AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark

AMD Catalyst

Posted on March 16, 2012 at 4:47 PM in Benchmarks

Crysis 2 performs the same no matter the API or driver used. The only differences are found in DirectX 11 in the minimum department but these differences are too small be taken to seriously. Not to say that Crysis 2 Minimum FPS wobbles a bit too much and I have to discard some test runs because of that. But average results are fairly stable.

AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - Crysis 2

What I said earlier applies to Metro 2033 too, minimum FPS is a bit chaotic but average FPS is pretty much the same between all runs, no matter the driver used.

AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - Metro 2033

Battlefield 3 plays well on all three drivers but looking at the results, 8.951.1 looks more stable than the other two; 1 FPS might not be much but sometimes, especially with very demanding games, each frame counts.

AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - Battlefield 3
AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - Battlefield 3

As seen countless times, DiRT 3 delivers the same framerates regardless of the driver used.

AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - DiRT 3

Best driver for Skyrim remains 8.96 28 February, 8.951.1 behaves almost the same as 12.2 WHQL. Given the many complaints about image corruption when using newer AMD drivers, if you’re still playing Skryim I suggest you stick with your current driver. I haven’t played Skyrim since I finished it a few months ago and the tests I do in Skyrim aren’t comprehensive enough to say if image corruption will still occur.

AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim
AMD Catalyst 8.951.1 05 March Benchmark - The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim


Page 2 – 3DMark06,3DMark11,Cinebench and Unigine
Page 4 – Conclusion

Pages: 1 2 3 4
  • REMOTiE

    Thanks for the benchmark !

    I notice that is an typo on the first crysis benchmark . you labelled 8.96 18 Feb instead of 28 Feb.

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      Thanks.

  • igor.precep

    Thanks for this, as usual, detail test. I think I’m going to give this 8.951.1 05 March driver a chance and replace it instead of 12.2 Preview driver I’m still using because it performs very stable and bug free on my gaming rig.

  • LEON_BASSEL

    Thx man 4 BenchmarK :)

    so should i use it for BF3 ? or stay with Catalyst 8.96 28 February ؟

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      Well having in mind that the only difference between the two is just 1 FPS (minimum section) I’d say you should do what your heart dictates…

  • Zade

    HI, thanks for the benchmark ! may i ask wich driver u prefer to use the most for games u are playing currently…..

  • Luke

    The best drivers for me is still 8.96 28 February.
    Thanks for benchmark!

  • Zade

    i just checked out that the driver package 8.93 of 18 nov got 50 avg fps in crysis 2 and 40 for BF 3. Does it mean its the best ? considering those two are the heaviest and best looking games around ?

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      8.93 is a very old driver, I recommend you update to something like 8.951.1 or 8.96 28 Feb.

      Also, those numbers you gave don’t represent much if I don’t know what settings were you using and where exactly you saw those frame rates.

      • Zade

        Err ! I saw the benchmark of Crysis 2 and BF3 (both dx11) on benchmark3D ???!!!! which confused me as such an old driver is performing the best on those two beefy games !

  • Luke

    Anyone knows what HDMI drivers version is in 8.951.1? The same like in 8.96 28 February?

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      8.951.1 HDMI Driver
      [Version]
      Signature=”$Windows NT$”
      Class=MEDIA
      ClassGuid={4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
      Provider=%AMD%
      CatalogFile=AtihdW76.cat
      DriverVer=02/23/2012,7.12.0.7706

      • Luke

        Thanks!
        It’s the same version.

  • McGeiver

    The ATIPDLXX.dll is missing in this leak. ATI Try Tools doesn’t start without it

    • mubaidr

      It was removed 4,5 versions back! U might have did nt noticed. ;)

  • McGeiver

    Yes, yesterday i tried the Feb 28 Version, –> the same.
    I got a ATIPDLXX.dll File from the Computerbase.de – board.
    If somebody is interested -> http://andora.tk/ATIDrivers.zip

  • Johan

    Hi and thanks for the benchmarks!
    Can you make a big BF3 benchmark for all drivers who was released in 2012 in? please.

  • Mathusian

    According to the benchmarks, 8.96.28 february is obviously better, i suspect the S.M 2 scores to be “boosting up” 8.951 march, but i mean, frankly, what game still uses those…

  • Joe

    I would suggest ( would like) you include the 8.93 Nov 18 drivers on your benchmarks, seeing as those are really great and would love to see how they compare to these new drivers.

    Anyhow, Awesome job on your benchmarks :)

  • SolidEther

    I agree BM3D ie is far from a gaming platform, but If you use it for alot of really cool, although limited indie games that are a blast using, Flash, Shockwave, or Java play that sucker on ie 8 or below google or even chrome (which supports minimal hardware rendering) then play it on ie 10 and it flies due to very good use of GPU hardware rendering instead of Software rendering. But you are 100% correct- Metro UI bites ass. I want an OS not a big f*kin phone for my OS, but guess what Win 7 ie 9 has all the performance benefits of win 8 and ie 10. SO you can say nevermind that to those goofballs. If MS knows whats good they will realize everyone is not totally i-droided and burn that idea????

  • SolidEther

    BM3D,
    I have my ides of what the two fields in the line graph refer to. What are the two fields on the horizontal and vertical 1 to ? . Is one FPS and ?? I am not afraid to admit I am not sure I assume the highs are good and the dips are bad.

    Could you please educate me on this so I do not have to guesstimate the meaning?

    Thank you for clarifying this, pal.

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      Sure, no problem.

      The horizontal bar is for time in seconds and the vertical one is for FPS.

      The thing that confuses is that the time line is like this: 1 3 5 7 instead of 1 2 3 4, that’s just so the numbers fit, I had to erase every 2nd second.

  • SolidEther

    Also, when Comparing the total performacebar graph what is the number at the end. I know it is an average but how is it reached to compare accurately?

    If you have a post explaining it please forgive this and just post it and I will read it.

    Thanx again!

    STe..Solid

    • http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

      Well, that graph is the accumulated average FPS and minimum FPS of all tests. It’s basically a total of all results, minimum and average. The problem is that 3DMark06 has a huge saying in that total…but otherwise the other graphs should give anyone a good idea of “how good” that respective driver is…

      The only reason for that total graph is to give readers a relative idea, but they need to see the other 10 graphs before making a definitive idea.

  • Zade

    Well i’m thinking i should revert to ’8.93′ 18 Nov…………sure its old, but performance matters !!!! Looking at the benchmarks on Benchmark 3D, its easy to tell it was and still is the best driver……. :)

  • Paolo

    I play NBA 2k12. I notice that when I updated to 8.95 17 January then later to 8.951.1 05 March, random stutters and fps drops frequently occur in the game after around 40 minutes of playing. Comparing the two, I experience more stutters in 8.951.1 05 March. I used before 11.12 18 Nov (which used to be the best driver based on benchmark scores) and didn’t experienced any stutters or fps drops, despite playing for hours. Is it because of the driver’s stability?

  • David

    These drivers messed up Skyrim totally for me. So im going back to something more stable.