http://benchmark3d.com/catalyst-12-11-beta-11-far-cry-3-performance-micro-review

About 12 hours ago, AMD Released a new 12.11 Beta driver (beta 11) and a new Catalyst Application Profiles (CAP), which consists in only one profile for Far Cry 3. The new profile improves single GPU performance with Far Cry 3 but only when MSAA is enabled.

Even though the 12.11 Beta 11 driver does not contain any fixes for this particular game, in its description it’s stated that:

Improves performance in Far Cry 3 (up to 25% with 8xMSAA, SSAO enabled @ 1600p, and up to 15% with 8xMSAA, HDAO enabled @1600p) (AMD Catalyst 12.11 CAP2 must also be installed).

I can’t find a reason for anyone to run a game at 1600p (2560 x 1600) and use 8xMSAA. Anyways, remember that you need 12.11 CAP 2 installed in order to benefit from this gain. Also, remember that CAPs work with any driver newer than 10.2; you don’t need to use the latest driver to get the performance boosts available in CAPs.

I just re-ran a few of the tests from the Far Cry 3 Benchmark (same methodology, see the linked article for details) I did a few days ago out of curiosity.

I had a issue where the whole system would crash if I ran Far Cry 3 in DirectX 9 with the GPU overclocked, this problem is only present in 12.11 Beta 8 and it was fixed in 12.11 Beta 11.

The results speak for themselves, the GPU usage increased by 2% on average, which translates in just one FPS added. With the new driver and CAP, DirectX 9 shows 99% (was 97%) GPU Usage and DirectX 11 97% (was 95%).

MSAA’s performance hit does indeed decrease with the newest CAP, on my machine there is a 15% improvement while using 8 samples (8x). In DirectX 11, with alpha to coverage aka transparent anti-aliasing for foliage you really don’t need to use any other kind of AA in Far Cry 3; In DirectX 9, MSAA is disabled for whatever reason and I tried forcing MSAA through the Catalyst Control Center and unfortunately it does not work.

Again, DirectX 11 Multithreading (more info) is not supported by AMD’s drivers, 12.11 Beta 11 does not add it either. My guess is that we will never see it implemented unless more games will use it, thus forcing AMD’s hand in the constant skirmishes with nVidia.

Intel I7 960 @ 3.87ghz *Intel DX58SO *HIS HD6970 2gb *Corsair TX650M *2x4gb Corsair XMS3 *WD Black 1TB *Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit *Gateway HD2401 24" 2ms 1920x1200  ***Asus N71Jq laptop *Intel I7 720QM Processor *Mobility Radeon HD5730 1gb *8gb Ram *Windows 7 64bit  ***Acer 5750 laptop

* A clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory *

please do that with Assassins creed 3 too and make the usage of our GPU increase to 2% as well or more in AC3 game

GPU : ASUS HD5770

CPU : intel core 2 due E7300 @ 2.66  3m

PS : 500W

RAM : DDR2 6gb

WIN : 7 64bit

Asus EAH 5770 CU core , Intel i7 3770 @ 3.90 GHz 8M Cache , GA P75-D3 , Corsair 8 GB DDR3 RAM , Cooler master extreme 500 W PSU , Win 7 64 bit ultimate SP1

Game plays flawlessly...all settings to maximum..and it is pretty...that's the good part. The bad part, IMO, is it still has the almost impossible-to-drive vehicles using keyboard/mouse.  My suggestion is to buy the hard-copy so you can sell it.

Intel I7 960 @ 3.87ghz *Intel DX58SO *HIS HD6970 2gb *Corsair TX650M *2x4gb Corsair XMS3 *WD Black 1TB *Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit *Gateway HD2401 24" 2ms 1920x1200  ***Asus N71Jq laptop *Intel I7 720QM Processor *Mobility Radeon HD5730 1gb *8gb Ram *Windows 7 64bit  ***Acer 5750 laptop

* A clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory *