AMD has launched the second version of its Catalyst 13.6 beta driver for Windows that improves performance in PCMark 7 and PCMark 8 on the new AMD A10, A8, A6, and A4 Series APUs for desktop and mobile platforms. It also resolves HDMI Audio drop-out issues on the AMD Radeon HD Series of products. What it doesn't do is support Windows XP.
According to the system requirements, the AMD Catalyst 13.6 Beta2 driver requires Windows 8 (32 & 64-bit versions), Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit versions with SP1 or higher), and Windows Vista (32 & 64-bit versions with SP2 or higher). The aged Windows XP, whose life support will be terminated by Microsoft in April 2014, is not on the list.
Microsoft is currently pushing consumers and businesses alike to ditch the old platform for Windows 8… or Windows 7 at the least. Once April 2014 rolls around, Microsoft will cease all support for the popular platform, leaving customers on their own to fight against hackers finding new holes in Windows XP's cracking foundation.
The first beta driver for AMD's Catalyst 13.6 brought support for the new AMD A10, A8, A6, and A4 Series APUs on desktop and mobile platforms. It also brought AMD Enduro enhancements like detecting when Metro applications have idled and moving them to the integrated graphics component, and showing the hardware and software Information pages for AMD discrete GPUs when paired with Intel integrated graphics.
The new beta driver also includes AMD GPU & AMD APU OpenCL 1.2 acceleration in Adobe Premiere PRO CC and support for AMD Wireless Display for Windows 8 and future Windows releases. The driver resolves a few issues as well including HDMI Audio drop-out and showing Audio display messages at incorrect times.
