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, and the Catalyst™ Control Center. 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:
- Web Content
- AMD Product Support
- Operating systems supported
- New Features
- Performance Improvements
- ATI's Folding@Home
- 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™ Vista Software Driver
- AMD Customer Care
- Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback
- AMD Product Support
Web Content
The Catalyst™ software suite 7.10 contains the following:
- Radeon™ display driver 8.421
- Multimedia Center™ 9.16 (Windows XP only)
- HydraVision™ (Windows XP only)
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition (Windows XP only)
- Remote Wonder 3.04 (Windows XP only)
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst™ Control Center Version 7.10
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Caution: | The Catalyst™ software driver and the Catalyst™ Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same Catalyst™ release |
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Caution: | The Catalyst™ Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 2.0 installed, the Catalyst™ Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message. |
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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/ |
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.
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Note: | ATI All-in-Wonder™ boards operate with AMD's Windows Vista ready display and capture drivers under the Windows Vista operating system. However, the Windows Vista Media Center application does not support TV/Capture functionality provided by the ATI All-in-Wonder™. TV/Capture functionality is qualified to function with Snaptream's BeyondTV 4.6 for Windows Vista. Other third party solutions (such as Arcsoft's Total Media 3) may support TV/Capture with the ATI All-in-Wonder™, but these applications have not been fully tested by AMD. |
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
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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. |
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Caution: | Once the driver installation is completed under the Vista operating system (32 and 64 bit), the driver log file may report that the ATI T200 Unified AVStream Driver failed to install. A reboot of the operating system resolves the issue. |
New Features
Catalyst™ 7.10 introduces the following new features:
- Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ X1000 Series of products
- Software CrossFire™ support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 and ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series
Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ X1000 Series of products
This release of Catalyst™ introduces Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ X1000 Series of products. Adaptive Anti-Aliasing substantially improves image quality by anti-aliasing transparent textures.
Software CrossFire™ support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 and ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series
This release of Catalyst™ introduces software CrossFire™ support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series and ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series. Software CrossFire™ is only available when two graphics accelerators from the same family (i.e. 2 ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 products) are plugged into a CrossFire™ compatible motherboard with no hardware interconnect between the two graphics accelerators.
Performance Improvements
The following performance improvements are noticed with Catalyst™ 7.10:
- Battlefield 2142: CrossFire™ performance improves 5-23% on ATI Radeon™ HD2600, HD2400 and ATI Radeon™ X1300/X1550
- BioShock DX10 CrossFire™ performance improves 70% or more on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 series of products
- Call of Duty 2: performance improves up to 6.7% on both single card and CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD2600 and ATI Radeon™ HD2400 configurations
- Call of Juarez DX10: CrossFire™ performance improves up to 42% and single card performance improves up to 34% on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 series of products
- Company of Heroes DX10 CrossFire™ performance improves up to 80% on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 series of products and single card performance improves as much as 31% on ATI Radeon™ HD2900 and ATI Radeon™ HD2600 products
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars CrossFire™ performance improves as much as 23% on ATI Radeon™ X1x00 series products and single card performance improves as much as 23% on both ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 and ATI Radeon™ X1x00 series of products
- FEAR CrossFire™ performance improves as much as 16% on ATI Radeon™ X1950XTX, X1650XT, HD2400 and X1300/X1550
- Lost Planet DX10 CrossFire™ performance improves 20% or greater on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 series of products
- Supreme Commander CrossFire™ performance improves up to 30% on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 and ATI Radeon™ X1x00 series products. ATI Radeon™ X1650 and X1300/X1550 see even greater improvements of 82% or more
- World In Conflict DX10 CrossFire™ performance improves 14-67% or more and single card performance improves 20% or more on ATI Radeon™ HD2900XT and ATI Radeon™ HD2600 products
- World in Conflict DX9 CrossFire™ performance improves up to 70% or more on all ATI Radeon™ HD2x00 products
ATI's Folding@Home
Folding@Home is a distributed computing project designed by the Stanford University. The application performs intensive simulations of protein folding. This simulation will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop. Folding@Home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding, the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed across hundreds of thousands of computers over the internet. You can help find the cure to many different diseases! To join Folding@Home, follow these steps:
- Download ATI's Catalyst™ software suite
- Download the Folding@Home GPU client application
- Enter the ATI team number 51394 and start folding!
