Tried the new amd crimson drivers anyone else using them?

[dragonslayer2k12]

I just got these in with the recent hotfix too.

 

I upgraded from the older v15.7 drivers because I thought it might help my aging HD7950 with fps in skyrim. I normally have to run radeon pro software, a third party utility not affiliated with amd to get normal gameplay with my setup. I have the enb boost mod and skse blah blah but no amount of normal settings would give me both good framerate and no tearing until I started using radeon pro. If I enable vsync with enb boost even the latest files from enbdev I get constant up and down fps with really laggy movement but no tearing. So I had radeon pro handling stuff and it worked just fine but I suspected some issues with fps can cause scripting problems for things like weapon racks and scripted effects in player homes stuff like that.

 

So I updated to the latest crimson drivers and there is this feature for targeted framerate. I tried that in many combinations with vsync enabled and disabled with enb boost or the latest crimson driver settings. The result is the same I get framerate problems or I get tearing. I tried radeon pro again and the problem went away so it looks like I'm stuck with radeon pro. I was hoping that amd fixed some stuff so I wouldn't have to use it anymore but nope.

 

I was also hoping there was just some bug with skse or enb boost that was holding me back but nope. Either my card is on the way out or I have to come down on some settings here and there. I did do some alt coin mining with it in 2013 for a while so maybe that kind of abused the card so who knows but it is a known thing that skyrim plays better with nvidia I just don't like their crap with 3.5gb memory and then 512mb more on top instead of 4gb like it is marketed and all the marketing crap they are doing to sell higher resolutions than 1080p just looks like smoke and mirrors.

 

I am trying to continue playing and modding skyrim which is LOCKED to 60fps or else and all the stuff nvidia is charging for just doesn't make sense. I was thinking about going with a 970 card maybe later if I could find a really good deal on one instead of paying $300 or more but if I can keep this HD7950 going for another year I might just do that instead.

 

Anyone else tried the crimson drivers yet?

[soupdragon1234]

HD 7950 is a good card but its several generations behind I have one on the PC I gave away to a friend but its not up to running ENB's or at least anything other than the most basic (little or no DoF or SSAO).

 

Crimson gave a small performance boost to my old R9 390 which is better value than a 970 and faster in most benchmarks - and it has 8gb of non-970-gimped vram. My latest Fury X is faster still :yes: The "nvidia runs better with Skyrim" is nonsense it possibly performs better with Intel cpu's but then so does almost everything else as AMD's chips are so far behind now. My 390 was more than capable of running RealVision and other demanding ENB's, at least at 1080p.

 

n.b. unless the framerates are steady (preferably 60fps) you will get screen tearing without an adaptive sync monitor. Also if you're using ENB don't forget to disable Vsync in Skyrim.ini and enable it in ENBlocal.ini or you'll likely get tearing as they'll conflict.

 

n.n.b ENBboost does nothing for me stability wise and theres always an fps cost regardless. Treat the S.T.E.P.S. rules as a guide rather than gospel.

 

n.n.n.b if you're getting stuttering/lag with up and down framerates you can try this framerate lock add:

 

iFPSclamp = 60

 

to skyrim.ini under the [General] tab (may have to disable Vsync). If the game goes into slow motion lower the clamp value, if it runs too fast enable the fps limiter in ENBlocal.ini :thumbsup:

Edited February 2, 2016 by soupdragon1234

[obobski]

Just upgraded to the Crimson drivers - I quite like the new UI but haven't done much in the way of critical performance assessment. Can certainly report back if any wild issues occur.

[blove]

I could not get Frame Rate Target Control to work with Fallout 4 until I switched from borderless windowed to full screen.

[obobski]

I could not get Frame Rate Target Control to work with Fallout 4 until I switched from borderless windowed to full screen.

 

Does it work in other games? (I just noticed this feature but haven't had time to test it out)

[blove]

I have not played anything else lately.

[soupdragon1234]

 

I could not get Frame Rate Target Control to work with Fallout 4 until I switched from borderless windowed to full screen.

 

Does it work in other games? (I just noticed this feature but haven't had time to test it out)

 

 

It works in Skyrim just fine. Its the same for Freesync it has to be Fullscreen too (Nvidia's Gsync will work in borderless windowed mode but you're paying a premium for that technology). I'm hoping they'll come with a fix, hopefully by driver, for that.

 

I'm none too happy about the features removed from the Crimson UI honestly, Hotkeys for one. Being able to switch between displays with a couple of keyboard shortcuts was too useful and NVCP had nothing like it. I'm not sure how I'm going to find a replacement for that. :pinch:

 

edit...

WRT hotkeys and other display management - I've been using DisplayFusion (its on steam; pay once used it on every machine you own via Steam) for years, and it allows all sorts of stuff like that (can do all sorts of custom macros, hotkeys, etc); I gave up fussing about what Catalyst or ForceWare did or didn't support with multi-head. Well worth the ~$20 if you have multiple monitors and/or multiple systems.

Thats interesting, thanks

Edited February 11, 2016 by soupdragon1234

[obobski]

 

It works in Skyrim just fine. Its the same for Freesync it has to be Fullscreen too (Nvidia's Gsync will work in borderless windowed mode but you're paying a premium for that technology). I'm hoping they'll come with a fix, maybe by driver, for that.

 

I'm none too happy about the features removed from the Crimson UI honestly, Hotkeys for one. Being able to switch between displays with a couple of keyboard shortcuts was too useful and NVCP had nothing like it. I'm not sure how I'm going to find a replacement for that. :pinch:

 

 

Thanks for the info.

 

WRT hotkeys and other display management - I've been using DisplayFusion (its on steam; pay once used it on every machine you own via Steam) for years, and it allows all sorts of stuff like that (can do all sorts of custom macros, hotkeys, etc); I gave up fussing about what Catalyst or ForceWare did or didn't support with multi-head. Well worth the ~$20 if you have multiple monitors and/or multiple systems.