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 8.291), and the Catalyst® Control Center (version 6.9). 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® 6.9 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 6.9
- Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.9
- ATI Customer Care
- Installing the latest Catalyst® Software Suite
- Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback
Web Content
The Catalyst® software suite 6.9 contains the following:
- Radeon® display driver 8.291
- Multimedia Center™ 9.14
- HydraVision™
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition
- Remote Wonder 3.04
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst® Control Center Version 6.9
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® 6.9 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 CrossFire™ support for the Intel 965 Chipset. This feature is available for D3D applications, and is supported on ATI Radeon® X1900 CrossFire™ edition products. This feature is supported under the Windows XP operating system.
Performance Improvement
As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various situations.
- 3DMark2006 overall performance improves 6.7-23.7% with anti-aliasing enabled due to improvements in HyperZ efficiency on the Radeon® X1300, X1600 and X1800 series of products. The largest gains can be seen on Crossfire™ configurations and/or 256MB card configurations at resolutions of 1280x1024 or greater
- Doom3 performances improves up to 9.3% due to further OpenGL shader complier and transform engine optimizations on the entire Radeon® X1000 Series of products. The largest gains can be seen on Radeon® X1900 configurations at resolutions of 1600x1200 or higher
Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.9
The following section provides a summary of the issues that are resolved in the latest release of Catalyst®. These include:
- Desperados 2: Attempting to play the game with CrossFire™ enabled no longer results in the game failing to launch and an error message being displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23254
- Doom3: Enabling both CrossFire™ and Temporal AA no longer results in a ghosting effect being noticed when playing the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23284
- Elder Scolls IV: Oblivion: Setting the in game video option to High Resolution and setting the 3D option in the Catalyst® Control Center to Optimal Quality no longer results in corruption being noticed when playing the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23057
- MS Flight Simulator 2004: Creating a flight and clicking on Fly Now no longer results in display corruption and flashing being noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Xpress 200 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23250
- Splinter Cell Chaos Theory: Playing the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon® X1300 or 1600 no longer results in the game failing to respond when enabling AA to 6x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23264
- The Settlers: Heritage of Kings: Setting AA to 4x, AF to 16x, High Quality AF on, and AAA to on/quality, followed by setting the in game video options to high and the display to 1600x1200 no longer results in black or flashing textures being noticed on the surface. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22568
- Tiger Woods 2005 or 2006: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series product installed no longer results in the playback of the opening cinematics failing to playback properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23006
- Tomb Raider: Enabling CrossFire™ and setting AA to 12x and AF to 16x no longer results in corruption being noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon® X1800 series. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22811
- Display corruption is no longer noticed when configuring the DTV channel to 1080i broadcast when using an ATI HDTV Wonder. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21455
- When a TV is connected via the component dongle and HDTV is enabled in Clone mode, the display no longer remains blank when rebooting the system when all settings are reset to default. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23007
- Enabling CrossFire™ no longer results in display corruption being noticed when playing certain 3D games such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 and Madden Football. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23006
- CrossFire™: The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond when attempting to resume from hibernation mode when CrossFire™ is enabled under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23009
- CrossFire™ support no longer appears in the Catalyst® Control Center when using an ATI Hyper-Memory Radeon® X1600 or X1300 product under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23010
- Catalyst® Control Center: Deinterlacing modes are no longer missing under the de interlacing settings found in the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23011
- Playing back a media file using Windows Media Player 11 on a system containing an ATI Radeon® X1600 or X1300 series of products no longer results in missing colors and or macroblock corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22810
- Flashing display is no longer noticed when launching the Catalyst® Control Center or when rotating the display using the rotation function found in the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23249
- Connecting a secondary display device and setting the display resolution to a higher display resolution such as 1920x1440 no longer results in both the display devices failing to resume from a standby state. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23251
- The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond during ACPI testing when using an ATI Radeon® X1900 series product and CrossFire™ is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23252
- 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
- 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
- A full list of VGA and DVI display modes are now available when using an ATI Radeon® X1600 or 1300 and selecting List All Modes found in the Advanced option of the Video Settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23258
- Catalyst® Control Center: The Video preview and Mouse are no longer exhibiting abnormal behavior when selecting Weave mode in the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23259
- 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 737-23260
- CrossFire™: Hot-unplugging a DFP from the system when CrossFire™ is enabled no longer results in the DFP failing to display an image and CrossFire™ becoming disabled when attempting to hot-plug the DFP to the same DVI port. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23261
- Hot plugging a DFP display device to port number 2 on an ATI Radeon® X1800 product no longer results in the DFP display device defaulting to clone mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23263
- The operating system no longer fails to respond when attempting to resume from an S3 state when using an ATI Radeon® X1x00 product on a system with a Conroe CPU. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22979