For more information on Folding@Home visit: http://ati.amd.com/technology/streamcomputing/folding.html
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:
- Call of Juarez: Enabling CrossFire™ and setting the in-game graphics options to higher settings no longer results in the game failing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29541
- Call of Juarez: Setting up a multi-player LAN game on a system running Windows Vista and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 series of product no longer results in corruption being noticed 737-29917
- Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: Pressing the Alt+Tab keys when playing the game no longer results 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™ no longer results in corruption being noticed in the opening cinematic of the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29543
- Might and Magic Heroes V: Display flicker and corruption is no longer noticed when CrossFire™ is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29913
- The composite video slider values are no longer 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 no longer results 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 no longer results in the application failing if the Catalyst™ 7.6 driver is installed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28823
- A Windows error message no longer occurs when game settings are set to their highest levels. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28830
- Hot-plugging an HDMI display device no longer results 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 no longer results in invalid refresh rates being listed in the Display manager. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29536
- 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
- Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 or less no longer 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
- Playing a HD-DVD or Blu-ray title using PowerDVD followed by rotating the display device by 90 degrees no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29552
- Enabling video mode within the Catalyst Control Center->TV Properties->Adjustments no longer results in the Enable Video Mode check box becoming grayed out if the Catalyst Control Center is closed and then restarted. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29920
- Catalyst Control Center->Basic View: Current setting text is no longer misplaced in the Content Viewing Selection for Component Video. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29922
- Catalyst Control Center->HDTV Support->Predefined and Custom HDTV Formats: Selecting a different format and clicking the Apply Format button no longer results in the Add button becoming grayed out. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29924
- The text is no longer truncated in drop down menu of the ATI OverDrive warning pop-up message. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29925
- Clone mode can no longer be enabled for software CrossFire™ configurations under Windows XP. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29985
- The Refresh rate for 576i/p is no longer listed erroneously as 20Hz/34Hz in the Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29909
- 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 737-29910
- Chronicles of Riddick: A very dark display image is no longer noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ X800 series of product and running the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29911
- All high resolutions are now displayed in the Displays Manager and Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29912
- Corruption is no longer noticed in the ATI Catalyst End User License Agreement when using the Swedish version of the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29914
- 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 727-29915
- Horizontal line corruption is no longer noticed when AFR mode is enabled and vsync is disabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29916
- Attempting to play HD-DVD title on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series of product no longer results in hardware mode not being available for all display resolutions. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29982
- Attempting to playing certain DVD's using WinDVD 7 and enabling hardware acceleration no longer results in the DVD failing to play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29918
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:
- DIRT: Launching DIRT with CrossFire™ enabled no longer results in the game failing to launch and an error message being displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29554
- On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher no longer results in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515
- 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 no longer results in the windows background not being re-drawn properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28831
- On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher no longer results in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515
- Running Google Earth in OpenGL mode no longer results in corruption being noticed on the desktop and the mouse pointer is moved around. Further details can be found in topic number737-29932
- Stranglehold: Frequent stutters are no longer noticed when using dynamic resources. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29949
- Attempting to play an HD-DVD or Blu-ray title on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series of product no longer results in a VPU Recover occurring when looping the introduction of the title. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29962
Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst™. These include:
- Bioshock, Lost Planet, and World In Conflict: Connecting certain dual link display devices to certain ATI Radeon 2x00 series of cards may result in limited display resolutions being available. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30090
- 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
- Doom 3: Playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series of product and running the Windows Vista operating system may result in Display corruption being noticed when using the console commands. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29978
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: Enabling Super AA and soft particles may result in corruption being noticed in the main menu and through-out game play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29942
- Fable: A black ring may be seen around the player character. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29939
- 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
- Serious Sam: the Second Encounter Demo: Game play may appear delayed when playing the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29933
