Friday, March 26th 2010

AMD First with OpenGL 4.0 Compliant Graphics Driver

Shortly after the Khronos group announced the OpenGL 4.0, the newest version of the multi-platform graphics API, AMD is out with a preview graphics driver for its ATI Radeon, FireGL, FirePro, and Mobility Radeon graphics accelerators, which includes the OpenGL 4.0 ICD (installable client driver). The driver is available for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Linux. OpenGL 4.0 is comparable and up to times with Microsoft's DirectX 11 API, it makes use of hardware features such as tessellation on the GPU, per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions, 64-bit double precision floating point shader operations, etc., and has no restrictions on which later version of Windows it can run on. With OpenGL 4.0 for example, one can expect 3D graphics with the complexity comparable to DirectX 11 on Windows XP.

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst OpenGL 4.0 Preview Driver for Windows 7/Vista, Windows XP, and Linux.
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51 Comments on AMD First with OpenGL 4.0 Compliant Graphics Driver

#1
Easo
Mmm, more games should support OpenGL QQ
Posted on Reply
#2
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
DX11 graphics on XP? noice!
Posted on Reply
#3
filip007
Maybe now nVidia will say, OGL 4 is not important like they ware saying for DX11 at first :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#4
Hawkster13
filip007Maybe now nVidia will say, OGL 4 is not important like they ware saying for DX11 at first :laugh:
Haha yep, I remember reading that. Nvidia was really pushing the OGL 4 thing, saying that all the GTX4xx will support OGL4 with just a driver update and now ATI comes out with the driver before they did.

I got to say, WELL Played ATI, well played haha :nutkick:
Posted on Reply
#5
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
i wonder if this driver is newer than cat 10.3a?
Posted on Reply
#6
Loosenut
Probably one of many new and interesting things from ATI coming out in the next few days
Posted on Reply
#7
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
Cat 10.3a


10.3 OGL4





Seems clear to me that these are 10.3a + OGL4 (direct3D version hasnt changed)
Posted on Reply
#8
Perra
Interesting. ATI sure has been stepping up their game lately when it comes to drivers, gotta love it. Lets hope they keep it up. :)
Posted on Reply
#9
Loosenut
So is it worth installing?
Posted on Reply
#10
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
LoosenutSo is it worth installing?
not a clue. since the OGL versions are improved, anyone who plays OGL games may benefit. CCC is also updated, which may or may not included bugfixes (new crossfire profiles, for example)
Posted on Reply
#11
Loosenut
Musselsnot a clue. since the OGL versions are improved, anyone who plays OGL games may benefit. CCC is also updated, which may or may not included bugfixes (new crossfire profiles, for example)
Thanks Mussels. Like you, I'll throw caution to the winds and try it out. :D
Posted on Reply
#12
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
LoosenutThanks Mussels. Like you, I'll throw caution to the winds and try it out. :D
its not like we're on nvidia, where a bad driver kills our cards :P
Posted on Reply
#13
Loosenut
Musselsits not like we're on nvidia, where a bad driver kills our cards :P
:laugh::roll: :toast:

Lord knows I need all the help I can get with BFBC2 anyways :o
Posted on Reply
#14
INSTG8R
Vanguard Beta Tester
Loosenut:laugh::roll: :toast:

Lord knows I need all the help I can get with BFBC2 anyways :o
I hear that...:shadedshu
Posted on Reply
#15
burebista
Musselsnot a clue. since the OGL versions are improved, anyone who plays OGL games may benefit.
There are a few reports on guru3d forums about broken old OpenGL games. I dunno.
Posted on Reply
#16
Roph
No word of which cards it's supported on? I assume all ATI's DX 10.1+ cards.
Posted on Reply
#17
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
burebistaThere are a few reports on guru3d forums about broken old OpenGL games. I dunno.
it is beta.
RophNo word of which cards it's supported on? I assume all ATI's DX 10.1+ cards.
Not a clue. worked on my 4870's at least, so we should assume all 4k cards are supported until proven otherwise.
Posted on Reply
#19
Sasqui
Musselsnot a clue. since the OGL versions are improved, anyone who plays OGL games may benefit. CCC is also updated, which may or may not included bugfixes (new crossfire profiles, for example)
Don't forget other applications, like Google Earth.

I found that plain CAT 10.3 OpenGL performance was down from the 9.11 drivers. I was getting over 10k in FurMark, now it's 9550.

I wonder how the optimization is with these, guess I'll have to give it a try.
Posted on Reply
#20
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
RophNo word of which cards it's supported on? I assume all ATI's DX 10.1+ cards.
Applicable Products:

This issue applies to the following configuration(s):

* Hardware
o ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
o ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 Series
o ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 Series
o ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series
o ATI FirePro V8750
o ATI FirePro V8700
o ATI FirePro V8650
o ATI FirePro V8600
o ATI FirePro V7750
o ATI FireGL V7700
o ATI FireGL V7600
o ATI FirePro V5700
o ATI FirePro V5600
o ATI FirePro V3750
o ATI FirePro V3700
o ATI FireGL V3600

However, this is just software support as these cards only support OpenGL 3.2 and lower on a hardware level. The 5 series are the only cards that can support the OpenGL 4.0 specification even though they don't have hardware support. OpenGL 3.3 is meant to bring some/most of the features in 4.0 to older cards.
Posted on Reply
#22
Sihastru
All this noise is nice and all, also it's a good thing we move forward, but what applications and/or games do you know that are using OpenGL 4.0? Is ATI again first to support something that nobody is using to code anything at the moment?
Posted on Reply
#24
buggalugs
SihastruAll this noise is nice and all, also it's a good thing we move forward, but what applications and/or games do you know that are using OpenGL 4.0? Is ATI again first to support something that nobody is using to code anything at the moment?
Apparently OpenGL is used a lot in non-gaming applications by science researchers, military and various commercial applications.

Things like simulations etc.
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