Wednesday, June 16th 2010
AMD Unveils ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL Software Suite
AMD released the latest version of its ATI Catalyst software suite, version 10.6 WHQL, which provides drivers and system software for ATI Radeon GPUs (HD 2000 series and above), AMD 7-series and 8-series chipsets, and ATI Theater multimedia processors. The new version packs pays attention to video-acceleration, and packs two new features that improve video output quality, official support for Adobe Flash 10.1 GPU acceleration, official support for OpenGL 4.0 and GL 3.3, a wide range of game-specific performance increments, and the usual load of bug fixes.
To begin with, Catalyst 10.6 adds GPU-accelerated video de-blocking (a feature that helps improve quality of upscaled videos), and mosquito-noise reduction, which helps improve quality of lossy video formats. Although ATI was first to be out with a GPU driver that packs OpenGL 4.0 ICD, it was only in the form of preview drivers. Catalyst 10.3 provides official support for OpenGL 4.0, a graphics API technologically comparable to DirectX 11, compatible with Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs. It also adds OpenGL 3.3 support.
DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit
Details about game-specific improvements follow.
To begin with, Catalyst 10.6 adds GPU-accelerated video de-blocking (a feature that helps improve quality of upscaled videos), and mosquito-noise reduction, which helps improve quality of lossy video formats. Although ATI was first to be out with a GPU driver that packs OpenGL 4.0 ICD, it was only in the form of preview drivers. Catalyst 10.3 provides official support for OpenGL 4.0, a graphics API technologically comparable to DirectX 11, compatible with Radeon HD 5000 series GPUs. It also adds OpenGL 3.3 support.
DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit
Details about game-specific improvements follow.
- 3DMark Vantage
o Overall scores improve up to 5% on a single ATI Radeon HD 5970 - Batman: Arkham Asylum
o Performance improves up to 5% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations - Aliens vs. Predator DirectX 11 Benchmark
o Performance improves up to 4% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 10% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations
o Performance improves up to 3% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products - Company of Heroes - DX10
o Performance improves up to 7% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 5% with single card and CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations - DiRT 2 - DX9
o Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 10% on single card ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations
o Performance improves up to 4% on single card ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products - The Chronicles of Riddick - Assault on Dark Athena
o Performance improves up to 15% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 13% on CrossFire and single card ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations
o Performance improves up to 8% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products - World in Conflict
o Performance improves up to 6% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 8% on CrossFire and single card ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations - Wolfenstein
o Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series products
o Performance improves up to 18% on CrossFire and single card ATI Radeon HD 5970 configurations
o Performance improves up to 11% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series products
154 Comments on AMD Unveils ATI Catalyst 10.6 WHQL Software Suite
Now I'm not saying I don't agree that there isn't really a reason to support it since it's quite old now, but I won't how many folks don't own even a DX10 card yet. That was ME up until mid-May, not counting the IGP on my 890GX that I got in March. Hell, I was still using my S939 system up until March!
Anyways, if what they did was the result of a coder having a "Eureka!" moment and it only took a couple hours to implement/test, then I can't say much. Yet if it was something that took multiple people a few hundred work hours, then yes it was a waste of time and it should've been put towards DX10 (remember, M$ is not using DX11 naming since it was really just an update. It's all called DirectX now apparently). But not much we can do about it :P