ATI Catalyst 8.9 out

[Monkeywoman]

link; http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista64/common-vista64

New Features

Catalyst™ 8.9 introduces the following new features:

• Catalyst™ Control Center: New Display mode support

• OverDrive™ support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations

• OpenGL™ 3.0 extension support

other then that nothing major; release notes; https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/gamesite/Catalyst_89_release_notes.html

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

looks like this may interest some people, idk if this was working before...

olding@Home is a distributed computing project designed by the Stanford University. The application performs intensive simulations of protein folding. This simulation will help researchers uncover how certain diseases develop. Folding@Home uses distributed computing to simulate protein folding, the workload is broken up into small work units and distributed across hundreds of thousands of computers over the internet. You can help find the cure to many different diseases! To join Folding@Home, follow these steps:

1. Download ATI's Catalyst™ software suite

2. Download the Folding@Home GPU client application

3. Enter the ATI team number 51394 and start folding!

[ExodusC]

Ah, can't wait to see some performance benchmarks, as it seems 8.8 had worse performance than 8.7 (I'm on 8.7).

[Hornet331]

hmm still 3 versions till the promised pp fix. :(

[initialised]

8.7 -8.9 beta drivers allow simultaneous 3D output on two monitors, 8.6 - 8.8 release drivers don't, does this?

Going from 8.8 to 8.9 Beta pushed my Vantage score up 7% from P6943 to P7440 and stopped numerous 4870x2s I've worked on from blackscreening in 3DMark06 and other stress tests

[redrumy3]

8.7 -8.9 beta drivers allow simultaneous 3D output on two monitors, 8.6 - 8.8 release drivers don't, does this?

if 8.9 beta did it these should =]

[@@@@]

Downloading now but will be able to test this later

[Monkeywoman]

something doesn't look right...

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/BigCharb/Untitled-1.jpg

[redrumy3]

something doesn't look right...


gpu-z needs to update i would assume cause mine does it as well did it with 8.9beta as well

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9903/49369549id3.png

[Helmore]

I sure like those clocks though :p:, no artifacts?

[Hazzan]

working on my Vista 32 Bit.....:D:D

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6262/new89xv9.jpg

[afireinside]

Ever since 8.7s I have gotten "no ati driver installed" messages from CCC after installing a new driver. I boot into windows at my native 1080p then it changes the res and pops up that message. 8.9 betas I had to install manually through the INF under device manager. Now fraps is telling me DX9C is not installed. And CCC host manager something or other crashed. WTF! Vista x64. I need to learn my lesson and stop buying ATI.

[AliG]

dude that's just you, I'm on vista 64 bit and have a 4850 with no issues. Try a reinstall of windows or perhaps there's something wrong because its definitely not a software compatibility issue

[RaZz!]

hmm still 3 versions till the promised pp fix. :(

source?

[Mysterfix]

Ever since 8.7s I have gotten "no ati driver installed" messages from CCC after installing a new driver. I boot into windows at my native 1080p then it changes the res and pops up that message. 8.9 betas I had to install manually through the INF under device manager. Now fraps is telling me DX9C is not installed. And CCC host manager something or other crashed. WTF! Vista x64. I need to learn my lesson and stop buying ATI.

Sounds like your using a modified bios, if you changed the overdrive limit or did not get rid of the old drivers completely you will get that message.

[Hornet331]

source?

atis catalyst roadmap, its all over the web.

[fellix_bg]

Catalyst 8.9 under the performance scope (http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2008/bericht_ati_catalyst_89/#abschnitt_einleitung)

[S1mon-]

Catalyst 8.9 under the performance scope (http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2008/bericht_ati_catalyst_89/#abschnitt_einleitung)

Nice boost in Crysis and WiC!

[philbrown23]

didnt seem to fix 4870/4850 crossfire scaling at all, kind of a bummer.

[Mysterfix]

didnt seem to fix 4870/4850 crossfire scaling at all, kind of a bummer.

I didn't know there was a problem with crossfire scaling. :confused:

[Pontos]

There is no support for HD4600 series yet it seems.

[Toysoldier]

Powerplay now kicks in on it's own ... no need to enter a full screen 3D app for it to work properly. Sweeet :-)

GPU-Z works fine.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q25/Webhiker/cat89_gpuz.png

[Mysterfix]

Just installed these drivers and they suck just as bad as everything else after 8.7! What is so hard about just optimizing drivers????? Is it really that hard to tweak a little bit, I don't understand how you can make an earlier driver that works great but everything that comes afterward is basically useless!

I have a monitor and an LCD TV, they work fine on the 8.7 drivers but I get black screens and reboots on all other drivers with them both plugged in at the same time.

This is seriously getting ridiculous! If ATI's driver division doesn't start to get a clue soon I won't be buying anything else from them for quite sometime. Hardware is useless without propper drivers to support it.

[PrometheusCon]

I am on the 8.7 cause 8.8 caused so many issues for me. Hopefully 8.9 will work out for me. Thanks for the post

[ahmad]

These were released to have better x2/cfx compatibility.. however nice to see some performance improvements.

[afireinside]

Sounds like your using a modified bios, if you changed the overdrive limit or did not get rid of the old drivers completely you will get that message.

Thats what I thought. I noticed on windows update that it says my visiontek card is an ASUS. DL'd stock visiontek bios and I can't flash it because it says I have that one currently.

[STaRGaZeR]

Thats what I thought. I noticed on windows update that it says my visiontek card is an ASUS. DL'd stock visiontek bios and I can't flash it because it says I have that one currently.

Force it then.

[Morais]

impressive boosts on WiC and bioshock!

[afireinside]

Force it then.

Changed the vendor from "ATI" to visiontek (this is with a "visiontek" bios from techpowerup.com mind you) and it flashed. STILL no luck with the drivers. Now CCC won't even open! I've tried every trick that's worked in the past. It just doesn't want to work.

I'm buying an nvidia card next round, I don't care how much those green bastards charge.

update: flashed an ATI branded stock bios (third stock bios I tried) and everything works now. Go figure.

[STaRGaZeR]

Don't change anything, just flash your original Visiontek BIOS forcing it if you have to do so. You should have it, the first thing to do before any BIOS flashing is a backup of the original. If the problem persists then you may have some reason to be angry. A bad modified BIOS will not let the drivers install since Cats 8.8, I had the same problem until I flashed the original. Your problem is not that CCC refuses to open, is the driver that is not installed properly (well is not installed at all) and so CCC says there are no ATI cards in your system.

BTW if your Visiontek follows the reference design you can also use this BIOS (http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/17578/ATI.HD4870.512.080617.html). It's the newest one for the reference design, comes directly from ATI and it has a lower 2D voltage for the core. Once flashed, follow the normal uninstall - install procedure (removing the driver from device manager also) and it should work no problems.

[philbrown23]

yeah I get barely any if not less performance boost when I add my 4870 to my 4850, I should see at least a 10-20% increase in performance with crossfire one would think. but on most games I get maybe 5fps increase and some I get about 15-20 fps LESS!! in all 3dmarks (except vantage) I get only 1K if that boost in points, in aquamark3 I get 10k LESS! the only bench that shows a major improvement is furmark! go figure!

[Mysterfix]

yeah I get barely any if not less performance boost when I add my 4870 to my 4850, I should see at least a 10-20% increase in performance with crossfire one would think. but on most games I get maybe 5fps increase and some I get about 15-20 fps LESS!! in all 3dmarks (except vantage) I get only 1K if that boost in points, in aquamark3 I get 10k LESS! the only bench that shows a major improvement is furmark! go figure!

It sounds like your crossfire is not being properly managed. My second card doesn't even kick in at all when I use furmark. You should go into CCC and make sure catalyst AI is enabled, if it's not then that's probably the source of your problem.

[@@@@]

ATI is getting better with its driver release the thing they need to do now is to make their partners do a product certification run first to prevent the issues like afireinside experience but in fairness I like where the market is heading more value for the money not like before that we barely see a 1.5x increase in performance from every generation but it varies from case to case.

[BulldogPO]

Any improvements compared to 8.9 betas?

[SKYMTL]

Just finished retesting all my ATI cards for upcoming reviews and here are my observations:

3DMark06: No Improvement
3DMark Vantage: 200-300 point improvement
Crysis DX9: Lower average FPS, very slightly higher minimum
Crysis DX10: No Improvement
CoD4: Higher minimum FPS
ET: Quake Wars: No improvement
Devil May Cry 4: Slightly lower average FPS
WiC: Little to no improvement

I really don't see where all these performance jumps are coming from in other articles. According to ATI, this is more of a bug-fixing driver than a driver with real performance increases a la 8.7.

[duploxxx]

had some issues cf 780 + 3450 with xp with crashing games, will try this version

[Dragy2k]

Can any one confirm IF sound over HDMI is working in 8.9's......i hope it has been sorted!!:shrug:

[Nomadsoul]

Crap release, facing black screens, reinstalled 8.7 :mad: I won't be buying anything from ATI now :shakes::down:

[duploxxx]

Can any one confirm IF sound over HDMI is working in 8.9's......i hope it has been sorted!!:shrug:

there is still a patch on the site for this issue

Crap release, facing black screens, reinstalled 8.7 :mad: I won't be buying anything from ATI now :shakes::down:

looking at the amount of deployed plain configs like yours in the world and no major complaints, ever thought of the fact that might just be your OS that is the root cause... or the person behind the keyboard?

[MrMojoZ]

looking at the amount of deployed plain configs like yours in the world and no major complaints ever thought of the fact that might just be your OS that is the root cause... or the person behind the keyboard?

Can't be, must be ATI's fault. :rolleyes:

Not sure what this person is going to run once they run out of hardware makers, cause Nvidia drivers aren't perfect either.

Also, 8.9s installed with no issues on Vista 64 on Visiontek 4870. :up:

[Macadamia]

No problems as usual on my 780G/3850 for dad.

Seems like somebody desperately wants a reason to switch back to nVidia. Meh.

[SKYMTL]

Crap release, facing black screens, reinstalled 8.7 :mad: I won't be buying anything from ATI now :shakes::down:

Odd. I have ATI cards on 4 computers with XP and Vista, both 32-bit and 64-bit and have had no issues with 8.8 or 8.9. Sounds like a driver cleaning issue. I have said it once and I will say it again: Never EVER install a new driver over an old one no matter what ATI says.

[josty2]

Looks to have some nice performance increases in Crysis, I'll give it a go. Thanks!

[RaZz!]

Odd. I have ATI cards on 4 computers with XP and Vista, both 32-bit and 64-bit and have had no issues with 8.8 or 8.9. Sounds like a driver cleaning issue. I have said it once and I will say it again: Never EVER install a new driver over an old one no matter what ATI says.

the older driver is uninstalled by the catalyst driver package installer everytime you install a new one. never had any issues with that.

[RejZoR]

I never uninstalled drivers and i haven't had any issues so far. I've had 3 ATI cards to date, R9600Pro, x1950Pro and now HD4850.
I'm not uninstalling drivers ever since x1950 Pro card. I see no reason in doing that...

[STaRGaZeR]

the older driver is uninstalled by the catalyst driver package installer everytime you install a new one. never had any issues with that.

But it remains in your PC, try reverting back to the previous controller in device manager and you'll see it reverts back no problems, because the files were not deleted.

[afireinside]

Can't be, must be ATI's fault. :rolleyes:

Not sure what this person is going to run once they run out of hardware makers, cause Nvidia drivers aren't perfect either.

Also, 8.9s installed with no issues on Vista 64 on Visiontek 4870. :up:

Ever since they started using CCC I have had nothing but problem after problem with ATI. Nvidia has never once given me any issues, and I've owned way more nvidia cards than ATI.

[Xcel]

Changed the vendor from "ATI" to visiontek (this is with a "visiontek" bios from techpowerup.com mind you) and it flashed. STILL no luck with the drivers. Now CCC won't even open! I've tried every trick that's worked in the past. It just doesn't want to work.

I'm buying an nvidia card next round, I don't care how much those green bastards charge.

update: flashed an ATI branded stock bios (third stock bios I tried) and everything works now. Go figure.

Why do you insist on using CCC which is pretty bad compared to Ati Tray Tools. 2d, 3d auto overclocking using auto profile switching, including different fan setting are only some of the nice features included. just get the driver and ATT

[RejZoR]

But it remains in your PC, try reverting back to the previous controller in device manager and you'll see it reverts back no problems, because the files were not deleted.

Actually thats not entirely true. You cannot have two physical files with ame filename in the same folder. The functionality is identical to System Restore.
Drivers are stored in repository and if needed they can be restored.
But when you upgrade drivers, all files are replaced by new versions.

[azraeel101]

Ever since they started using CCC I have had nothing but problem after problem with ATI. Nvidia has never once given me any issues, and I've owned way more nvidia cards than ATI.

I had only ATi for 4 years now (9550, x1950xt, HD4850), and the only driver issues I had were:
- first time I installed CCC I didn't have .NET 2.0, so I got an error; fixed by installing that damn .NET fx
- when the Bioshock demo was released, it didn't start; fixed by an ATI hotfix released the same day
- with 8.2 or 8.3 I had a white dot in a corner on the desktop, fixed with the next driver release
- with 8.7 and HD4850, GTA San Andreas (Steam version) didn't start at all; fixed with 8.8

Those were quite minor problems, I wonder why other people keep saying ATI drivers suck..

About 8.9: I only tried Crysis on win xp and it runs just like before. I'll try some CoD4 multiplayer and Clear Sky to see if there's some improvement.

[STaRGaZeR]

Actually thats not entirely true. You cannot have two physical files with ame filename in the same folder. The functionality is identical to System Restore.
Drivers are stored in repository and if needed they can be restored.
But when you upgrade drivers, all files are replaced by new versions.

Well yeah, the repository backup is not deleted :)

[Ket]

Just installed these drivers and they suck just as bad as everything else after 8.7! What is so hard about just optimizing drivers????? Is it really that hard to tweak a little bit, I don't understand how you can make an earlier driver that works great but everything that comes afterward is basically useless!

I have a monitor and an LCD TV, they work fine on the 8.7 drivers but I get black screens and reboots on all other drivers with them both plugged in at the same time.

This is seriously getting ridiculous! If ATI's driver division doesn't start to get a clue soon I won't be buying anything else from them for quite sometime. Hardware is useless without propper drivers to support it.

Funny you should say that.... I got a black screen just now and I have 2 monitors hooked up, had to hard reset :\ Dunno what the deal with ATi drivers is lately, with my GDDR4 3870 the driver seems to trip over itself and cause a VPU recover while doing desktop work, yet I can game for hours without a problem. If I use my GDDR3 3870 as the main card though, no issues at all.. go figure.

[spursindonesia]

The thing is, nVidia drivers are just as bad if we're talking about people with problems with it, so it's kinda stupid to run your mouth so much in an international forum badmouthing one IHV while the problem actually happens to both of them. I've used both 8800 GT and 8800 GTS (G92) for about 10 months before coming back to the red corner, and i had my fair share of problems with the ForceWare, with some effort by going to the web for info regarding the solution, and an OS reinstall or two, the problem can always be solved or atleast worked around.

[Ket]

Ditto. I've owned a lot of nvidia cards and I have to say their drivers are much worse than ATi drivers.

[RaZz!]

wouldn't go that far to say one has more issues then the other. i must say that i've never really had huge issues, neither with forceware nor catalyst (for winxp that is). maybe i just had luck, but there isn't anything about forceware/catalyst that really gave me massive problems.
and if i had smaller issues with some games, i've always found workarounds or ways to solve the problem by searching the net and forums.

never used any of these on vista, so i'm only able to speak about the drivers in winxp and 32bit.

btw: the last graphics drivers i really had huge issues with were for the matrox millennium g400 :p:

[Zigosity]

These ones won't install on my system either, woo.

Ever since 8.8 came out, their vista 64 drivers refuse to install on my computer. I can get the XP 32 ones on just fine, but... Meh.

Back to 8.7 again, wee.

-Zigosity

[MrMojoZ]

Some of you fellas with install issues might want to figure out whats up with your OS before you just default back to older drivers.

[Brother Esau]

What are you guys doing wrong? I have not had a issue with installing or using CATALYST 8.8 -8.9 :shrug:

[SparkyJJO]

Only drivers I've had a problem were some that came with a HD 2400 I used in a customer PC. Stupid me used the drivers that came on the CD and it caused window artifacting. Not the whole screen, just the current window randomly, like when dragging it around. Driver update, problem went away. That's it.

I'm on 8.8 right now, I might install 8.9, we'll see, I may wait until after my friend's lan party just to be on the safe side.

[Solus Corvus]

On my system some of the catalyst installers don't properly install the driver on the 4870x2 devices. But it still installs the driver to windows and they show up in the available driver list. I just manually select the 8.53 (8.9) drivers from the list in for each of the 4870x2 devices in device manager and reboot. It's an easy fix for a relatively minor problem.

[Zigosity]

On my system some of the catalyst installers don't properly install the driver on the 4870x2 devices. But it still installs the driver to windows and they show up in the available driver list. I just manually select the 8.53 (8.9) drivers from the list in for each of the 4870x2 devices in device manager and reboot. It's an easy fix for a relatively minor problem.

It never occurred to me to try this, I'll give it a shot. Thanks. Sounds almost exactly like what mine are doing.

-Zigosity

[Mysterfix]

I just don't see how the earlier drivers can work just fine but everything after that is causing problems. I guess I should just be thankful that the 8.7 driver works ok with both displays plugged in. It's just so frustrating when you work so hard to squeeze every little bit of performance from your system to be slapped in the face by a screwy driver issue.

[SoulsCollective]

Urgh, having a bloody nightmare installing these drivers. Download the installer, all goes fine, then "cannot find the file specified" and the install fails. Ok, click finish, attempt to reboot, can't - Vista BSODs on launch. Spam F8, launch in safe mode, uninstall everything, reboot, try redownloading install package - same problem. Re-re-download install package, same problem, go through same steps but extract files from installer over previous extracted files and manually run setup files, doesn't give an error, attempt to reboot, get presented with "Could not load or assemble 'MOM.Implementation' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified". Do a Google, find out that I need to reboot into safe mode, uninstall driver package including CCC, then install CCC separately from the display drivers. Do so, finally all is working.

Good grief.

[twwen2]

Urgh, having a bloody nightmare installing these drivers. Download the installer, all goes fine, then "cannot find the file specified" and the install fails. Ok, click finish, attempt to reboot, can't - Vista BSODs on launch. Spam F8, launch in safe mode, uninstall everything, reboot, try redownloading install package - same problem. Re-re-download install package, same problem, go through same steps but extract files from installer over previous extracted files and manually run setup files, doesn't give an error, attempt to reboot, get presented with "Could not load or assemble 'MOM.Implementation' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified". Do a Google, find out that I need to reboot into safe mode, uninstall driver package including CCC, then install CCC separately from the display drivers. Do so, finally all is working.

Good grief.

My friend is having the same issues. Vista ultimate x64 & 4870X2, he got errors installing 8.8s which was causing random lockups and BSODs. Now after uninstalling 8.8 in safe mode through the device manager and a reeboot, he couldn't install the ccc&drivers package. In the end we gave up and just installed the drivers only.

[Hockster]

The 8.8's were completely horrible on my system. The 8.9's gave me the dreaded black screen during the installation, I needed to hit the reset button. But everything worked upon that reboot. I got a nice performance boost in Age of Conan.

But the best part is that dual monitor/Xfire support has really improved. I no longer need to powercycle the secondary monitor after exiting games to get the display to work again.

[SquiZZ]

i was taking this thread with a grain of salt, then I tried to install 8.9. Not enough to make me say "omg ati never again!!!1!!" but it pissed me off so i reverted back to 8.7 also. In my case I couldn't change to 75hz refresh rate. I would just black screen till i restarted.

[Brother Esau]

Something tells me the common thread here is that abortion Windows VISTA............Yes???

[KoHaN69]

No problems on Vista64 with a modded 4850 bios here.

To anyone having problems: you have probably entered illegal values for voltage settings,

details here (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=980014)

[Macadamia]

Something tells me the common thread here is that abortion Windows VISTA............Yes???

No, seems like it's the Asus P5Q.

[SoulsCollective]

4870 Crossfire is still whacked in Crysis - flickering sky textures all over the place, although the white dots are gone.

[RunawayPrisoner]

Hmm... finally some OpenGL demo scenes work properly. There are still heaps that don't work, though. ATI might need to work more on the OpenGL drivers.

That aside, I'm getting 30fps minimum and 50fps on average in Crysis with 8x Edge-detect AA forced and 16x AA at 1280 x 1024 all High settings, is that normal? :p

Note: no problem installing, either... in XP, Vista Ultimate, and Server 2008, which leads me to wonder what people did to their machines that led to BSODs, lock-ups, and all such problems with installing these drivers.

[KoHaN69]

No, seems like it's the Asus P5Q.

im on a p5q and im running fine 'n' dandy :shrug:

Hmm... finally some OpenGL demo scenes work properly. There are still heaps that don't work, though. ATI might need to work more on the OpenGL drivers.


Are there any benchmarks/demoes/games supoprting openGL 3.0 yet? what was Quake Wars, just 2.0?

[RunawayPrisoner]

Just 2.0. I don't think there's any 3.0 demo out yet... or at least not to the general public.

But even some 2.0 demos won't work.

[iTravis]

4870 Crossfire is still whacked in Crysis - flickering sky textures all over the place, although the white dots are gone.

Now that sounds scary, I probably put a hold on this.

[duploxxx]

No, seems like it's the Asus P5Q.

lol i had the same idea, that's already 4-5 people stating they have issues and all are on p5q.....

had some cfx issues with 780+3450 on some games with 8.8 and reported those, but 8.9 fixed them all. so :up: for me.

[STaRGaZeR]

No problems with my P5Q Deluxe.

[Kai Robinson]

Yep, i too had problems installing, something about unable to find the INF file. However after 45 minutes i managed to get it to install, enabling and disabling the cards in device manager installing the drivers manually and it still took several reboots to get it to work. Crossfire is verrrry flaky.

I've had this problem with the 8.8's too, but i'm sticking with these and running some performance tests.

Oh and i'm on a P5Q Deluxe.

[Sorrow13]

Grabbed the 8.9s, no problems here. Sapphire 4870, XP SP3. Tested in TF2, CoD4, HL2, SIns of solar empire, and a bunch of other stuff.
Just put it on water a few mins ago, all is well.

[Donnie27]

They seemed to be working fine on my Daughter's computer that's using a 3870.

[Vinas]

Just installed these drivers and they suck just as bad as everything else after 8.7! What is so hard about just optimizing drivers????? Is it really that hard to tweak a little bit, I don't understand how you can make an earlier driver that works great but everything that comes afterward is basically useless!

I have a monitor and an LCD TV, they work fine on the 8.7 drivers but I get black screens and reboots on all other drivers with them both plugged in at the same time.

This is seriously getting ridiculous! If ATI's driver division doesn't start to get a clue soon I won't be buying anything else from them for quite sometime. Hardware is useless without propper drivers to support it. Then use the version that works, CCC has been 100% stable for me.

[Donnie27]

Then use the version that works, CCC has been 100% stable for me.

:yepp:It worked for me.

[Dragy2k]

there is still a patch on the site for this issue


i had this working before my hdd died all was sweet was able to play all my films on comp hdd to hdtv with full sound ...1 clean install on new hdd with ALL relevant drivers = zilch....
tryed realtek hd driver / M$ ua hd driver / ati hd driver ...still nowt ...i give up lol

[Morais]

Im on a P5Q too, no problems here.

[Ego]

my dads comp uses x800 and finaly there drivers working again

[Solus Corvus]

My install problems were on a P5K Dlx under Vista x64. But once I figured out how to work with the drivers it was a minor inconvenience.

[halo112358]

On my machine this release didn't have the black screen bug when upgrading over the top of an existing catalyst, in fact I didn't even have to restart :D :D

[kadozer]

The 8.8's were completely horrible on my system. The 8.9's gave me the dreaded black screen during the installation, I needed to hit the reset button. But everything worked upon that reboot. I got a nice performance boost in Age of Conan.

But the best part is that dual monitor/Xfire support has really improved. I no longer need to powercycle the secondary monitor after exiting games to get the display to work again.

P5Q Deluxe and I get that annoying black screen too. When the screen flickers it just can't find the DVI signal anymore and I also have to reset it. :mad:

[XSAlliN]

That's cause they didn't add any performance optimizations. All they did was fixing some problems, and adding some features:

Catalyst™ 8.8 introduces the following new features:


* Catalyst™ Control Center: New Avivo video features
* Hybrid Graphics Support for Windows XP

Catalyst™ Control Center: New Avivo video features

This release of Catalyst™ introduces new Avivo video 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


Catalyst™ 8.9 introduces the following new features:

• Catalyst™ Control Center: New Display mode support

• OverDrive™ support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations

· OpenGL™ 3.0 extension support

Catalyst™ Control Center: New Display mode support

This release of Catalyst™ introduces 1080p @ 50Hz custom mode support for HDTVs for the ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series, and ATI Radeon X1000 Series of products. Users can configure their own custom 1080p @ 50Hz modes to best fit their display.

OverDrive™ support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations

This release of Catalyst™ introduces Overdrive support for QUAD CrossFireX configurations. Users can now over-clock each graphics accelerator’s engine or memory speed when running in QUAD CrossFire configurations using manual controls or the automated auto-tuning utility.
OpenGL™ 3.0 support - Phase 1

This release of Catalyst™ introduces OpenGL™ 3.0 extension support. In upcoming Catalyst™ releases AMD will continue to expand its support for OpenGL 3.0 extensions. The following is a list of supported extensions in Catalyst 8.9:

· ARB_half_float_pixel

· ARB_draw_instanced

· ARB_instanced_arrays

· EXT_texture_compression_3dc

· EXT_texture_compression_rgtc

· EXT_texture_compression_latc

· EXT_texture_shared_exponent

· EXT_depth_buffer_float

· EXT_gpu_shader4

· ARB_map_buffer_range

Guess will have to wait for v9.0 to see better performance, or maybe v9.9 - I'm sure they'll improve something by then. :yawn2:

[mr2sw21]

There is no problem for me to install CCC8.9 but seem like the newer version the worse it gets.

First Pic CCC8.7

Second Pic CCC8.8

Last pic CCC8.9

[Solid Snake]

only includes better support for the new VGA ( HD 4870X2) :clap:

[Pontos]

That's cause they didn't add any performance optimizations. All they did was fixing some problems, and adding some features:


Guess will have to wait for v9.0 to see better performance, or maybe v9.9 - I'm sure they'll improve something by then. :yawn2:

October will be 8.10, not 9.0
Such version will never exist. Is it that hard to people to realize that Catalyst's version numbers are based on #year.#month? :shrug:

[003]

Is it that hard to people to realize that Catalyst's version numbers are based on #year.#month? :shrug:

Learn something every day!

[Donnie27]

My daughter's computer gets a minor error when switching users.

[Lightman]

Works fine on both my XP MCE and Vista x64 installs. OK back to Crysis Warhead :p:

[XSAlliN]

October will be 8.10, not 9.0
Such version will never exist. Is it that hard to people to realize that Catalyst's version numbers are based on #year.#month? :shrug:

You might be right, so v9.0 will be out in January. :D

[SoulsCollective]

You might be right, so v9.0 will be out in January. :D
Nope, because there's no 0th month in the year ;)

[XSAlliN]

October will be 8.10, not 9.0
Such version will never exist. Is it that hard to people to realize that Catalyst's version numbers are based on #year.#month? :shrug:

You might be right, so v9.0 will be out in January.

By the way, could you explain this:


