AMD Catalyst All November Drivers 11.11 and 11.12 Beta Benchmark

Posted on December 6, 2011 at 11:06 AM in Benchmarks

I’ve been working on this one for quite a while, ( I had to interrupt testing because of some personal stuff ) the results of these tests will give you a good idea of what drivers to use depending on games (recent or old) you currently play. I haven’t encountered any issues with any of the tested drivers, no artifacts, graphical corruption or GPU overheating were noted during the tests, so all drivers are safe for every day use.

Please note that 11.12 Beta drivers are pretty tricky to remove, one could simply install another driver on top of the other but I’d recommend using driver sweeping software to make sure previous drivers are completely gone, old DLL and INF files that remain on your PC before installing a new driver can really give you big headaches so be careful. You were warned.

Drivers Tested and Information

Catalyst Version	2D Driver	3D Driver	OpenGL Driver	Driver Packaging Version	CCC Version	CCC
11.11 WHQL	8.01.01.1207	7.14.10.0873	6.14.10.11251	8.911-111025a-128243C-ATI	2011.1025.2231.38573	11.11
11.11a Performance Driver	8.01.01.1207	7.14.10.0873	6.14.10.11259	8.911.1-111118a-128935E-ATI	2011.1118.1702.30493	11.11
11.11b Performance Driver	8.01.01.1207	7.14.10.0873	6.14.10.11259	8.911.1-111125a-129213E-ATI	2011.1125.932.16994	11.11
11.11c Performance Driver	8.01.01.1207	7.14.10.0873	6.14.10.11259	8.911.1-111130a-129470E-ATI	2011.1130.1215.21917	11.11
11.12 Beta 18 Nov	8.01.01.1221	7.14.10.0883	6.14.10.11384	8.93-111118a-128864E-ATI	2011.1118.1246.22742	11.11
11.12 Beta 22 Nov	8.01.01.1223	7.14.10.0885	6.14.10.11385	8.93-111122a-129042E-ATI	2011.1122.2019.36371	11.11
11.12 Beta 29 Nov	8.01.01.1223	7.14.10.0885	6.14.10.11397	8.93-111129a-129378E-ATI	2011.1122.2019.36371	11.11
11.12 Beta 03 Dec	8.01.01.1215	7.14.10.0879	6.14.10.11320	8.922-111203a-129679E-ATI	2011.1204.15.288	11.11

Games Tested and Settings

Aliens vs Predator: Very High Settings @ 1680×1050 – 16xAF – 4xAA – DirectX 11
Assassin’s Creed Revelations: Highest Settings @ 1680×1050 – 8xMSAA – DirectX 9
Bad Company 2: Highest Settings @ 1680×1050 – 16xAF – 1xAA for DirectX 9 and 8xMSAA for DirectX 11
Batman: Arkham City: Very High Settings @ 1680×1050 – 8xMSAA – Hardware PhysX Off for DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 (normal tessellation)
Battlefield 3: Ultra Settings @ 1680×1050 – 16xAF – 4xMSAA – DirectX 11
Call of Juarez: High Details @ 1680×1050 – DirectX 10
Crysis 2: Ultra Settings @ 1680 x 1050 for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11
Formula 1 2011: Settings Maxed Out @ 1680×1050 – 8xMSAA for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11
H.A.W.X. 2: High Settings @ 1680×1050 – 8xAA for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11
Metro 2033: Very High Settings @ 1680×1050 – 16xAF – No AA for DirectX 9 and 4xMSAA for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11
Modern Warfare 3: Maximum Settings @ 1680×1050 – 4xAA – DirectX 9
Red Orchestra 2: Ultra Settings @ 1680×1050 – MLAA – Hardware Physics OFF – DirectX 9
Saints Row 3: Ultra Settings @ 1680×1050 – 8xMSAA – 16xAF for both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11
TES V: Skyrim: Maximum Settings @ 1680×1050 – 16xAF – 8xFXAA – DirectX 9

