ATI Catalyst 6.6 released

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Duke

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New Features

This release of Catalyst® introduces the following new features:

* Avivo™ Video Converter Extension for Windows Media Center Edition
* Theater 650 Pro TV Tuner Support

Avivo™ Video Converter Extension for Windows Media Center Edition

Catalyst® 6.6 introduces a Windows Media Center Edition Video Conversion utility. This utility will allow users to convert video content that is either recorded or available to Media Center Edition to a variety of different formats. The video content can be converted to MPEG-2, MPEG-4 SP, MPEG-4/AVC and Windows Media. iPod video and Sony PSP’s are also supported with an optimized profile for these devices.
Theater 650 Pro TV Tuner Support

Catalyst® 6.6 includes support for NTSC/ATSC and PAL/SECAM/DVB-T products based on the Theater 650 Pro TV Tuner chip. The Theater 650 Pro is a new chip from ATI for multimedia cards and DTV-on-a-chip solutions, integrating hardware video encoding, digital audio with noise reduction, and hardware PVR functions in a single chip.
Performance Improvements

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

* Far Cry performance improves 4-5%. Larger gains of up to 18.3% can be seen when using anisotropic filtering.
* Fear performance improves as much as 8.5% on X1800 and X1900 Single card systems and as much as 14% on X1800 and X1900 Crossfire systems.
* Splinter Cell (original) performance improves as much a 7% on X1300 and X1600 Crossfire systems.

Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.6

* Catalyst® Control Center: Connecting a display device capable of displaying a resolution of 1680x1050 to an ATI Radeon® X1900 no longer results in the display mode of 1680x1050 not being available in the Display Manager aspect. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22011
* Using Catalyst® 6.3 or higher along with the MMC version 9.13 and performing a TV channel scan no longer results in some higher TV channels failing to be detected. Further information on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22381
* Catalyst Control Center: Playing a media file using the Windows Media Player version 10 no longer results in Theater Mode exhibiting the same behavior as the Same on All option when clone mode is enabled 737-22504
* The pulldown detection check box is no longer greyed out under the All Settings for bob and adaptive settings found in the Catalyst Control Center 737-22508
* Clicking the Default button for AA and AF now restores the default setting for AA and AF 737-22512
* Placing the mouse pointer over the Temporal anti-aliasing check box found in the Anti-Aliasing aspect of the Catalyst Control Center no longer results in the tool tip for Let the application decide being displayed 737-22517
* Theater Mode is now functioning properly under the Windows 2000 operating system when clone mode is enabled 737-22614
* Audio is no longer lost when quickly and repeatedly toggling between two TV channels 737-22615
* The Desktop Area list found in the Display Settings is now translated for the Russian language when using the Basic View of the Catalyst Control Center 737-22519
* Setting the Catalyst Control Center skin to Quick Silver along with the display resolution to 800x600 when the language is set to Greek no longer results in cropped text being noticed in the Video->All Settings aspect 737-22529
* The Apply button in the CV Properties aspect of the Catalyst Control Center now become active when adding a custom format 737-22538
* x29: AV no longer occurs when fast window tracking is set to on 737-22643
* Minimizing the TV window using the TV Adjustments found in the Catalyst Control Center followed by attempting to drag the TV window around the desktop using the mouse no longer results in the TV window failing to move properly 737-22539
* DVD playback no longer blinks and the system entering a busy state no longer occurs when using the Windows Media Player v10 and having Theater Mode enabled in the Catalyst Control Center 737-22616
* Connecting a CRT as a secondary display device and enabling clone mode no longer results in unsupported display modes being available in the Catalyst Control Center for the CRT 737-22617
* HDTV custom format is now maintained when clone mode is enabled 737-22618
* Enabling Clone mode followed by opening a full-screen DOS prompt no longer results in the DOS command screen failing to exit properly on the secondary display device 737-22619
* Swapping between the primary (LCD) and secondary (CRT) display devices on a system containing an ATI Xpress 200 series no longer results in the LCD display device failing to display and image when attempting to resume from hibernation mode 737-22622
* The mouse pointer no longer intermittently fails to be displayed on the lower portion of the secondary display device when the option to Stretch main horizontally found in the Catalyst Control Center is enabled 737-22623
* Connecting both a CRT and a TV and keeping the TVout disabled, along with setting the desktop resolution to 1280x1024x32bpp no longer result in the default color setting found in the Catalyst Control Center failing to be restored when changing the gamma setting 737-22644
* GLView v 223: Setting the display resolution to 2048x1536 32bpp at 70Hz no longer results in an error message being displayed when attempting to run the Rendering tests 737-22625
* Setting AA to 8x or higher no longer results in corruption being noticed in the Anti-Aliasing preview of the Catalyst Control Center 737-22626
* City of Heroes: Display corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI Radeon X1x00 series product 737-22627
* Enabling extended desktop mode and playing back HD content no longer results in corruption being noticed in the playback window 737-22628
* An error message is no longer displayed when trying to edit a Hotkey function in the Hotkey Manger under various supported European languages 737-22629
* Quake4: Texture corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game 737-22385
* Age of Empires III: All the buildings and silver mines no longer shimmer at the same time when right-clicking on an object 737-22630
 
