All GCN Radeon HD 7000 series graphics cards will run better

Oct 22, 2012 08:44 GMT  ·  By

The official website hasn't been updated just yet, but Advanced Micro Devices will soon add a very special driver to its database, one that is its holiday present to its customers.

The message behind the software package is that gamers should never settle for what their systems currently offer.

That is why the driver is advertised as the “Never Settle” release, even though the actual name is Catalyst 12.11.

Long story short, games like Medal of Honor: Warfighter, DiRT Showdown, Battlefield 3 and Sleeping Dogs will perform up to 15% better once the driver is installed.

What's more, Advanced Micro Devices claims that, with the new software, its video boards are better than NVIDIA's by a great deal.

The Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition is said to outperform NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 by 20%, while the HD 7970 is 15% faster than GTX 670.

Likewise, HD 7950 is described as 20% stronger than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti.

The catch in all this is that the new driver helps only the video controllers based on the Graphics Core Next architecture. That means the main models in the Radeon HD 7000 series but none of its predecessors.

For those that want an actual list, the Radeon HD 7950/ 7950 BE, HD 7870/ 7870 GHz Edition, Radeon HD 7970/ 7970 GHz Edition, 7770/ 7770 GHz Edition, and HD 7990 dual-GPU boards support the boost.

The notebook Radeon HD 7700M, HD 7800M and HD 7900M series notebook graphics can benefit as well.

All things considered, this announcement comes none too soon. After the poor financial evolution during the latest quarter, and the layoffs that are taking place, AMD can do with something that can restore the hype surrounding it back to normal levels.

It is also interesting to note that such a PC users-oriented move is happening so soon after the company said it would focus more on other things.

We will provide the download links to the driver as soon as AMD releases it. In the meantime, stay tuned for a special treat that AMD has prepared: VGA card+game bundles.

Update: After that bug-caused removal, the driver is finally available for download.

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AMD's "Never Settle" driver promises much
AMD's "Never Settle" driver promises muchAMD's "Never Settle" driver promises much
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