[Kaotik]

Apparently 'any minute now' so to say.
Someone at Futuremark digged the release notes out already (or found them somewhere else and provided no link)

ATI/AMD have released a new build of their Catalyst software suite. This particular software suite updates both the AMD Display Driver, and the Catalyst Control Center. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.

New Avivo Features
• Dynamic Gamma/Contrast correction, available on the ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series, improves video image quality by delivering more vivid color in content with sharp contrasts and scenes with low and bright images.
• Improved video presets, available for the ATI Radeon HD 3000 and ATI Radeon 4800 Series, delivers a newly optimized video presets that users can select depending on what kind of video content they are viewing.
• Windows XP support: Edge enhancement, which adjusts the level of sharpness of video content and Noise Reduction, which removes ghosting artifacts while preserving details of the original video. The new slider controls can be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found in the Catalyst Control Center

Hybrid Graphics Support for Windows XP
This release of Catalyst introduces Hybrid Graphics support. Hybrid Graphics delivers a significant 3D performance boost for systems featuring an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard and an ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series or ATI Radeon HD 2400 Series graphics accelerator. It also provides support for up to four independent displays

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
• Setting the language option to Greek no longer results in cropped text being noticed in the Catalyst Control Center->Component Video page
• Adobe After Effects: Exiting the application no longer results in the Windows Vista (64 bit version) operating system intermittently failing to respond
• Call of Duty: Corruption is no longer noticed when having Quad CrossFire enable and an HDMI 1080p display device connected. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35112
• Devil May Cry 4: Anti-Aliasing no longer fails to function when playing the game with CrossFire enabled
• Dirt: Playing the German Crossover track (Rally World Event) no longer results in the grand stands and chain link fences not being display correctly when CrossFire is enabled and MSAA is disabled
• Hellgate London: Setting the display resolution to 2560x1600 no longer results in the game failing to respond
• Linage II: Switching between the game and the Windows desktop no longer results in the desktop appearing brighter than its original setting. Exiting the game and restarting the operating system may also result in the desktop brightness failing to be restored to its original setting. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35108
• Lost Planet (DX9): Enabling CrossFire, AA to 4x, AF to 8x, and having all of the in-game options set to high no longer results in the game failing to respond when running the performance test
• Mahjongg Artifacts: Flickering is no longer noticed when playing the game on pre-configured name brand systems
• Mass Effect: Playing the game with CrossFire enabled no longer results in corruption being noticed on the AA menu
• NASCAR demo: Setting all the in-game options to the highest levels no longer results in corruption being noticed on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 2400 series of product and running Windows Vista
• Quake 4: Corruption is no longer noticed when starting a new game on systems running either Windows XP or Vista and containing an ATI Radeon HD 48x0 series of product
• Second Life: Playing the game on a CrossFire configured system (ATI Radeon HD 2400 and above) no longer results in corruption and slow performance being noticed
• Unreal Tournament 3: The game no longer intermittently fails to launch when a map has texture detail set to maximum. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31189
• World In Conflict: Setting the video quality to high no longer results in corruption being noticed
• Installing a newer version of the Catalyst Control Center without removing the older version no longer results in a windows error message appearing when attempting to launch the Catalyst Control Center
• The Reduce DVI frequency on high-resolution displays is no longer missing in the Catalyst Control Center->Digital Panel (DVI) page when hot un-plugging and then hot-plugging a display device using the HDMI port on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 3100/3200 series of product
• The Display Management options are no longer missing or corrupted when switching between profiles in the Catalyst Control Center
• Clicking Start->All Program->Catalyst Control Center->Restart runtime twice no longer results in the two ATI Restart icons appearing on the Windows taskbar
• Setting the DPI to 120 or 144 no longer results in cropped text being noticed throughout various pages of the Catalyst Control Center
• Making changes to the default values in the Avivo color page and closing the Catalyst Control Center without applying the changes no longer results in the default values failing to be restored
• Cropped text is no longer noticed in the VPU Recover message when the DPI is set to 144