I like these new 6.6 catalysts. My machine boots up faster than with 6.5 CCC. Unfortunately forcing AA from CCC does not work with Oblivion yet :(
 
sam0t said:
I like these new 6.6 catalysts. My machine boots up faster than with 6.5 CCC. Unfortunately forcing AA from CCC does not work with Oblivion yet :(
Click to expand...


QFT. How stinking long does it take to make this a standard part of drivers anyway? :mad:

Oh well, at least the beta 6.6 Chuck patch is out there, downloading now...
 
0.o

I had read a rumor that x1900gt xfire support was going to be out with 6.6's

sigh.. rumors..
 
phide said:
Performance improvements for games that few play. Great :)
Click to expand...

farcry, fear, and splinter cell are games that "few play?" what would you consider a game that lots of people play then?

Anyway, I haven't tried the 6.6's on my x1800xt though I'll probably do so soon. I'm just putting it off because I just did a fresh reformat on my box yesterday and I hate the thought of re-doing drivers already.
 
I downloaded them but won't have time to install/test them until later. If someone could see if they're better than 6.3 it could save me some time :D
 
Eva_Unit_0 said:
farcry, fear, and splinter cell are games that "few play?" what would you consider a game that lots of people play then?

Anyway, I haven't tried the 6.6's on my x1800xt though I'll probably do so soon. I'm just putting it off because I just did a fresh reformat on my box yesterday and I hate the thought of re-doing drivers already.
Click to expand...

FEAR is the only game there with multiplayer, so yeah, they are games that few play. FarCry is old, and Splinter Cell is way old.. so yeah.
 
Well, FarCry has multiplayer as well, but nobody's really interested in it at all. I suppose the same goes for FEAR, but there's little there as well. I'm not saying that these opts shouldn't be done, but more focus should be paid on newer, more popular titles.

BF2, World of Warcraft, Oblivion and up-and-coming games (such as Prey) could see some optimizations. On the subject of Prey, developers need to start collaborating with manufacturers before release for optimizations. This is should be the idea behind Get In the Game.
 
phide said:
Well, FarCry has multiplayer as well, but nobody's really interested in it at all. I suppose the same goes for FEAR, but there's little there as well. I'm not saying that these opts shouldn't be done, but more focus should be paid on newer, more popular titles.

BF2, World of Warcraft, Oblivion and up-and-coming games (such as Prey) could see some optimizations. On the subject of Prey, developers need to start collaborating with manufacturers before release for optimizations. This is should be the idea behind Get In the Game.
Click to expand...

BF2 would be great if fucking EA would stop breaking the goddamn game every time a new patch comes out.

