Cat 6.6 official is out!

[[XC]Atomicpineapple]

As titles, says Cat 6.6 official is up, get em while theyre hot!

[NightCrawler™]

LOL I just installed the betas today.... bastawards...!

[Tony]

So...anyone got Xfire working with no dongle? if so HOW???? LOL

[vapb400]

atomic any luck with the dongless X1900GT?

[ugp]

I am guessing with Dongleless you still need a CrossFire board or has someone found a way to use it on SLI boards?

[vapb400]

i think atomic tried on the 975x chipset, maybe it is looking for a 16x/16x lane ati chipset?

[Blacklash]

Damn I just put the beta 6.6s in last night too.

Anyone with two X1900 GTs about? I am curious how they stack up in Xfire.

It supposed to be X1900 GT and lower = no dongle. I suppose if you have two X1900 GTs just install the driver and see if the Crossfire option appears in the CCC. Or install one card, then the driver, then the other card.

[IvanAndreevich]

Far Cry performance improves 4-5%. Larger gains of up to 18.3% can be seen when using anisotropic filtering.
Fear performance improves as much as 8.5% on X1800 and X1900 Single card systems and as much as 14% on X1800 and X1900 Crossfire systems.
Splinter Cell (original) performance improves as much a 7% on X1300 and X1600 Crossfire systems.

No mention of improvements people were getting with the Betas. Someone needs to bench these against the Betas, they might be slower.

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

[cronic]

Interesting the relese notes mention no improvements that the beta did, and an issues with bf2 exiting to the desktop is mentioned. hmm..............

I am awaiting results.

[Repoman]

Installing, we'll see if BF2 works (didn't with 6.5, fine with 6.3)

edit: bf2 still won't work, any suggestions? just closes on startup. The last ones that worked with bf2 are 6.3 :mad: I hate ATI!! should have stayed with nvidia..

[tvdang7]

yes dongless crossfire results would be cool.

[[XC]Atomicpineapple]

I cant get the drivers, I'm getting about 0.5kb/sec and stuff that, if any1's got them can they please host them somewhere?

And yes I want to see if they enable xfire with 2 X1900GTs on a Bad Axe, the betas didnt and I'll be p:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: d if the official 1s dont.

[rob2687]

http://www.sendspace.com/file/33e41y

[[XC]Atomicpineapple]

Just reinstalled the betas after using drivercleaner. Installed drivers with 1 card installed, rebooted, added 2nd card, rebooted, still no Xfire option. Thanks rob2687 for the link, dling the officials now, lets hope for better luck!

[tvdang7]

wait by dongle less we mean 1 master card with 1 regular card with out the dongle?

or 2 regular cards?

[[XC]Atomicpineapple]

According to this........http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5983 no mastercard, no dongle, nothing. However I've just installed the 6.6 officials with 2 X1900GTs on my bad axe mobo (975x chipset, so supports xfire) and it doesnt give me the option! Damn Hexus and ATI!

[Viss]

Tried them on me aircooled rig with crappy Venice tonight. Didnt gain me anything over 6.5. Could be me single core proc and/or win 2000 though, wil try XP soon.

Venice 10x230
Win 2000 SP4 DX 9.0c
X1800XT 700/800 atitool beta 14

2005
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/loc_oc/2005-1.jpg

2006
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v636/loc_oc/2006-1.jpg

[rob2687]

The 6.6 beta gave me a better score in 3dmark06

[IvanAndreevich]

The 6.6 beta gave me a better score in 3dmark06
Anything more exact than that?

[Funky]

lol. In defense of both hexus and ATI they never claimed it will be in 6.6.
Soon is preety tricky word ;)

[tvdang7]

hmm.... maybe if this enables something ill do 2 x1800 xt's

[rob2687]

Anything more exact than that?

I ran them 3 times per driver. Each time was more or less exactly the same results.

6.6 Official


Main Test Results
3DMark Score 5705 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 2305 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 2595 Marks
CPU Score 1644 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 17.772 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 20.643 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.526 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.821 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 25.152 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 26.756 FPS

6.6 Beta


Main Test Results
3DMark Score 5997 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 2464 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 2753 Marks
CPU Score 1648 Marks

Detailed Test Results

Graphics Tests
1 - Return to Proxycon 19.857 FPS
2 - Firefly Forest 21.205 FPS

CPU Tests
CPU1 - Red Valley 0.527 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley 0.825 FPS

HDR Tests
1 - Canyon Flight (SM 3.0) 26.757 FPS
2 - Deep Freeze (SM 3.0) 28.305 FPS



Pentium D 940
2x512mb DDR2
Asus P5WD2 E Premium
Powercolor Radeon x1900xtx
Everything a stock speeds.

[cantankerous]

so the beta really are faster. I am awaiting the omega based drivers as I prefer those. I hope he mods the faster betas if this really is the case but I doubt it.

