14 DAY TRIAL // AMD has just released Radeon Software Crimson Edition, a new graphics software suite for Windows 7, 8.1, and 10. This new software collection replaces the old Catalyst and promises to bring much better gaming performance, a new interface built in Qt, and improved power consumption.
Details about Radeon Software Crimson Edition have been released a while back by AMD, so today’s launch is not exactly a surprise. The old way of doing things with the AMD Catalyst driver was no longer working, and AMD needed to bring this suite into this century.
Nvidia has been improving its driver experience for a couple of years now, and the results have started to show, despite a rocky start. AMD will have to face the same kind of problems and resistance from users. Not everyone will be happy to let Catalyst go, and it’s more than certain that Radeon Software Crimson Edition will have a ton of bugs. No application is released in a perfect state.
Radeon Software Crimson Edition promises a lot
AMD created the Radeon Technologies Group with the sole purpose of promoting and enhancing the PC experience. This new product is their first endeavor, but the announcement for this Group was made in September, so it’s unlikely they managed to build this amazing suite in such a short time. It’s more likely been in the works for much longer.
“AMD today released its completely reimagined graphics software suite, Radeon Software Crimson Edition, giving users an exceptional new user experience, 12 new or enhanced features, up to 20 percent more graphics performance, adjustability that can nearly double generational energy efficiency, and rock-solid stability across the full spectrum of AMD graphics products,” AMD said in the official announcement.
The first thing that users will notice is the new interface, which provides a lot more than just access to the settings for the video card. A Game Manager has been implemented as well, an Overdrive option, better video, display and AMD Eyefinity technology sections, and a lot more.
The most interesting things are the performance enhancements that have already been announced. According to AMD and their internal testing, we should see up to 30% faster load times, 20% more game performance, and the increase in system performance-per-watt can go up to 23%. These are some huge numbers, but we’ll soon see how they stack up.
AMD also introduced LiquidVR technology that should improve the FPS output for all GCN-based hardware tremendously, and they are also saying the product should be a lot more stable.
With all of these superlatives, it’s hard to keep our feet on the ground, but users can now download the new drivers and see for themselves. You can download the Radeon Software Crimson driver right now, so go forth and test it.
