Graphic Cards Ati Catalyst 8.7 Out Now!

[abbY]

Performance Improvements

The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalystâ„¢.

* 3DMark Vantage: Performance increases of up to 20% is noticed in the Performance Preset on single card configured systems when using ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 36xx or ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 34xx products

* Company of Heroes DX10: Performance increases of 3% to 12% is noticed in specific maps on single card configured systems when using either an ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 48xx, ATI Radeon â„¢ HD 38xx, or an ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 36xx product

* Lost Planet DX10: Performance increases of 4% to 15% is noticed in specific maps on single card configured systems when using either an ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 48xx, ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 38xx, or an ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 36xx product

* Call Of Duty 4 DX9: Performance increases of up to 4% in specific maps is noticed on single card configured systems when using an ATI Radeonâ„¢ HD 48xx product

* Lost Planet DX9: CrossFireâ„¢ scaling improves up to 1.7x and performance increases up to 80% across all Radeon™ products when AA and AF is enabled

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalystâ„¢ Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

* Assassin's Creed: Attempting to launch the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 2600 series of product and running the Windows Vista operating system (32 bit version) no longer results in the game exiting to the desktop. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35804

* Crysis: Edge detect is now working when playing the DX9 version of the game with UBM enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35765

* Frontlines Fuel of War: Setting the in-game option to 1152x864 and AA to N/A no longer results in corruption being noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 38x0 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35861

* Hellgate London: Setting the display resolution to 2560x1600 no longer results in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35886

* Mahjongg Artifacts: Launching the game on a system running Windows Vista no longer results in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35873

* Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Flickering is no longer noticed when switching between the game and the Windows desktop. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35818

* Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Setting AA to 8x no longer results in AA failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35823

* World In Conflict: Setting the video quality to high no longer results in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35884

* World of Warcraft: The game's log-in background is no longer blank when using OpenGL mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35767

* ZT: Attempting to play the Asian game in a windowed mode or at a display resolution of 1280x1024 no longer results in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34152



Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalystâ„¢ Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

* City of Heroes: Character stretching and double character reflection is no longer noticed when the in-game resolution is set to 2560x1600. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35757

* Enemy Territories Quake Wars: Flickering is no longer noticed when playing the game with CrossFireâ„¢ enabled on systems containing an ATI Radeon™ HD 38x0 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35788

* Lost Planet: Corruption is no longer noticed when switching between the game and the Windows XP desktop. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35782

* Google SketchUp: The Push/Pull tool no longer fails to select some faces. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35800

* World of Warcraft: Enabling AA in the Catalyst Control Center no longer results in the user failing to log on to the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35816

Link->AMD GAME Drivers & Tools

 

[Shripad]

I have been testing these for last few hours.

THe good thing is that they seems to have done something to the fan speed control.

Unlike before where fan used to be stuck at 22%, it actually changes speed as per the temperature change.

At 85C the fan speeds up to 30% and stops the card from getting any hotter.

If temps starts to go above 85C, the fan speed increases with it.

So temperature is bought down to around 85C again and fan speed again comes down.

Still to do 3d tests. Will report back tomorrow mostly

But ATI seems to have attended to the fan issue

 

[hatter]

I have been testing these for last few hours.
THe good thing is that they seems to have done something to the fan speed control.
Unlike before where fan used to be stuck at 22%, it actually changes speed as per the temperature change.
At 85C the fan speeds up to 30% and stops the card from getting any hotter.
If temps starts to go above 85C, the fan speed increases with it.
So temperature is bought down to around 85C again and fan speed again comes down.
Still to do 3d tests. Will report back tomorrow mostly

But ATI seems to have attended to the fan issue

A good news indeed

 

[Shripad]

Happiness was short lived for me.

ATI seems to have sacrificed a lot of performance from 8.7beta to 8.7 official. Probably for stability but honestly, I did not face any stability issues with 8.7 beta.

Crysis is 1.2FPS down. 3DMark Vantage is 400 points down. WIC is 1 FPS down, Grid is 2 FPS down. 3DMark06 is 200 points down.

And these somehow screwed vista x64 for me while uninstall process. I couldnt go back to 8.7beta or any other driver for that matter.

Had to do system restore.

 

[Shripad]

Here is direct 3Dmark Vantage comparison.

First screenie = 8.7 Official.

Second Screenie = 8.7 Beta

Considerable difference in both CPU and GPU scores.

Same thing is noticed even in games. Makes everything feel more sluggish / choppy.

 

[muzux2]

luks like they were more busy with fixing game errors rather than improving performance..

 

[Apex]

Well...according to some reports, the 8.7 Beta is actually not the beta of 8.7 but for yet to be released 8.8 version of the driver. Weird...isn't it? I'm not sure but someone who has both the versions can confirm if the 8.7 Final is indeed an older build than 8.7 Beta.

 

[Shripad]

Yup.

The 8.7 official is indeed newer driver in terms of the driver date stamp. But 8.7 build number is higher than the 8.7 official.

Thats really weird

 

[Sudarshan_SMD]

so ATI must be thinking up we had lot performance ....so work on temprature issues .

while releasing catylist 8.8 ........i think they may also look upon performance .

 

[_pappu_]

do you know if they fixed the idle power comsumption thingy?

coz they usually donot downclock to 160mhz core when they are idle(instead they go to something like 500)