New AMD Catalyst Driver Promises Higher Performance
AMD has released Catalyst 10.10 and 10.10a drivers.
Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 10.10 driver for Windows release:
New Features
Introducing the AMD Catalyst Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology Edition
There will now be two variants of the AMD Catalyst driver package available:
1. AMD Catalyst (same driver package as in previous versions):
* Includes the Direct3D, OpenGL, Display driver and AMD Catalyst Control Center components
2. AMD Catalyst Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology Edition:
* Includes the Direct3D, OpenGL, Display driver and AMD Catalyst Control Center Plus the OpenCL driver component
You can still download all of the individual AMD Catalyst components separately if you wish (which will also include the OpenCL driver)
Introduction of AMD HD3D Technology
Blu-ray 3D support
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides support for Blu-ray 3D playback
* Requires Blu-ray 3D player software, 3D supported display and 3D Stereoscopic glasses
* Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series GPUs
Stereo 3D gaming support
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides support for Stereo 3D gaming via 3rd party middleware from Dynamic Digital Depth (DDD) and iZ3D
* Requires 3D supported display and 3D Stereoscopic glasses
* Supported on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series GPUs
Video acceleration for HD WMV video content
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides GPU acceleration support for WMV HD (Microsoft video codec) under Windows 7
* Supported on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series of products and higher.
Enhanced Dynamic Contrast video controls
* This release of AMD Catalyst enhances the Dynamic Contrast setting found in the Catalyst Control Center by adding support for histogram based detection
Catalyst Application Profiles
The following application profiles are available with this release of AMD Catalyst 10.10:
- Multiplayer Medal of Honor (DirectX 9/DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Darksider (DirectX 9) performance and CrossFire anti-aliasing update
- NBA 2K11 (DirectX 9) CrossFire update
- Stone Giant (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Civilization V (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) tweak CrossFire update
- H.A.W.X. 2 (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Formula 1 (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- World of Warcraft (DirectX 11) version CrossFire update
Performance Improvements
Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11 Benchmark
- Performance increases up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire
Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series
- Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series
BattleForge
- Performance increases up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
Crysis Warhead
- Performance increases up to 9% on Single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products with anti-aliasing enabled
- Far Cry 2
- Performance increases up to 7% on Single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Metro 2033
- Performance increases up to 7% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations
- Performance increases up to 8% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
- Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Call of Pripyat Benchmark
- Performance increases up to 7% on single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Unigine Heaven
- Performance increases up to 9% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- Performance increases up to 8% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- World in Conflict
- Performance increases up to 9% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series
- Performance increases up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series
Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 10.10 driver for Linux release include:
New Features
Support for new Linux operating systems
* This release of AMD Catalyst driver for Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems:
o openSUSE 11.3 support (production)
o Ubuntu 10.10 support (early look)
For more information on AMD Catalyst 10.10 (for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Linux versions), including all of the resolved issues in this release, see the AMD Catalyst 10.10 release notes.
You can get the AMD Catalyst 10.10 driver here
New Features
Introducing the AMD Catalyst Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology Edition
There will now be two variants of the AMD Catalyst driver package available:
1. AMD Catalyst (same driver package as in previous versions):
* Includes the Direct3D, OpenGL, Display driver and AMD Catalyst Control Center components
2. AMD Catalyst Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) technology Edition:
* Includes the Direct3D, OpenGL, Display driver and AMD Catalyst Control Center Plus the OpenCL driver component
You can still download all of the individual AMD Catalyst components separately if you wish (which will also include the OpenCL driver)
Introduction of AMD HD3D Technology
Blu-ray 3D support
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides support for Blu-ray 3D playback
* Requires Blu-ray 3D player software, 3D supported display and 3D Stereoscopic glasses
* Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series GPUs
Stereo 3D gaming support
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides support for Stereo 3D gaming via 3rd party middleware from Dynamic Digital Depth (DDD) and iZ3D
* Requires 3D supported display and 3D Stereoscopic glasses
* Supported on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series GPUs
Video acceleration for HD WMV video content
* This release of AMD Catalyst provides GPU acceleration support for WMV HD (Microsoft video codec) under Windows 7
* Supported on the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series of products and higher.
Enhanced Dynamic Contrast video controls
* This release of AMD Catalyst enhances the Dynamic Contrast setting found in the Catalyst Control Center by adding support for histogram based detection
Catalyst Application Profiles
The following application profiles are available with this release of AMD Catalyst 10.10:
- Multiplayer Medal of Honor (DirectX 9/DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Darksider (DirectX 9) performance and CrossFire anti-aliasing update
- NBA 2K11 (DirectX 9) CrossFire update
- Stone Giant (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Civilization V (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) tweak CrossFire update
- H.A.W.X. 2 (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- Formula 1 (DirectX 10/DirectX 11) CrossFire update
- World of Warcraft (DirectX 11) version CrossFire update
Performance Improvements
Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11 Benchmark
- Performance increases up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire
Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series
- Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series
BattleForge
- Performance increases up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
Crysis Warhead
- Performance increases up to 9% on Single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products with anti-aliasing enabled
- Far Cry 2
- Performance increases up to 7% on Single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Metro 2033
- Performance increases up to 7% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations
- Performance increases up to 8% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
- Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
- Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series in DirectX 11 and 10 modes
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : Call of Pripyat Benchmark
- Performance increases up to 7% on single ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
Unigine Heaven
- Performance increases up to 9% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- Performance increases up to 8% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations with anti-aliasing enabled
- World in Conflict
- Performance increases up to 9% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series
- Performance increases up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series
Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 10.10 driver for Linux release include:
New Features
Support for new Linux operating systems
* This release of AMD Catalyst driver for Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems:
o openSUSE 11.3 support (production)
o Ubuntu 10.10 support (early look)
For more information on AMD Catalyst 10.10 (for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Linux versions), including all of the resolved issues in this release, see the AMD Catalyst 10.10 release notes.
You can get the AMD Catalyst 10.10 driver here