Hi,

I have a new notebook from Dell (Inspiron 15R SE) with a really new graphics card, a Radeon 7730M (release date: 24th april 2012 - GCN architecture) and I am actually really proud of it, but I am really disappointed about the drivers which are downloadable from Dell (but developed by AMD). The latest drivers (also beta) from the AMD catalyst site doesn't work for me. Enduro also seems to be only a marketing gag because it doesn't work for me as well. It is stated that it can dynamically switch from Intel graphics to AMD graphics and vice versa according to computational load (similar to Nvidia's Optimus technology), but what I must do is to statically predefine which graphics device should be used for which application (Switchable Graphics), which only seems to work for a tiny batch of games (example: Neverwinter Nights 2 - started with 'high performance' preset, but in-game it uses Intel *lol*). I don't want to play with Intel graphics in a 3D game, for desktop usage it is okay but in 3D games it is a waste of compute resources to use Intel. Also the drivers seem to be buggy in some rendering situations that they trigger BSODs (I think it is in situations when they use offscreen rendering targets, e.g. Half-Life 2: video transmissions) (Bug report has already been submitted to AMD). I am very disappointed that AMD is not capable to release fully functional drivers (e.g. promised functions like Enduro) for their latest cards.

 

Btw when can we expect a driver release with 7000M series support?Versions 12.6 and 12.7 beta seem to not support them though the 12.7 beta states that it supports it (http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalystbetadriver1.aspx). Quote: This article applies to the following configuration(s): ... AMD Mobility Radeon HD 7000M Series ... What the hell?! Please enlighten me.

 

Is there anybody else who has that problem?

 

//edit: What I am also missing is a button/feature to use only Intel HD or Radeon exlusively. I have already looked up the BIOS, but there is no feature like that, so please integrate that also in your drivers. Would be a great feature! Btw with my last Dell, all was fine with the AMD reference drivers (not always due to driver bugs).

Edited: 08/03/2012 at 05:10 PM by mnemonix

Well Dell and other laptop manufactures make it so only there drivers will work as they tie into hotkey functions and other options. With Dell they really make it so you can only use there drivers or psu's worst company for that. I would contact Dell

Thanks for your reply, but I cannot imagine that I have to use their drivers. With my last Dell all was fine with using the reference mobility drivers from AMD. I think the drivers from AMD are still not really prepared for the new 7000M series. 12.7 beta seem to be the first driver which mistakenly states that it supports 7000M, so maybe we have luck and the release version of the 12.7 has real support for 7000M (plus REAL Enduro). And the special functions provided by Dell for my graphics card don't interest me, I only need good support for the fundamental technologies of the GCN architecture and that is the job of AMD.

Edited: 08/03/2012 at 05:44 PM by mnemonix

Laptop GPU functions are tightly integrated into the laptop, different from a desktop, and using the generic AMD provided driver can cause some serious issues.

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But would it be then not crucial to ever install linux on a laptop? Because vendors seldomly provide drivers for linux. And I've never had problems with linux on a Dell with AMD graphics (despite some bugs) and proprietary reference drivers.

The latest driver release notes say switchable graphics notebooks are not supported.

You should get them from Dell.

 

The following notebooks are not compatible with this release:

• Any notebook launched after this driver release
• Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks
• Toshiba notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
• Sony VAIO notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks
• Panasonic notebooks (please contact the notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

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MSI 970A-G46/Athlon 260@3.5ghz/2x4870/TX750M/4gigDDR3

Hi exactly they don’t provide drivers for Linux for any part of the notebook no matter what part it is  the touch pad, chipset or video. To me that seems to be the notebook manufactures problem. But as black_zion and myself said the video drivers make a lot of different things work also, so they want you to use there drivers. Most times trying to install a different driver will result in no compatible hardware found. Either way I hope you get success in getting it working

Maybe this explains it: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/737-28041SupportforATIMobility.aspx

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