At MillionManLan we had people dropping out of servers or for that matter crashing straight to desktop.

Thanks EA and your SHIT 1.3 patch.

Back on topic...
Installed the 6.6 drivers...

Cons:
I'm still getting scrolling lines which are representative of how fast I set my refresh rate with Crossfire. When I go into some games it dissapears.
I tried removing the cards, changing the plugs around, changing the DVI to VGA converter, cleaning the PCIX slots, cleaning the cards, moving the PC away from high voltage or transmitters, etc.

Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat (yes I still play it) has terrible image tiling corruption on anything that is black or texted when crossfire is on. I guess there's nothing I can do about that since BF1942 is not supported by EA anymore. I can turn crossfire off to clear it up, but its the principal of the matter of having to fire off the CCC and waste time to play the goddamn game.

I did too notice the overdrive sliders are not available to manipulate as much as you could in previous driver versions. I guess I'll have to keep experimenting and see what works.

Video playback is fine for the first couple of plays. After playing a game or two the video playback shows a tiled and corrupted look when crossfire is on. I have to restart for the glitch to go away. Must be that AVIVIO bullshit or whatever it is.
WTF!>?

Pros:
I noticed a substantial increase in performance with the PREY demo I was playing with the crossfire working. I'm not talking like 4-10 FPS, I'm talking like 30+FPS.
I'm using the same settings and such since the last time I launched the game and all I see now is liquid smooth textured cherokee Prey guy kicking some serious spirit walking ass!

BF2 seems to load faster for some reason with the whole "Optomizing textures" thing. It does not seem that it's taking FOREVER to get the damn game to move from that loading phase on.

Trackmania Nations I used to have texture blurring on cars and some background objects after I load the game up, exit, then return to it. From there on I'd have to restart the PC until the anomoly goes away. Now that just don't happen anymore. :)

So far that's my experiences. Seems to be a step in the right direction but I still have faith in ATi. All of my games SMOKE my friend's systems with dual 7800s/7900s plus still the ATi image quality is outstanding and on par for the course.
 
:( x1800xt 512mb I get a bsod flash then my computer restarts after its been on for about 15minutes. Uninstalled the drivers and im still getting the bsod with no drivers installed.


edit: Alright the bsod stayed a bit longer and it said something about non executable memory. Gonna reinstall the 6.5 now. Damnit im still getting a bsod. Aha remembered I updated my firewall and havent had a bsod since I closed it.
 
I just install the new 6..6 on a ATI X1600 512 Pro AGP and they seem to be crisper videos and faster rendering. Installed without a glitch. Hope everyone has a good of outcome with there install of this new set of drivers.
 
Seems to have keyed up my monitor brightness a bit too much. Its a 2405, so its already too bright now. Before I had to turn down gamma to 95%, I now have to turn it down to 85% or have my eyes burn out of their sockets.
 
hagbard said:
Seems to have keyed up my monitor brightness a bit too much. Its a 2405, so its already too bright now. Before I had to turn down gamma to 95%, I now have to turn it down to 85% or have my eyes burn out of their sockets.
Click to expand...

Well thats what you get for having a B/A monitor!! :p
 
I won't get back to my computer for a week to try it out. Let me know if the fps on Oblivion are better. :)
 
Eastcoasthandle said:
can anyone use Cat 6.6 and still OC x1900xtx/xt with ATI TOOL?
Click to expand...


I can still oc my x1800xt with it. AtiTool 0.25 beta 14. Did you try creating a new profile?
 
Eastcoasthandle said:
can anyone use Cat 6.6 and still OC x1900xtx/xt with ATI TOOL?
Click to expand...

I cant- nothing from 6.3 on has worked with ATITool for me. Anytime a movie (any type) plays - vertical line crash.

back to Febuarys drivers- again =(
 
Well, I can't say if this is entirely Catalyst related or not, as I've fully hosed the system, but I'm now having some issues with CTDs in most games (particularly during loading screens, for whatever reason).

