Catalyst 6.8 Released! (x32)

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® 9650 series
* Radeon® 9600 series
* Radeon® 9550 series

Performance Improvement

As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various situations.

Improved shader compiler and transform engine optimizations have led to many significant performance gains in OpenGL applications across the entire Radeon® X1000 series of products. These include:

* Doom 3 performance improves as much as 6.5%
* Quake 4 (v1.2 or higher) performance improves as much as 18%
* Chronicles of Riddick performance improves as much as 20%. Average improvements of 5-10% are commonly seen
* Prey performance improves as much as 16%

Optimizations made to ATI's graphics memory manager have led to significant gains in DirectX applications that make heavy use of graphics memory on 256MB ATI graphics cards:

* 3DMark06 performance improves as much as 22% on single ATI Radeon® X1000 series cards with 256MB of graphics memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing is enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products
* Call of Duty 2 performance improves as much as 30% on single ATI Radeon® X550 cards or higher with 256MB of video memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products

Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.8

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

* Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth: Playing the game under Windows XP SP2 using an ATI Radeon® X800 series product no longer results in intermittent display corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21458
* Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones: Setting the 3D slider to Optimal Quality in Catalyst® Control Center->Advanced View->3D->Standard Settings aspect no longer results in corruption being noticed in the water when playing the game under the Windows MCE operating system with an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series product installed. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22975
* QQ Fantasy: Playing the online game under Windows XP with an ATI Radeon® X1600 or X1300 no longer results in the an error message being displayed and the mouse pointer control becoming erratic. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22985
* Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: Corruption is no longer noticed during the playing the opening cinematic when AA is enabled at 8x. This issue was known to occur under the Windows XP operating system when using an ATI Radeon® X8x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22983
* The LG P42SX DVI-D display device no longer fails to display an image when connected to an ATI Radeon® 9000, ATI Radeon® 9200, or an ATI Radeon® 9250. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21456
* Playing a DVD for an extended period of time when using the Windows Media Player on a system containing an ATI Xpress™ 11x0 series of product no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22801
* Playing a DVD using WinDVD on a system containing either an ATI Radeon® X1600 or X1300 product no longer results in corruption being noticed when changing the display resolution to either 1900x1200 or 1280x720. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22805
* Hot Plugging an HDMI TV to the DVI port of an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series no longer results in the HDMI detection message box failing to appear under the Windows Media Center Edition operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22809
* 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
* Selecting same as source video option in the Japanese version of the Catalyst® Control Center no longer results in the selection failing to be applied when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22813
* Playing an MPEG2 video clip on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon® X1x00 product no longer results in corruption being noticed during the playback of the MPEG2 file. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22814
* Selecting Restore Factory Defaults settings within the Catalyst® Control Center now restores the Notebook Panel Properties to scale image full panel size when using an ATI Xpress 200 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22995
* Catalyst® Control Center->Advanced Mode: Changing the UMA Frame Buffer under the Windows XP operating system when using an ATI Xpress 200 series no longer results in a dialog box informing the user to restart the system in order for the changes to take effect, and once the user clicks OK, the system does not restart. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22997
* Catalyst® Control Center: The translation for Use Centered Timings is now correct within the Catalyst® Control Center when setting the language to Simplified Chinese under all supported operating systems when using an ATI Radeon® X1600 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22998
* Catalyst® Control Center: The tool tip translation for Corruption is now correct when setting the language to Simplified Chinese under all supported operating systems when using and ATI Radeon® X1600 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22999
* Catalyst® Control Center: Right clicking on the Catalyst® Control Center within the system tray and navigating the 3D Setting->Anti-Aliasing no longer results in the sub menu translation for Application managed being incorrect when setting the language to Simplified Chinese under all supported operating systems when using an ATI Radeon® X1600 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-23002
* Catalyst® Control Center: De-selecting Custom View no longer results in the Custom View remaining active when closing and re-opening the Custom View window. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-23003
* Catalyst® Control Center: The Arrow keys for rotation are no longer displayed incorrectly in Hotkey Manager when using an ATI Radeon® X700 series. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-23004
* Catalyst® Control Center: Attempting to set the display resolution to either 720p, 1080p or 1080i no longer results in the Catalyst® Control Center failing to respond when using an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-23005
* Video lag is no longer noticed when playing a DVD using WinDVD 5.0 under the Windows XP operating system and an ATI Radeon® X11x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22971
* Catalyst® Control Center: The TV Image Quality-Composite/S-Video Sharpness menu is no longer missing after switching the connection between Composite and S-Video. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22973
* Catalyst® Control Center: Connecting an CRT along with an HDTV display and enabling clone mode no longer results in the desktop image reverting back to landscape mode when attempting to rotate the display by 90 or 270 degrees. This issue was known to occur under the Windows MCE operating system when using an ATI Xpress 200 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22974
* Corruption is no longer noticed within the Catalyst® Control Center after a VPU Recover event under the Windows XP operating system when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number737-22976
* Catalyst® Control Center->OverDrive: Changing the value of VPU or Vmem clock to less than 7M no longer results in the value changing back to the default setting. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22977
* Catalyst® Control Center: Installing a secondary display adapter in a system running Windows MCE (Japanese version) no longer results in display properties providing inaccurate translation for the secondary display device. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22978
* The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond when attempting to resume from standby mode when using an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22979
* Installing an ATI Radeon® X1900 CrossFire master edition graphics card and ATI Radeon® X1900 series secondary product on a system using a Dell 2405FPW and enabling CrossFire no longer results in the display device losing a signal or the 3D application or game exiting back to the desktop. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22664
* Various translation issues in the Catalyst® Control Center for Windows XP MCE (Japanese version) are now resolved. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22980
* The secondary display device longer becomes disabled when resuming from standby mode under the Windows XP operating system when using and ATI Radeon® X8x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22981
* Catalyst® Control Center: The Add button found in the CV Properties aspect page is no longer greyed out when attempting to add customized modes. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22982
* The GPU no longer hangs and the display device no longer displays a corrupt image when a VPU is triggered on systems containing either an ATI Radeon® X1300 or X800 series or products. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22987
* The Windows XP operating system no longer shuts down at negative temperatures when using an ATI Radeon® X19x0 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22988
* Connecting a CRT and a TV to an ATI Radeon® X19x0 product no longer results in the TV displaying corruption or lose of signal when resuming from hibernation mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22992
* Catalyst® Control Center: Making adjustments to the Monitor Properties aspect page and applying the change no longer results in the default position failing to be applied when attempting to restore factory defaults. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22993
 
