AMD Releases ATI Catalyst 10.8 WHQL Software Suite

[btarunr]

AMD kept up with its monthly driver update cycle, and released the ATI Catalyst 10.8 software suite. The software installs the latest WHQL-signed drivers for ATI Radeon GPUs, AMD Chipsets, and other ATI Multimedia products. The new version packs a set of game-specific performance improvements, and a few feature updates. To begin with, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Stormrise, each got GPU configuration specific, mostly single-digit performance increments.

New features include full-support for the OpenGL ES 2.0 API, greater control over video quality by means of a checkbox control from Catalyst Control Center. This is particularly of importance, as AMD seems to have taken notes from the press coverage, such as our Video Enhancement Quality Tests. There are image-quality improvements for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, that includes anti-aliasing support. An update also claims to greatly improve overall performance of Eyefinity setups that use 4-way/Quad CrossFireX (or CrossFire involving four GPUs).

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 10.8 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, Windows 7/Vista 32-bit, Windows XP 32-bit, Windows XP 64-bit

A detailed list of important updates follows.

New Features:

OpenGL ES 2.0 support

• ATI Catalyst 10.8 delivers full support for OpenGL ES 2.0 specification
• Enables 3D accelerated graphics within a web browser that supports OpenGL ES 2.0
• Supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7

Video Quality default options

• The Default video options for ATI Catalyst have been greatly enhanced to deliver the best quality video viewing experience. Users can also choose to apply these settings to Internet Video via a new checkbox control within the ATI Catalyst Control Center.

Performance enhancement for Eyefinity Quad ATI CrossFireX configurations

• Performance has been greatly improved for users running with ATI Eyefinity on a Quad ATI CrossFireX configuration

Anti-Aliasing support for StarCraft II

Performance Improvements:

Far Cry 2

• Performance increases 2-6% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations
• Performance increases 2-4% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations
• Performance increases 3-8% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series single and
  CrossFire configurations

Left 4 Dead 2

• Performance increases 3-5% on CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5800 series and CrossFire ATI Radeon HD 5700 series configurations

Stormrise

• Performance increases 5-10% on ATI Radeon HD 5600 series and ATI Radeon HD 5500 series configurations

For more details, please refer to the Release Notes document.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[wolf]

awesomesauce, I'll wait till I hear about stability and improvements before I dive on them, especially using a mobility 5600 card.

 

[Lionheart]

Just installed it, gonna try out sum benchmarks and games

 

[AlienIsGOD]

Bad Company 2 results PLZ!!!

 

[Zubasa]

awesomesauce, I'll wait till I hear about stability and improvements before I dive on them, especially using a mobility 5600 card.

Diving on them right now.

 

[pantherx12]

Installed : ]

Has to be said, glad I learnt that lil upgrade trick recently, didn't even have to restart my rig.

What programs use open gl es?

 

[Black Panther]

Has anyone tried this on a 5970 yet?

 

[ShogoXT]

According to release notes, it fixes the Borderlands crash issue. I have been playing that lately so I will be able to comment in a bit.

 

[chron]

I really wish we saw some major performance increases for GTA IV. I waited until I could afford a 5870 to buy that game, and it runs like manure!

 

[chron]

Installed : ]

Has to be said, glad I learnt that lil upgrade trick recently, didn't even have to restart my rig.

What programs use open gl es?

I haven't been around much lately. What update trick are you referring to?

 

[blu3flannel]

Bad Company 2 results PLZ!!!

I second that!!

 

[Crazykenny]

I really wish we saw some major performance increases for GTA IV. I waited until I could afford a 5870 to buy that game, and it runs like manure!

Dont bet on it, GTAIV is one of the shittiest ports ever! Even on my Crossfire HD5870 system with a AMD 1090T it runs like absolute shit. You'd be better off, and probably cheaper, buying a console and playing it on that. Ugh... even though I absolutely hate consoles.

Oh well, there are far more interesting games out there. Check out Mafia II, runs like a charm on a 5870.

 

[crow1001]

I really wish we saw some major performance increases for GTA IV. I waited until I could afford a 5870 to buy that game, and it runs like manure!

Runs great on a 480, the way it's meant to be played.

 

[TheMailMan78]

DLing now. Will post back with results.

 

[Zubasa]

So far nothing exploded yet.

 

[human_error]

looks to be working fine on my 5970. Am very pleased with the ability to have the video enhancements (such as de-blocking) enabled on web flash videos

 

[Zubasa]

looks to be working fine on my 5970. Am very pleased with the ability to have the video enhancements (such as de-blocking) enabled on web flash videos

I am a heavy user of Youtube, and this feature is what makes the difference for me.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Keep in mind guys they also updated the SB drivers to 10.8.

 

[erocker]

So far nothing exploded yet.

I have achieved the same results!

Keep in mind guys they also updated the SB drivers to 10.8.

Yes. Do the expressUninstallAll feature and it will gut everything out. Then install CCC/drivers, reboot, then install SB drivers in that order. There's also always a new Hydravision and AVIVO to get as is the usual with every release.


Semi-ProTip: For those of you using Hybrid PhysX, no need to uninstall your Nvidia drivers. Once you uninstall the ATi drivers you may get a black screen. Just swap your display cable to the Nvidia card (viola, no more black screen) and wait for the ATi uninstall restart prompt. Shut down, swap cables again and your're good.

 

[pantherx12]

I didn't bother uninstalling anything and everything is working fine including phsyx : ]

to do an update instead chron after the driver has self extracted cancel the catalyst install manger go to C:\ATI\Support\10-8_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_enu\config ,open up the installconfig file with note pad and change update from false to true, save go back into the 10.8 main folder and load the exe and BAM upgrade mode is there.

No need to uninstall drivers or restart.

 

[avatar_raq]

Subscribed

 

[erocker]

I didn't bother uninstalling anything and everything is working fine including phsyx : ]

to do an update instead chron after the driver has self extracted cancel the catalyst install manger go to C:\ATI\Support\10-8_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_enu\config ,open up the installconfig file with note pad and change update from false to true, save go back into the 10.8 main folder and load the exe and BAM upgrade mode is there.

No need to uninstall drivers or restart.

Tried that and had issues with CrossFire. Friend of mine had issues as well using a 5970. I know there is a reason ATi doesn't already have it enabled or makes no mention of it anywhere. It's strange really, but did work great on my HTPC setup. Either way I have the process or removing everything and reinstalling everyhing ingrained in my head and I can get through it rather quickly.

 

[pantherx12]

Ahh I guess it's only fine for single gpu setups, cheers for the tip.

 

[brandonwh64]

going to download and install maybe later tonight or tomorrow

 

[TheGuruStud]

Ahh I guess it's only fine for single gpu setups, cheers for the tip.

It's wonky. I've installed without uninstalling for over a year, but now I can only play in DX9. DX10 crashes instantly

*uninstalling....*