• Checking the Use application settings in Avivo Video->Basic Color no longer results in the preview failing to be updated with the default color settings
• Corruption is no longer noticed when entering the Catalyst Control Center->Basic Quality page on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 4800 product
• Setting the language option to German and the Catalyst Control Center skin to ATI_Crimson no longer results in text appearing cropped within the Catalyst Control Center
• Catalyst Control Center: Enabling the option for Always on Top no longer results in dialog boxes failing to appear on top of the Catalyst Control Center
• Running through a custom install of the graphics driver and installing the driver to a directory of choice no longer results in a C++ error message when right clicking on the Windows desktop
• The pulldown menu options found within various pages of the Catalyst Control Center are no longer mis-aligned
• Setting the language option to Russian no longer results in cropped text being noticed within the Catalyst Control Center
• Using the Catalyst Control Center Setup Assistant no longer results in the Catalyst Control Center Advanced View text is appearing greyed out
• A restricted number of HDTV custom modes no longer occurs after deleting all of the custom modes that were previously added
• Catalyst Control Center: The online help links for Color->Full Screen3D are no longer missing
• Catalyst Control Center->Help->CrossFire: The help file no longer states that CrossFire is enabled by default under the Windows XP operating system
• Incorrect help hardware configurations are no longer described for CrossFire in the Catalyst Control Center->Help contents
• Setting the language option to any of the supported languages now results in the translated language web pages being displayed (if in existence) when clicking on the Welcome link
• Corruption is no longer noticed in the lower portion of the HDMI display when using certain display modes
• Disabling the graphics driver while clone mode is enable no longer results in corruption being noticed on the display devices
• Connecting an HDMI display device and entering an S3 state no longer results in the operating system failing to respond or VPU Recover to activate
• Connecting an HDMI display device to the DVI port using an HDMI to DVI dongle no longer results in the display mode of 720x480 failing to be in the display mode list after hot-unplugging the HDMI display device and hot-plugging a DVI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35105
• Screen flashing no longer occurs when connecting a display device that has incorrect Extended Display Identification Data information (EDID)
• An error message indicating that the display driver stopped responding and has recovered is no longer displayed when playing a DVD title using the Windows Media Player on systems containing an ATI Radeon 3100/3200 series of product
• Connecting a dual link display device to a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 36x0 series of product no longer results in the display device failing to display an image when enabling the option to reduce DVI and setting the display resolution to 1280x1024 60Hz 32bpp
• Connecting an HDMI display device and setting the display resolution to 1600x1024 or higher with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz. no longer result in the display device failing to display an image
• Logging off one user and logging on as another no longer results in CrossFire failing to be enabled or disabled when logging back on as the original user
• A CCCPrev.exe has stopped working error message no longer appears when selecting any 3D settings in the Catalyst Control Center when extended desktop mode is enabled
• Connecting a CRT as the primary and a DFP as a secondary display device followed by enabling extended desktop mode no longer results in clone mode becoming active when hot-unplugging the DFT and the hot-plugging it back on
• Connecting a TV as a secondary display device and attempting to enabled extended desktop mode no longer results in the TV format failing to change
• Connecting a secondary display device and enabling it as the primary display no longer results in the resolution being set to it maximum display resolution when enabling CrossFire
• Clicking on the seek slider when playing a DVD title using the PowerDVD player no longer results in corruption being noticed on the playback window
• Switching from h.264 to MPEG2 video titles no longer results in the operating system intermittently failing to respond
• Playing VC1 video clips no longer results in green corruption being noticed in the player window
• Seeking or fast-forwarding in a media player application no longer results in corruption being noticed on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 3600 series of product and running Windows Vista (32 bit version)
• Enabling BOB de-interlacing no longer results in a green line being noticed on the bottom of the playback window when playing a 1080i clip
• Playing a standard definition DVD using the Windows Media Player no longer results in the player window flashing when closed captioning is enabled
• Playing a DVD title using the PowerDVD player no longer results in the PowerDVD player failing to respond when DXVA is disabled, closed captioning is enabled and the user is fast forwarding the DVD title anywhere from 4x to 32x

