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Catalyst 7.9: Your Thoughts

P

Pepsiennis

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Messages
1,290
OK, the 7.9 Cats are out of the bag, so let's get the ball rolling. First up, the new registration menu. Why doesn't it include registration for any of the newer generation cards? What's up with that?
 
I usually wait until you guys benchmark these before I install.

I read the change log... nothing really new for cards lower than the 2K series.

Anyone run benches yet?
 
Just finished some Source engine timedemos, nothing outside the margin of error between this and the 7.8 cats.
 
ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite Version 7.9


This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

* Bioshock: Missing, blackout, and flashing surfaces are no longer noticed in the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29549
* Bioshock: Random polygons shooting up in the sky are no longer noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29551
* Gods: Land of Infinity (demo): Having the in-game options set to 1920x1200 32bpp, Shadows on High, and Texture Quality set to High no longer results in only the mouse pointer being visible. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28810
* LostPlanet: Display flicker is no longer noticed when playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29560
* Monsters.Inc: Enabling DXVA no longer results in certain game scenes appearing choppy. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29546
* Prey: Texture tearing is no longer noticed in certain areas of the game. This issue was known to occur on ATI Radeon™ HD 2x00 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29563
* Quake3: Moving the mouse pointer over the options listed in the System Setup no longer results in the option being highlighted and the option being overdrawn by the highlight. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29531
* World of Warcraft: Playing the game with wide or narrow tent Anti-Aliasing filters no longer results in wireframe flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28807
* Attempting to enable CrossFire™ on a secondary display device no longer results in CrossFire™ failing to be enabled. Further information on this issue may be found in topic number. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28844
* Windows Dream Scene Content: Corruption is no longer noticed when attempting to run the preview for the chosen clips. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28856
* The ATI resolution and color text "mouse over" dialog box no longer contains a mix of English and Arabic. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28811
* Playing an HD-DVD title using the Cyberlink player no longer results in corruption or the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond after a short period of playback time. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28827
* Using WinDVD or WMP11 to playback a DVD title with subtitles enabled no longer results in the edge of subtitle appearing transparent. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29533
* Hot-plugging an HDMI display device to a system containing an ATI Radeon™ Xpress 12x0 series of product no longer results in the HDMI display device failing to be detected under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29535
* MediaDirect no longer displays corruption prior to Blu-ray movies starting. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29544
* Enabling Overlay Theater Mode no longer results in tearing and choppy playback being noticed when clone mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29557
* Playing an HD-DVD title using the Cyberlink player no longer results in corruption or the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond after a short period of playback time. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28827
* Attempting to playing a DVD title using WinDVD 7 and enabling hardware acceleration no longer results in the DVD failing to play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29558
* Setting the secondary display device to primary and the primary to secondary no longer results in the display swapping failing after enabling extended desktop mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29559
* Tearing artifact is no longer visible on OTM display when playing back any video using Overlay with OTM enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29561
* Google Sketchup no longer has an incorrect cyan colored X-axis. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29562
* Cyberlink HD playback: Performing a mode change when playing a video no longer results in the video playing at various speeds. 737-29564
* Overlay Theater Mode settings are no longer grayed out when the desktop is set to display resolutions of less than 1024x768. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29571
* A Tuner Not Available error message is no longer displayed when starting MCE after installing the ATI driver and video decoder. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29572

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™ Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

* Adobe After Effects 8.0: The Fragment Shader no longer fails when rendering shadows. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29565
* Bioshock: Frame stutter associated with time spikes in random components of the render stats is no longer noticed as the character walks around. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29041
* City of Heroes: Attempting to play the game on a system running Windows XP no longer results in the game failing to launch when using an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 XT. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29567
* City of Heroes: Enabling CrossFire™ followed by attempting to launch the game no longer results in the game failing to launch and the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29568
* PowerDVD: Playing a DVD on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series of product no longer results in missing pixels being noticed on the DVD menu selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28511
* PowerDVD: Playing a DVD on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series of product no longer results in missing pixels being noticed on the DVD menu selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28511
* World of Warcraft: Intermittent flashing is no longer noticed when enabling AA. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29569
* Setting the display device to 1280x1024 and attempting to playback a VC1/h.264 title using the Cyberlink player no longer results in choppy playback. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28832
* Corruption is no longer noticed when playing wmv files with WinDVD when CrossFire™ is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29566

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System

This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst™. These include:

