Just wanted to inform you (or your readers) that CATALYST 4.2 is now available. This update provides a new driver (now up to version 7.98) and a new multimedia center (now up to version 8.9). The quick link to the XP drivers is http://www.ati.com/home/online/CatalystXPdriver.html Furthermore I wanted to let you know that ATI in conjuction with Beyond3d.com and DriverHeaven.net have released a "SMARSHADER Effects" tool. This innovative new concept will let users create their own shaders and load them up on CATALYST. Both Beyond3d.com and Driverheaven.net will be hosting this tool as well as having great end user contests to get peoples creative shader juices flowing. These can be found here and I highly recommend checking them out http://www.beyond3d.com/misc/atiss/ and http://www.driverheaven.net/smartshader/ Also please vote on the usual DH poll about the the quality of this driver http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37717
To get the full info on the changes, fixes, improvements please read the full details at ATIs site but here is a little taster. Performance Improvements As with most CATALYSTâ„¢ releases performance has increased in various situations. This release of CATALYSTâ„¢ provides performance gains to the ATI DX8 product family. These products include the RADEONâ„¢ 9200, 9000, and 8500 series. Performance gains are noticed throughout the following software: Framerates in Unreal Tournament 2003 is up by 15% A performance gain of between 5 and 10% is noticed in Aquamark3 A performance gain of between 2-3% is noticed in ShaderMark scores Framerates in Halo is up between 3-4% A performance improvement of 2% is noticed in Tomb Raider Resolved CATALYSTâ„¢ Driver Issues This section provides information on CATALYSTâ„¢ driver issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYSTâ„¢. These include the following: Logging on as an Administrator under Windows XP and doing a fast user switch to limited user no longer results in display corruption when playing a DVD using WinDVD version 4 or 5 User defined colour setting are now retained when exiting a 3D game or application The ATI Control Panel no longer fails to launch when attempting to enter the Advanced options of the primary display adapter after disabling extended desktop support The Cancel button found in the ATI 3D tab is now working properly when switching between a user defined profile and the default setting Enabling the CRT as the primary display and turning the TV off in the Display page no longer results in a general protection fault under Windows ME The Anisotropic Filtering custom setting is now retained under Windows XP with an ATI RADEONâ„¢ 7200 installed The D3D panel now retains the user defined AA/AF setting under Windows XP when a RADEONâ„¢ 8500 series is installed and the main setting is set to High Quality Component Video Output Enhancement The latest ATI software driver now allows the user the choice of using panning mode or a center-timing mode in which the image would appear in the center of the TV screen when using the Component Video output on an HDTV display. This option is found in the ATI Control Panel and is supported under the Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows ME operating systems. This feature is available on the ATI RADEONâ„¢ 8500 and higher class of products. Direct3D Setting Enhancement Previous versions of the ATI display driver required the monitor going blank for up to 8 seconds when applying Direct3D settings. The latest ATI software driver for the RADEONâ„¢ 9500 and higher class of products now allows for the Direct3D setting to be applied without the monitor's display going blank.
Still no 64-bit drivers But the Celestia problem on Radeon 8500 is finaly fixed. Or so I hope. I'll have to check it out when I install them.
It looks like ATI really sticks to their policy about 64 bits drivers :tears: Well, thanx for the improvements anyway, the first impressions of these are good, great work
A couple of mirrors if its any help : http://files.rage3d.gr/catalyst/wxp-w2k-catalyst-7-981-040127m-013420c.exe (XP & 2k) http://files.rage3d.gr/catalyst/wme-catalyst-7-981-040127m-013420c.exe (ME/9x)
HUGE improvement in NFSU for my tired 'ol AIW 8500DV. No more stuttering. That was driving me nuts and online I was running max low settings because it seemed to reduce the stuttering quite a bit. Just ran a few laps online with everthing maxed except for headlights turned off. Smooth as glass. Unbelievable. I would have never guessed a driver update for such an old card would be packing such a punch. Never seen such an obvious improvement in a driver before. GREAT job ATI! ---------------------------------------- Asus A7V-266E Athlon XP 1800+ 512 DDR AIW 8500DV Seagate Barracuda Raid XP Klipsch 5.1 Ultra
glad you like it! make sure you vote on the poll. All your feedback is invaluable to us. It's the only way we have of knowing how we are really doing. http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37717
I think it's awesome that ATI is still concentrating some effort on improving older graphic cards' performance like the 8500 series.. Even though I have a 9700pro- it still makes me think ATI is on the right track, because not all people have the fastest hardware- Soon the R420 will be out and maybe by then I'll have a 9800p or XT- but I'll still want ATI to improve performance for those cards in the future. Also the improvement where the changes made in the D3D control panel doesn't blink the monitor is a welcome change.. Now, if we can only get an option to force AA on on all games, (even as an option, maybe in the "compatibility tab" and default will still be how it has been since the 3.8's for compatibility issues) It would just give the user more control in some games where AA doesn't work. Maybe a warning could go along with the setting saying that if this causes problems, then turn it off, then it wouldn't compromise the overall stability of the driver. The Customer always benefits from more control over the way the driver works. Just a thought.
oh something else new about the drivers Well after installing the new 4.2 drivers I looked in OpenGL Extension Viewer and discovered that these drivers add full support for all extenstions (1.5 shadow_funcs are supported finally). Very nice release, good job ATI. ___________ Pentium 4 3.40Ghz 800Mhz 2 Gb DDR Ram 160Gb 120Gb ATI 98000 XT 256 Catalyst 4.2 Windows XP Pro
Huge improvements with the following for me: Far Cry beta NFS Underground Chrome Far Cry demo Rainbox Six - Ravenshield Broken Sword 3 I had to do a double take at my monitor this morning to see if I was seeing things "ATI catalyst 4.2" I have voted in the poll. Funky Monkey
Thanks for voting guys, it really is a good indication to Terry and the guys in ATI just what you all think, they do take records of the results.