[Originally posted on 08/08/18]
Making the Best: AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 delivers quality, performance, security, simplicity, and lets you work from virtually anywhere.
Today, AMD is releasing its latest quarterly professional software update with the new AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 driver, that lets you work from virtually anywhere with its new remote workstation features and provides compelling performance improvements in both media and entertainment and design and manufacturing workflows. Furthermore, its new fan control feature allows you to enhance the performance of your AMD Radeon™ Pro WX graphics cards.
Your Workstation Virtually Anywhere
With AMD Radeon Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3, you can now easily access the full GPU-accelerated experience of your AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 or WX 9100 graphics card-powered workstation from virtually anywhere with the new remote workstation IP built into AMD Radeon™ Pro Software when using Citrix® XenDesktop® 7.15+ 1.
You can learn more about AMD’s Remote Workstation feature in this whitepaper.
“The Most Stable Graphics Driver in the Industry”
AMD’s robust stability testing process helps to ensure that AMD Radeon Pro Software delivers enterprise-grade quality and reliability, and a third-party assessment 2 by QA Consultants 3 found that AMD has “the most stable graphics driver in the industry.” Results show that AMD’s drivers are up to 11% more stable than Nvidia’s 4 and that AMD’s Radeon Pro Software is up to 25% more stable than NVIDIA Optimal Drivers for Enterprise 5.
Learn more about AMD’s software stability story by downloading this whitepaper.
Manual Fan Control
You can now manually adjust your AMD Radeon Pro WX graphic card’s fan speed in AMD Radeon™ Pro Settings to optimize airflow in thermally stressful environments, providing up to 2x the performance over default settings for very demanding workloads 8 without impacting the GPU warranty from AMD (as applicable).
To learn how to use this new feature you can read the user guide.
Performance Uplifts in Professional Applications
When compared to last year’s enterprise driver, AMD Radeon Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 delivers significantly better performance in Media and Entertainment (M&E) workflows, with up to 53% better performance in Autodesk® 3ds Max®9and up to 51% in Autodesk® Maya® 10.
Additionally, in Design and Manufacturing (D&M) workflows (including VR visualization) AMD Radeon Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 is up to 33% faster in Siemens NX 11 and 17% faster in VRMark® 12.
Rendering in the Cloud
Using AMD’s MxGPU technology and AMD Radeon Pro Software, professionals can now render in the cloud with leading-edge digital content creation and design applications such as Maxon Cinema 4D™ and SOLIDWORKS® using virtualization and AMD Radeon™ ProRender.
Download Today
Download AMD Radeon Pro Software for Enterprise Edition 18.Q3 and work from virtually anywhere when using “the most stable graphics driver in the industry.”
Alexander Blake-Davies, Software Product Marketing Specialist for Professional Graphics at AMD’s Radeon Technology Group. Links to third party sites and references to third party trademarks are provided for convenience and illustrative purposes only. Unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links, and no third-party endorsement of AMD or any of its products is implied. Use of third party names or marks is for informational purposes only and no endorsement of or by AMD is intended or implied.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Citrix® XenDesktop® license and installation of Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) on the workstation is required.
2. “Graphics Driver Quality - Determination of Stability from Leading Market Vendors”- https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/graphics-driver-quality.pdf
3. In May 2018, AMD commissioned QA Consultants to independently evaluate the stability of several of the latest graphics drivers from both AMD and NVIDIA.
4. See page 1 of the “Graphics Driver Quality - Determination of Stability from Leading Market Vendors”- https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/graphics-driver-quality.pdf for more details.
5. According to QA Consultants’ results as further internally analyzed by AMD, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 3100 are up to 25% more stable than the NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P600 when tested with the Microsoft Windows HLK 64-bit CRASH stress test for 288 hours. Testing conducted by QA Consultants commissioned by AMD as of July 11th, 2018, and further internal analysis by AMD on a white box test system comprising of an Intel® Core™ 6-core i5-8400, 16GB RAM, Windows® 10 April 2018 Update 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 3100 graphics card and AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2/NVIDIA Quadro® P600 graphics card and NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver. Benchmark Application: Microsoft Windows HLK 4 Hour 64-bit CRASH GPU Stress Test, ran for a total of 288 hours (for 12 days, 24 hours a day). AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 3100: stable for 81.94% of the 288 hours. NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P600: stable for 56.94% of the 288 hours. Differential: 81.94-56.94= ~25% better stability with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 3100. Scores (pass/fail) are based on external lab measurements/ modeling and further internal analysis by AMD and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of the latest drivers. For more information, see pages 113, 119 of https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/graphics-driver-quality.pdf. RPS-35
6. According to QA Consultants’ results as further internally analyzed by AMD, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 are up to 10% more stable than the NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P4000 when tested with the Microsoft Windows HLK 64-bit CRASH stress test for 288 hours. Testing conducted by QA Consultants commissioned by AMD as of July 11th, 2018, and further internal analysis by AMD on a white box test system comprising of an Intel® Core™ 6-core i5-8400, 16GB RAM, Windows® 10 April 2018 Update 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100 graphics card and AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2/NVIDIA Quadro® P4000 graphics card and NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver. Benchmark Application: Microsoft Windows HLK 4 Hour 64-bit CRASH GPU Stress Test, ran for a total of 288 hours (for 12 days, 24 hours a day). AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100: stable for 93.06% of the 288 hours. NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P4000: stable for 83.33% of the 288 hours. Differential: 93.06-83.33= ~9.73% better stability with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100. Scores (pass/fail) are based on external lab measurements/ modeling and further internal analysis by AMD and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of the latest drivers. For more information, see pages 114, 120 of https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/graphics-driver-quality.pdf. RPS-36