* 3DMark06 performance improves as much as 22% on single ATI Radeon® X1000 series cards with 256MB of graphics memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing is enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products

* Call of Duty 2 performance improves as much as 30% on single ATI Radeon® X550 cards or higher with 256MB of video memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products


Can anyone confirm this?
 
I figure I'll throw these on my machine today. No Chuck integration, but I'm at the point where I'm just tired of all of the bugs surrounding HDR and AA in Oblivion. Somewhat unusable in my opinion.

There should be a sizable increase in Oblivion performance, wouldn't one think? I routinely see 350MB+ of texture storage being utilized in that game, and it seems that ATi's been fiddling around with their memory controllers again for this driver set.
 
xtasyindecay said:
* 3DMark06 performance improves as much as 22% on single ATI Radeon® X1000 series cards with 256MB of graphics memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing is enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products

* Call of Duty 2 performance improves as much as 30% on single ATI Radeon® X550 cards or higher with 256MB of video memory at 1280x1024 and higher when anti-aliasing enabled. The largest gains are found on the ATI Radeon® X1800 series and ATI Radeon® X1900 series of products


Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...

It's too bad I don't any numbers from past gaming, but here are some FRAPS data from COD2 on my X1800XT 512. The settings include 1280x1024, AAx4, Adaptive AA on, temporal AA on, AF x16HQ. All settings in game at max. Including VSYNC ON.


These are during the russian second level, the second fraps data is a little low, because the majority of the time I was using the sniper rifle.


2006-08-18 22:20:50 - cod2sp_s
Frames: 6348 - Time: 170731ms - Avg: 37.181 - Min: 23 - Max: 70

2006-08-18 22:23:48 - cod2sp_s
Frames: 11407 - Time: 403571ms - Avg: 28.265 - Min: 14 - Max: 62

I ran 3Dmark06 and got basically the same score as pervious runs, 4250. I will say though that ATI states an increase in performance when AA is enabled, and I don't have the PRO version so I can't change the settings.

EDIT
Without Adaptive AA, and no temporal AA, and HQ AF turned off, AAx4 AFx16
2006-08-18 22:47:49 - cod2sp_s
Frames: 8031 - Time: 186059ms - Avg: 43.163 - Min: 22 - Max: 70
 
This driver seems to help the 256mb cards more than the 512mb cards. Nice to see ATI isn't breaking more than it fixes with their drivers and not sacraficing IQ. ;)

Now if I could get a Vista driver with Crossfire supported I'd be happy.
 
Just uninstalled the old Ati 6.7 and installed the new 6.8 but when open up advanced version of CCC in the version it still shows up as 6.7 and I got the downloads right off the ati site for the install is this a glitch on ther part or what need some info. If you go under help and about this is the version number it gives for the current CCC 1.2.2405.30455
 
What the hell? I thought we weren't looking at any more Chuck patches until integration with supported release drivers.
 
Hmmm...

I just got around to installing these after downloading them yesterday. Anyone elses CCC tell them they have Catalyst version 6.7?

-dB
 
Yeah Catalyst Maker said on another forum that it was a typo and they are infact 6.8s. They will release another set in a week with the typo fixed.
 
You would think they could get it right the first time this is going to drive peple crazy so it it a typo. I already saw a guy on another forum uninstall and reinstall 2 times becasue he thought he did something wrong.
 
[EDIT]

Ah, so much for reading the thread. 6.7 is an oversight ^_^



In my Catalyst Information Center it says I am using Cat 6.7 o_O. Is that an oversight on their behalf? Because I most assuredly downloaded a file that was called catalyst 6.8.

