ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL promises more performance, enhanced video quality

Posted on Wednesday, June 16 2010 @ 22:15 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
ATI rolled out the Catalyst 10.6 WHQL drivers, you can download them over here.

Besides performance improvements for several games and benchmarks, the new release has several video enhancements, including GPU acceleration of Flash Player 10.1 H.264 content (Radeon HD 3000 and newer), video de-blocking support (Radeon HD 5000 series), and mosquito noise removal (Radeon HD 5000 series). Additionally, Catalyst 10.6 also adds support for OpenGL 3.3 on all Radeon HD series cards and OpenGL 4.0 on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 series. Here's the changelog:

New features:
  • GPU acceleration of H.264 video content using Adobe® Flash Player 10.1
  • Video De-blocking support
  • Mosquito noise reduction
  • Official support for OpenGL 4.0 and OpenGL 3.3
  • Performance improvements:
  • 3DMark Vantage
  • Overall scores improve up to 5% on a single ATI Radeon™ HD 5970
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Performance improves up to 5% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Aliens vs. Predator DirectX® 11 Benchmark
  • Performance improves up to 4% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Performance improves up to 3% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series products
  • Company of Heroes – DX10
  • Performance improves up to 7% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 5% with single card and CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Crysis Warhead
  • CrossFire™ performance improves by up to 7% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series products
  • DiRT 2 – DX9
  • Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Performance improves up to 4% on single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series products
  • The Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena
  • Performance improves up to 15% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 13% on CrossFire™ and single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Performance improves up to 8% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series products
  • Unigine Tropics
  • CrossFire™ performance improves by up to 8% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series products
  • World in Conflict
  • Performance improves up to 6% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 8% on CrossFire™ and single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Wolfenstein
  • Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series products
  • Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire™ and single card ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 configurations
  • Performance improves up to 11% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series products


  • About the Author

    Thomas De Maesschalck

    Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



    Loading Comments



    Use Disqus to post new comments, the old comments are listed below.


    Re: ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL promises more performance, enhanced video quality
    by Anonymous on Thursday, June 17 2010 @ 2:16 CEST
    They are determined (and succeeding) in whooping Nvidia's cookies in the driver department.