ATI CATALYST Drivers v6.x

**TechZ** · January 18th, 2006, 05:58 PM

AMD.ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers bringing them up to version 7.1.

The package contains
Radeon display driver 8.33,
Multimedia Center 9.16,
HydraVision,
HydraVision Basic Edition,
Remote Wonder 3.04,
WDM Driver Install Bundle,
Southbridge/IXP Driver and
Catalyst Control Center Version 7.1.

The Windows XP full download (CCC, drivers, WDM) weighs in at just under 35MB, the package with just the display drivers alone is 12MB. There are versions for Windows XP x64 and Linux out today as well.

Of course, no graphics card driver update would be complete without some bug fixes.

ATI has delivered a round of those for Desperados 2, Rome: Total War, Sniper Elite, Splinter Cell Double Agent, and X-29. Other bugs in the Catalyst Control Center and other applications have also been fixed.

The new drivers also offer Crossfire performance enhancements with an Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Crossfire rendering mode.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

AMD.ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers bringing them up to version 6.11.

The package contains:
Radeon display driver 8.31,
Multimedia Center 9.15,
HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition,
Remote Wonder 3.04,
WDM Driver Install Bundle,
Southbridge/IXP Driver and Catalyst Control Center Version 6.11.

This release of Catalyst introduces software CrossFire support for any combination of Radeon. X1900 and X1950 installed in a system running either the Windows XP or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system.

A performance increase is noticed in Call of Duty 2. Performance improves as much as 12.5% at 19x12 settings and as much as 10.5% at 12x10 settings on X1900 Software Crossfire configurations. Largest gains seen with 4xAA enabled. Issues Resolved in Catalyst Software Suite 6.11:

3DMark03: Running the application on a system containing a Radeon X9500/9600/9700 series of product under the Windows XP operating system no longer results in the application failing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23704
PCMark05: The graphics test suite 3D pixel shader and 3D vertex shader tests no longer fail. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23695
Rome: Total War: Playing the game under Windows XP with a Radeon X19x0 series product install no longer results in the overview map appearing corrupted. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22821
Rush For Berlin: Setting the Shadows to Self Shadow within the games Graphics options no longer results in only half of the display being shaded when using the mouse scroll wheel to enlarging the soldier's view. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23700
Tomb Raider Legend: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in slower performance being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23448
Uber Soldier: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in the menu page of the game failing to display properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23690
Window-Eyes Professional v5.0: The display resolution no longer reverts to 640x480 4bpp after the installation of the application on a system containing an Xpress 200 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23694

**TechZ** · January 22nd, 2006, 06:12 AM

@ Tweaktown / @ NeoSeeker

Doom 3 and Far Cry showed a noticeable increase in FPS, which will help ATI considerably in the Open GL market. Fill Rate has also increased, as shown by the results in 3DMark 05. Pixel and Vertex Shaders had no increase in performance. Call of Duty 2 has shown improved scores using 4X AA and 8X AF, mostly in the lower resolutions.

**TechZ** · February 10th, 2006, 08:01 AM

ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers (release notes / download ~ 34.7MB) bringing them up to version 6.2.

The package contains:
RADEON display driver 8.221,
Multimedia Center 9.13
Catalyst Control Center 6.2 (requires NET Version 1.1 Framework),
HydraVision Basic Edition 3.25.9006,
Remote Wonder 3.03,
WDM versions 8.221 and 4.07 and
Southbridge/IXP Driver.

Issues Resolved in Catalyst Software Suite 6.2:

BattleField 2 Special Forces: A blooming or ghosting effect is no longer noticed when playing the game in night vision mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21648
City of Heroes: Running Shadertest 7 no longer results in slow performance being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21463
Dragonshard: Playing the game under Windows XP Media Center Edition with CrossFire enabled, no longer results in the screen becoming out of sync, and a scrolling display image occurring shortly there after. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-20975
Fable: The Lost Chapters: Playing the game under Windows XP MCE may result in the shadows found within the game appearing jittery, when the desktop resolution is set to 1024x768 32bpp, and all the game options are set to default. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21184
Half-Life2: Enabling Catalyst AI no longer results in the outer edges of the water appear dark or black in color. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number. 737-21649
Pacific Fighters: A stuttering effect at certain levels of the game is no longer noticed when playing the game with CrossFire enabled. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21650
The Fall: A VPU Recover event or the operating system failing to respond no longer occur when playing the game. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21651
World of Warcraft: Pixel corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game on systems containing an ATI Radeon X1600 series. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21652

**TechZ** · March 9th, 2006, 04:15 AM

ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers bringing them up to version 6.3.

The package contains:

RADEON display driver 8.231,
Multimedia Center 9.13
Catalyst Control Center 6.3 ,
HydraVision Basic Edition 3.25.9006,
Remote Wonder 3.03,
WDM Driver Install Bundle,
Southbridge/IXP Driver and
AVIVO Video Converter Engine.

Issues Resolved in Catalyst Software Suite 6.3:

3DMark06: Setting the display to 2560x1600 with AA set to 4x no longer results in graphic corruption being noticed when running the HDR tests. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21768
Battlefield 2: The game no longer exit to the Windows desktop after the game logo is displayed. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21660
City of Heroes: Running the Shadertest 7 no longer results in slow performance being noticed. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21463
Far Cry: High Dynamic Range (HDR) corruption is no longer noticed when HDR is enabled. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21762
Need for Speed: Most Wanted: Playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon X1800 series no longer results in the operating system failing to respond after an extended period of game play. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21769
Quake 4: Connecting a secondary display device and enabling extended desktop no longer results in the game failing to respond when switching between notepad and the game. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21771
Serious Sam 2 Demo: Enabling CrossFire no longer result in a performance drop being noticed when playing the game under Windows XP Media Center Edition. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-20976
Serious Sam 2: Two directdraw samples are no longer displayed as blank screens. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21748
The Fall: VPU Recover message is no longer displayed when playing the game on systems containing either an ATI Radeon 9600, 9700 or 9800 products. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21766
Tiger Woods 2005 and 2006: Playing the game with CrossFire enabled no longer results in a checkerboard type corruption being noticed. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21764
World of Warcraft: Changing the multisample setting no longer results in display corruption being noticed when using an ATI Radeon X1600 product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21770

**TechZ** · March 17th, 2006, 05:05 PM

TweakTown has posted an ATI Catalyst 6.3 performance analysis: ATI didn't promise any big performance jumps this time around and its worth having a look at the release notes as there are many game fixes which seemed to be the main concern on this release. Where the folks at ATI did promise a performance increase was in 3DMark05 and Call of Duty 2 for the higher-end cards. We can clearly see that the X1800XT got an increase in 3DMark05 in our non AA and AF tests and an increase in Doom 3 and Quake 4 which utilizes OpenGL.