AMD releases Crossfire-fixing 13.8 beta driver

Graphics card specialist AMD has finally released its long-awaited beta driver aimed at fixing the problems faced by multiple graphics cards users.

Microstutter has been an ongoing issue for those who use two or more AMD graphics cards (a process known as Crossfire) in their PC. The issue effectively led to fewer frames being displayed than were being produced, resulting in a lack of smoothness in some games.

The issue has been a particular problem for AMD’s flagship Radeon HD 7990 (which combines two GPUs on a single card) card, which despite packing a lot of raw technical punch has been dogged by performance issues.

A driver fixed has been promised for months and last night the company finally released its Catalyst 13.8 beta driver to the public. Those who download it will find a new frame pacing option in Catalyst Control Center that is enabled by default.

There are a few limitations in this first release, however. Support is limited to DirectX 10 and 11 games and only supports resolutions up to 2560×1600, meaning multi-monitor setups are not supported.

Both of these issues are expected to be fixed in future driver releases.

Early reports suggest significant improvements not only for 7990 owners but also Crossfire users with any 7000 and 6000 series cards.