AMD Catalyst 12.1 WHQL and 12.2 Preview Benchmark

AMD Catalyst 12.1 WHQL and 12.2 Preview Benchmark

Posted on January 26, 2012 at 3:22 PM in Benchmarks

Yesterday was a busy day for AMD’s Software/Driver Team, they released this month’s WHQL driver, 12.1 that is. 12.1 WHQL is actually the 8.93 driver released on the 5th of December, it took almost two months from the moment of the leak and the official release. AMD also released 12.2 Preview and recommended it for “gamers”.

Instead of making two articles for each driver, I will mash both drivers together and compare them both to 11.12 WHQL and 8.95 17 Jan (best performing driver to date).

Tested Drivers and Information

Prior to installing a driver, a sweep was done in safe-mode using Phyxion Driver Sweeper.

Catalyst Version 2D Driver 3D Driver OpenGL Driver Driver Packaging Version CCC Version CCC
11.12 WHQL 8.01.01.1215 7.14.10.0879 6.14.10.11318 8.92-111109a-129966C-ATI 2011.1109.2212.39826 11.12
8.95 17 January 8.01.01.1234 7.14.10.0893 6.14.10.11543 8.95-120117a-131901E-ATI 2012.0117.2009.36062 N/A
12.1 WHQL 8.01.01.1223 7.14.10.0887 6.14.10.11399 8.93-111205a-132104C-ATI 2011.1205.2215.39827 12.1
12.2 Preview 8.01.01.1231 7.14.10.0890 6.14.10.11472 8.94-120120a-132259E-ATI.2 2012.0120.2218.39907 12.2
Tests and Settings

All 3 drivers are tested in 3 synthetic benchmarks and 6 games.

      1. 3DMark06 1.02 Professional Edition - 1680×1050 – 2xAA – Anti Aliasing Quality = 0 – 4xAF – Shader Model 2.0 = Return to Proxycon + Firefly Forest – HDR/Shader Model 3.0 = Canyon Flight + Deep Freeze – 2 Runs.
      2. Unigine – Heaven Benchmark 2.5 – 1680×1050 – High Shaders – Normal Tessellation(DirectX 11) – 2xAA – 4xAF – 2 Runs.
      3. Cinebench 11.5 – 3 Runs.
      4. Crysis 2 1.9 using Adrenaline Benchmark Tool – Extreme Preset – 1680×1050 – 4xAA – Hi-Res Textures – Central Park – 3 Runs.
      5. Metro 2033 using Update 1.2 Benchmark Tool – Very High Settings – 1680×1050 – 16xAF – No AA for DirectX 9 and 4xMSAA for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 – 3 Runs.
      6. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Call of Pripyat – 1680×1050 – Extreme Preset (DirectX 9) – Ultra Preset (DirectX 10 & 11)
      7. DiRT 3 – Ultra Preset – 1680×1050 – 8xMSAA – 3 Runs
      8. Battlefield 3 – Ultra Preset – 1680×1050 – 4xMSAA – 16xAF – Multiplayer @ Strike at Karkand (32p map, Large Conquest), main street: US Deployment -> B Flag – 3 Runs x 60s.
      9. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim v1.3.10 – Ultra Preset – 1680×1050 – 8xAA – 16xAF – Tested in the area East of Rorikstead – 3 Runs x 60s.

All synthetic benchmarks were ran 2 times except Cinebench (3 runs), all games were ran 3 times.

Test System Specifications
Test Hardware | AMD Catalyst 12.1 WHQL and 12.2 Preview Benchmark
Processor Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge)

4.5 GHz, 6 MB L3 Cache, power-saving settings disabled, Turbo Boost disabled.
Motherboard MSI P67-C43-B3, Intel P67 Chipset
Memory 2 x 2 GB DDR3 1600MHZ
Hard Drives

WD 500 GB SATA III (OS)

Samsung 750 GB Sata II (Game)
Graphics Card Sapphire HD6950 1 GB
Power Supply Corsair TX 650 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating System Windows 7 SP1 x64

Table of Contents:

Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – 3DMark06, Unigine and Cinebench
Page 3 – Crysis 2, Metro 2033 and Call of Pripyat
Page 4 – Battlefield 3, DiRT 3 and Skyrim
Page 5 – Image Quality
Page 6 – Conclusion


Page 2 – 3DMark06, Unigine and Cinebench

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