* Call of Juarez: Enabling CrossFire™ and setting the in-game graphics options to higher settings may result in the game failing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29541
* Call of Juarez: Enabling CrossFire™ may result in flickering being noticed when playing the DX10 version of the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29540
* City of Heroes: Attempting to play the game on a system with a dual link panel connected to it may result in the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28495
* Day Watch: Playing the game on a system running Windows Vista may result in the flickering being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28825
* EarthSim2: Setting the desktop resolution to 1600x1200 32bpp may result in display corruption and the operating system failing to respond after a short period of game play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29545
* Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: Pressing the Alt+Tab keys when playing the game may result in the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28491
* GTA San Andreas: Enabling AFR mode and CrossFire™ may results in corruption being noticed in the opening cinematic of the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29543
* Lost Planet: Setting AA to either 4x or 8x may result in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28492
* Rainbow Six Vegas: Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and applying the in-game settings to high may result in corruption being noticed when using an HDMI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28826
* Resuming from an S3 state may result in a longer than expected time for the Windows Vista operating system to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25798
* Catalyst™ Control Center->OverDrive™: The OverDrive™ setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805
* 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
* A blank screen may be displayed after unchecking all the Component Video formats except when the 480i30 custom mode is applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27620
* A green or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSC mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27622
* The 3D aspect may appear blank when launching a second instance of the Catalyst™ Control Center™. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28482
* The Catalyst™ Control Center version number may fail to be updated after the installation of a newer Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28493
* Dragging player window to secondary display while playing back HD content and moving it back to primary may result in blank player window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28496
* Creating a secondary user account and switching from the secondary user account to the primary user account may results in CrossFire™ failing to be enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28786
* Connecting a secondary display device and enabling CrossFire™, followed by disabling CrossFire™ no longer results in CrossFire™ pages in the Catalyst™ Control Center showing that it is enabled. Further information on this issue may be found in topic number 737-28845
* The composite video slider values may be automatically applied without clicking on the Apply button. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28812
* Setting the language option to any of the supported languages other than English may result in the help page for Advanced Color failing to be displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28822
* Using live TV on a system containing an ATI HD 2900 XT product and running the Windows Vista operating system may result in the application failing if the Catalyst™ 7.6 driver is installed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28823
* When running certain OpenGL samples, the ATI Radeon™ graphics adapter may not be running at the requested clock values on a CrossFire™ configured system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28824
* The Catalyst™ Control Center version number may fail to be updated after the installation of a newer Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28493
* Setting the display resolution to 1680x1050 and playing either an MPEG 2HDi/p, VC1, or H.264 interlaced content may result in the content not being accelerated and resolution restrictions being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28828
* A Windows error message may occur when game settings are set to their highest levels. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28830
* Performing an express install of the Catalyst Control Center may result in an error message being displayed when rebooting the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29532
* Hot-plugging an HDMI display device may result in the display device failing to be detected. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29534
* Hot-plugging an HDMI display device to a system that has a CRT connected to it, followed by swapping the display devices may result in invalid refresh rates being listed in the Display manager. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29536
* Using PowerDVD to playback a Blu-ray title may result in the Windows Vista operating system failing with a 0x000000EA error. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29537
* A black window may be displayed when attempting to play a DVD title using WinDVD 7 when Overlay Theater Mode and clone mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29539
* Windows Dream Scene Content: Corruption may be noticed when attempting to run the preview for the chosen clips. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28856
* Enabling extended desktop mode and setting the display resolution to 1280x800 or higher, followed by playing an HD-DVD using PowerDVD, may results in the HD-DVD title failing to play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29547
* Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 or less may results in corruption being noticed when attempting to play an HD-DVD using the Cyberlink player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29550
* Setting the display resolution to 1680x1050 and playing either an MPEG 2HDi/p, VC1, or H.264 interlaced content may result in the content not being accelerated and resolution restrictions being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28828
* Frame flipping may occur while playing certain VC-1 content titles. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27804
* Playing a HD-DVD or Blu-ray title using PowerDVD followed by rotating the display device by 90 degrees may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29552

Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System

The following section provides a summary of open issues in the latest version of Catalyst™. These include:

* City of Heroes: A fatal error message may be displayed when exiting the game and attempting to launch the Catalyst™ Control Center™ in Advanced mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28514
* DIRT: Launching DIRT with CrossFire™ enabled may result in the game failing to launch and an error message being displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29554
* 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
* Catalyst™ Control Center->OverDrive™: The OverDrive™ setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805
* 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 information may be found in topic number 737-21266
* On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher may result in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515
* On certain products, dragging player window from primary to secondary display no longer results in hardware acceleration being disabled which resulted in the CPU usage increasing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28516
* With some h.264 titles that have MPEG2 introductions; playback may switch from hardware accelerated to software once the introductory content is finished. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28517
* Playing an HD Blu-ray title using Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra for Blu-ray and HD-DVD followed by open multiple windows and moving them around the desktop may result in the windows background not being re-drawn properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28831
* Installing the HDMI audio driver and the VIA audio chipset driver may results in a compatibility issue being noticed and a yellow exclamation mark showing up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28833
* On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher may result in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515
* With some h.264 titles that have MPEG2 intros, playback may switch from hardware accelerated to software once the introductory content is finished. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28517
* Enabling extended desktop mode following by launching the Windows Media Player may result in the player failing to appear on the secondary display device in full screen mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29555
 
Other than the random display corruption in Doom 3, they seem decent enough. No obvious improvements in frame rates in anything, but I'm on old, mature hardware. Still having as much difficulty getting settings to stick with Cat AI disabled as I've ever had, however, which is my main gripe with AMD at the moment.
 
no performance increase!?beta drivers blew on my machine.hope they have fixed alot of bugs
 
I cant even get these to install.. am doing the typical reinstalling of drivers routine but no go all I get is a totally black screen. When I go back to the 7.6 no problem.. wierd
 
They work fine on Medal of Honor Airborne and Quake Wars Demo on XP32.
Thats all I've tried so far.
 
Tried installing these twice (using Driver Cleaner Pro to clear out old drivers), and Psychonauts won't load up. It gives some error about not being able to create Direct3D devices. I haven't tried any other/newer games, since I'm only playing the one right now. 7.8's work 100%, so I went back to those for now.
 
Just wondering if anyone else has install 7.9 on Windows XP Media Center? I tried to install them and on reboot I get the windows logo screen and then the screen goes blank and the system reboots.

Spartus4
 
Still too slow... Hitman Blood Money is still 40 fps slower than an OC'd GTS (on OC'd 2900XT) with AA on. GTA SA is barely playable... Bioshock and MOHA run great. The 2900XT is really only for recent games, if you play older games its aweful for them. Drivers haven't done shit for AA performance - boost in AAA, but cmon AA is still too slow to be playable...
 
These drivers caused an infinite loop and BSOD on my system after installing. I went back to 7.8 Cats and everything is fine. The only reason I updated them was to try out the Quake Wars demo that I downloaded yesterday.

I will give them another shot 2nite, but not sure it will be any better.

This is on a Sapphire X1950Pro 512mb AGP card.

I did see some warning about not using these on this card, but the 7.8 work fine also when patched with the bioshock hotfix.

So looks like no ETQW's for me until they fix that shit.
 
These drivers caused an infinite loop and BSOD on my system after installing. I went back to 7.8 Cats and everything is fine. The only reason I updated them was to try out the Quake Wars demo that I downloaded yesterday.

I will give them another shot 2nite, but not sure it will be any better.

This is on a Sapphire X1950 512mb AGP card.

I did see some warning about not using these on this card, but the 7.8 work fine also when patched with the bioshock hotfix.
Click to expand...

I got the same result even though I have an X1950XT 256MB PCIe. The 7.9's wrecked my system so badly that even uninstalling them didn't help. I reverted to 7.8 once, then uninstalled again in safe mode, then could never get into WinXP again. I had to restore the partition with Ghost.
 
Installed 7.9s on my machine, system corrupted, uninstalled. Using 7.8s right now. Hardware in sig running Vista32.
 
Noticed no real difference with this set running Vista 32. They installed fine on my rig, and the only game that doesn't work is one of my kids games, Ultimate Spider-man which didn't work with the 7.8's either. Tried everything, posted in the game section. Only game out of 83 that doesn't work. (Myself, Son, Daughter). Do any of you have this game running in Vista using Cat 7.8 or 7.9? Googled the crap out of the Net and have found zero.
 
No problems for me. Vista or XP, with a X1900XT.

Zefram0911 said:
Because some people might have them bookmarked or they can get to the ati/amd page themselves... no offense.

Thanks for the link though.
Click to expand...

And its still faster to click a link. And its not just for drivers. Far too often, someone makes a thread about something, yet doesnt post a link to a download.

Just make the thread right to start with. :cool:
 
What kind of GPU and OS do you have? For me BF2142 always crash after walker graphic icon at the beginning. Even next walker animation doesn't start.
 