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
• 3 Kingdom OL: Playing the Asian game with CrossFire enabled on a system running Windows XP no longer results in texture corruption being noticed during the fight preparation menu
• Assassin's Creed: Setting all in-game options to 3 and the display resolution to 1024x768 no longer results in flashing being noticed around the character
• Age of Conan: The inventory icons are no longer corrupt when playing the game with CrossFire enabled. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system as well. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34825
• 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
• Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in the displays flashing corruption when setting the in game graphics options to off or their lowest settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35118
• Enemy Territory Quake Wars: Intermittent corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 48x0 series of product
• Fear Perseus Mandate Demo: Launching the game on a system running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon HD 2600 series of product no longer results in the system failing to respond
• Just Cause: Setting the in-game display resolution to 1280x1024 and all of the other game options to their maximum levels no longer results in corruption being noticed in the lower portion of the display
• Lost Planet: Task switching between the game and the Windows XP desktop no longer results in texture corruption being noticed when switching back to the game. This issue was known to occur on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 36x0 series of product
• Witcher: Enabling AA and setting the in-game options to their maximum levels no longer results in background colors being missing and the game play back being choppy. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35898
• Witcher: Game corruption is no longer noticed when setting all of the in-game options to their maximum values and having CrossFire enabled along with AA set to 16x and AF set to 8x
• Witcher: Enabling CrossFire on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 48x0 series of product no longer results in game failing to respond
• Using the WinDVD player (versions 14.x, 11.10x, or 9.xx) to play VC1 video content no longer results in corruption being noticed when hardware acceleration is enabled. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35293
• Installing the HDMI audio driver and the VIA audio chipset driver no longer results in a compatibility issue being noticed and a yellow exclamation mark showing up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35119
• Connecting a display device to the display port no longer results in the Catalyst Control Center->Advanced View detecting the display device as a Digital Panel (DVI)
• Hot-plugging an HDMI display device to a system that has a CRT connected to it no longer results in the CRT becoming disabled after the system reboots
• Choppy DVD playback is no longer noticed when enabling the option cinema enhancement and closed captioning within the WinDVD player
• Corruption is no longer noticed in the lower third of the WinDVD player window when cinema enhancement is enabled
• Hot-plugging a display device while the system is in standby state no longer results in the display device failing to be detected
• Hot-plugging a display device no longer results in the display device failing to display an image
• ATI icon corruption is no longer noticed on systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon HD 48x0 series of product
• Resuming from a standby state and right clicking on the Windows desktop no longer results in menu items appearing corrupt when moving the mouse pointer over the drop down menu
• Playing a Blu-ray DVD title using the WinDVD player no longer results in only audio being heard
• Playing a DVD title and selecting the option to use basic color setting to default in the Catalyst Control Center now results in the option being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35803
• A green tint is no longer noticed around the closed captioning when playing a standard definition DVD using the Cyberlink player

[Albuquerque]

I may have missed it since there was about one billion changes in this driver it seems, but I see no mention of reduced power settings during non-3D video modes.

WHere is my functional powerplay?

[I.S.T.]

I don't see the AGP fix in there either.

[Kaotik]

Originally Posted by I.S.T.

I don't see the AGP fix in there either.

I got a feeling that there will never be such, heck, they even have now dedicated "AGP Hotfix" drivers for HD2/3k series AGP cards.
I think someone mentioned somewhere that Microsoft wouldn't do WHQL tests for AGP systems anymore, which is why the fix will never be implemented in the official sets.

edit:
He posted the original source:
http://www.ngohq.com/news/14486-ati-catalyst-8-8-a.html

[Broken Hope]

Doesn't look like these are coming out today, which is odd because http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...volution&num=1 has an article about the Linux release of the 8.8's. Considering the 8.52's are over a month old I'm not sure what's delaying ATI from posting them online.

[fellix]

WHere is my functional powerplay?

Enough with that PowerPlay thing, already!
If your board is switching clock rates for the 2D/3D modes, that's your PowerPlay set working on driver level. All it does is to read the predefined parameters in the video BIOS and set them up, and if something is not working as it should, this is the place to get fixed.

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Originally Posted by fellix

Enough with that PowerPlay thing, already!
If your board is switching clock rates for the 2D/3D modes, that's your PowerPlay set working on driver level. All it does is to read the predefined parameters in the video BIOS and set them up, and if something is not working as it should, this is the place to get fixed.

Why is it changeable in the driver profiles then? Fact is a power hungry 3D card should not be burning watts when it's running in 2D (which is the majority of the time). It's especially galling when AMD is all about power/performance nowadays. Power prices are rising all the time and it's bad for the environment, so it's completely unnecessary for any high end computer gear to be burning power when not being used.

[Kaotik]

Aaand the drivers are out, some links are still pointing to 8.7 as I post this though (like the "front page" link to release notes even though it says 8.8 already)

[digitalwanderer]

And the Vista 32 "complete" set is mislinked to the CCC only, get the separate driver/CCC packages and they work fine.

Oh, and for the curious:

Driver Packaging Version 8.522-080731a-067980C-ATI
Catalyst® Version 08.8
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 7.01.01.809
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/Class/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0004
Direct3D Version 7.14.10.0603
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.7873
Catalyst® Control Center Version 2008.0731.2322.39992

[hoom]

Had to reboot on XP 64.

[Dooby]

And?

The drivers that came with my 4870X2 are 8.52.6, btw.

