Wie erwartet wurde heute Nacht der ATI Catalyst 4.8 Treiber von [url=http://www.ati.com]ATI[/url] veröffentlicht. Neben den üblichen Buf-Fixes und Performance-Verbesserungen wurden auch drei neue Features eingebaut. Das Geometry Instancing ist Teil des Shader-Model 3.0, bietet somit z.B. in FarCry eine deutlich bessere Grafik, bremst diese aber auch etwas. Die Performance-Steigerung von Direct3D Spielen wird mit 1-5% angegeben. Der OpenGL Treiber bringt hier eine Verbesserung von 1-4%, in Doom3 sollen es sogar bis zu 12% sein. Wen die genauen Details der Veränderungen interessieren, der sollte sich die [url=http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_48_release_notes.html]Release Notes[/url] genauer anschauen. Der [url=http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-w2k-catalyst-8-042-040803a-016701c.exe]26 MB große Download des Catalyst 4.8[/url] steht ab sofort für alle Windows 2000/XP User bereit. Werbung
The CATALYST™ software suite 4.8 contains the following:
- RADEON™ display driver 8.042
- ATI MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ 9.02
- HydraVision™ 3.25.0006
- HydraVision™ Basic Edition 3.25.9006
- ATI REMOTE WONDER™ 2.3
- WDM version 4.07
- Southbridge/IXP Driver
Geometry Instancing
This release of CATALYST introduces the support of Geometry Instancing. This new feature provides assistance when a game has to render many objects where the geometry is highly similar. Geometry Instancing allows the VPU to create multiple objects from a single geometric model, rather than passing an entire new model for each item on the screen. This increases the rendering speed of images such as leaves, or grass.
VPU Recover Enhancement
VPU Recover has been improved in this release of CATALYST. In most cases, VPU Recover will fully recover instead of switching to software rendering mode. This enhancement is supported under the Windows XP operating system.
EIA 861B Timing Specification
This release of CATALYST™ introduces EIA 861B Timing Specification for DVI based televisions. The RADEON™ Software Release version 8.04 will support 256 byte E-EDID and will decode CEA timing extensions. Further, it will retrieve DTV timing information. When the driver detects EIA 861B timings in E-EDID that the controller cannot handle, it will replace the EDID detail timing with adjusted timings suitable to our controller. The modes will be added as EDID detailed timing.
Performance Improvements
As with most CATALYST™ releases performance has increased in various situations. The following performance gains are noticed:
- Direct3D driver efficiency has improved considerably. Significant performance gains are noted in multiple "CPU-bound" cases, including 3DMark2001, Aquamark 3, Comanche4, Dungeon Siege, and Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004. Typical improvements are in the 1-5% range.
- OpenGL driver efficiency is also improved. Older OpenGL games such as Quake III Arena and Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory show small improvement (1-2%) at low resolutions. Call of Duty framerates are up approximately 4%. Doom3 improves considerably more (as much as 12% on some product configurations) as a result of the same software efficiency improvements.