Test System Specifications

Test Hardware \| AMD Catalyst November Drivers 11.11 and 11.12 Beta Benchmark
Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge) 3.3 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
DirectX	DirectX 9 \| DirectX 10 \| DirectX 11
Graphics Driver	AMD Catalyst 11.11 WHQL AMD Catalyst 11.11a Performance Driver AMD Catalyst 11.11b Performance Driver AMD Catalyst 11.11c Performance Driver AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 18 Nov 2011 AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 22 Nov 2011 AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 29 Nov 2011 AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 03 Dec 2011

The graph size got a little out of hand but considering the number of tested games and drivers I think there’s nothing to do about it, sorry.

Edit: These are average frames per second (AVG FPS), can’t add Min and Max because the graph would become way to big and unreadable…

Results

AMD Catalyst November Drivers 11.11 and 11.12 Beta Benchmark

Results are not as I expected them, I guess all of us wanted to see the right half of a parabola. You may thing that drivers get better and better with each release, well sometimes they get worse.

Best performing driver is AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 18 November closely followed by AMD Catalyst 11.11a Performance Driver. Differences between drivers aren’t that big, some of you may say these differences are just tolerances or within margins of error, this might be true. All I can say is that I made the tests as close to perfection as I can humanly can. Each test was done 3 times and the average was noted. Half of the tests were done with benchmark tools (AVP, CoJ, H.A.W.X. 2, Crysis 2, Metro 2033 etc) other half was done “by hand / manually”.

AMD Catalyst November Drivers Performance Round-Up

All Drivers Performance Compared to 11.12 Beta 18 Nov

11.11 WHQL	95.2 %
11.11a Performance Driver	99.1 %
11.11b Performance Driver	97.6 %
11.11c Performance Driver	95.8%
11.12 Beta 18 Nov	100 %
11.12 Beta 22 Nov	96.5 %
11.12 Beta 29 Nov	96.2 %
11.12 Beta 03 Dec	96.2 %

AMD Catalyst November Drivers Performance Round-Up DirectX 9

All Drivers Performance Compared to 11.12 Beta 18 Nov – DirectX 9

11.11 WHQL	96.5 %
11.11a Performance Driver	98.7 %
11.11b Performance Driver	97.6 %
11.11c Performance Driver	95.3 %
11.12 Beta 18 Nov	100 %
11.12 Beta 22 Nov	96 %
11.12 Beta 29 Nov	95.8 %
11.12 Beta 03 Dec	95.8 %

AMD Catalyst November Drivers Performance Round-Up DirectX 10 & 11

All Drivers Performance Compared to 11.12 Beta 18 Nov – DirectX 10 & 11

11.11 WHQL	93.7 %
11.11a Performance Driver	99.7 %
11.11b Performance Driver	97.5 %
11.11c Performance Driver	96.4 %
11.12 Beta 18 Nov	100 %
11.12 Beta 22 Nov	97 %
11.12 Beta 29 Nov	96.7 %
11.12 Beta 03 Dec	96.0 %

Having seen the results you might want to download and install one of the drivers:

AMD Catalyst 11.11 WHQL

AMD Catalyst 11.11a Performance Driver

AMD Catalyst 11.11b Performance Driver

AMD Catalyst 11.11c Performance Driver

AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 18 Nov

AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 22 Nov

AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 29 Nov

AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 03 Dec

Lesson of the day is: Newer is not always better ! Hope you enjoyed.

For those looking to improve performance with Skyrim, I recommend sticking to AMD Catalyst 11.10 WHQL (54 avg FPS), they are the best drivers I got to test with Skyrim. You can see with your own eyes here:

Skyrim AMD Catalyst 11.10 vs 11.11 Benchmark

If you want a game to be included in future AMD Catalyst comparisons please fill in the game’s name and hit Submit.

