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Catalyst® Release Note Version 6.5


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 8.252), and the Catalyst® Control Center (version 6.5). 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® 6.5 Release Note provides information on the following:

Web Content

The Catalyst® software suite 6.5 contains the following:


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:


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.

ATI FireMV™ 2D Drivers Support

The Catalyst® software suite 6.2 also provides 2D graphics driver support for the following FireMV™ products:

Operating systems supported

The latest version of the Catalyst® software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:


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.support.ati.com/. Windows 98/98SE is supported through the ME driver.

New Features

This release of Catalyst® introduces the following new features:

Overlay Theater Mode Update

Catalyst® 6.5 introduces a new option for Overlay Theater Mode. The new option, Standard Dual Mode is available for Radeon® X1x00 series of graphics cards. This new feature now allows users to playback video using hardware acceleration when it is played on both displays (clone mode). Hardware acceleration decreases CPU utilization, allowing the PC to run smoother and faster. When using two displays in clone mode, video playback will be identically displayed on both display devices. For Radeon® X1000 series products (Avivo Video) overlay is per-display and true overlay will be used for both displays. For pre-Radeon® X1x00 boards, there is only one hardware overlay, so video on the second clone display device is either software-rendered (i.e. "Same on all" selection) or the Windows desktop is displayed but the video will not show through the color key (i.e., "Standard mode" selection).

Adaptive Anti-Aliasing for ATI Radeon® 9500 and above

Adaptive Anti-Aliasing smoothes out the surfaces in an entire scene unlike Multi-Sample which works only on edge surfaces. Adaptive AA has the ability to work on transparent or opaque texels, like those that comprise a surface texture. Previously this feature was available on the ATI Radeon® X1000 family products. Starting with Catalyst® 6.5, Adaptive AA support is now available to ATI Radeon® 9500 products and above.

Performance Improvements

As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various situations. The PCI Express bandwidth optimization code in Catalyst® 6.5 brings performance improvements for both the ATI Radeon® X1600 and Radeon® X1300 Crossfire configurations, including:

Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5

The following section provides a summary of the issues that are resolved in the latest release of Catalyst®. These include:

Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5

The following section provides a summary of open issues in the latest version of Catalyst®. These include:

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:

  1. Go to: support.ati.com. The ATI Customer Care web page is displayed.
  2. In the top left hand pane, click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search pane is displayed.
  3. Under Search Type: Select the By: ID option.
  4. Enter the Topic number.
  5. 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.


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