!, good enough?)

EDITED

Lol its all good. I didn't need a public admission or anything. 😉

-Kevin

 

[gsellis]

I will give you 1/2 credit Gamingphreek. Inq missed it by 2 days. 5.6 is now available at ATI. 😀

Edit - 2 days... Why was I thinking the 8th? jeez louise

 

[Gamingphreek]

It dont need any credit or anything lol.

Also i wasn't calling BS on the date. I was calling BS on the performance numbers/ increases.

-Kevin