[Tony]

I just spoke with David, main man at hexus and he confirmed 6.6 is "supposed to be" the one that unlocks dongle less Xfire but with an extra twist...RD580 is the chipset it works on.

So manta, cfx3200 etc users report in and give us the lowdown on if it works or not ;)

I will try and have a play tomorrow if i can with my 1800XT's ;)

[phi|os]

anyone want to hook it up with two 1900GT's? lol.

[ahmad]

I'll do full comparisons tonight or tomorrow. Got 6.5, 6.6beta and 6.6 official..

[cantankerous]

sweet. thanks for the work, looking forward to your results.

[Repoman]

Yup, just did a fresh reinstall because I screwed it up somehow, doing comparisons between 6.3 official,6.6 official,6.6 beta .. (6.3 is always better than 6.5 for me)

[ScottFern]

I hope this release is better for you guys than the latest ForceWare release we have had to suffer through. I am skipping this release for sure!

[ugp]

I want confirmation on 2 x1900XTXs on CFX3200! I may just find myself into more debt if it works....

Please someone confirm this.

[Frackal]

No mention of improvements people were getting with the Betas. Someone needs to bench these against the Betas, they might be slower.

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


I was worried about that too but I'm still getting the same 92fps (from 82!! in 6.5s) in DOD-S

[odb]

I just spoke with David, main man at hexus and he confirmed 6.6 is "supposed to be" the one that unlocks dongle less Xfire but with an extra twist...RD580 is the chipset it works on.

So manta, cfx3200 etc users report in and give us the lowdown on if it works or not ;)

I will try and have a play tomorrow if i can with my 1800XT's ;)

it will be sweet if it works, ill be picking up another 1800xt

[wickedld9]

Cat 6.6 is bugged for me. No 3ddisplay in anything. All 3D marks score fine but displays nothing.

E6600 Conroe
Intel Bad Axe 5/26 BIOS

6.5's work perfect. Conroe/Bad Axe users report in! ;)

[Capt_Caveman]

Installing, we'll see if BF2 works (didn't with 6.5, fine with 6.3)

edit: bf2 still won't work, any suggestions? just closes on startup. The last ones that worked with bf2 are 6.3 :mad: I hate ATI!! should have stayed with nvidia..

BF2 worked for me w/ 6.5 and now 6.6

[eva2000]

I just spoke with David, main man at hexus and he confirmed 6.6 is "supposed to be" the one that unlocks dongle less Xfire but with an extra twist...RD580 is the chipset it works on.

So manta, cfx3200 etc users report in and give us the lowdown on if it works or not ;)

I will try and have a play tomorrow if i can with my 1800XT's ;)
haha i just picked up a HIS X1900XT Mastercard for my CFX3200-DR LOL

[NightCrawler™]

This could get very interesting... :D

[[XC]Atomicpineapple]

I just spoke with David, main man at hexus and he confirmed 6.6 is "supposed to be" the one that unlocks dongle less Xfire but with an extra twist...RD580 is the chipset it works on.

So manta, cfx3200 etc users report in and give us the lowdown on if it works or not ;)

I will try and have a play tomorrow if i can with my 1800XT's ;)

Oh great. I assume the same will apply to RD600 chipset boards due this summer. If it doesnt, or I dont find out soon, these GT's will be going back cos 1 isnt fast enough!

[matt89]

so are they worth upgrading to from 6.5

[jrw]

Subscribed.

[Blacklash]

I'll try it. Reporting back in a while.

EDIT: For sh@t and giggles I tried connecting my monitor to the regular DVI output on my master and

disconnecting the slave. That didn't work. I then tried using the composite port on the master yet not connecting the

slave. Both attempts got me this:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9997/warn8fv.jpg


So if you have a X1900 master card you are going to be using the dongle. If some wants to loan me a regular XTX I'll be happy to try it in place of the master. :P This time for the heck of it I am trying the first dvi port on my slave instead of the second, which I have been using with Crossfire in the past.

[ugp]

I was worried about that too but I'm still getting the same 92fps (from 82!! in 6.5s) in DOD-S
I get over 130 most of the time...

Day of Defeat Source is all I play man. I have been a DoD Player for years and years.

Come check out my clans server sometime. I use the same name there

72.232.43.34:27016

[sora3]

Well, I'll try out the dongleless X1900GT and will get back. Got two that are returned from customers that changed their minds.

