AMD Previews Performance Improvements In Upcoming FirePro Graphics Driver

SIGGRAPH takes place next week, so that means just one thing: the excitement is building now. In fact, it appears that AMD’s excitement became a little too much for the company to bear, as it couldn’t help but let out an announcement in advance of the event: a new FirePro driver is on its way.

We can’t blame you if word of a new driver doesn’t work your salivary glands into a frenzy, but this one, FirePro 15.301.2601.1002, means serious business. Over the past few months, AMD has been hard at work optimizing its FirePro driver, and the performance improvements are almost jaw-dropping:

The gain seen in SolidWorks on its own is impressive, but when looking at the others, we can’t help but wonder what kind of wizards AMD has stashed in its lab. +30% gains are nothing to balk at, and it now makes sense why AMD would want to promote a mere driver in advance of a major graphics-focused conference.

If there’s a downside to this release, it’s that it’s not here right now. It’s currently going through internal testing, and will be made available later this month.

For FirePro owners not averse to using beta drivers, a new one is being released very soon: FirePro 16.30. This adds support for LiquidVR, DirectX 12 and Vulkan, Windows 10 Anniversary Update (due out in a few weeks), and adds the ability to take advantage of Device Guard in the enterprise editions of Windows 10.

While these driver releases are exciting in their own right, what has me personally hyped is what other things AMD will have to talk about at the event. If you’re attending SIGGRAPH and are interested in finding out first-hand what AMD will have to show off, be sure to register for its free Capsaicin event. If you can’t make it, don’t fret: we’ll be reporting from the event.