This release note provides information on the latest posting of ATI's industry leading software suite, Catalyst®. This particular software suite updates both the ATI Display Driver (version 8.252), and the Catalyst® Control Center (version 6.5). This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The ATI Catalyst® software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.
The Catalyst® 6.5 Release Note provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- ATI Desktop product family support
- ATI FireMV™ 2D Drivers Support
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- Performance Improvements
- Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5
- Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5
- ATI Customer Care
- Installing the latest Catalyst® Software Suite
- Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback
Web Content
The Catalyst® software suite 6.5 contains the following:
- Radeon® display driver 8.252
- Multimedia Center™ 9.14
- HydraVision™
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition
- Remote Wonder 3.03
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst® Control Center Version 6.5
Caution: The Catalyst® Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1 or 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 1.1 or 2.0 installed, the Catalyst® Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.
Note: These release notes provide information on the Radeon® display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision™, HydraVision Basic Edition, WDM, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: https://support.ati.com/
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® 9X00 series
- Radeon® 8500 series
- Radeon® 7X00 series
Note: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also supported.
Note: All ATI Radeon® PC Graphic cards are optimized for Microsoft's Media Center Edition 2005 when coupled with a supported video capture card.
ATI FireMV™ 2D Drivers Support
The Catalyst® software suite 6.2 also provides 2D graphics driver support for the following FireMV™ products:
Operating systems supported
The latest version of the Catalyst® software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
Note: As of January 1, 2004, Microsoft no longer accepted certification submissions for the Microsoft® Windows® Millennium Edition operating system. The ATI Catalyst® CREW however is committed to all its customers and is now providing non certified WHQL software drivers for users of the Windows Millennium Edition operating system. Windows Millennium Edition users can obtain the software driver at: http://www.support.ati.com/. Windows 98/98SE is supported through the ME driver.
New Features
This release of Catalyst® introduces the following new features:
Overlay Theater Mode Update
Catalyst® 6.5 introduces a new option for Overlay Theater Mode. The new option, Standard Dual Mode is available for Radeon® X1x00 series of graphics cards. This new feature now allows users to playback video using hardware acceleration when it is played on both displays (clone mode). Hardware acceleration decreases CPU utilization, allowing the PC to run smoother and faster. When using two displays in clone mode, video playback will be identically displayed on both display devices. For Radeon® X1000 series products (Avivo Video) overlay is per-display and true overlay will be used for both displays. For pre-Radeon® X1x00 boards, there is only one hardware overlay, so video on the second clone display device is either software-rendered (i.e. "Same on all" selection) or the Windows desktop is displayed but the video will not show through the color key (i.e., "Standard mode" selection).
Adaptive Anti-Aliasing for ATI Radeon® 9500 and above
Adaptive Anti-Aliasing smoothes out the surfaces in an entire scene unlike Multi-Sample which works only on edge surfaces. Adaptive AA has the ability to work on transparent or opaque texels, like those that comprise a surface texture. Previously this feature was available on the ATI Radeon® X1000 family products. Starting with Catalyst® 6.5, Adaptive AA support is now available to ATI Radeon® 9500 products and above.
Performance Improvements
As with most Catalyst® releases, performance has increased in various situations. The PCI Express bandwidth optimization code in Catalyst® 6.5 brings performance improvements for both the ATI Radeon® X1600 and Radeon® X1300 Crossfire configurations, including:
Issues Resolved in Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5
The following section provides a summary of the issues that are resolved in the latest release of Catalyst®. These include:
- 3DMark05: Running the application with CrossFire enabled and then attempting to hot un-plug and then hot-plug the CRT no longer results in 3DMark05 failing to respond. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22347
- Aquamark 3: Exiting the Start Measurement benchmark test once it is complete no longer results in the display device displaying a black desktop image with only the mouse cursor being available. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22344
- Doom 3: Beginning a new game and selecting the shotgun in the give all console no longer results in corruption being noticed when Ultra Quality is disabled in the in game video quality settings. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22350
- Far Cry: Installing the v1.33 patch and selecting D3D along with setting the display to 1024x768 English no longer results in the operating system failing to respond when running the benchmark. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22314
- Catalyst® Control Center: Enabling clone mode no longer results in the refresh rate being locked at 60Hz when using an ATI Radeon® X700 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-21454
- The MCE encoder no longer fails to install after the installation of the ATI display driver, WDM driver, and MMC software. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number. 737-22009
- The display device no longer fades to black when attempting to do an inf install of the display driver. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22313
- Connecting a CRT and disconnecting a TV followed by entering suspend mode and disconnecting the CRT no longer results in the LCD display failing to resume from suspend mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22379
- Disconnecting a TV and connecting a CRT while in hibernation mode no longer results in the CRT failing to display an image when resuming from hibernation mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22379
