Catalyst 8.9 introduces the following new features:

•   Catalyst Control Center: New Display mode support

•   OverDrive support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations

         OpenGL 3.0 extension support

This release of Catalyst introduces 1080p @ 50Hz custom mode support for HDTVs for the ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series, and ATI Radeon X1000 Series of products. Users can configure their own custom 1080p @ 50Hz modes to best fit their display.

This release of Catalyst introduces Overdrive support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations. Users can now over-clock each graphics accelerator’s engine or memory speed when running in QUAD CrossFire configurations using manual controls or the automated auto-tuning utility.

This release of Catalyst introduces OpenGL 3.0 extension support. In upcoming Catalyst releases AMD will continue to expand its support for OpenGL 3.0 extensions. The following is a list of supported extensions in Catalyst 8.9:

·         ARB_half_float_pixel

·         ARB_draw_instanced

·         ARB_instanced_arrays

·         EXT_texture_compression_3dc

·         EXT_texture_compression_rgtc

·         EXT_texture_compression_latc

·         EXT_texture_shared_exponent

·         EXT_depth_buffer_float

·         EXT_gpu_shader4

·         ARB_map_buffer_range

Folding@Home is a distributed computing project designed by the Stanford University. The application performs intensive simulations of protein folding. This simulation will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop. Folding@Home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding, the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed across hundreds of thousands of computers over the internet. You can help find the cure to many different diseases! To join Folding@Home, follow these steps:

1.    Download ATI's Catalyst software suite

2.    Download the Folding@Home GPU client application

3.    Enter the ATI team number 51394 and start folding!

For more information on Folding@Home visit: http://ati.amd.com/technology/streamcomputing/folding.html

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

·         Company of Heroes: Setting the in-game options to maximum levels no longer results in the game exiting to the desktop after the game has completed loading. Further details can be found in topic number 737-32600

·         Quake 4: Corruption is no longer noticed during the new game introduction • Playing a Blu-ray DVD title may result in corruption being intermittently noticed when using certain display resolutions such as 1360x768, 1360x1024, or 1600x1200

·         DiRT: Setting shadows to ultra quadCF no longer results in a performance drop being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37320

·         Assassins Creed: Brightness and saturation distortion is no longer observed during game play with ForceAA enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37327

·         Grid: Enabling CrossFire and starting a new game no longer results in flickering bands being noticed across the display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37331

·         Jericho: Corruption is no longer noticed when AA is enabled and the in-game option Advanced Smoothing is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37332

·         Age of Conan: Playing the game for a short period of time no longer results in flickering corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37333

·         Enabling BOB de-interlacing no longer results in a green line being noticed on the bottom of the playback window when playing a 1080i clip. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35895

·         Playing certain Blu-Ray DVD titles using the Cyberlink player no longer result in color corruption being noticed. This issue may be experienced under the Windows Vista (32 bit version) operating system when using an ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 product

·         The Blu-ray DVD movie image no longer fails to rotated when the player window is drag to an extend monitor which rotated 180 degree. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37329

·         Switching from h.264 to MPEG2 video titles no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37322

·         VC1 streams with Interlaced Frame and Slice features no longer results in picture corruption and flicker in VLD sites. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37324

·         Playing a DVD title using the Windows Media Player no longer results in the user defined Avivo Video settings failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37317

·         Playing a DVD title using the PowerDVD player no longer results in the PowerDVD player failing to respond when DXVA is disabled, closed captioning is enabled and the user is fast forwarding the DVD title anywhere from 4x to 32x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37328

·         Clicking on the seek slider when playing a DVD title using the PowerDVD player no longer results in corruption being noticed on the playback window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37323

·         Resuming from power saving mode on a system with an HDMI TV connected no longer results in the operating system failing to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37318

·         Using a hot-key command to switch between an HDMI display device and any other display device no longer fails. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37330

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

·         Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Flickering is no longer noticed when changing chapters

·         Stranglehold: Setting the in-game options to 1024x768, and Decals off no longer results in the game failing to respond after a short period of game play

·         World in Conflict (DX9): Enabling CrossFire no longer results in flashing corruption and the game intermittently failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37341

·         Oblivion: Setting the display option to 2048X1536 and AA to either 8x or 16x, while having the in-game options remain at their default values no longer results in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37342

·         Hellgate London: Enabling AA to 8x, AF to 16x and setting Mipmap Detail Level to High Performance, along with AAA set to Performance no longer results in textures being missing when playing the game 8x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37343

·         Witcher: Game corruption is no longer noticed when setting all of the in-game options to their maximum values and having CrossFire enabled along with AA set to 16x and AF set to 8x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37344

·         Spore: Playing the game in a windowed mode on the secondary display device no longer results in poor performance being noticed when AA is set to 8x. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37345

·         Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in the displays flashing corruption when setting the in game graphics options to off or their lowest settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35118

·         Age of Conan: The inventory icons may show corruption when playing the game with CrossFire enabled. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system as well. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34825

·         Catalyst Control Center->Theater Mode->Video Aspect Ratio: The default settings no longer fail to be restored when clicking on the Default button. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37337

·         Setting the display mode to 1080p50 and rebooting the system no longer results in the display mode failing to be retained

·         Cropped text is no longer noticed when changing the language option and DPI setting from their default values. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37334

·         Setting the language option to Polish no longer results in the hot-key Ctrl+alt+C being active resolving issues with Polish keyboards. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37335