[Skinner]

It appears to be 8.52.2, even older then the ones on the X2 CD.

Using the 8.54 beta's for now.

[Wesker]

Woot, I didn't have to reboot (Vista 64 bit).

Maybe it only works with the Catalyst Install Manager (which is exclusive to Vista?)?

[B3D News]

The folks at AMD are up to their monthly Catalyst shenanigans, with version 8.8 available today for Vista, XP, and Linux.

Read the full news item

[Dave Baumann]

Originally Posted by Wesker

Maybe it only works with the Catalyst Install Manager (which is exclusive to Vista?)?

The "no-reboot" after device driver installation is a Vista feature - this is at the OS level and won't apply to XP.

What was requiring the reboot under Vista wasn't the device driver install, but the CCC install and its interaction .NET. To circumvent the need for a reboot you need to use the Installer and you select "Update". Performing any kind of uninstall that removes CCC will mean that when you perform the install of the new drivers a reboot is needed.

[willardjuice]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

The "no-reboot" after device driver installation is a Vista feature - this is at the OS level and won't apply to XP.

What was requiring the reboot under Vista wasn't the device driver install, but the CCC install and its interaction .NET. To circumvent the need for a reboot you need to use the Installer and you select "Update". Performing any kind of uninstall that removes CCC will mean that when you perform the install of the new drivers a reboot is needed.

When I install new drivers I don't get that option anymore. It's only "install or uninstall" even though I already have everything (Catalyst Install Manager, CCC, and drivers) installed. Thus it always asks me to reboot when I'm pretty sure I don't have to (I do it anyways just in case).

[Humus]

Originally Posted by willardjuice

When I install new drivers I don't get that option anymore. It's only "install or uninstall" even though I already have everything (Catalyst Install Manager, CCC, and drivers) installed.

Same here.

[CJ]

Originally Posted by willardjuice

When I install new drivers I don't get that option anymore. It's only "install or uninstall" even though I already have everything (Catalyst Install Manager, CCC, and drivers) installed. Thus it always asks me to reboot when I'm pretty sure I don't have to (I do it anyways just in case).

I just installed Cat 8.8 on my rig and could also just choose between "install" or "uninstall". However... I wasn't asked to reboot my computer. The installer just updated my current driver and closed itself... I checked my CCC and it said "Catalyst 8.8". So for me it's working fine.

[Althornin]

Originally Posted by CJ

I just installed Cat 8.8 on my rig and could also just choose between "install" or "uninstall". However... I wasn't asked to reboot my computer. The installer just updated my current driver and closed itself... I checked my CCC and it said "Catalyst 8.8". So for me it's working fine.

Same here. Worked fine for me, despite the only choices being "install" and "uninstall"

[hoom]

The "no-reboot" after device driver installation is a Vista feature - this is at the OS level and won't apply to XP.

That could have been pointed out a couple of Cat releases ago...

[Andrew Lauritzen]

No reboot for me... sweet

Next time I might have the guys to even try doing the upgrade while a (windowed) 3D app is running just to see what happens

[CJ]

Originally Posted by hoom

That could have been pointed out a couple of Cat releases ago...

It was introduced in Catalyst 8.6 and in the releasenotes it clearly stated:

Note: This feature is supported under Windows Vista only

Above the Catalyst Install Enhancement.... See:
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206...ase_notes.html

So it was pointed out from the very start... would help if people actually read the releasenotes.

[swaaye]

These may have fixed my 780G+A64X2 issues with CnQ disabling after playing a video. It seems to remain working now.

edit: Let me take this back. Still craps out occasionally.

[hoom]

Link = AMD unauthorised leech page, but I found it anyway

Above the Catalyst Install Enhancement.... See:

That note refers to

OpenGL CrossFireX™ (QUAD) support - 3 or 4 GPUs in CrossFire™ mode

That is unless

Note: When installing the Catalyst™ Vista driver for Windows Vista, the user must logged on as an Administrator or have Administrator rights in order to successfully complete the installation of the Catalyst™ Vista driver.

refers to

New Features

[Wesker]

Originally Posted by Dave Baumann

The "no-reboot" after device driver installation is a Vista feature - this is at the OS level and won't apply to XP.

What was requiring the reboot under Vista wasn't the device driver install, but the CCC install and its interaction .NET. To circumvent the need for a reboot you need to use the Installer and you select "Update". Performing any kind of uninstall that removes CCC will mean that when you perform the install of the new drivers a reboot is needed.

Ah, thanks for the verification. I thought it had something to do with Vista's new driver model.