These release notes provide information on the latest posting of ATI's industry leading software suite, CATALYST™. This particular posting updates the ATI Display Driver to version 8.042. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The ATI CATALYST™ software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.
The CATALYST™ 4.8 Release Notes provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- Desktop product family support
- ATI Integrated Product Support
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- Performance Improvements
- Issues Resolved in CATALYST™ Version 4.8
- Known Issues
- Downloading the ATI CATALYST™ Software Suite
- Uninstalling the ATI Control and Display Driver
- Installing the latest CATALYST™ Software Suite
- CATALYST™ CREW Feedback Program
- Customer Care Service
Web Content
The CATALYST™ software suite 4.8 contains the following:
- RADEON™ display driver 8.042
- ATI MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ 9.02
- HydraVision™ 3.25.0006
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition 3.25.9006
- ATI REMOTE WONDER™ 2.3
- WDM version 4.07
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
Note: These release notes provide information on the 8.042 display driver only. For information on the ATI MULTIMEDIA CENTER 9.02, HydraVision™ 3.25.0006, HydraVision™ 3.25.9006 Basic Edition, WDM version 4.08, ATI REMOTE WONDER 2.3, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://ati.com/
Desktop product family support
The CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop product family:
Note: ATI ALL-IN-WONDER™ variants based on the above are also supported.
Note: All ATI RADEON™ PC Graphic cards are optimized for Microsoft's Media Center Edition when coupled with a supported video capture card.
ATI Integrated Product Support
The CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following ATI integrated product family:
- RADEON™ IGP 320
- RADEON™ IGP 330
- RADEON™ IGP 340
- RADEON™ 9000 IGP
- RADEON™ 9100 IGP Pro
- RADEON™ 9100 IGP
- IXP 150
- IXP 200
- IXP 250
- IXP 300
Operating systems supported
The latest version of the CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
- Windows XP
- Windows 2000
Note: As of January 1, 2004, Microsoft no longer accepted certification submissions for the Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition operating system. The ATI CATALYST™ CREW however is committed to all its customers and is now providing non certified WHQL software drivers for users of the Windows Millennium Edition operating system. Windows Millennium Edition users can obtain the software driver at: http://www.atitech.com/support/driver.html. Windows 98/98SE is supported through the ME driver.
New Features
This section provides information on new features found in this release of the CATALYST™ Display Drivers. New features include:
Geometry Instancing
This release of CATALYST introduces the support of Geometry Instancing. This new feature provides assistance when a game has to render many objects where the geometry is highly similar. Geometry Instancing allows the VPU to create multiple objects from a single geometric model, rather than passing an entire new model for each item on the screen. This increases the rendering speed of images such as leaves, or grass.
VPU Recover Enhancement
VPU Recover has been improved in this release of CATALYST. In most cases, VPU Recover will fully recover instead of switching to software rendering mode. This enhancement is supported under the Windows XP operating system.
EIA 861B Timing Specification
This release of CATALYST™ introduces EIA 861B Timing Specification for DVI based televisions. The RADEON™ Software Release version 8.04 will support 256 byte E-EDID and will decode CEA timing extensions. Further, it will retrieve DTV timing information. When the driver detects EIA 861B timings in E-EDID that the controller cannot handle, it will replace the EDID detail timing with adjusted timings suitable to our controller. The modes will be added as EDID detailed timing.
Common modes that are supported include:
- 640 x 480p at 60 Hz and 25.2 MHz pclk
- 720 x 480p at 59.94 Hz and 27.0 MHz pclk
- 720 x 576p at 50 Hz and 27.0 MHz pclk
- 1280 x 720p at 60 Hz and 74.25 MHz pclk
- 1280 x 720p at 50 Hz and 74.25 MHz pclk
- 1920 x 1080i at 60 Hz and 74.25 MHz pclk
- 1920 x 1080i at 50 Hz and 74.25 MHz pclk
- 1920 x 1080p at 60 Hz and 148.5 MHz pclk
- 1920 x 1080p at 50 Hz and 148.5 MHz pclk
This feature will be supported under the Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.
Performance Improvements
As with most CATALYST™ releases performance has increased in various situations. The following performance gains are noticed:
- Direct3D driver efficiency has improved considerably. Significant performance gains are noted in multiple "CPU-bound" cases, including 3DMark2001, Aquamark 3, Comanche4, Dungeon Siege, and Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004. Typical improvements are in the 1-5% range.
- OpenGL driver efficiency is also improved. Older OpenGL games such as Quake III Arena and Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory show small improvement (1-2%) at low resolutions. Call of Duty framerates are up approximately 4%. Doom3 improves considerably more (as much as 12% on some product configurations) as a result of the same software efficiency improvements.
