Dual-GPU Battle: Does Frame Pacing In Catalyst 13.8 Turn The Tide?

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

We take AMD's Catalyst 13.8 beta driver for a spin to see if its frame pacing feature fixes CrossFire's dropped and runt frame issues. Follow along as we compare the Radeon HD 7990 to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 in seven popular titles, with video to match!

Results: Far Cry 3

The average frame rate is very similar across all three configurations we're testing today. However, Catalyst 13.8 improves the Radeon HD 7990's minimum frame rate, matching Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690.

There's one large dip responsible for the low minimum frame rate incurred by Catalyst 13.6, which 13.8 smooths out. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 maintains a much more consistent frame rate overall, though.

Catalyst 13.8 has a large impact on the average and 75th percentile results, especially. Worst-case 95th percentile numbers drop as well, though they're quite a bit higher than GeForce GTX 690.

We've seen both AMD and Nvidia struggle with choppy performance in Far Cry 3. However, the video above does a great job of illustrating those worst-case stutters AMD continues to battle. The frame pacing feature does seem to help generally, but with big chops occurring fairly often, the experience remains jarring.

Fortunately, AMD is aware of its problems in Far Cry 3 and says it hopes to have a fix in place soon.

Don Woligroski
59 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    The drivers do seem to make the FPS much smoother overall. BF3 is a good example with the game dropping then jumping and so on but 13.8 made it a much smoother line.

    Its good to see that work is being done to make it more competitive but I fear that its almost pointless since Hawaii XT is on its way and will be a better option in CFX.

    Also Laras hair on the GTX690 was funny. Just fluttering around like crazy. I guess TressFX does make a difference after all.
    Reply
  • jase240
    This is great, AMD is finally getting on par for dual GPU config with Nvidia!!
    This might make 2 AMD cards a way better value than Nvidia!!
    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    awesome, I'm glad they got around to addressing that indiscrepancy.
    Reply
  • viewgamer
    The Metro Last Light benchmark is a modern example of the way Nvidia handles its business.
    These strong arm tactics to eliminate the competition aren't beneficial to anyone, Nvidia's less than pleasant business practices is why I try to support AMD whenever possible.
    Reply
  • viewgamer
    The Metro Last Light benchmark is a modern example of the way Nvidia handles its business.
    These strong arm tactics to eliminate the competition aren't beneficial to anyone, Nvidia's less than pleasant business practices is why I try to support AMD whenever possible.
    Reply
  • Emma Long
    Apart from Metro the 7990 tied the 690 on two occasions and beat it in the rest, that's very encouraging from the red team.
    The situation with Metro last light seems peculiar to me, we've seen things like this before with Nvidia sponsored titles & I thought the industry was passed this sort of thing.
    Nvidia can compete, it has proven so time and time again, which makes this all the more reprehensible.
    I would like to see an Nvidia that competes on the basis of performance & features not strong-arming developers.

    Back to the 7990, so overall it's faster than the 690 and significantly less expensive, at $700 the 7990 puts very serious pressure on the 780 so I'd like to see the 780 added into the benchmarking mix as well.
    Reply
  • CarlitoBanderas
    What's the point of a 690 ? in 1080o & 1440p it's slower than the 7990, in 4K & multi monitor it doesn't have enough memory & it's 300 bucks more expensive.
    Nvidia needs to bring out a 790 asap, the 690 is not competitive anymore.
    Reply
  • m32
    I've enjoyed this article, Toms. We've seen the flaws and now some improvements with the 7990.
    Reply
  • _zxzxzx_
    AMD deserves a pat on the back for working hard on improving their drivers
    Reply
  • aggroboy
    11476339 said:
    What's the point of a 690 ? in 1080o & 1440p it's slower than the 7990, in 4K & multi monitor it doesn't have enough memory & it's 300 bucks more expensive.
    Nvidia needs to bring out a 790 asap, the 690 is not competitive anymore.
    Enthusiast mindshare is still dominated by the GTX Titan, so Nvidia can afford to stand pat.
    Reply