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Edilsonj

That’s an AMAZING work.
vipin

hi,
nice work.I have one doubt, I bought a new HD 6750 1gb.. Is it safe to use 11.12 nov 18 beta driver for the 1st installation ?or can i use a WHQL 11.11 version ?
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  You can use any drivers tested but make sure that if you’re installing any 11.12 beta and if you at some point want to uninstall them you must use a driver sweeper software to remove them.
  
  You can use Driver Sweeper
Benchmark

Excellent Work man, u are the best…… OMG, thank very much for take the time for this reviews.

Open a section in you page for donnor man, this is a work of time, good work!

EXCELLENT!
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  Thanks, took some time to finish it, over 450 tests….Took your advice and added a donate link on the sidebar.
Ricardo Rio de Janeiro

BenchmarK3D

Thank’s Man!

You are the best !!
Luke

Great job!! Thank you very much!!
http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D

Added this 8.922 driver from 03 Dec, performance is similar to the 29th Nov one…
SolidEther

Benchmark 3D,

When I found this site I was in awe. You see I am and Avid AMD driver tester & archiveist. I test each one and select the best for over stability and performance as I am a discerning PC gamer with a HIgh performance rig with an HD6970 2 GB and want the best driver for such equipment.

I go as far as to collect all possible drivers and note features all noticed pros and cons errors and such for each driver used. I also make custom driver logos that I feel rivel AMDs while maintaining its color scheme and cool simplicity.

I said this to let you know that I understand the amount of time it requires to install/ uninstall and clean sweep these drivers and to bench them. You are doing a great service and I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your effort and time as I am sure many others do as well.

Also your comment about the BETA 11.12s the 18-22-29-03 beig trick to install was experienced. I noticed on my system that the did not lease the Install manager in the add remove programs control panel, so I had to overlap install 11.11c full package and then use the uninstller from than and then used my fave DriverCleaner.Net Professional Edition to clear up the driver remnant.

As of now I am using the Catalyst 11.11c driver package 8.911.1-111130a-129470E-ATI for CCC Video,Avivo,Hydravision,etc. with the WDM Driver,AMD Stream APP, and HDMI Audio drivers from 8.93-111129a-129378E-ATI it is a good combo. I didn’t really like the new Control Center setup in the newer sets. I do not see why they brought back those old preview images that have little practical use and make each graphic option edit one in each frame seems to make the whole interface clunkier. Maybe it will be better by 11.12 WHQL.

Anyway great Job with this artical and thank you friend(s)

Steven
- SolidEther
  
  I have now installed the drivers as follows
  
  11.11a Package with 8.93 11/18/2011 driver upgrade
psyside

Guys if you really appericate the work, please donate! this gus deserve it for sure!
psyside

EDIT: I cant seem to find the donate link? where is it? : /
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  Made a dedicated page for it. http://benchmark3d.com/donate
  
  Thanks for considering to donate !
psyside

Thanks! will donate as sooon as i can!
- SolidEther
  
  ME as well. I also sent an e-mail asking to donate my time and work for custom designs and illustrations for the site. THat is my line of work, I hope you read my e-mail and consider my offer.
PussyMalone

Valuable!
Thanks!
ATI

Dont let the old faggots of gr33ngecko and spyre mess with your tests.
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  What? Don’t know any of them…
nayilalien

Some 3dmark vantage and 3dmark 11 scores would make these comparos complete!
Kansas

Perfect!!!
UserHD

FOR A HD 5770 what driver would give the highest FPS!! Please Answer.. im Using 11.11
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  AMD Catalyst 11.12 Beta 18 Nov 2011 will be your best bet, 11.11/12 branch drivers bring improvements for HD5xxx and HD6xxx cards and probably HD4xxx series GPUs.
BenD

Gave these a shot, they worked great for my framerate in BF3 after their abysmal patch, but then I found out I couldn’t change any graphics settings through CCC for some reason. Tried getting rid of the 11.12 drivers with driver sweeper, thought I’d gotten rid of them all, but when I reinstalled the 11.11 drivers, my computer booted up and my screen was mostly black, and had this crazy artifacting everywhere. The only way I can get it to go away is by doing a system restore to the 11.12 drivers when they were installed, then it runs completely normal.

