Catalyst 6.8 out Open GL performance gains all round

[luminous]

Just a heads up guys from the inquirer

ATI has managed to improve some things drastically with its brand new driver.

The graphics firm has been lacking in OpenGL performance but this new driver improved Doom 3 scores by as much as 6.5 percent and Quake 4 by as much as eighteen per cent. The driver adds a round twenty percent to the performance numbers of the Chronicles of Riddick and Prey boasts a performance boost of up to sixteen percent. You can expect the performance increases on all X1000 series cards.

The new driver improves the memory handing of games that need more than 256MB of memory. ATI reckons 3Dmark06 scores will be improved by up to 22 percent in a single card test with 256MB of memory at 1280x1024 and anti-aliasing enabled. The largest gains are expected on X1800 and X1900 series of cards.

The performance of Call of Duty 2 improves as much as thirty percent on a single X500 or higher card with 256MB at 1280x1024 with anti-aliasing enabled, again the largest gain is on X1800 and X1900 cards.

The new Linux Catalyst 6.8 (8.28.8) supports Pairmode the new feature to enable two desktops with two resolutions. The new driver supports Xpress 1200, 1250 and X1300 products and works under both 32 and 64 bit Linux and CPUs.

Download
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=640

 

[dave2k2005]

So are all the OpenGL boosts only for X1000 series, not for my GTO....

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Probably just the x1k series, as they have the new Ring Bus Memory Controller.

 

[TheVoice]

If you'd rather have the 6.8s with the standard Control Panel instead of the Catalyst Control Centre, go here:

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=18

 

[oweneades]

interesting, will have to give these a try.

 

[Clairvoyant]

Does any one else have the same problem with the 6.8`s as me.

I have a 2407 (1920x1200) Primary
And a VX912b (1280x1024) Secondary

With the 6.5`s I could set the 2407 to its res and the VX912 to its res when booting they would keep thier res.

Now when I reboot with the 6.8`s both monitors go back to 1280x1024.

Am I the only 1.

 

[CSA]

If you'd rather have the 6.8s with the standard Control Panel instead of the Catalyst Control Centre, go here:

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=18

any chance of a screen shot of that standard CP ? ive just moved to ATI after 2 years with nvidia and would like to know what differences that CP have over the CCC ,so i can decide whether to install those drivers


Thanks

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Thats the old one.

 

[CSA]

ah magic thanks loadsa,

that standard CP is much better and simpler to use that the current CCC imo

 

[LoadsaMoney]

I actually prefer the new CCC, yeah the old one is simpler, but i think the CCC looks better.

 

[Darkwave]

Catalyst Display Driver Only + ATI Tray Tools F.T.W.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

would like to see some benchmarks on how the performance now stands with the newer drivers vs the old drivers.

 

[dave2k2005]

Catalyst Display Driver Only + ATI Tray Tools F.T.W.

Q.F.T

 

[TheVoice]

ah magic thanks loadsa,

that standard CP is much better and simpler to use that the current CCC imo

The main reason for complaints of the CCC is that it generally feels bloated and adds to Windows start-up times. I must admit myself, I haven't used the CCC in quite a while so it may well have improved in those areas, but judging from numerous user comments, a lot of people don't seem to like it much.

 

[HicRic]

I don't know why ATi don't include the chuck patch into these new drivers. It only works with the old 6.6's doesn't it? I've just installed the 6.8's, forced AA on in the drivers but it doesn't work in-game.

 

[Gibbo]

HI there

Can somebody look in the INF files to see if these support X1950 as I have one to play with tomorrow but will be screwed if there is no drivers out yet.

 

[killer_uk]

HI there

Can somebody look in the INF files to see if these support X1950 as I have one to play with tomorrow but will be screwed if there is no drivers out yet.

I can't see it in there

 

[ray]

would like to see some benchmarks on how the performance now stands with the newer drivers vs the old drivers.

There's a comparison between the 6.7's and 6.8's here:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/938/1/page_1_introduction/index.html

The chuck patch for the 6.8's are here:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21960

 

[HicRic]

The chuck patch for the 6.8's are here:

http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=21960

Ahh, thanks! I still don't know why the aren't integrated with the driver, but nice to know I can still have AA alongside this apparent opengl performance increase.

 

[Justintime]

Any improvements on ol skool x800XT etc cards? Only up to date gpus i have are a Nvidia from 7600 to 7950.