AMD Catalyst 12.8 Drivers Now Available

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AMD Catalyst 12.8 Drivers Now Available

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AMD has just released AMD Catalyst 12.8 video card drivers for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux platforms on www.amd.com



AMD Catalyst Software Suite Version 12.8 Release Notes

8/15/2012

This article provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s software suite, AMD Catalyst™12.8. This particular software suite updates the AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center and the AMD Vision Engine Control Center. This unified driver has been updated and is designed to provide enhanced performance and reliability.

Package Content

The AMD Catalyst software suite 12.8 contains the following:

AMD display driver version 8.982
HydraVision™ for Windows Vista® and Windows® 7
Southbridge/IXP Driver
AMD Catalyst Control Center version 8.982/AMD Vision Engine Control Center version 8.982.

Caution !

The AMD Catalyst Control Center/AMD Vision Engine Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst Control Center/AMD Vision Engine Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes.

When installing the AMD Catalyst driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst driver.
The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed.
These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/.
AMD Eyefinity technology is designed to give gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics “horsepower” required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes.
Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website.

Compatible Operating Systems

The latest version of the AMD Catalyst software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

Windows 8 32-bit version
Windows 8 64-bit version
Windows 7 32-bit version
Windows 7 64-bit version
Windows Vista 32-bit version
Windows Vista 64-bit version
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Feature Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 12.8: Windows 8 support

AMD’s first logo certified driver for Windows 8 production featuring support for the DirectX® 11.1 and the new WDDM 1.2 driver model:

Target-Independent Rasterization (TIR): TIR is a new rendering path that enables superior anti-aliasing in Direct3D driver applications.
Native Stereo 3D Support: Windows 8 natively supports stereoscopic 3D gaming and videos via compatible applications.
Unified Video API: Video playback has been integrated into the DirectX 11 API, enabling simultaneous video and gaming content. Transcoding performance may also be improved for supporting applications.
Optimized screen rotation for rotation aware devices.
Improved sleep/resume performance.
Optimized GPU power consumption.
Support for AMD features
AMD Eyefinity
OpenCL™
OpenGL
UVD
AMD Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire™ Technology
AMD Overdrive
AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center

RESOLVED ISSUES

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.8 software suite.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

Over/underscan settings are correctly restored on system reboot
SolidWorks: Graphical corruption is no longer experienced
Crysis Warhead: No longer crashes when launched in DirectX 10 mode
System no longer hangs when resuming from sleep mode
Audio is no longer disabled if the connected HDTV Is switched off/on
Enabling dual graphics mode with a HD 7000 series product no longer displays green video playback
Call of Duty- Black Ops : No longer hangs when loading a mission in DirectX 9 mode with Crossfire enabled
Shogun 2: Flickering text is no longer experienced
Star Wars – The Old Republic: In game cinematics no longer experience flicker when using the arrow keys
Dirt Showdown: 8-Ball track no longer hangs with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled
Max Payne 3: A black screen is no longer observed when launching game in DirectX 11 mode with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled
Max Payne 3: Applying in game settings no longer causes the game to crash

Resolved Issues for the Windows 8 Operating System (These issues were found in the Catalyst driver for the Windows 8 Preview)

Video playback using the Metro video player no longer shows green corruption
Deus Ex - Human Revolution: Graphics corruption is no longer experienced during in game cinematics with AMD Crossfire functionality enabled
Battlefield 3: game no longer crashes when AMD Crossfire functionality is enabled
Need for Speed – The Run: game no longer crashes to the desktop
Blocky video corruption no longer seen when using VLC
System no longer hangs when using PowerDVD
Green video corruption is no longer seen when using various video players

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

QQ Dancer: A black screen is no longer randomly experienced

KNOWN ISSUES

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced with the AMD Catalyst 12.8 software suite.

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system

Max Payne 3: Lights may flicker when run in Direct X 11 mode in a triple AMD Crossfire configuration
F1 2011: Vehicle textures may flicker when graphics profile is set to low
Enemy Territory Quake Wars: Poor performance may be experienced with AMD Crossfire technology enabled
Rage: Poor performance may be experienced with AMD Crossfire technology enabled

Known issues under the Windows 8 operating system

Blocky corruption may be experienced when playing back Flash video content
De-interlacing settings may not be applied to interlaced content when using MPC-HC and PowerDVD
Civilization V: game may crash when run in DirectX 9 mode
Total War – Shogun 2: game may experience random crashes
Rage: game may experience random crashes

Known issues under the Windows XP operating system

Diablo 3/Starcraft 2/World of Warcraft: Performance may be affected when run in windowed mode
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