[ahmad]

Here you go :)

Test setup:

x1900XT (w/ x1900XT BIOS) - Benchmarks @ 681MHz/801MHz, games @ 625MHz/750MHz
Opteron 170 @ 2.65GHz
OCZ PC4000 EB @ 2.5-3-2 (221MHz) @ 2.5v
OCZ PowerStream 520W
Windows XP Pro SP2
ATI Catalyst 6.5 (Official), 6.6 (Official), 6.6 (Beta)


http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3DMark2001SE-noai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3dmark05-noai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3dmark06-noai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/fear-noai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/nfsmw-noai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now for the good stuff:


http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3DMark2001SE-ai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3dmark05-ai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/3dmark06-ai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/fear-ai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ahmadh.net/images/driverbench/nfsmw-ai.gif
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So you can see, huge difference with AI. Also, it seems like 6.6 Beta is only good for 06 benching. 01 and 05 go to 6.6 official (NFSMW worked with 6.6 Beta AI and no AI, I just didnt run it with AI).

[NightCrawler™]

Those Cats 6.6 are the devil.... proof below....

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3645/3dm0512666evil3rc.th.jpg (http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dm0512666evil3rc.jpg)

:D

[Robertus]

Hi there,

Has anyone got any information as to whether these drivers allow X1800XTs to be crossfired without a mastercard?

[cantankerous]

Only on latest ATI Chipsets unfortunately.

[Robertus]

Yes, aslong as it works on the RD580 then it's cool.

[Robertus]

Come on. About 3 people said that they would report back with their findings, yet no one has.

[rob2687]

Probably no has gotten it to work yet.

[138inverse]

So what is the official solution for overclocking? With anything later than 6.3 ati tool is very flaky, about the only thing you can do is run 3dmark. (wee...:banana: :banana: ) Somebody must have a solution beside use 6.3s. Is it possible to flash new 3d clocks into the card??, to avoid the vclock reset problem when playing video, (in the ati tool beta thread it seems it has been confirmed the driver is doing the clock switching when you playback video).

Overdrive is weak and not an option unless somebody has hacked it to be more featureful.

[Doomeous]

I'd try it on my sapphire A9R580, but 6.6 breaks the use of Dell monitors... SO I cannot use the 6.6's as they turn my monitor off.. Sucks, wish they would get that stuff fixed.

[Blacklash]

Overdrive only gets the master card as Crossfire runs async. If you want to overclock both cards the best option currently is still ATi Tool 0.25 beta 14.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/259

[sora3]

Hi there,

Has anyone got any information as to whether these drivers allow X1800XTs to be crossfired without a mastercard?

Nope, they don't work without a mastercard. Tried and it just gave me the "please check that you have an ATI Radeon X1800 Crossfire Master card in the slot and connect the dongle as shown in the manual"

And dongleless Crossfire for X1900GT DOES NOT work either...

[Rovtar]

anybody have problems with this drivers?

while i play cs my computer freezes and then reboot:S when i receive solution by Microsoft it says that "Error caused by a video device driver"

[cantankerous]

lol nice sig!

[James Cook]

I have read thet guys were able to run CF on 2 x 1800 GTO on ATI chipset. Probably it is possible to replace Device ID of 1800XT with 1800GTO and try to run in CF?

[MikalCarbine]

Is the chuck patch compiled in these drivers?

[sora3]

I have read thet guys were able to run CF on 2 x 1800 GTO on ATI chipset. Probably it is possible to replace Device ID of 1800XT with 1800GTO and try to run in CF?

No, the Device ID is always imprinted on the core, not in the drivers.

[smith_6079]

Is the chuck patch compiled in these drivers?
Exactly what I was about to ask.

I'd try it on my sapphire A9R580, but 6.6 breaks the use of Dell monitors... SO I cannot use the 6.6's as they turn my monitor off.. Sucks, wish they would get that stuff fixed.
Hm....I used the 6.6 betas for a little bit and it worked fine on both my 2005fpw and 2007fpw. Uninstalled them because the betas didn't have Chuck. Hope the official ones do or at least a third party source.

[MikalCarbine]

hmm

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/316

Cat 6.6 Beta with Chuck Patch and Conroe patch

Would running that on an nForce system cause problems?:confused:

[Blacklash]

Most say, and I concur, if your interest is the Cats with the chuck patch, use 6.3 with the 6.3 patch.

[LowRun]

I will try and have a play tomorrow if i can with my 1800XT's ;)


So, did you have a chance to try it? i'd be very interested in your results.

Thanks

[MikalCarbine]

Most say, and I concur, if your interest is the Cats with the chuck patch, use 6.3 with the 6.3 patch.

Why is this?

[xs64]

Shame for ATI , they still cant make CF Dongless. That's why alot of ppl will buy SLI and Nvidia :slapass:

[smith_6079]

Most say, and I concur, if your interest is the Cats with the chuck patch, use 6.3 with the 6.3 patch.
I don't know about that. 6.5+Chuck=great performance and graphics for me. In fact, I'm currently using those right now.

Does the 6.3+Chuck still beat 6.6+Chuck? The 6.6's seem to be a pretty good improvement for a driver.

[Gorod]

wrong post sorry