Issues Resolved in CATALYST™ Version 4.8
The following section provides a summary of the issues that have been resolved in the latest release of CATALYST™ 4.8. These include:
- 3D Mark03: Display corruption is no longer noticed when running the Trolls Lair test 3 under Windows XP
- Beyond Divinity:Playing the game with FSAA set to 2x no longer results in display corruption when scrolling the display by moving the mouse to the left of the display
- High Heat Baseball 2003: The display no longer loses sync when exiting or changing player characters in the game High Heat Baseball 2003 under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON X800 series installed
- Madden NFL 2003: The game no longer fails to respond under Windows XP when an ATI RADEON 9800 XT is installed and attempting to set the Truform slider to Application Preference
- Need for Speed Underground:Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON 9000/9200 installed no longer results in the road ahead not being lit up by the car's headlights
- Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow:Display corruption is no longer noticed when launching a multiplayer game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9200 installed
- Thief 3:Inconsistent lighting and shadow flicker is no longer noticed when playing the game under Windows XP
- Unreal Tournament 2004: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON X600 series installed no longer results in game corruption being displayed when setting Anti-Aliasing to 4x and having the display properties set to 1600x1200 32bpp
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of CATALYST™. These include the following:
- City of Heroes: Specular lighting issues and incorrect textures is noticed when playing the game under Windows XP. Further information on this issue can be found at: www.ati.com/support/infobase/4561.html
- F1 Challenge: A performance decrease is noticed under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 PRO installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4578.html
- Indian Jones and the Emperors Tomb: Display corruption and missing polygons are noticed in the game. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4563.html
- PainKiller: missing textures is noticed on the ground and light artifacts are noticed when moving around within the game or when moving in and out of the light. This issue is known to occur under Windows XP when an ATI RADEON X800 XT is installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4579.html
- Attempting to play a Java based game or visit a Java based website results in display corruption under Windows XP when either an ATI RADEON 9800 SE or RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum card installed and AA is enabled. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4570.html
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, game issues, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.
Downloading the ATI CATALYST™ Software Suite
This section provides information on downloading the CATALYST™ Software Suite for your ATI RADEON™ product. The ATI CATALYST™ Crew recommends that you create a central location for your ATI CATALYST™ downloads. To do this, follow these steps.
- Right-click on any open area of your desktop. A drop down menu is displayed.
- Select New->Folder. A new folder is created on your desktop.
- Name the folder CATALYST™ Downloads.
- Navigate to the ATI software download web page, and select the software driver you require.
- Click Download. A File download dialog box is displayed.
- Click Save. The Save As dialog box is displayed.
- Navigate to the CATALYST™ Download folder, and click Save.
You have successfully saved the software driver to your desktop.
Uninstalling the ATI Control and Display Driver
This section provides information on uninstalling the previous versions of your ATI Control Panel and ATI Display Driver for your RADEON™ product.
Note: If your are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, ensure that you have logged in with system administrative rights.
Before you can install the latest CATALYST™ software driver for your RADEON™ product, you must uninstall the previous ATI Control Panel. To do this, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Add/Remove programs tool provided by Microsoft. This tool is found in the Control Panel.
Note: Ensure all other applications are closed before continuing with the uninstall of the ATI Display Driver.
- Click the Change/Remove button. The ATI Control Panel Setup window is displayed.
- Select Remove, and click Next. A Confirm File Deletion dialog box is displayed.
- Click OK. The ATI Control Panel Setup window is displayed.
- Select No, and click Finish. You are returned to the Add/Remove Program tool.
You have successfully uninstalled the ATI Control Panel.
You are now ready to uninstall the ATI Display Driver. To do this, follow these steps:
- Select ATI Display Driver in the Add/Remove Program tool.
- Click the Change/Remove button.
Note: If you have multiple display adapters installed, a dialog box will appear instructing you to choose which ATI Display driver to uninstall. Click the Select All button.
- Click Yes when prompted to confirm the uninstall of the ATI Display Driver.
- Reboot your system as prompted to compete the uninstall of the ATI Display Driver.
Note: If you are prompted to start the installation of a display driver upon boot up, click CANCEL
You have successfully uninstalled the previous version of the ATI Display Driver and ATI Control Panel.
Installing the latest CATALYST™ Software Suite
This section provides information on installing the latest CATALYST™ Software Suite for your RADEON™ product. To install the driver, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the CATALYST™ Download folder on your desktop. Double-click on the folder to view its content.
- Double click the CATALYST™ display driver. Accept all the default prompts.
- Restart your system as required.
You have successfully installed the latest CATALYST™ software driver.
CATALYST™ CREW Feedback Program
This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the CATALYST™ CREW feedback program. Please refer to http://apps.ati.com/driverfeedback/ and provide us further feedback.
Customer Care Service
The ATI Customer Care Center is focused on delivering accurate, up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Should you require assistance with your ATI product visit, http://www.atitech.com/support/index.html
ATI Technologies Inc.
http://www.ati.com
Voice: (905) 882-2600
Fax: (905) 882-2626