AMD Releases Catalyst 7.2 for Vista and XP

[Bateluer]

Text

This release note provides information on the latest posting of AMD's industry leading software suite, Catalyst?. This particular software suite updates both the AMD Display Driver (version 8.342), and the Catalyst? Control Center (version 7.2). This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst? software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.

This release note provides information on the following:

* AMD Product Support
* Operating systems supported
* New Features
* Performance Improvements
* Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
* Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
* Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
* Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System
* Installing the Catalyst? Software Driver
* AMD Customer Care
* Catalyst? Crew Driver Feedback

AMD Product Support

The Catalyst? Vista driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system is supported on the following ATI Radeon? products.
AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP ATI Radeon? X1950 series
ATI Radeon? X800 series
ATI Radeon? X1900 series
ATI Radeon? X700 series
ATI Radeon? X1800 series
ATI Radeon? X600 series
ATI Radeon? X1650 series
ATI Radeon? X550 series
ATI Radeon? X1600 series
ATI Radeon? X300 series
ATI Radeon? X1550 series
ATI Radeon? 9800 series
ATI Radeon? X1300 series
ATI Radeon? 9700 series
ATI Radeon? X1050 series
ATI Radeon? 9600 series
ATI Radeon? X850 series
ATI Radeon? 9500 series
Caution: The ATI Radeon? X1950 XT is currently not supported under the Windows Vista operating system
AMD Mobility Product Family Support Vista Only ATI Mobility? Radeon? X1800
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X600
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X1600
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X300
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X1400
ATI Mobility? Radeon? 9800
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X1300
ATI Mobility? Radeon? 9700
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X800
ATI Mobility? Radeon? 9600
ATI Mobility? Radeon? X700
ATI Mobility? Radeon? 9550
AMD Multimedia Family Product Support for both Windows Vista and XP ATI All-in-Wonder® X1900 Series
ATI Theater? 550 PRO
ATI All-in-Wonder® X1800 Series
ATI TV Wonder? Elite
ATI All-in-Wonder® 2006 Edition
ATI All-in-Wonder® 9800 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder? X800 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder? 9600 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder? X600 Series


Note: ATI All-In-Wonder? and VIVO variants listed above are supported in the display driver only.
Note: The capture driver for these products installed on systems running Windows Vista is not being updated at this time
AMD Chipset Product Support ATI CrossFire? Xpress 1600
ATI Xpress? 200 Series
ATI Radeon? Xpress 1100
ATI Radeon? Xpress 200M
Note: The capture driver for these products installed on systems running Windows Vista is not being updated at this time

Operating systems supported

The latest version of the Catalyst? software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

* Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit versions)
* Windows XP Professional
* Windows XP Home Edition
* Windows XP Media Center Edition (graphics driver support only)
The ATI Catalyst? Vista driver is validated on the RTM versions of the Windows Vista operating system.
Note: When installing the Catalyst? Vista driver for Windows Vista, the user must logged on as an Administrator or have Administrator rights in order to successfully complete the installation of the Catalyst? Vista driver.

New Features

Catalyst? 7.2 introduces a brand new version of the Catalyst? Control Center for Windows XP. The new Catalyst? Control Center delivers a number of significant enhancements:

* Significant performance gains; Catalyst? Control Center start-up time has been substantially reduced, and overall responsiveness has improved.
* Reduced system resource usage
* New 3D preview which significantly improves the ability for users to understand the benefits of enabling the many Catalyst? features of their ATI Radeon? graphics accelerator
* Increased stability
* Native 32 and 64-bit support

Performance Improvements

Open GL performance improves for all ATI Radeon? X1000 series products. Gains of up to 25% in Doom 3, 48% in Quake 4 and 21% in Prey can be seen on a variety of ATI Radeon? X1000 cards. These performance gains are noticed under the Windows Vista operating system.
Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

