AMD: Great software brings out the best of great hardware - Extra performance at no cost with Omega

So I recently had the opportunity to interview Mr. Sasa Marinkovic - the Head of Engineering science and ISV Marketing at AMD. The topic at paw was the recently released Catalyst Omega and he gave u.s. a detailed overview of its top features as well every bit some data missing from the official slide deck. Nosotros also managed to talk a little about HSA and its role in the futurity of APUs.

Interview with Sasa Marinkovic - Caput of Technology and ISV Marketing at AMD

[Questions posed by me have been highlighted for convenience and the paras (non highlighted) proceeding them are Mr Sasa's responses.]

I must say that Catalyst Omega looks like an absolutely bright step from AMD. What in your opinion, is the most exciting characteristic in the new Omega Catalyst Drivers and how will information technology help AMD compete with rival solutions?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: AMD Catalyst Omega is a special edition driver that includes several feature (such every bit Virtual Super Resolution, Frame Pacing Improvements, 1080p to UltraHD-similar video, FreeSync for monitor makers, support for Alienware Amplifier and Dell'southward 5k monitors then many more), performance and stability enhancements designed to improve the PC and gaming experience on AMD products. AMD Goad™ Omega driver represents AMD's commitment to continuously providing a better user experience. There are many performance improvements in the AMD Goad™ Omega driver, especially for individuals that do not often update their graphics commuter. For example, the AMD Radeon™ R9 290X tin perform up to 38% faster than it did at launch with AMD Goad™ 13.12 . The AMD A10-7850K tin can also perform up to 29% faster than it did at launch with AMD Goad™ 14.two . These improvements reflect AMD'south commitment to ongoing product upgrades through powerful software.

But Omega is not almost i feature or functioning comeback. It is a drove of all these things that makes Catalyst Omega so powerful and great.

Certain features (such as Virtual Super Resolution) in the Goad Omega Drivers are listed as supporting R9 Series GPUs simply (R9 285 and above). Does AMD programme to include older hardware generations in the future or would that evidence to be difficult?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: All owners of systems based on whatever AMD Radeon™ Hd 5000 Series (or newer) GPU, AMD A-series, E-serial, Athlon and Sempron APUs are encouraged to download the AMD Catalyst™ Omega commuter. A number of exciting new features, along with numerous stability improvements, are contained in this exciting release.

Regarding the Virtual Super Resolution specifically AMD intends to deploy a "phase 2" update to Virtual Super Resolution in the hereafter that volition bring boosted implementations to enable Virtual Super Resolution on all AMD Radeon™ R7 260 (or higher) GPUs with a variety of downsampling options.

Does Catalyst Omega Drivers extend support to mobility variants of Radeons? If not is that something nosotros tin can expect in the futurity?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: We back up whatever mobile platforms our system manufacturers let us to. Having said that nearly mobile platforms are supported so yes, Omega has the full set of supported mobile plantforms.

Would you similar to add anything about Goad Omega Drivers?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: Yes. The AMD Gaming Evolved Customer Powered by Raptr now supports capture, streaming and FPS overlay of Drape-enabled games similar Battlefield™ 4 and Sid Meier'southward Civilisation®: Beyond Globe. Additionally, nosotros are introducing a multifariousness of exciting updates for Linux® as well as software developers (as a part of dissever updates).

In a nutshell, keen software brings out the all-time of swell hardware and that's exactly what AMD Catalyst Omega drivers provides. Extra operation at no extra cost – this is our primary merits with Catalyst Omega, engineered to take total advantage of the advanced technologies AMD product'due south provide and to show our appreciation for the ongoing back up of our AMD communities.

Let'southward talk a bit about HSA. HSA is arguably one of the near important features of AMD's APUs. Still, how does AMD programme to develop a good ecosystem for HSA capable software?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: Equally you know, AMD has been working on this new arroyo to calculator architecture to dramatically improve performance, create powerful new programming models for developers and open more natural interfaces like spoken communication and gesture recognition. Information technology'south chosen Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) and it was congenital then that the CPU and GPU would piece of work together in harmony, rather than care for them as split processes. This shared pattern would be far more efficient at tasks that traditionally revenue enhancement fifty-fifty the about powerful systems.

To accomplish beyond mere niche adoption, information technology is essential to provide a deployment path beyond the realm of any single hardware vendor. The ultimate goal for software developers is "write in one case, run everywhere" which requires a unified install-base of operations beyond all platforms and devices. This is the HSA vision.

HSA is important because information technology makes developers' lives so much easier and they are already signing up to the HSA Foundation (of which AMD is a founding member) because they desire to work with HSA compages. AMD believes nosotros volition be first to market with fully compliant HSA hardware (Codename Carrizo) and we believe the ecosystem is already coming together strongly for HSA capable software that will make a difference to united states all in the future. For full list of companies that have joined HSA Foundation, please become to www.hsafoundation.com

Arguably, gamers are AMD's almost important customers so what do you think near HSA in terms of games and utilizing this GPGPU potential for game logic?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: Although HSA can help in some cases when information technology comes to gaming, its chief purpose is to fully exploit the GPU'due south potential when it comes to GPU Acceleration of the applications and power efficiency achievable but through highly parallel computation. HSA creates an improved processor design that exposes the benefits and capabilities of mainstream programmable compute elements, working together seamlessly.

How practise yous wait AMD'due south upcoming APUs (Carrizo) to perform compared to Kaveri?

Mr. Sasa Marinkovic: Unfortunately, I'thou unable to disclose annihilation about Carrizo performance other than to reiterate what John Byrne said when he appear the product – that it volition be the most advanced APU AMD has always brought to the market, offering meliorate operation and better efficiency than ever earlier. View video of AMD's John Byrne introducing the "Carrizo"codenamed APU.