- Connecting a Sharp 32 inch LCD TV using the DVI connector no longer results in the a display mode of 659x496 being displayed when setting the display to 640x480. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number737-22316
- Catalyst® Control Center: Advanced Mode: Incorrect text and cropped text is no longer noticed when selecting Japanese as the language for the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22319
- Clicking Start->All Programs->Catalyst® Control Center->Advanced->Catalyst® Control Center no longer results in the Catalyst® Control Center Basic View launching. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22318
- The HDTV formats list no longer becomes empty after changing the display mode from extended desktop mode to clone mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22319
- The Windows MCE operating system no longer fails to respond when doing a TV channel scan when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1900 (PAL). Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22320
- A .net 2.0 error message is no longer displayed during the installation under the Windows 2000 SP4 Chinese version. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number737-22321
- Using the Catalyst® Control Center to change the skin to the ATI Catalyst® Crimson no longer results in the ATI Quicksilver skin being applied. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22322
- Running the automated clock configuration utility found in the Overdrive aspect page of the Catalyst® Control Center no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22323
- Enabling Picture-in-picture no longer results in the windowed TV image failing to respond when changing the TV channel. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22324
- Catalyst® Control Center: A VPU Recover warning window no longer fails to be displayed when an ASIC reset occurs. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22325
- Catalyst® Control Center: Connecting a secondary CRT display device no longer results in the LCD display device failing to display an image after completing the Catalyst® Control Center->Easy Setup Wizard. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22326
- Applying the Custom settings found in the CV aspect page of the Catalyst® Control Center no longer results in the custom setting being lost when the system is rebooted. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22327
- Running SFR in 720p on a system containing an ATI Radeon® X1800 series no longer results in line corruption being noticed when CrossFire is enabled. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22328
- The operating system no longer fails to respond when connecting a DVO dongle to an ATI Radeon® 7000 series. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22330
- Adding a new custom HDTV mode no longer results in the custom mode not being available in the Catalyst® Control Center Display Manager. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22331
- The predefined HDTV modes are no longer missing from the CV aspect page in the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22332
- Catalyst® Control Center: Enabling clone mode may result in the refresh rate being locked at 60Hz when using an ATI Radeon® X700 series product. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22333
- The display mode of 1024x768@60Hz is now included in Catalyst® Control Center for component video output. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22335
- The HDTV Support aspect is now available under the Monitor Properties when using Advanced View in the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number737-22336
- Connecting an HDTV using the CV dongle and setting the power option to turn the monitor off after one minute no longer results in the HDTV failing to resume. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22337
- An HDMI detection message is now displayed when hot plugging an HDMI display device. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22338
- Catalyst® Control Center: Truncated and cut-off text is no longer noticed in various supported languages. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22339
- Black cubes and fog function no longer fail when testing GLView. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22340
- Two error messages are no longer displayed in the event viewer after the installation of the driver. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22341
- Using the hot-key function to change an LCD display panel setting no longer results in the LCD Panel Properties found in the Catalyst® Control Center failing to be updated with the current setting. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22342
- Catalyst® Control Center: Basic View: Enabling Use Advanced view 3D settings in the 3D Quality and Performance Setting no longer results in the Catalyst® Control Center reverting back to Use Basic 3D setting below. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22343
- The operating system no longer restarts multiple verdana after unplugging the power cable to the slave card and using only the master card. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22346
- Using the composite connectors to connect a CRT and TVout to an ATI Radeon® X1600 or 1300 no longer results in the TVout failing to display the desktop image when attempting to resume from hibernation mode. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22348
- NaviSet V1.1.10: Connecting an NEC display device to an ATI Radeon® X1600 series may result in the Monitor Adjustment dialog box stating No DDC/CI monitors detected. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22349
- The Catalyst® Control Center TV Properties no longer lists H/PAL as an appropriate, third format for countries that do not support this format. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22351
- An un-necessary hyphen next to the Go to ATI.com option found in the German version of the Catalyst® Control Center is now removed. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22352
- Connecting two display devices using a DVI-CRT and DVI-CV dongles no longer results in extended desktop mode failing to be applied. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22353
- The submenu Formats fields found in the TV Properties are no longer blank when setting the TV standard to PAL within the Catalyst® Control Center. Further details on this resolved issue can be found in topic number 737-22354
Known Issues for Catalyst® Software Suite 6.5