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

* Doom 3: Setting AA to 4x and AT to 8x along with the display resolution to 2560x1600 no longer results in display corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25520
* Corruption is no longer noticed during fast motion of DVD playback when using MCE/WMP. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23550
* Catalyst? Control Center->Display Manager: Connecting only a CRT display device to a system running Windows Vista no longer results in TV display modes being available. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24467
* The Microsoft Vista operating system no longer fails to resume from an S3 state on systems containing an ATI Xpress 200 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25506
* A flickering display is no longer noticed when playing a DVD using the Windows Media Player in full screen and resuming from a standby state after disconnecting a CRT display device. This issue was known to occur when using a system containing an ATI Xpress 1100/1150 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25507
* Catalyst? Control Center: The Help Launching Dialog is now localized for all supported languages. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25508
* Hot plugging or un-plugging a third display device when CrossFire? is enabled no longer results in the primary display device being swapped and identified as the display device connecting to the primary port on the master card. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25509
* Connecting a TV to a system containing an ATI Xpress 200 series and setting it to PAL no longer results in the user not being able to control the display resolution on the LCD display when using the Catalyst? Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25511
* The Windows Vista software driver for ATI Radeon? products no longer fails to install if copied to a directory with a long name or to a directory with a long file path location. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25514
* Display corruption is no longer noticed when watching TV under the Windows Vista operating system when using an ATI Radeon? X1600 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25515
* The Catalyst? Control Center no longer fails to launch under the Simplified Chinese version of Windows Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25516
* Connecting two display devices with one display device using the HDMI connector (secondary) no longer results in faded colors being noticed on the HDMI display device when swapping (primary and secondary) between the two display devices. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25793
* The display mode of 1440X900@75Hz is now available within the Catalyst? Control Center when using a system containing an ATI Radeon? X1600/1650 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25794
* Disconnecting the primary display device when the Windows Vista operating system is in a standby state may result in the log-in screen failing to appear when resuming. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24470
* Hot-unplugging a secondary CRT display device while the Vista screen saver is active no longer results in corruption being noticed on the LCD display when ending the screen saver activity. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25795
* The PowerPlay option is no longer available on systems that do not support the option under the Japanese version of the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25796
* Changing the PowerPlay setting to either Power Saving or High Performance under Windows Vista, followed by rebooting the system no longer results in the PowerPlay setting displaying Battery Life mode regardless of the system being on AC power. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25797

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:

* Battlefield 2: Attempting to launch the game under Windows XP with the in-game display setting at 1920x1440 or 2048x1536 and AA set to 6x no longer results in the game failing to launch. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22817
* Desperados 2: The game no longer fails to play and display an error in atioglxx.dll when AA is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25109
* Splinter Cell Double Agent: Corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game with AA enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25104
* Catalyst? Control Center->Basic View: Connecting a secondary display device and attempting to enable it, no longer results in the inability to enable the device when using Basic view. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23447
* Connecting a CRT as the primary display device and CV as the secondary display device no longer results in the desktop area and refresh rate being reported incorrectly when applying the 1080i30 Optimized mode within the Catalyst? Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25174
* Enabling CrossFire? no longer results in display corruption being noticed when playing certain 3D games such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 and Madden Football. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23006
* Catalyst? Control Center->Basic View: Connecting a secondary display device and attempting to enable it, no longer results in the inability to enable the device when using Basic view. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24347
* Catalyst? Control Center: Connecting an HDTV or DFP display device no longer results in some of the HDTV formats being listed twice in the Catalyst? Control Center->Digital Panel Properties->HDTV Support. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24349
* A blank display no longer occurs when switching the display mode from 1920x1200 60Hz to 1600x1200 60Hz. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25811
* The display mode of 1080p is no longer added to mode list and customized list on HDTV where the maximum display mode is 1080i. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25812

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System

This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst? Vista RTM driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. These include:

* Call of Duty: Setting AA to either 2 or 4x may result in display corruption or the Vista operating system failing to respond when using an ATI Radeon? X800/850 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25523
* Call of Duty->United Offensive: Setting the in game video mode to 2048x1536 may result in display corruption being noticed when playing the game under Windows Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25519
* City of Heroes: Changing the display resolution to 2560x1600 or higher may result in the game failing to run. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25518
* Doom 3: Attempting to play the game on a system running the Windows Vista operating system and containing an ATI Radeon? X550/700 series of product may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25513
* Doom3/Quake 4: Setting the in game options for Video Quality to Medium and Screen Size to 1024x768 may result in display corruption being noticed when setting AA to 4x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25802
* NBA Live 07: The full animation may not be displayed when launching the game with AA set to 2x or higher. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25803
* Never Winter Nights->Shadows of Undertide: Attempting to play the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon? X800/850 series of product and running the Windows Vista operating system may result in game failing to respond after playing the opening cinematic. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25512
* Never Winter Nights->Shadows of Undrentide: Attempting to play the game under the Windows Vista operating system (64bit version) may result in the opening cinematic failing to play when using an LCD display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25521
* NHL 07: The in-game display settings may fail to be applied when playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system when using a supported ATI Radeon? product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23549
* Quake 4: game corruption may be noticed when playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system when using an ATI Radeon? 9800 XT product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25510
* X-Plane: Playing the game under the Windows Vista operating system may result in display corruption being noticed when using an ATI Radeon? X1900/1950 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25522
* The Force TV option may still be active after deselecting the option and then re-launching the Catalyst? Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23547
* Playing a DVD under the Windows Vista operating system using the Windows Media Player may result in the DVD failing to play when switching between display devices using the hot-key function. Further details can be found in topic number 737-24472
* The Microsoft Vista gamma settings set by the operating system may be overwritten when launching the Catalyst? Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25505
* Launching the Catalyst? Control Center after hot-plugging a secondary CRT display device may result in the desktop image reverting to a black and white image requiring a re-installation of the display driver. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25517
* OverDrive? may not function as expected under the Windows Vista operating system when running an OpenGL application. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25524
* 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
* Connecting a CRT to a system containing an ATI Radeon? X1200/1250/1300 series of product may result in the Windows Vista operating system may fail to respond when attempting to resume from an S3 state by pressing the power button. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25799
* Display corruption may be noticed when clone mode is enabled and the displays are set to either 1280x1024 75/85/100 Hz. or 1400x1050 60Hz. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25800
* Hot-plugging a CRT to a system running Windows Vista and containing an ATI Radeon? X1100/1150 series of product may result in extended desktop mode failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25801
* Installing an ATI Radeon? X800 GT in a system running the Windows Vista 64bit version operating system may result in the WDM driver being unloaded when opening a window or application. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25804