7. According to QA Consultants’ results as further internally analyzed by AMD, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 are up to 13% more stable than the NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P5000 when tested with the Microsoft Windows HLK 64-bit CRASH stress test for 288 hours. Testing conducted by QA Consultants commissioned by AMD as of July 11th, 2018, and further internal analysis by AMD on a white box test system comprising of an Intel® Core™ 6-core i5-8400, 16GB RAM, Windows® 10 April 2018 Update 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 graphics card and AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2/NVIDIA Quadro® P5000 graphics card and NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver. Benchmark Application: Microsoft Windows HLK 4 Hour 64-bit CRASH GPU Stress Test, ran for a total of 288 hours (for 12 days, 24 hours a day). AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100: stable for 87.5% of the 288 hours. NVIDIA Quadro® Desktop 391.58 ODE driver and the NVIDIA Quadro® P5000: stable for 75% of the 288 hours. Differential: 87.5-75= ~12.5% better stability with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Edition 18.Q2 and the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100. Scores (pass/fail) are based on external lab measurements/ modeling and further internal analysis by AMD and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of the latest drivers. For more information, see pages 115, 121 of https://www.amd.com/system/files/documents/graphics-driver-quality.pdf. RPS-37
8. The AMD Radeon™ Pro Software fan control feature enables a 2x performance uplift over the default fan speed in very demanding workloads in thermally stressful environments with the fan speed set to maximum when tested with FurMark and 2x AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 graphics cards installed side-by-side. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of July 11th, 2018 on an HP Z8 Workstation test system comprising of 2x Intel® Xeon® 24-core Platinum 8168 CPU @ 2.7 GHz (3.7 GHz max), 16 GB 2666MHz DDR4 ECC memory, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit version 1709 (Fall Creators Update), AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3, and 2x AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100 graphics cards installed side-by-side. Benchmark Application: Geeks3D FurMark 1.20.1.0 @ 1024x768. Average FurMark score with default fan speed settings after 5x 5 min runs: 23215.2. Average FurMark score with maximum fan speed settings after 5x 5 min runs: 46915. Performance Differential: (46915-23215.2)/23215.2*100 = 2x (102.08%) faster performance with the AMD Radeon™ Pro Software fan control set to maximum fan speed over the default fan speed. Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements/ modeling and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPS-30
9. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 is up to an est. 53% faster in Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2015 than AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 when using the Radeon™ Pro WX 7100. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Aug 1st, 2018 on a test system comprising of an Intel® Xeon® 4-core W-2125, 32GB RAM, Windows® 10 Fall Creators Update Professional 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3/AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Rule-compliant in all but OS version. Benchmark Application: SPECapc® for 3ds Max® 2015 Graphics Composite (4K 8xAA). AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 score: 1.91. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 score: 2.93. Performance Differential: (2.93-1.91)/1.91*100 = ~53.40% faster performance with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements/ modeling and may vary. Additional information about the SPEC benchmarks can be found at www.spec.org/gwpg. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPS-33
10. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 is up to 51% faster in Autodesk® Maya® than AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q4 when using the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Aug 1st, 2018 on a test system comprising of an Intel® Xeon® 4-core W-2125, 32GB RAM, Windows® 10 Fall Creators Update Professional 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 9100, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q4/AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Benchmark Application: SPECviewperf® 13 maya-05 4K. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q4 score: 101.42. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 score: 153.27. Performance Differential: (153.27-101.42)/101.42*100 = ~51.12% faster performance with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements/ modeling and may vary. Additional information about the SPEC benchmarks can be found at www.spec.org/gwpg. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPS-31
11. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 is up to 33% faster in Siemens NX™ than Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 when using the AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Aug 1st, 2018 on a test system comprising of an Intel® Xeon® 4-core W-2125, 32GB RAM, Windows® 10 Fall Creators Update Professional 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3/AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Benchmark Application: SPECviewperf® 12.1 snx-02. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 score: 88.28. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 score: 117.23. Performance Differential: (117.23-88.28)/88.28*100 = ~32.79% faster performance with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements/ modeling and may vary. Additional information about the SPEC benchmarks can be found at www.spec.org/gwpg. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RPS-32
12. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 is up to 17% faster in VRMark® Cyan Room than AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 when using the Radeon™ Pro WX 7100. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of Aug 1st, 2018 on a test system comprising of an Intel® Xeon® 4-core W-2125, 32GB RAM, Windows® 10 Fall Creators Update Professional 64-bit, AMD Radeon™ Pro WX 7100, AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3/AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Benchmark Application: VRMark® Cyan Room. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q3 score: 80.68 fps. AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3 score: 94.62 fps. Performance Differential: (94.62-80.68)/80.68*100 = ~17.27% faster performance with AMD Radeon™ Pro Software for Enterprise 18.Q3. Scores are based on AMD internal lab measurements/ modeling and may vary. PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of the latest drivers. RPS-34
DISCLAIMER
© 2018 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, Radeon, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. SPEC® and the benchmarks SPECviewperf® and SPECapc® are trademarks of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information, go to www.spec.org. Other product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
