Catalyst 7.7 Released

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:18

Catalyst 7.7 Out Now

Release notes:

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_77_release_notes.html

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonx-xp.html

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:20

12x and 24x Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT and ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series

This release of Catalyst™ introduces support for 12X and 24X Anti-Aliasing for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2900 XT, and ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 Series. These new Anti-Aliasing settings are available through the new Anti-Aliasing Edge Detect Filter. Selecting 4X Anti-Aliasing plus selecting the Edge Detect filter deliver the equivalent of 12X Anti-Aliasing. Selecting 8X Anti-Aliasing plus selecting the Edge Detect filter deliver the equivalent of 24X Anti-Aliasing.

Finally!!

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:47

Guys hold off downloading these for the moment before I confirm somthing.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:53

Can someone with these installed on XP go to the information center in CCC

and check the driver packaging version and let me know if it is this:

8.391-070626a1-049709c-ATI

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 18:59

It looks like AMD have packaged these drivers up with the OLD 7.6 build, so basically you'll have a 7.7 Control Center but with 7.6 drivers. I have contacted ATi about this and will post an update when I get one (should be soon).

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:09

Can any of you guys see the edge detect filter.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:16

Chronictank said:
what option should it be under?

In the AA part in 3D.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:17

This is real confusing, some people have it and some don't, I can't see it nor can Killer_Uk nor can this other guy but some people can see it :confused:

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:19

Vogon said:
No edge detection options on the XP version for me, Tom ...

This is bizarre. :confused:

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:22

Ok It is there now, I've had word these are the correct 7.7s so go ahead and install them, but my performance seems to have gone down to 7.6 :confused:

(from 7.7 beta)

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:45

I have to say edge detect is superb using 12xAA Edge I get the same performance as I did with 8x Wide tent in Doom 3

. I seem to have had a lot of other performance decreases though :mad:

namely with CSS/HL2/SOURCE

It seems the build I was testing was actually newer than this 8.40 I tested

Ill keep these on though for the Edge Detect

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:49

Just for everyones Info edge detect does allow high AA for the same performance as a lower MSAA resolve. Im loving it

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 19:52

Edge is also the same as Box. It performs as good if not better than wide/narrow tent but avoids all the bluryness

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 20:20

Vogon said:
With 4x Aa it is too ... Ultra settings and 1920x1200 and its 20fps
Good job I only have the demo, and the game is pants anyway

Not impressed with AMD though, should have major performance increases appearing by now, looks like this 2900 will be fast after all ... fast moving out of my system

Not ATi's fault. You'll find with the full game that they released a patch and ultra settings were tweaked therefore the demo will remain untweaked. I have the full game and run it @ 1680x1050 with 4xAA ultra.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 22:38

rico3 said:
talking about games...has this new driver release fixed the problem in WORLD IN CONFLICT beta demo....

Would really like to know this.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 23:14

rico3 said:
yeah its just the fonts in the game menu tom...but its all sorted now....so what do you recken tom 7.6cat or 7.7 cat im running XP AND VISTA in dual bootup with 2 ati 2900xt 1gig cards in crossfire....

Could you do some tests in DX10 with WIC and upload those results with WIC id be really interested in those.

Tom|Nbk · 19 Jul 2007 at 23:57

From the WIC Beta forums;

DX10 issues on ATI cards:
The DX10 features in World In Conflict are still being developed and tweaked.
The features have not yet been optimized for all cards and the current results
are not fully representative of either the final game or the performance of
all cards. We are currently working with ATI to resolve several issues
appearing when enabling DX10 on an ATI card.

Its hardly worth bothering atm till they patch it up.

Tom|Nbk · 21 Jul 2007 at 00:05

Gerard said:
Still not something id trust with 25% fan speed unless it was loading at 70c with that speed. Personally id wait for ati to fix it so if it does go **** up its them thats to blame and it can be replaced.

Not that it couldn't be replaced if user error was the cause of its demise.

ATi won't be fixing it nor was there ever actually an issue with the fans to begin with, this is how loud/fast they were supposed to run. Somthing may happen in the future but I seriously doubt it.

Also I wouldnt recommened running it @ 25% in 2D, I did it and the temps shot right up I quit the game before I killed the card or somthing. This card needs the fan running at high RPM in 3D to shift that much heat.

Tom|Nbk · 21 Jul 2007 at 00:07

Gerard said:
Is it possible some cards (the majority it seems) just have dodgy fans and ati don't want to admit to it? They are pwm fans are they not so should spin up depending on heat generated by the core?

2900 has a digital pwm

And will 31% is what they run at in 2D, its perfectly reasonable so I don't know what the fuss is.

Tom|Nbk · 21 Jul 2007 at 00:09

willhub said:
If everyone elses fans are silent then 25% should not be a problem.

Whats the temp of your 2900's get up to when running ATi tool 3D View?

25% in 2D should be ok but when I tried i hardly noticed any difference in noise between 25 and 31 this is why I don't understand the fuss. 25% in 3D is NOT recommended.