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 7.7 contains the following:
- Radeon™ display driver 8.391
- Multimedia Center™ 9.16
- HydraVision™
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition
- Remote Wonder 3.04
- WDM Driver Install Bundle
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
- Catalyst™ Control Center Version 7.7
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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
This section provides information on new features introduced in this release of the Catalyst™ software suite. These include:
- New Catalyst™ Control Center Avivo features
- 12X and 24X Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT and ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series
New Catalyst™ Control Center Avivo features
Catalyst™ 7.7 releases a number of new Avivo features and enhancements which optimize video playback and display configuration. These include
- Enhanced video color pages with two new color controls1: flesh tone correction and color vibrance
- Enhanced video quality pages with easier to use deinterlacing controls and layout
- Simplified Theater Mode2 controls, layout and now supporting Windows Vista
- Enhanced quick settings for video controls (available through the basic layout in Catalyst™ Control Center)
- Easy to use display scaling controls2 when outputting to display devices that support TV timings (480i/p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p) through either digital (DVI or HDMI) or analog (component) interfaces
1These features are only available on the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series using Windows Vista.
2These features are only available on the ATI Radeon™ X1000 series and HD 2000 series
12x and 24x Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT and ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series
This release of Catalyst™ introduces support for 12X and 24X Anti-Aliasing for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT, and ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series. These new Anti-Aliasing settings are available through the new Anti-Aliasing Edge Detect Filter. Selecting 4X Anti-Aliasing plus selecting the Edge Detect filter deliver the equivalent of 12X Anti-Aliasing. Selecting 8X Anti-Aliasing plus selecting the Edge Detect filter deliver the equivalent of 24X Anti-Aliasing.
Performance Improvements
The ATI Radeon™ HD2400, HD2600 and HD2900 (single and CrossFire™) can see performance improvements of 13.2% or more in various Far Cry maps.
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 AA no longer result in occasional corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28455
- Doom3: Flashing is no longer observed when loading the game, or during some of the cinematic, or during game play when Catalyst™ AI is disabled, AA is set to 8x, and CrossFire™ is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28460
- Lost Planet: Corruption is no longer noticed after a short time period of game play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28456
- Monsters.Inc: Enabling DXVA no longer results in certain scenes being choppy. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28465
- Pacific Fighters: Corruption is no longer noticed when enabling superAA. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28448
- Prey: A blank screen is no longer displayed when trying to load game if AA is set to either 4x or 8x and filter wide tent is used. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28461
- Quake 3 and 4: Resuming from a standby state no longer results in the display image appearing too bright. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28437
- Quake 4: Playing the game with CrossFire™ enabled no longer results in corruption being noticed after a short time of game play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28459
- Playing a DVD under the Windows Vista operating system using the Windows Media Player no longer results 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 desktop shortcut to the Catalyst™ Control Center no longer disappears after performing a Windows Anytime Upgrade on some hardware configurations running Vista. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27078
- Playing a DVD using the Windows Media Player and enabling subtitles no longer results in the playback of the DVD flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28417
- The button sizes found in the Catalyst™ Control Center (Japanese version) are no longer displayed as different sizes than the previous versions of the Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28432
- The Avivo preview video no longer appears blank when changing from extended desktop mode to single desktop mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28433
- The SuperAA values found in the Catalyst™ Control Center->All Setting->3D aspect page are no longer reset to zero when rebooting the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28434
- Catalyst™ Control Center: Connecting a secondary display device no longer results in the display device failing to be selected in all of the aspect pages of the Catalyst™ Control Center where the Graphics Adapter drop down menu exists. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28435
- The select a skin aspect page found in the Catalyst™ Control Center is now localized for all supported languages. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28438
- Making changes to the Avivo aspect, but not applying the changes no longer results in OverDrive™ becoming unlocked. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28439
- Capturing video to AVI format no longer results in the recording function failing to work. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28440
- HDMI audio stutter is no longer heard when playing MPEG clip at certain resolutions on specific HDMI device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28444
- The display resolution of 2048x1536 60Hz. is now available within the Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28449
- The edges of the subtitles no longer appear transparent when playing a DVD using DVD 8.0 or Windows Media Player 11. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28450
- Playing HD DVD content followed by attempting to hot unplug a display device and then hot-plugging the same display device to a different port no longer results in the HD DVD playback failing to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28451
- Catalyst™ Control Center: Attempting to change the Core clock settings within the OverDrive™ aspect no longer results in the new setting failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28452
- Connecting two display devices and performing a mode change no longer results in the change taking an extraordinary long time to complete. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28453
- Connecting a Lenovo 19" Wide Slim LCD display device to either an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 or 2400 and setting the display resolution to 1440x900 60Hz. no longer results in an image failing to be displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28454
- The cancel button is now translated to Chinese-Traditional within the ATI Catalyst™ Install Manager. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28457
- Connecting a secondary display device and enabling extended desktop mode no longer results in the Catalyst™ Control Center->Avivio Basic aspect options failing to be applied when watching a DVD using either WinDVD or PowerDVD on the secondary display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28458
- Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 or 2048x1563 no longer results in line flicker being noticed when resizing the media player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28462