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 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
- Creating a secondary user account and switching from the secondary user account to the primary user account may result in CrossFire™ failing to be enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28786
- Frame flipping may occur while playing certain VC-1 content titles. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27804
- Catalyst Control Center: German character are truncated in the ProfileManager Applications tab. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29930
- A missing Korean character is noticed within the install shield. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29931
- Connecting a secondary display device to a system containing an ATI Radeon™ x1200/1250/1270 series of product and enabling clone mode or extended desktop mode may result in horizontal line corruption being noticed when using a high refresh rate and display resolution. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29933
- Catalyst Control Center: An error message may be displayed when clicking on Help. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29934
- Setting the display device to 1600x1200 75Hz may result in the HD DVD playback window appearing blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29936
- Roxio Creator Premier v9: MyDVD: Attempting to burn a DVD may result in the burn process failing at the encoding preview. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29937
- 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
- The color depth may change to 8 bpp when enabling or disabling CrossFire™ for the first time. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29940
- 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
- Google Sketchup may fail to pan when AA is enabled on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ X1300/1550/1600 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29941
- Setting the display resolution to either 1776x1024 or 1920x1024 30i may results in the display devices failing to resume from an S3 state. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29944
- 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
- 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
- Frame flipping may occur while playing certain VC-1 content titles. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27804
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
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: Corrupting may be noticed with the use of rectangle textures. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29954
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars may have corruption on the water and sky after increasing the game resolution. Restarting the game at that higher resolution or issuing reloadImages command in the game console corrects the corruption. This issue only impacts graphics cards up to the ATI Radeon™ X850. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29947
- Lost Planet: Setting AA to either 4x or 8x may intermittently result in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28492
- Star Wars Battlefront 2: Setting the in-game options as follows: Overall Quality to High, View Distance to 99, LOD Distance to 99 and Anti-Aliasing to 6x may result in the game's loading bar reaching the end but the game failing to start. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29946
- Unreal Tournament 2004: Enabling CrossFire™ followed by attempting to change the in-game display resolution may result in a loss of vsync. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29950
- 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, 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
- 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
- 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
- The CrossFire™ option found in the Catalyst Control Center may not be available on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ X1800 series of product and running the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30010
- Users running Windows XP on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 may experience a drop in performance from Single card mode to CrossFire™ mode when software CrossFire™ is enabled in certain applications. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29980
- Pressing the power button to resume from an S3 state may result in only the mouse cursor being visible and the screen remaining blank until the mouse is moved. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29948
- 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
- Installing the Catalyst Control Center on a previously installed version may results in a warning message that the setup is installing over an earlier version, and that the previous version needs to be uninstalled before installing a more current version, resulting in the Catalyst Control Center failing to be installed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28513
- Performing a fast user switch when running overfly.exe in Overlay Theater Mode may result in overfly.exe failing when switching back. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29951
- Catalyst Control Center: Configuring a system with multi-adapters may result in an error message being displayed when running the Test Custom Clocks. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29953
- Dragging the WinDVD player from the primary display to the secondary display may result in the player failing to respond. Further, closing the WinDVD player using the Task Manager may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29955
- 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
- Enabling extended desktop mode and dragging the PowerDVD window to the secondary display device may result in the PowerDVD window becoming black with only the audio being heard. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29952
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.
Installing the Catalyst™ Vista Software Driver
Installation information can be found at: ati.amd.com
AMD Customer Care
The AMD Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and ease of navigation. The AMD 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 AMD Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known issue or find troubleshooting information, do the following:
- Go to ati.amd.com. The AMD home page is displayed.
- Click on Customer Care and select Radeon™ (PC/Mac). The ATI Customer Care web page is displayed.
- Select Knowledge base. The AMD knowledge base is displayed.
- In the top right corner of the page, select Advanced Search. The Advanced Search page is displayed.
- Select the option you wish to search by.
- Click SEARCH. The information requested (if available) is displayed.
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.