The CATALYST™
software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop product family:
RADEON™ X800
series
|
RADEON™ 7500
series
|
RADEON™ X600
series
|
RADEON™ 7000
series
|
RADEON™ X300
series
|
RADEON™ 9700
series
|
RADEON™ 9800
series
|
RADEON™ 9500
series
|
RADEON™ 9600
series
|
RADEON™ 9100
series
|
RADEON™ 9200
series
|
RADEON™ 8500
series
|
RADEON™ 9000
series
|
RADEON™ 7200
series
|
|
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| 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.
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