This release note provides information on the latest posting of ATI's industry leading software suite, Catalyst®. This particular software suite updates both the ATI Display Driver (version 8.301), and the Catalyst® Control Center (version 6.10). 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® 6.10 Release Note provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- ATI Desktop product family support
- ATI Chipset Product Support
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- Performance Improvement
- Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.10
- Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.10
- ATI Customer Care
- Installing the latest Catalyst® Software Suite
- Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback
Web Content
The Catalyst® software suite 6.10 contains the following:
- Radeon® display driver 8.301
- Multimedia Center ™ 9.15
- HydraVision™
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition
- Remote Wonder 3.04
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst® Control Center Version 6.10
Caution: The Catalyst® software driver and the Catalyst® Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stability and performance ATI recommends that both components be updated from the same Catalyst® release
Caution: The Catalyst® Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1 or 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 1.1 or 2.0 installed, the Catalyst® Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.
Note: These release notes provide information on the Radeon® display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision™, HydraVision Basic Edition, WDM, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: https://support.ati.com/
ATI Desktop product family support
The Catalyst® software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop products:
- Radeon® X1900 series
- Radeon® X1800 series
- Radeon® X1600 series
- Radeon® X1300 series
- Radeon® X850 series
- Radeon® X800 series
- Radeon® X700 series
- Radeon® X600 series
- Radeon® X550 series
- Radeon® X300 series
- Radeon® 9800 series
- Radeon® 9700 series
- Radeon® 9600 series
- Radeon® 9500 series
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 2005 when coupled with a supported video capture card.
Note: Software driver support and release notes for earlier ATI products can be found at: support.ati.com
ATI Chipset Product Support
The Catalyst® software suite is designed to support the following ATI chipset products:
Operating systems supported
The latest version of the Catalyst® software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Home Edition
- Windows XP Media Center Edition (graphics driver support only)
Note: Catalyst® 6.10 is not supported under the Windows Vista operating system. Catalyst® software drivers for the Windows Vista operating system can be found at: support.ati.com
New Features
This release of Catalyst® introduces the following new features:
New Product Software Driver Support
This release of Catalyst® will provide software support for the following new ATI products:
HDR + Anti-Aliasing support for The Elder Scrolls Oblivion
Users no longer need to download and install the Chuck patch - the Direct3D driver now includes native support for High Dynamic Range and Anti-Aliasing with The Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
Performance Improvement
As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various situations. In this release of Catalyst® Intel 965 Crossfire performance increases due to improvements of the Crossfire D3D driver in handling large vertex meshes. Gains of 6.7-15.8% can be seen in 3DMark2006, 9.7-10.5% in 3DMark2005 and 3DMark2003 performance improves as much as 7.1%.
Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.10
The following section provides a summary of the issues that are resolved in the latest release of Catalyst®. These include:
- 3DMark2006: Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and AA to either 4x or 6x no longer results in display corruption being noticed when running the HDR1 test. This issue was known to occur on certain specific systems only. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23443
- Anarchy-Online: Screen corruption is no longer noticed when walking or running through the terrain. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22016
- Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods: Intermittent display corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game in a system containing an ATI Radeon® X1900 series and running the Windows MCE operating system when setting the graphics options within the game to high details. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23275
- Commandos Strike Force: Enabling CrossFire™ and playing the game no longer results in display corruption being noticed when using an Intel 965 motherboard. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23444
- Godfather: Task switching between the game and the windows desktop no longer results in display corruption being noticed when playing the game at a display resolution of 1600x1200 (or higher) when having the in-game video options set to optimal quality. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23440
- Serious Sam 2: Playing the game on a system running the Windows MCE operating system and containing an ATI Radeon X1800 CrossFire™ Edition product no longer results in the operating system rebooting after approximately 20 minutes of game play when playing the game in a high setting windowed mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23445
- World of Warcraft: Playing the game for an extended period of time no longer results in the game failing to respond when using a Radeon® X800. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22632
- Catalyst® Control Center: Setting new clock values no longer results in the confirm changes dialog box failing to be displayed and clicking on cancel option may result in the new values still being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23278
- Setting the display properties to prompt for a restart of the system when making a display resolution change, no longer results in the selected display resolution not being applied when clicking yes to restart the computer for the changes to take effect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23279
