AMD Catalyst 8.93.7 Windows 8 Benchmark

Microsoft’s Windows 8 Consumer Preview was made available for download (free) recently. After testing Windows 8 Developer Preview we have updated to Windows 8 Consumer Preview. AMD stayed ahead of the game and quickly released a AMD Catalyst driver for this new version of Windows 8 beta: AMD Catalyst 8.93.7 RC10 Windows 8 Consumer Preview Driver. Although this driver is official it’s still in beta, notice the notation RC10 = Release Candidate #10.

Windows 8 has the same backbone as Windows 7, the main difference between the two is the new Metro UI. Metro is Microsoft’s attempt to further “penetrate” the mobile/touch devices. Some desktop users will find Metro very annoying and with this new Consumer Preview release you won’t be able to disable it (yet).

Windows 8 Consumer Preview doesn’t come without its problems; DiRT 3 won’t even start and Crysis 2 has issues detecting resolutions. My attempts to fix the two were futile so I had to remove them from this benchmark.

This article will compare three drivers: AMD Catalyst 12.1 WHQL, 8.95 17 January (both being run on Windows 7 SP1 x64) and 8.93.7 RC10, ran on Windows 8 Consumer Preview x64. This is a driver comparison as well as a Windows comparison.

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

All 3 drivers are tested in 5 synthetic benchmarks and 3 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. 3DMark11 1.0.3 Professional Edition - 1680×1050 – 2xMSAA – 4xAF – Graphic Tests 1-4 – 2 Runs.
• 3. Unigine – Sanctuary 2.3 – 1680×1050 – 2xAA – 4xAF – High Shaders – Ambient Occlusion = OFF – 2 Runs.
• 4. Unigine – Tropics 1.3 – 1680×1050 – 2xAA – 4xAF – High Shaders – Ambient Occlusion = ON – Reflections = ON – 2 Runs.
• 5. Cinebench x64 11.5 – 3 Runs.
• 6. 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.
• 7. 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.
• 8. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim v1.4 – 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.

Table of Contents:

Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – 3DMark06,3DMark11,Cinebench and Unigine
Page 3 – Metro2033, Battlefield 3 and Skyrim
Page 4 – Conclusion

Page 2 – 3DMark06,3DMark11,Cinebench and Unigine