ATI Released Catalyst 8.9 Video Card Drivers for Download

[Apoptosis]

ATI has just released Catalyst 8.9 for Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux platforms on http://www.amd.com

Highlights of the Catalyst 8.9 Windows release include:

New Features

Catalyst Control Center: New Display mode 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.

Overdrive support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations

* 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.

OpenGL™ 3.0 support – Phase 1

* This release of Catalyst™ introduces OpenGL™ 3.0 extension support. Future Catalyst™ releases will continue to expand support for OpenGL 3.0 extensions. The following is a list of supported extensions in Catalyst 8.9:

o ARB_half_float_pixel
o ARB_draw_instanced
o ARB_instanced_arrays
o EXT_texture_compression_3dc
o EXT_texture_compression_rgtc
o EXT_texture_compression_latc
o EXT_texture_shared_exponent
o EXT_depth_buffer_float
o EXT_gpu_shader4
o ARB_map_buffer_range

Resolved Issue highlights

* 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.
* DiRT: Setting shadows to ultra quadCF no longer results in a performance drop being noticed.
* Assassins Creed: Brightness and saturation distortion is no longer observed during game play with ForceAA enabled.
* Grid: Enabling CrossFire and starting a new game no longer results in flickering bands being noticed across the display device.
* Jericho: Corruption is no longer noticed when AA is enabled and the in-game option Advanced Smoothing is enabled.
* Age of Conan: Playing the game for a short period of time no longer results in flickering corruption being noticed.

Highlights of the Linux Catalyst 8.9 (coming soon) release include:

New Features

Support for new Linux operating systems

* This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems:

o Red Flag DT6SP1 production support
o OpenSUSE 11 production support

Resolved Issue highlights

* Compilation issues against Linux kernel 2.6.26 no longer occur.
* Desktop corruption when using full screen Wine application no longer occurs.
* A fatal server error no longer occurs when changing the display resolution using Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition and restarting X.
* Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition: Clicking on the 3D leaf in Page Tree no longer results in 3D Page Tree failing to respond.
* Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition: A green box at the bottom of the page the TV and Position page is no longer displayed.
* Default buttons are no longer available in the Catalyst Control Center for driver options that do not have custom settings available.
* HDMI Audio support for the Linux Operating system is now available for the ATI Radeon HD 3100/3200 series of products.
* X-Windows no longer fails to launch after the driver installation for the ATI Radeon HD 4870 product.

For more information on Catalyst 8.9 (for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Linux versions), including all of the resolved issues in this release, please see the Catalyst 8.9 release notes.

[gwolfman]

1080p @ 50Hz

What's this good for? Better reproduction of 24p movies?