·         Certain supported languages no longer display cropped text within the Display Options of the Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37336

·         Resuming from hibernation mode no longer results in the TV signal failing to be restored. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37338

·         Closed captioning no longer fails under the Windows XP and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating systems. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37339

·         The FM seek function under Windows MCE no longer fails to find radio stations. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37340

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. These include:

·         Momentary screen flicker may intermittently be noticed when launching or exiting a D3D or OpenGL application. This issue may be experienced on systems running the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system and containing an ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 product

This section provides information on known issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system with the latest version of Catalyst. These include:

·         Call of Duty 4 or Crysis: Color corruption may be noticed when running the games in full screen mode with Quad CrossFire enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35115

·         Crysis: Playing the game at a display resolution lower than the native display resolution of a connected 30" display device may result in corruption being noticed when CrossFire is enabled and having the Catalyst Control Center scaling the image to full screen. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35111

·         Hellgate London: Pressing Alt-Tab to return to the Windows Vista (32 bit version) desktop while playing the game may intermittently result in a translucent image of the game appearing on the Windows desktop. This issue may be experienced on systems containing either an ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 or ATI Radeon 4800 product

·         Lost Planet (DX10 version): Some of the in-game display resolutions may fail to be available when using a CRT display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35872

·         Gears of War: The game may intermittently fail to respond on systems running Windows Vista (32 bit version) and containing an ATI 48x0 series of product when certain having various in-game options set. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37346

·         The secondary HDMI Display may turn off when resuming from an S1 hibernation with an HDMI display connected. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31146

·         An error message may appear when installing the display driver package through setup.exe. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31577

·         Installing an ATI Radeon X1600 series of product into a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 2600 series of product with the display driver already installed may result in the operating system entering a continuous reboot. This issue may be averted by removing the ATI graphics driver prior to the installation of the ATI Radeon X1600 series of product. This issue may also be experienced with the ATI Radeon X1300 and 1550 series of products. Furtherinformation may be found in topic number 737-33471

·         Performing an express install of the Catalyst Control Center may result in an error message being displayed when rebooting the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29532

·         Restoring the factory defaults for the Catalyst Control Center may result in the Catalyst Control Center title bar intermittently failing to be redrawn when dragging the interface around the Windows Vista (64 bit version) desktop

·         Video playback may occasionally appear shaky or jerky when playing a recorded video file using a Webcam to record and Quickplay to playback the file Enabling extended desktop mode and setting the color depth below 16bpp may occasionally result in the secondary display device failing to redraw properly

·         Connecting two or more display devices and enabling either extended desktop or clone mode may intermittently result in the operating system failing to respond when running the Auto-tune feature in the Catalyst Control Center -> OverDrive page. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37347

·         Setting the desktop resolution to 1600x1200 or greater may result in green pixel corruption being noticed when playing certain games. This issue maybe noticed when using a system running Windows Vista and containing an ATI Radeon HD 2600 or HD 2400 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31150

·         Attempting to play the HD-DVD title Harsh Times, School for Scoundrels using the Cyberlink player may result in block corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31155

·         Enabling clone mode followed by switching to extended desktop mode may result in the Windows Vista (64 bit version) failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34125

·         Enabling extended desktop mode and setting the color depth below 16bpp may result in the secondary display device failing to redraw properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35114

·         A green or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSC mode. Further information may be found in topic number 737-27622

·         Playing a Blu-ray DVD title may result in corruption being noticed when using certain display resolutions such as 1360x768, 1360x1024, or 1600x1200. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35896

·         Enabling clone mode followed by switching to extended desktop mode may result in the Windows Vista (64 bit version) failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35766

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of Catalyst. These include:

·         Connecting a CRT display device as the secondary display and playing a Blu-ray DVD using a Cyberlink player may result in no video playback if extended desktop mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35122

·         Connecting a Dual Link Panel to the on-board DVI port, followed by hot plugging a DVI display to the add-on DVI card may result in clone mode becoming disabled when rebooting the machine and the secondary display device remaining blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31166

·         The display may be come corrupted with 4 bit color depth after hot unplugging the rotated primary HDMI/DFP display. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35116

·         Setting the display resolution to 1440x900 or lower may result in corruption being noticed when playing a DVD title. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31168

·         Setting the display resolution to 2560x1200 and playing a DVD title may occasionally result in corruption being noticed on sub-menu pages. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37348

·         Catalyst Control Center: Configuring a system with multi-adapters may result in an error message being displayed when running the Test Custom Clocks 737-29953

·         Enabling pull down detection in the Catalyst Control Center may result in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the Cyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121

·         Enabling pull down detection in the Catalyst Control Center may result in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the Cyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121

·         Avivo Video color settings may fail to be applied in the video when played using PowerDVD. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37350

·         Avivo Video color settings may occasionally fail to be applied in the video when played using PowerDVD • Enabling pull down detection in the Catalyst Control Center may intermittently result in flickering being noticed when playing a video clip using the Cyberlink PowerDVD player. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35121

·         Playing a DVD title on a display device that is rotated by 90 degrees may occasionally result in the player failing to play the title. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37351

·         Playing a Blu-ray DVD title using PowerDVD may result in the movie previews appearing corrupted. Further details can be found in topic number 737-37349

·          

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system in the latest version of Catalyst. These include:

·         Running an OpenGL application and attempting to rotate the desktop may result in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29556

For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit ATI Customer Care.