Driver Packaging Version 8.282-060802a-035179C-ATI
CATALYST® Version 06.7 ..... ZOMG!
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6631
2D Driver File Path System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{A3796390-C03A-47DB-A2E4-B24CF94515B4}\0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0425
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.6012
CATALYST® Control Center Version 1.2.2405.30455
AV Stream (T200) Driver Version 6.14.10.1073
Click to expand...
 
My 3DMark06 scores:

Crossfired X1900 512mbs
8505 with Cat 6.3

8546 with Cat 6.8

Nice little improvement there.
 
Yep. And to think, that 0.4% improvement only took six months to achieve.
 
phide said:
Yep. And to think, that 0.4% improvement only took six months to achieve.
Click to expand...
The performance went down with every release after the 6.3 so this is basically getting it back where it should have been.
 
BBA said:
The performance went down with every release after the 6.3 so this is basically getting it back where it should have been.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I didn't even install the others as I had been watching other 1900 users get REALLY pissed off at a drop instead of an increase.

I think the 6.4s also were ok.
 
Emiddle said:
When they get the typo fixed someone please let us know. Thanks.
Click to expand...

You have to wait for the 6.9. To change the typo, the driver would have to go thrue a new whql certification.
 
Is anyone else getting bad 2d quality with these? All my icons are jagged, and 2d fades are in visible gradients instead of fading...
 
2D Quality is fine. However, CCC is appallingly slow for me. Takes a good 20-30 seconds to load, and every time I click on something it takes 5-10 seconds to display the appropriate items. Really starting to get pissed off with this, but I need access to the adaptive anti-aliasing settings :mad:
 
rincewind said:
2D Quality is fine. However, CCC is appallingly slow for me. Takes a good 20-30 seconds to load, and every time I click on something it takes 5-10 seconds to display the appropriate items. Really starting to get pissed off with this, but I need access to the adaptive anti-aliasing settings :mad:
Click to expand...
True. CCC took a VERY long time to load the first time I checked.

Testing just now, 12 seconds before the initial ATi logo pops up, and a total of 27 seconds for CCC to load up.
 
TrueSpace7 BSOD's with 6.8 so it's a no-go. I'm staying with 6.3 until I change the card. ATT does seem pretty nifty (never tried it before, cheers Spriggan), so currently no CCC installed. Hooray for the ATi driver team :rolleyes: Well, at least they have one driver set I can use without Major Calamity showing his hairy red arse.
 
Apallohadas said:
True. CCC took a VERY long time to load the first time I checked.

Testing just now, 12 seconds before the initial ATi logo pops up, and a total of 27 seconds for CCC to load up.
Click to expand...

Unnacceptable. I have an app which has to connect to a remote sql server and check for new db records, insert them into a local db and run a few queries which store the data in memory before it finishes loading. This whole process is quicker than a simple driver interface loading?
 
CCC takes 1-2 seconds to load up for me, after the initial load. Obvioously not everyones PC is as slow as yours in this aspect.
 
fallguy said:
CCC takes 1-2 seconds to load up for me, after the initial load. Obviously not everyones PC is as slow as yours in this aspect.
Click to expand...

I would put money on you being in the minority there. I have yet to see CCC take less than 10 seconds to load, the quickest being v6.3 on a fresh XP install on my own computer. Which is a 2.6GHz X2 with 2gb RAM and a 74gb Raptor as the OS drive - clearly a slow computer in dire need of upgrade.

For me, the fact that the last 5 driver sets have had a major issues on my computer is worrying.
 
The 6.8's seem to have fixed my video related crash issues.

things seem a bit more fluid in the titles I play on my X800XL AGP
 
rincewind said:
I would put money on you being in the minority there. I have yet to see CCC take less than 10 seconds to load, the quickest being v6.3 on a fresh XP install on my own computer. Which is a 2.6GHz X2 with 2gb RAM and a 74gb Raptor as the OS drive - clearly a slow computer in dire need of upgrade.

For me, the fact that the last 5 driver sets have had a major issues on my computer is worrying.
Click to expand...

You think 27 seconds is the majority?

One simple change, makes it load much faster. In Display Option, change it to manual. Easy as cake. Takes me 1-2 seconds at most to load after the first time.

And I didnt say your PC is slow. I said not everyones is as slow in that aspect.
 
One simple change, makes it load much faster. In Display Option, change it to manual. Easy as cake. Takes me 1-2 seconds at most to load after the first time.
Click to expand...

Great call fallguy, worked like a charm. Thanks again! :)
 
fallguy said:
You think 27 seconds is the majority?

One simple change, makes it load much faster. In Display Option, change it to manual. Easy as cake. Takes me 1-2 seconds at most to load after the first time.

And I didnt say your PC is slow. I said not everyones is as slow in that aspect.
Click to expand...
Now it opens much faster. You could have said that the first time however. Your first response seemed a little 'snooty' ya know?

Thanks for the tip :D
 
Didnt mean for it to be, sorry. Without that little tweak, it was never 27 seconds. Not for me atleast... Glad it helped you.
 
Always used manual detection, so that wasn't the problem. Regardless, it's no longer an issue without CCC. And with 6.3 I can resume making models.
 
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