Not really a performance thing but when i installed the drivers ( im on dual monitors ) it blacked out my screens like normal and then wouldnt show the screen after that. I just waited till i thought the drivers would be done installing and the hit the restart button. When i logged back in my monitors switched Main and slave... And my slave was black still! All i had to do is reset the settings but annoying none the less!
 
BF2142 seemed a bit smoother on these drivers in Vista 64 on the system in sig. Might not have been connecteD to the drivers however. the new MOH demo works well also.

 
fallguy said:
Why is it so hard to post a link to the drivers when making the first thread that they are out.. ?

http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
Click to expand...

Because it's not an obscure link, and also, most readers on the ATI forum are old enough to wipe their own? :p Ok, ok... next time I'll link to everything relevant. (Insert sincere expression smiley here)

SmackDizzle said:
Which .Net version do I need before installing Catalyst Drivers?
Click to expand...

I believe it's .Net 2.0
 
halo2,bioshock,splinter cell would not load 7.9 betas acting up.then try offical 7.9 still problem went back to 7.8 every thing ok except bioshock looks like crap,oh well win some lose some
 
Cats 7.9 on an X1950pro 256 AGP and a X1950gt 256 AGP all fine here... no real difference, no better and no worse...
 
Works fine for me on WinXP Pro, Sapphire X1950 Pro 512mb PCI-X. Pretty much no difference in performance from 7.6.
 
Since 7.8 I can't update anything. It bluescreens and fails to detect the video card in safe mode and you can't use the installation setup. The only way around it is to force install an older driver once you get into safe mode.

So I guess I won't be trying these...
 
Probably off topic, but...

Just built a new system - Cat 7.9 then 7.8 both seem very unstable under Vista (yeah, I know. It was that or spend and extra $30 for a new XP Pro license). I'm running an E6750 and a PCI-E x1950 Pro on a GA-P35-DS3L, and generate a continuous stream of VPU reset errors whenever ATI Tool reports above 75C. I've pegged the fan at 100%, left the case panel off, and still wind up with artifacts on the desktop and crashing in games. (a note; the game rarely crashes to the desktop - at worst, the screen goes black for 2-5 seconds and recovers where I was.)

The video card, case and PSU (original Antec Sonata) were pretty much the only components brought over from the old system; I'd used the video card for 8 months under XP using the same in-game settings as I have now with *no* artifacting or crashes, even in the middle of summer.

After trying Cat 7.4 my next steps will involve swapping out the 1950 for an 800XL and/or my wife's 6600GT. Anyone else have a similar story?
 
Yup, heat seems to have degraded my card too because of the insufficient cooling (low default fan settings). I really can't play anything for more than 10 minutes in Vista without a crash, but with fan adjustments in ATI Tray Tools in XP things are pretty much fine...
 
works fine with qw:et but CS:S getting a crappy tearing with v-sync enabled (game options), didn't get it with 7.7, *sigh*
 
all I know is they work great with mobility modder for reloading X300/1100/1250 onboard PCI-E Ati notebooks, I hate loading the old drivers on dells/ acer ect via website drivers for OEM notebooks
=
Ati rules the low/mid range!
 
same as every other ati driver i have used (since say catalyst 3.4). works perfectly.
 
dnottis said:
....The 2900XT is really only for recent games, if you play older games its aweful for them.
Click to expand...

Well lessee...the older games I still have - UT2k4 & G.O.T.Y., C&C Generals, Starcraft/Brood War - all run fine on my 2900XT/512 (Cat 7.8).

Newer games STALKER, C&C3, HL2: Lost Coast & Deathmatch, DoD: Source, and Bioshock demo all run well too.

Hmmm....
 
aztec61 said:
Well lessee...the older games I still have - UT2k4 & G.O.T.Y., C&C Generals, Starcraft/Brood War - all run fine on my 2900XT/512 (Cat 7.8).

Newer games STALKER, C&C3, HL2: Lost Coast & Deathmatch, DoD: Source, and Bioshock demo all run well too.

Hmmm....
Click to expand...

Omfg you are kidding right? 640x480 sprite game FTW! Good thing you can't turn up the AA :eek:

How does STALKER run? You never seemed to post any FPS results in the old thread asking for them for 2900 owners.
 
jmackay said:
Omfg you are kidding right? 640x480 sprite game FTW! Good thing you can't turn up the AA :eek:

How does STALKER run? You never seemed to post any FPS results in the old thread asking for them for 2900 owners.
Click to expand...

STALKER runs fine. So do all of the others I listed.

And you need to get a life and quit following me around the forums with your trolls. Then get over the fact that the 2900XT is a great card.
 
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