I have no clue whats going on and I’m kind of worried I’ve turned my 6950 into an expensive paperweight.

any insight?
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  Have you tried this Driver Sweeper?
  
  I think what you encounter is something that resembles the contrast theme from Windows XP. When that happens try to go to Device Manager and uninstall the Video Card driver (make sure you check the box that says delete driver). Don’t restart and hit Scan for New Hardware (in Device Manager). Windows will install a GPU driver from Windows Update and everything should go back to normal (artifacts should be gone). Use a driver sweeper software, restart and install whatever driver you want.
Chris

Hi. Great test! I’m having major driver issues with my Radeon HD6990M 2gb.
It’s in a brand new laptop. Used to run rage, BF3, Skyrim and SWTOR beta perfect at max settings. Now it stutters. I don’t remember quite what driver I had installed when everything ran smooth (had some trouble getting Rage to run so installed a bunch of stuff, don’t remember what I ended up with).

What driver would you recommend for a mobility 6990?

Currently running the 11.10, have tried both 12.1 and 11.12. Think I used 11.11 once as well. Would appreciate a reply
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  I don’t think it’s driver issue, I mean all drivers should perform relatively the same. Try this http://benchmark3d.com/how-to-completely-remove-any-driver and then install 11.11 (11.12 and 12.1 has some issues with BF3) then install CAPs from here http://benchmark3d.com/catalyst-application-profiles-12-1-cap-1 . Hope that fixes your issues.
  - Chris
    
    Thanks for replying. Sorry for double posting in a different article, my mistake. Had two tabs open and accidently thought my post didn’t come through.
    What version of 11.11 do you recommend for mobility? The standard mobility radeon, or the a, b or c performance ones. Their all compatible with mobility cards even though their description says nothing of it, or am I mistaken?
    - http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
      
      I’d go with WHQL for Mobility Cards just make sure to sweep previous drivers !
      - Chris
        
        Thanks for the quick replies, I really appreciate this.
        I’ll give it ago. I’ve sweeped before, but I’m not quite sure if I’ve tried the WHQL 11.11 drivers before.
        Why those of the 11.12 though? I feel I’m missing out on the improvements to games like Skyrim that came with 11.11a, b and c, and the 12.1 preview.
        New to gaming computers so the questions might be a tad dumb
      - Chris
        
        11.11 whql works like a charm, a million thanks. SWTOR runs perfect, skyrim better, though not impeccable. Huge improvement though.
Med sedki

Hello , bench ^^ ,
1)Do i have to delete the previous driver before installing the new one (11.12 18 nov ) is this obligatory ?
2)After installing the 11.12 8.93 , i checked ”’the Catalyst Version ”’ and i get 11.11 XD , is that normal , i think i must have 11.12 right , what’s wrong ?

Thanks for replying and for this awesome bench
- http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
  
  Sweep AMD Drivers with this http://download.benchmark3d.com/Tools/Driver-Sweeper/DriverSweeper_3.2.0.exe and then try installing 11.12 beta
Med sedki

Yes thx ,, but i installed the 11.12 beta already ,, my question is : Is it normal to find ”’the Catalyst Version ”’ 11.11 after installation : http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/725810Driver.jpg ??

If it’s not normal then what i have to do …
- Med sedki
  
  I just can’t understand what is this beta of 11.12 nov 18 ,, is it an add on that requires a previous driver or it’s a single,complete driver ? it depends on the last driver or not ?
  - http://benchmark3d.com Johnny 3D
    
    It’s a independent driver that comes with Catalyst Control Center (CCC2) 11.11.
    - Med sedki
      
      Thx , so i understand that it’s normal to see the Catalyst version as 11.11 yes ??,, sry for stupidity ^^ XD