The following section provides a summary of open issues in the latest version of Catalyst®. These include:
- Alias MotionBuilder 6: Loading a model in MB6, followed by rotating the object, may result in shadows appearing corrupt and flickering being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21450
- Anarchy-Online: Screen corruption may be noticed when walking or running through the terrain. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22016
- AutoCAD 2005: Using the 3DORBIT command to rotate or zoom may result in the display hanging for a few seconds when having hardware acceleration enabled in AutoCAD and a 3D object in the drawing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21451
- AutoCad 2006: Corruption may be noticed when moving the mouse pointer around the desktop area. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21465
- Cold War: Playing the game with the display resolution set to 1600x1200 along with AA set to 8x and CrossFire™ enabled may result in a ghosting effect being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21661
- Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth: Playing the game under Windows XP SP2 using an ATI Radeon® X800 series product may result in intermittent display corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21458
- Neverwinter Nights: Playing the game under Windows XP on a system containing an ATI Radeon® X800 series, may result in the game exiting to the Windows desktop and an error message being displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21466
- Path of Neo: Texture corruption may be noticed when playing the Kung Fu level. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21464
- World of Warcraft: Enabling CrossFire may intermittently result in the character appearing off center Further details can be found in topic number 737-22017
- The Apply button in the Custom settings of the Advanced mode, found within the Catalyst® Control Center Video standard settings, is grayed out when playing a media file. Further details can be found in topic number 737-497
- Connecting an HDTV to an ATI Radeon® X700 series may result in the HDTV being detected as a CRT or TV under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20783
- The PAL FM fine tuning algorithm is currently using 200 MHz bandwidth which may overlap FM channels resulting in the same FM channel being found several verdana during the scan function. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20979
- Launching the Adobe Gamma calibration application and moving the gamma slider back and forth, may result in the Task Manager being filled with cli.exe until the system becomes low on memory. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20980
- 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 details can be found in topic number 737-21266
- Display corruption may be noticed when configuring the DTV channel to 1080i broadcast when using an ATI HDTV Wonder. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21455
- The LG P42SX DVI-D display device 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
- OpenGL Extension Viewer: 2.0: Running the Rendering tests may result in a black box appearing when the fog option is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21457
- Connecting an HDTV as the secondary display device and enabling Theater mode may result in HDTV failing to display an image when attempting to playback a movie with extended desktop mode enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21460
- The IBM T84H display device may fail to display an image when connected to the DVI connector on the ATI Radeon® X800 or X850 series. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21462
- Attempting to re-enable any display device other than the primary or secondary display device that has been disabled by CrossFire™, may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-21663
- Installing the a newer version of the Catalyst® Control Center over top of a previous installation of the Catalyst® Control Center may result in the installation of the Catalyst® Control Center taking a long time to complete. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22008
- Catalyst® Control Center: Connecting a display device capable of displaying a resolution of 1680x1050 to an ATI Radeon® X1900 may result in the display mode of 1680x1050 not being available in the Display Manager aspect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22011
- Using the ATI Multimedia Center to watch TV may result in the operating system restarting when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22013
- The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 with time-shifting enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22014
- Using the ATI Multimedia Center to watch TV may result in the operating system restarting when using an ATI Radeon® X1800 series product. Further information on this issue can be found in topic number 737-21890
- The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 and time shifting is enabled. Further information on this issue can be found in topic number 737-22014
- Creating a customized display mode of 720p50 may result in the customized mode failing to be deleted. Further information on this issue can be found in topic number 737-22380
- Using Catalyst® 6.3 or higher along with the MMC version 9.13 and performing a TV channel scan may result in some higher TV channels failing to be detected. Further information on this issue can be found in topic number 737-22381
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.
ATI Customer Care
The ATI Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and easy of navigation. The ATI Customer Care website provides accurate and up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance user experience. The ATI Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known or resolved issue, do the following:
- Go to: support.ati.com. The ATI Customer Care web page is displayed.
- In the top left hand pane, click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search pane is displayed.
- Under Search Type: Select the By: ID option.
- Enter the Topic number.
- Click Go.
Installing the latest Catalyst® Software Suite
Installation information can be found at: www.ati.com/install
Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback
This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the Catalyst® CREW Driver Feedback program. To provide us with your feedback, visit: Catalyst® Crew Driver Feedback.
ATI Technologies Inc.
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