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:

* Starwars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: Setting the in-game display option to low settings may result in corruption being noticed within the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25173
* 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
* Uninstalling the graphics drivers may result in some of the files and folder failing to be removed in the Program File folder. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23715
* 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 response time for the Catalyst? Control Center may appear slow when attempting to make changes to the display devices when having both a CRT and HDTV connected and extended desktop mode enabled. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25806
* Choppy playback of media previews and captured files may be noticed in the media center and movie maker after applying WMP 11 update. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25807
* Installing an ATI Radeon? X1900 CrossFire? Master and X1900 slave under Windows XP may result in AA settings failing to be retained when rebooting the system. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25808
* Hot-plugging an HDMI TV to the DVI port of graphics adapter via HDMI to DVI cable may result in the DVI-to-HDMI detection message appearing but then disappearing within 30 seconds or when making a slight mouse movement. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25809
* Extend desktop mode may fail to work after rotating the extended secondary desktop to 90 degrees. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25810

 

[bobthemongoloid]

dammit the 1950pro overclock flicker is still there..

 

[geokilla]

Does driver cleaner have to be run before updating from 6.10?

 

[postmortemIA]

... and Linux as well.

 

[cyclohexane]

damnit the x1950xt bug is still there! No 7.2 for me then.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: geokilla
Does driver cleaner have to be run before updating from 6.10?

Yes, in Safe Mode, select "ATI", then clean. Also you might want to clean the Driver.cab (although that one may take up to several minutes to complete), also by using Driver Cleaner (under the tools option I think).

As for Catalyst 7.2, I just installed it, and noticed performance improvements in OpenGL as stated by ATi but also in some of my Direct3D games, very nice drivers.

 

[Piuc2020]

Damn I wish nvidia was this dedicated about releasing good driver updates, the forceware 100.65 for vista are absolutely horrible.

 

[evolucion8]

I installed it and the CCC starts a lot faster than before and uses 2 process that doesn't exceed the 8MB in RAM usage both, ccc.exe and mom.exe, weird it is called mom eh? And I scored 21914 in 3DMark01, 12,786 in 3DMark03 and 6,384 in 3DMark05, little increments in all benchmarks don't know why, after all it doesn't say anything about performance improvements on them, the only weird thing is that now I'm able to select High Quality AF in the 3D tab, but no image quality difference found, it crashes my system after a while when it is on. Weird, an only X1X00 series feature.

 

[Schadenfroh]

CCC is a good deal better, I like the new sample images.

 

[Makaveli]

I installed them, but I use tray tools so no comments on CCC. But so far good no issues.

 

[StrangerGuy]

CCC now loads instantenously for me. BIG thumbs up for AMD/ATI!

 

[pacho108]

AF through ccc doesn't seem to work for me in oblivion

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
CCC now loads instantenously for me. BIG thumbs up for AMD/ATI!

Same here. These drivers are awesome. I'm so happy I didn't buy an Nvidia card. I'm using Vista Home Premium.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: pacho108
AF through ccc doesn't seem to work for me in oblivion

It does for me. Did you do a proper uninstall/install drivers with driver cleaner?

 

[zodder]

Originally posted by: bobthemongoloid
dammit the 1950pro overclock flicker is still there..

Crap. That was the first question I asked myself when I saw the thread title: "Did they fix that damn flickering?"

 

[lopri]

AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP ATI Radeon? X1950 series

Caution: The ATI Radeon? X1950 XT is currently not supported under the Windows Vista operating system

??

 

[zephyrprime]

Any benches? This one is supposed to be a lot better with opengl.

