ATI Catalyst 8.6 Released
AMD released version 8.6 of the ATI Catalyst drivers. This latest update supports all Radeon 9500 and above graphics cards.
The new release introduces CrossFireX QUAD support for OpenGL applications. It allows you to upgrade your Catalyst drivers without rebooting. It also resolves Windows XP and Vista-related issues in a multitude of games.
It also provides some performance improvements:
- 3DMark Vantage:10 to 15% gains across all Radeon HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with larger gains in specific cases.
- Call of Duty 4: Performance increases across all Radeon™ HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with gains as large as 35% in specific maps.
- Call of Juarez DX10: Performance increases between 2 and 9% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
- Company of Heroes (DX10 version): Performance increases between 4 and 10% across HD 36xx and HD 34xx products.
- Lost Planet (DX10 version): Performance increases by 1 or 2 fps across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, creating in some cases up to 20% increase.
- Lost Planet (DX9 version): Performance increases between 2 and 20% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
- Prey OpenGL: 3-5% gains across HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
- Quake 4 OpenGL: Up to 8% increase across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
- Shadermark 2.1: Minor improvements across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with the largest gains appearing on HD 3650 (up to 9%)
Complete release notes (PDF)..
Downloads
It also provides some performance improvements:
- 3DMark Vantage:10 to 15% gains across all Radeon HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with larger gains in specific cases.
- Call of Duty 4: Performance increases across all Radeon™ HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with gains as large as 35% in specific maps.
- Call of Juarez DX10: Performance increases between 2 and 9% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
- Company of Heroes (DX10 version): Performance increases between 4 and 10% across HD 36xx and HD 34xx products.
- Lost Planet (DX10 version): Performance increases by 1 or 2 fps across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, creating in some cases up to 20% increase.
- Lost Planet (DX9 version): Performance increases between 2 and 20% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
- Prey OpenGL: 3-5% gains across HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
- Quake 4 OpenGL: Up to 8% increase across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
- Shadermark 2.1: Minor improvements across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with the largest gains appearing on HD 3650 (up to 9%)
Complete release notes (PDF)..
Downloads