- Connecting a CRT to a system containing an ATI Xpress 1150 series product followed by enabling extended desktop mode, no longer results in the both the LCD and the CRT failing to resume when attempting to resume from a standby state. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23434
- The LCD Panel Setting no longer becomes Use centered timings when resuming from suspend mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23435
- Display corruption is no longer noticed when switching between normal screen and full screen mode when viewing either a video or a picture slide show under the Windows Media Center Edition operating system using the Media Center application. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23436
- Installing the Catalyst® software driver on a system running the Windows XP Japanese version operating system no longer results in the .NET Framework version requirement dialog box being displayed in English. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23253
- Setting the display resolution to 1400x1080 on a system running the Windows XP operating system and containing an ATI Xpress 200 series product, no longer results in the display appearing jagged. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23437
- Playing a DVD using WinDVD no longer results in display corruption being noticed within the player when resizing the player window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23256
- The ATI VPU Recover functionality no longer fails when using an ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23438
- Catalyst® Control Center: Clicking the Enable ATI Overdrive clocks for 3D application only button followed by selecting the Preserve ATI Overdrive Settings at log on no longer results in a VPU recover event occurring when running the Automated Clock Configuration Utility. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23439
- CrossFire™: Enabling Wait for Vsync within the Catalyst® Control Center no longer results in display corruption being noticed within the 3D->Anti-aliasing aspect page when setting the pre-view to full-screen. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23441
- Catalyst® Control Center: Connecting a CRT and a TV to an ATI Radeon® X800 series of products no longer results in the display mode for the CRT being incorrect when selecting to swap the display devices and then cancelling the selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23442
Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.10
- Battlefield 2: Attempting to launch the game under Windows XP with the in-game display setting at 1920x1440 or 2048x1536 and AA set to 6x may result in the game failing to launch. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22817
- Sniper Elite: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI Radeon® X1600 series installed may result in texture corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22820
- Tomb Raider Legend: Enabling CrossFire may result in slower performance being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23448
- Enabling CrossFire™ may result in display corruption being noticed when playing a DVD or media clip using either WinDVD 7, Windows Media Player or PowerDVD 6. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22806
- Playing a DVD and switching from AC power to battery power on systems containing an ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 may result in playback lag being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23276
- Plugging a TV into s-video out connector, followed by entering to display manager and clicking detect displays may result in the TV failing to be detected. Further information can be found in topic number 737-23008
- Using the ATI Uninstall Utility to remove the display driver or Catalyst® Control Center may result in portions of third party applications also being uninstalled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23277
- Connecting two display devices on a system running the Windows MCE operating system and enabling extended desktop mode may result in display corruption being noticed when dragging and placing a window between the two display devices. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23280
- The Catalyst® Control Center version number may differ between the Catalyst® Control Center Software Information Center and the version number listed in the Add/Remove programs. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23281
- Catalyst® Control Center->Basic View: Connecting a secondary display device and attempting to enable it, may result in the inability to enable the device when using Basic view. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23446
- Playing a DVD and switching from AC power to battery power on systems containing an ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 may result in playback lag being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number noticed - 737-23276
- Intermittent display issues may be noticed when using an Apple Cinema HD 30" display device. Contact ATI Customer Care for a solution. ATI Engineering is aware of the issue and a resolve will be available in an up-coming software driver release. Further details can be found in topic number
- During video playback, DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) may not be available when CrossFire mode is enabled. This will result in software mode video playback. To enable DXVA CrossFire mode must be disabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23447
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.
ATI Customer Care
The ATI Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and easy of navigation. The ATI Customer Care website provides accurate and up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance user experience. The ATI Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known or resolved issue, do the following:
- Go to: support.ati.com. The ATI Customer Care web page is displayed.
- In the top left hand pane, click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search pane is displayed.
- Under Search Type: Select the By: ID option.
- Enter the Topic number.
- Click Go.
Installing the latest Catalyst® Software Suite
Installation information can be found at: www.ati.com/install
Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback
This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the Catalyst® CREW Driver Feedback program. To provide us with your feedback, visit: Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
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