- Blinking video is no longer observed when using PowerDVD to playback 1080i content in the 30 FPS mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28463
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:
- Call of Duty 2: Setting the in-game resolution to 640x480 no longer results in visual static and interrupted audio during cinematic and within the menus. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28468
- Google Earth: The fog is displayed in the image no longer has a checkered effect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28467
- Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide no longer exhibits missing textures on characters under some circumstances on some hardware configurations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28471
- Enabling CrossFire™ on a system containing the Radeon™ HD2900 XT no longer results in an error message and CrossFire™ not being enabled. Further information can be found in topic number 737-28188
- Launching the release notes under the Japanese or Chinese version of Windows no longer results in the release notes displaying a blank page. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26749
- Pixilated corruption is no longer observed while running the game Prey while hovering over the health packs from a distance on some hardware configurations running Win XP. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27091
- The system no longer become unresponsive when randomly moving the Video Player window from primary to extended desktop under certain hardware configurations. This issue was known to occur when the second adapter is an ATI Radeon™ X1200/1250/1270 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27092
- Corruption is no longer noticed when playing certain DVD titles when hardware acceleration is enabled on ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27624
- Connecting a TV using an S-video cable and a CRT display device using a dual VGA adapter cable no longer results in intermittent noise being observed when playing a video using the Windows Media Player or a DVD using PowerDVD. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28469
- Playing a Blu-ray or HD-DVD no longer results in corruption being noticed if several application windows are open and the application windows are dragged around the desktop. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28470
- Connecting an HDTV using the Component Video connector no longer results in a double image being noticed when pressing the ALT+Enter keys. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28473
- Jittering is no longer noticed in cinepak video playback when using the Windows Media Player and having the desktop resolution set to 1280x1024 75Hz or higher. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28474
Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System
This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst™. These include:
- The default audio device may be set to ATI HD Audio after installation of the display driver for the ATI Radeon™ HD2900, HD2600, and HD2400. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28483
- 3DMark06: An error message may be displayed when running the application for an extended period of time (6-8 hours or more). Further details can be found in topic number 737-28494
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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. This issue is resolved in Catalyst™ 7.8
- Enabling CrossFire™ followed by disconnecting and then reconnecting the CRT display device may result in duplicate video options being seen within the Catalyst™ Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27457. This issue is resolved in Catalyst™ 7.8
- 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
- Enabling CrossFire™ followed by setting AA to 14x and AF to 16x may result in the AA showing a setting of 0x level when disabling CrossFire™ and unchecking the AA option in the 3D aspect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27458. This issue is resolved in Catalyst™ 7.8
- Making changes to the Color aspect found in the Catalyst™ Control Center without applying the changes may result in the Reactivate ATI color controls button remaining active after the Catalyst™ Control Center is closed and then re-launched. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27459. This issue is resolved in Catalyst™ 7.8
- 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
- Enabling CrossFire™ followed by setting the OverDrive™ clocks to their maximum settings may result in the Catalyst™ Control Center failing to accurately report the requested OverDrive™ values. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27621. This issue is resolved in Catalyst™ 7.8
- A green or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSC mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27622
- Setting the Avivo Video De-interlacing setting to auto, motion adaptive or vector adaptive may result in certain DVDs, menu videos and some special features failing to benefit from the options. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27196
- The Enable ATI OverDrive™ clocks for 3d applications may be available on non supported products such as the ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series of product. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28477
- Performing an un-install of the display drivers on a CrossFire™ configured system may result in extended desktop mode becoming active resulting in all of the desktop icons failing to appear. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28478
- Catalyst™ Control Center->3D->Anti-Aliasing: Unchecking the option to Use Application Setting found in the 3D aspect page when CrossFire™ is enabled may result in the maximum AA setting being 6x. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28479
- Performing either a custom or express install of the display driver may result in the system failing to respond and the installation of the driver failing. This issue is known to occur when using an ATI Radeon™ X1950 CrossFire™ Edition product installed on in a system containing an Intel975 and nForce590. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28481
- 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
- HDMI audio stutter may be heard when playing MPEG clip at certain resolutions on specific HDMI device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28484
- The color depth may change to 8bpp when enabling or disabling CrossFire™ for the first time. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28485
- Connecting a TV followed by removing the display resolution of 640x480 from the mode table may result in the both the TV and LCD failing to display an image. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28490
- 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
- Windows Media Player: Playing a DVD in full screen mode may result in vertical bar corruption being noticed during playback. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28497
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
- Star Wars knights of the Old Republic 2: Corruption may be seen when running the game when using an ATI Radeon™ Xpress 1200/1250/1300 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28518
- 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
- PowerDVD: Playing a DVD on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 series of product may result in missing pixels being noticed on the DVD menu selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28511
- Catalyst™ Control Center™: The CrossFire™ aspect may inadvertently be visible while in dual adapter mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28512
- 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
- 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
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.