Back to 6.3 for me, I believe. It's a shame that ATi hasn't come upon a real "winner" in such a long time, but at least 6.3 is entirely functional.

EDIT: Okay, another one. Getting some severe chop and stutter in HL2 now. Feels a bit like a threading issue, but setting the executable to uni-processor doesn't help in the slightest. Hmmph.
 
yeah, this is really getting to be a joke. I dropped over 4 bones for a video card- and can only use the drivers it came with after 4 months. Gimme a break.
 
plywood99 said:
You no longer need Ati Tool for overclocking...
Click to expand...

What are you using to OC then? I hope not CC, cause it has no voltage options.
 
Spirals said:
What are you using to OC then? I hope not CC, cause it has no voltage options.
Click to expand...
Nope don't use CCC Overdrive for clocking. I modded a x1900xtx bios for higher voltages in 3d mode. I then use Rivatuner to change clocks. This allows me to overclock my card past CCC levels and still use the Chuck patch for oblivion. Currently I'm set at 729core and 863mem for 3d only.

So far this is the best way to clock a x1xxx series card. Plus it uses no additional resources, and you don't have to worry about shutting off services or anything like that.

If anyone would like a modded bios just let me know. I will set 3d voltages to what you want...
 
Spirals said:
yeah, this is really getting to be a joke. I dropped over 4 bones for a video card- and can only use the drivers it came with after 4 months. Gimme a break.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:

what a joke. Clearly, you're doing something wrong. I'm Running crossfire with incredible FPS and stability with a BETA 6.6 driver...

Uninstall the drivers correctly before doing anything.

If you still have problems -- god only knows why. Use the 6.3 drivers
 
Any reason I should use the 6.6 with a 9800 Pro? I have the 6.5s installed.
 
gersson said:
:rolleyes:

what a joke. Clearly, you're doing something wrong. I'm Running crossfire with incredible FPS and stability with a BETA 6.6 driver...

Uninstall the drivers correctly before doing anything.

If you still have problems -- god only knows why. Use the 6.3 drivers
Click to expand...

your not paying attention. it crashes only while playing videos while ocing w/ ati tool. Im trying to figure out what else i can use to oc. im sure you do get nice fps with crossfire. grats
 
Is anyone using a dual-screen setup and Ultramon?

Upgrading to 6.6 resulted in the secondary screen being shut off when my computer boots up into windows. Only fix is to go into Windows Screen Properties, uncheck "extend desktop to this monitor", recheck it, and then click apply. 6.2 had no such problems.
 
Anyone having problems with videos crashing just in firefox since installing 6.6? I mean firefox freezing when you try and play videos. Not all the time just most of the time.
 
I’ve gone back and forth a few times now using the ATI uninstall.exe and I can’t play any games with crossfire and the new 6.6 driver. 6.4 and 6.5 work fine but when I install 6.6 I can hear the game running in the background but I just get a black screen. Any ideas?

DFI Lanparty UT CFX3200-DR Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard
Zalman RESERATOR 1 Plus Fanless Water Cooling System
AMD Athlon 64 FX60 was 3.05GHz, Now 2.8GHz Thanks Dual-Prime95 :(
1Gx2 Mushkin 184P D500 991493R Redline XP4000 DDR 1GB 3-3-2-8
HIS X1900 Crossfire Edition
HIS X1900XTX
SoundBlaster Audigy 2
HD 160G ST 7K 8M SATA2 ST3160812AS (4 Drives in 2 RAID Arrays)
2 Power Supplies Both Silverstone SST-ST60F 600W RT
DVD-RW Sony DRU-820A
DVD-ROM ASUS DVD-E616AG
DVD-ROM ASUS DVD-E616AG
Dell 24" 2405 & 20" 2005 on Ergotron HD Dual-Monitor Arm
Some pics, take a look.
 
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