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AMD says goodbye to Catalyst drivers, ushers in new Crimson software

By Koh Wanzi - on 24 Nov 2015, 10:44pm

AMD says goodbye to Catalyst drivers, ushers in new Crimson software

 *Updated on 24th November*: The AMD Radeon Crimson software is now available for download! The rest of the news is as published on 3rd November.

Catalyst is out, Radeon Software is in. (Image Source: AMD)

We could soon be seeing the last of AMD’s Catalyst drivers. The Sunnyvale, California-based company has announced that it will be retiring the AMD Catalyst brand, making way for a new collection of drivers that will simply be known as “Radeon Software”.

This is a complete rebranding exercise that is the first key change to come out of AMD’s reorganization of its graphics division six weeks ago, which saw the creation of a new, unified group called the Radeon Technologies Group (RTG). RTG now oversees all aspects of AMD’s graphics development, and it has focused on software as a way to improve the overall experience of gamers and developers who use AMD products.

AMD is kicking things off with Crimson, the first edition of its Radeon Software drivers. The name of the edition will change each year, and subsequent minor versions of each yearly edition will be named in a YY.MM format. This is more than just a new name however, and AMD is championing a redesigned user interface (UI) that is more modern and intuitive.

In addition, AMD has taken steps to address feedback that it is difficult to locate specific functions in the Catalyst suite. This focus on simplicity is even evident in the renaming of select sections in the new driver. In Radeon Software: Crimson edition, the familiar Catalyst Control Center will make way for a much more straightforward section called Radeon (or FirePro) Settings.

In Radeon Settings, settings sub-menus are arranged along the top edge in clear tabs like Gaming, Video, Display and Eyefinity. Updates, Preferences and Notifications tabs are arrayed along the bottom, leaving little room for doubt as to what each tab does. This is definitely a welcome change from the existing layout, which saw settings clustered together in a cramped side menu.

Radeon Software: Crimson will have a more intuitive and modern UI. (Image Source: AMD)

A new feature called Game Manager allows users to configure the settings for individual games, which reminds us a little of what GeForce Experience does with game optimizations. The focus on UI design is even more evident here, as the tiled interface manages to echo the general feel of Windows 10. All your installed games can also be viewed as similar tiles in a single screen.

Custom settings profiles can be set up for individual games. (Image Source: AMD)

One particularly useful addition is the ability to set up custom overclock profiles for each game, or even to disable overclocking entirely in case a particular title doesn’t play well with an otherwise stable overclock.

Each game gets its own overclock profile in Radeon Software: Crimson edition. (Image Source: AMD)

Finally, Crimson will also start up much faster than its Catalyst predecessors, which currently take an average of 8 seconds to load. AMD says that it is able to load within 0.6 of a second on a less capable gaming PC, and will be even faster on high-end hardware. This was supposedly made possible by a complete redesign of the application and by abandoning the .Net framework that the Catalyst Control Panel depended on. Yay!

According to AMD, we can expect Radeon Software: Crimson edition by the year's end, but it did not give a specific date.

The new  Radeon Software: Crimson edition is now available to download, so go grab it now and enjoy the new capabilities!

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