- Connecting a TV using the component video connector and enabling in extended desktop mode no longer results in the display failing to display the DVD playback image when dragging the DVD playback window from the primary to the secondary display when setting the display properties to either 720P or 480i. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23265
- Theater mode now works properly when extended desktop mode is enabled under the Windows XP operating system when using an ATI Radeon® X19x0 product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23266
- Switching between full screen and window mode when playing a media file using the Media Center in the Windows MCE operating system no longer results in corruption being noticed in the lower half of the full screen mode when using a system containing an ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23268
- Connecting an LCD display device to a system containing an ATI Xpress 200 series product and setting the display mode to 800x600 or lower no longer results in the Windows Media Player version 10 moving off center when playing a VCD media file. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23269
- CrossFire™: The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond when attempting to resume from hibernation mode when CrossFire™ is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23009
- When a TV is connected via the component dongle and HDTV is enabled in Clone mode, the display no longer remains blank when rebooting the system when all settings are reset to default. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23007
- The TV format within the Catalyst® Control Center now changes based on the Location setting under the Regional and Language options. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23270
- Catalyst® Control Center: Creating a profile no longer results in the profile shortcut not being deleted from desktop after uninstalling the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23271
Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.9
- Anarchy-Online: Screen corruption may be noticed when walking or running through the terrain. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22016
- 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
- Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods: Intermittent display corruption may be 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
- Cold War: Playing the game with the display resolution set to 1600x1200 along with AA set to 8x and CrossFire™ enabled may result in a ghosting effect being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21661
- Neverwinter Nights: Playing the game under Windows XP on a system containing an ATI Radeon® X800 series, may result in the game exiting to the Windows desktop and an error message being displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21466
- Path of Neo: Texture corruption may be noticed when playing the Kung Fu level. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21464
- 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
- World of Warcraft: Playing the game for an extended period of time may result in the game failing to respond when using a Radeon® X800. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22632
- The Apply button in the Custom settings of the Advanced mode, found within the Catalyst® Control Center Video standard settings, is grayed out when playing a media file. Further details can be found in topic number 737-497
- Connecting an HDTV to an ATI Radeon® X700 series may result in the HDTV being detected as a CRT or TV under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20783
- The PAL FM fine tuning algorithm is currently using 200 MHz bandwidth which may overlap FM channels resulting in the same FM channel being found several Verdana during the scan function. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20979
- Connecting two display devices to an ATI Radeon® X1600 series product may result in the device manager failing to detect the secondary display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21266
- OpenGL Extension Viewer: 2.0: Running the Rendering tests may result in a black box appearing when the fog option is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21457
- Connecting an HDTV as the secondary display device and enabling Theater mode may result in HDTV failing to display an image when attempting to playback a movie with extended desktop mode enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21460
- The IBM T84H display device may fail to display an image when connected to the DVI connector on the ATI Radeon® X800 or X850 series. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21462
- Attempting to re-enable any display device other than the primary or secondary display device that has been disabled by CrossFire™, may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21663
- Using the ATI Multimedia Center to watch TV may result in the operating system restarting when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22013
- The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 with time-shifting enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22014
- Using the ATI Multimedia Center to watch TV may result in the operating system restarting when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further information on this issue can be found in topic number 737-22013
- Changing the regional option found in the control panel to Japan followed by installing the display driver results in the TV format failing to change in accordance with the regional option 737-22631
- Catalyst® Control Center: Entering the Overdrive™ aspect and changing the GPU setting to 509 and the memory setting to 505 results in color corruption and the Windows XP operating system rebooting 737-21229
- Selecting the Plus Da Vinci screen saver and attempting to preview it may result in the screen saver not displaying properly after an extended preview 737-22634
- 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
- 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 details can be found in topic number 737-23008
- The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 and time shifting is enabled 737-22014
- 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
- Connecting two display devices to an ATI Radeon® X1600 series product may result in the device manager failing to detect the secondary display device. 737-21266
- 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 a TV to the S-video or component connector of an ATI Radeon® X1300 or 1600 product may result in the display failing to appear when attempting to resume from an S3 state. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22348
- The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 and time shifting is enabled. Further information can be found in topic number 737-22014
- Catalyst® Control Center: Setting new clock values may result 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, may result 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 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
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.
ATI Technologies Inc.
http://www.ati.com
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