AMD Catalyst 8.8 drivers online

AMD has release a new version of its Catalyst driver for graphics cards yesterday, updating the previous driver to version 8.8. The new driver, suited for all Radeon graphics card newer than the 9500 series, adds some features for XP, Vista and Linux and solves a few driverbugs by doing so. AMD does not report any performance increase with the new 8.8 driver. 

Part of the new Catalyst features are some new Avivo options for the Catalyst Control Center, which can be used with the HD4800 and HD3800 series of graphics cards. For Windows XP, 'Edge Enhancement' support has been added, this is to take care of noise-reduction and decreasing ghosting-effects during video playback. Windows XP users can also use Hybrid Crossfire with the new driver, making it possible for an AMD 780G chipset to cooperate with an HD3400 or HD4200 graphics cards for improved performance. 

The biggest improvements come with the Linux version of the driver, it now supports CrossfireX  (only with the HD4800 series). Owners of a Radeon X1000 series or newer will also have the possibility to enable Adaptive Anti-aliasing in the Catalyst Control Center now. This option allows transparent textures to be displayed more properly. 

  The Catalyst Control Center for Linux

To get a better performance from the graphics card, the new Linux 8.8 driver has also added overclock functionality. At the moment, this feature only works on the HD2600 and all cards from the HD3000 and HD4000 series. Through the commandline, clockspeeds can be modified and a stresstest can be ran to check for stability. The GPU's temperature will also be displayed. Lastly, the Multiview options in the new Linux drivers allow the user to connect up to four monitors. 

Some Crossfire-related bugs have been solved in Vista for the games Call of Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, Dirt, Lost Planet (DX9), Mass Effect and Second Life. Several other bugs have been solved in the Catalyst Control Center and the playback of video. For Windows XP a few bugs have been solved in the games Assassin's Creed, Age of Conan, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, ET: Quake wars and Lost Planet. 

For a complete list of fixed bugs and still existing problems, we refer to the release notes (pdf). A list of bugfixes and new features for Linux can be found here. The banner below leads to the corresponding AMD driver webpage.

Tags: crossfire linux overclocking radeon vista

Post to Slashdot Digg this Add to del.icio.us