AMD has released a major update to its Catalyst driver called Omega. The update should bring performance improvements and new functionality to Radeon cards. Among other things, Omega is introducing support for Eyefinity setups up to 24 screens.
The Omega driver is the first in an annual series with which AMD plans to bundle major updates. According to the manufacturer, Catalyst Omega brings twenty new features and a performance improvement of up to 19 percent to Radeon cards and 29 percent to APUs. In addition, 400 bugs are said to have been fixed.
In addition to improvements in upscaling and compression algorithms, Omega is bringing Virtual Super Resolution support to Radeon cards. The video card renders the game at a higher resolution than that of the monitor, and then downscales it with a filter. This would have a positive effect on the image quality, partly thanks to the effect on anti-aliasing, but it does require more graphical processing power. AMD uses different modes for different cards. AMD is following in the footsteps of competitor Nvidia, which is introducing similar technology such as Dynamic Super Resolution.
In addition, Omega provides support for Eyefinity setups with 24 displays when using four GPUs. Also, the driver adds support for FreeSync. This is AMD’s software alternative to Nvidia’s G-Sync, which adjusts the monitor’s refresh rate to the frame rate to avoid stuttering in the image. According to AMD, the mass production of screens with FreeSync support has started and they should hit stores in early 2015. Samsung, among others, is coming with this.
Omega also provides support for resolutions of 5120×2880 pixels at 60Hz, such as Dell’s UltraSharp UP2715K offers, for example. Radeon cards will also be compatible with Dell Alienwares Graphics Amplifier after the update, which combines desktop graphics cards with laptops.
In some games, Omega has to provide performance improvements, although AMD mainly uses its regular Catalyst updates for efficiency optimizations. AMD claims to have made frametime improvements in some games, such as Sniper Elite 3, Batman: Arkham Origins and Tomb Raider.