 

[Zenoth]

Well, very humble benchmark here with OpenGL.

I tried in Natural-Selection (a modification for the original Half-Life centered on multi-player game-play for those who didn't know), at 1280x960, 6x A-A-A (Adaptive) and 16x HQ A-F. Even on those settings I get well above the 60+ FPS, because N-S uses some old OpenGL effects and features, due to its age of course, however I did notice, via FRAPS, that I get around 10+ to 20+ extra frames-per-second in some maps like NS_Eclipse and NS_Nancy. I have Doom 3 that I could try to benchmark with, but I haven't installed it since months.

I guess that if an old game like N-S shows performance improvements then more recent OpenGL-based games should also get some benefits from the new Catalyst. The curious part about Catalyst 7.2 is that I also get performance improvements in pretty much all of my recent Direct3D games I tried (AOE III, Dark Crusade, Medieval II, Half-Life 2: E1, Red Orchestra, UT 2004, and much more), and there is absolutely no mention of performance improvements for Direct3D games in the Release Notes.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Well, very humble benchmark here with OpenGL.

I tried in Natural-Selection (a modification for the original Half-Life centered on multi-player game-play for those who didn't know), at 1280x960, 6x A-A-A (Adaptive) and 16x HQ A-F. Even on those settings I get well above the 60+ FPS, because N-S uses some old OpenGL effects and features, due to its age of course, however I did notice, via FRAPS, that I get around 10+ to 20+ extra frames-per-second in some maps like NS_Eclipse and NS_Nancy. I have Doom 3 that I could try to benchmark with, but I haven't installed it since months.

I guess that if an old game like N-S shows performance improvements then more recent OpenGL-based games should also get some benefits from the new Catalyst.

The curious part about Catalyst 7.2 is that I also get performance improvements in pretty much all of my recent Direct3D games I tried (AOE III, Dark Crusade, Medieval II, Half-Life 2: E1, Red Orchestra, UT 2004, and much more), and there is absolutely no mention of performance improvements for Direct3D games in the Release Notes.

Was this in Vista or XP? I've been having problems with ATI's OpenGL drivers in Vista (on a 9700 Pro, old school I know ). I seem to get a hard lock any time I run an OpenGL app with AA on (including ones I've written myself)...

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Well, very humble benchmark here with OpenGL.

I tried in Natural-Selection (a modification for the original Half-Life centered on multi-player game-play for those who didn't know), at 1280x960, 6x A-A-A (Adaptive) and 16x HQ A-F. Even on those settings I get well above the 60+ FPS, because N-S uses some old OpenGL effects and features, due to its age of course, however I did notice, via FRAPS, that I get around 10+ to 20+ extra frames-per-second in some maps like NS_Eclipse and NS_Nancy. I have Doom 3 that I could try to benchmark with, but I haven't installed it since months.

I guess that if an old game like N-S shows performance improvements then more recent OpenGL-based games should also get some benefits from the new Catalyst. The curious part about Catalyst 7.2 is that I also get performance improvements in pretty much all of my recent Direct3D games I tried (AOE III, Dark Crusade, Medieval II, Half-Life 2: E1, Red Orchestra, UT 2004, and much more), and there is absolutely no mention of performance improvements for Direct3D games in the Release Notes.

PM me sometime so we can play a game of NS. Still one of the best mods out there IMO.
Can't wait for source!

 

[mooncancook]

Sorry for a dump question as I'm kind of out of date with their driver updates: does the newer cat drivers allow HDR+AA in Oblivion? If not, does the patch that enable HDR+AA in Oblivion still work with the newer drivers?

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: mooncancook
Sorry for a dump question as I'm kind of out of date with their driver updates: does the newer cat drivers allow HDR+AA in Oblivion? If not, does the patch that enable HDR+AA in Oblivion still work with the newer drivers?

All Catalysts 6.10 and up has integrated chuck patch, AFAIK for Win XP.

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: lopri

AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP ATI Radeon? X1950 series

Caution: The ATI Radeon? X1950 XT is currently not supported under the Windows Vista operating system

??

There's a problem with switching between 2D and 3D clocks on the X1950XT in Vista. You have to disable the "Ati External Event Handler" service to keep it from crashing whenever you load a game. The workaround basically forces the card to run with 2D clocks all the time and seems to keep CCC from opening (at least for me). It's a crappy situation and there really is no reason for it to happen.

 

[KeithTalent]

These are the first ones I have downloaded in a while. Fixed a problem I was having with CS...good stuff!

 

[Bill Brasky]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
These are the first ones I have downloaded in a while. Fixed a problem I was having with CS...good stuff!

Just curious, what was your issue?