AMD Catalyst Beta Driver with Mantle Support Delayed

Yesterday we reported that AMD was going to release the Catalyst 14.1 Beta driver was due Thursday, however, it never came. This is among one of the more exciting driver releases from AMD, since it is set to bring support for the Mantle API.

The Mantle API is an API that is set to compete with DirectX, and should allow for notably higher performance numbers than DirectX systems. The catch is that you need a GCN-based GPU from AMD, and that the game developer needs to actually implement the technology. So far only Battlefield 4 and Star Citizen support Mantle but other developers are adopting the API, too. DICE has already rolled out its latest patch for Battlefield 4 with support for Mantle, but the necessary drivers are missing.

Sadly, it seems that prior to the release the driver team from AMD found a bug in the driver, and they have had to hold off on the release. We can reportedly expect an update on AMD's progress this afternoon (EST). AMD is also going to first give the press 24 hours to evaluate the drivers before going through with a public release. Because of this, AMD will likely have to label it Catalyst 14.2 Beta, rather than 14.1 Beta, as the calendars will have flipped over to February by then.

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • Lessthannil
    Soon™
    Reply
  • Nighty
    Lol , this is the first time I actually realise that they name their drivers by year:month :P .
    Reply
  • heero yuy
    I don't see any issue with thiswould you rather they release a buggy set of drivers that breaks everything and just causes havoc or would you rather wait a bit and get a non buggy set of drivers?
    Reply
  • deadbc77
    My R9 290X will have to wait.No biggie.
    Reply
  • tristangl
    Lol , this is the first time I actually realise that they name their drivers by year:month :P .
    Wow same for me lol
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    I wonder if this new driver will allow me to fold and watch telly at the same time with my 7790?
    Reply
  • blacklex
    I thought that there were more games coming out with mantle such as thief and a few others.
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    12576692 said:
    I thought that there were more games coming out with mantle such as thief and a few others.

    That's the rumour.
    Reply
  • dotaloc
    I wonder if this new driver will allow me to fold and watch telly at the same time with my 7790?
    i don't fold, but i'd imagine you could just set a lower priority to threading and a higher priority to whatever you use to watch?
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    12577086 said:
    I wonder if this new driver will allow me to fold and watch telly at the same time with my 7790?
    i don't fold, but i'd imagine you could just set a lower priority to threading and a higher priority to whatever you use to watch?

    Trust me when I say that this is not my first rodeo and it doesn't work. An AMD card cannot fold whilst the TV software is running but an Nvidia card can (a 560Ti in this case).
    Reply