ATI Catalyst 8.6
ATI Catalyst 8.5
ATI Catalyst 8.4
ATI Catalyst 8.3
ATI Catalyst 8.2
ATI Catalyst 8.1
ATI Catalyst 7.12
ATI Catalyst 7.11
ATI Catalyst 7.10
ATI Catalyst 7.9
ATI Catalyst 7.8
ATI Catalyst 7.7
ATI Catalyst 7.6
ATI Catalyst 7.5
ATI Catalyst 7.4
ATI Catalyst 7.3
ATI Catalyst 7.2
ATI Catalyst 7.1
ATI Catalyst 6.12
ATI Catalyst 6.11
ATI Catalyst 6.10
ATI Catalyst 6.9
ATI Catalyst 6.8
ATI Catalyst 6.7
ATI Catalyst 6.6
ATI Catalyst 6.5
ATI Catalyst 6.3
ATI Catalyst 6.4
ATI Catalyst 6.2
ATI Catalyst 6.1
ATI Catalyst 5.13
ATI Catalyst 5.12
ATI Catalyst 5.11
ATI Catalyst 5.10
ATI Catalyst 5.9
ATI Catalyst 5.8
ATI Catalyst 5.7
ATI Catalyst 5.6
ATI Catalyst 5.2
ATI Catalyst 4.12
ATI Catalyst 4.9
ATI Catalyst 4.7
ATI Catalyst 4.6
ATI Catalyst 4.5
ATI Catalyst 4.4
ATI Catalyst 4.3
ATI Catalyst 3.8
ATI Catalyst 3.7
ATI Catalyst 3.6
ATI Catalyst 3.5
ATI Catalyst 3.4
ATI Catalyst 3.2
ATI Catalyst 3.1
ATI Catalyst 3.1
ATI Catalyst 3.0
ATI Catalyst 2.4
ATI Catalyst 2.3
ATI Catalyst 2.2
ATI Catalyst 2.2
ATI Catalyst 2.1
ATI Catalyst 0.2.5

Guess back then that year had 13 months. :D

[SoulsCollective]

4870 Crossfire is still whacked in Crysis - flickering sky textures all over the place, although the white dots are gone.Disabling Catalyst AI removes the flickering, but restores the dots.

I'm choosing the lesser of the two evils and going with white dots.:shakes:

[strange|ife]

good drivers to me, saph 4870 runs at good oc now 835/1060

which is what I had with 8.7's

8.8 would get BSOD on just 808/1050..nothing higher on vista in GRID, BF2, any game..now stable..these are keepers till next month.

[Jamesrt2004]

works fine here :D no issues whatsoever

[XSAlliN]

With 8.7 my HD 4850 was stable at 700/1150 - with 8.6/8.9 it's not stable at 700/1050 so... :(

[Hornet331]

You might be right, so v9.0 will be out in January.

By the way, could you explain this:



Guess back then that year had 13 months. :D

no, 5.13 was also released in dezember, it was a "christmas present" :p

They introduced H264 playback acceleration with it and CF for x1800 cards, thats why we saw 13 releases in 2005. :yepp:

[STaRGaZeR]

You might be right, so v9.0 will be out in January.

He is right, and yes Cats9.1 will be out in January.

[SoulsCollective]

Again, I make the point that there is no 0th month. And to the best of my knowledge there hasn't been a x.0 Cat release since about 2002.

[Macadamia]

The 0th month is reserved for Catalyst 12.0, on the month of the apocalypse.

Yes, the driver team will still be here.

[STaRGaZeR]

Again, I make the point that there is no 0th month. And to the best of my knowledge there hasn't been a x.0 Cat release since about 2002.

Damn yes, typo. It's 9.1 :D

[saveus222]

ye im scared to swtch to 8.9 also now.. was scared to switch to 8.8 after all the complaints.. me wait and watch.. whenxs says cat release good then me go download cat release.. also..is xcode available only to x1000 cards ? tats wat they say

[VoGonPT]

No problems for me, even increased Vantage Score

With 8.8

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=351259

With 8.9

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=388898

Lower cpu score but higher vga one with only 50 mhz more in mem oc so its a keeper for me.

Behave!

[emuexport]

I dropped 600pts in Vantage xtreme on my 4870X2 from 8.8 to 8.9 go figure (had 6900 now have 6100 for the GPU).

Will investigate more tonight.

emu

[Psyire]

something doesn't look right...

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/BigCharb/Untitled-1.jpg

I have the exact same issue, but as stated, I think it's a GPU-Z problem...

No problems here with 8.9, (WinXP Pro 32bit)

[Miwo]

No problems with 8.9s here either, aside from the GPU-Z bug as mentioned. Clockspeeds on the Sensor tab appear fine however.

Warhammer online seems to be running smoother with these over the 8.7 betas that i was using before

[Eldonko]

I find DX10 does not work properly in the Crysis benchmark with 8.9, anyone have this issue? 20 FPS lower than with 8.8.

[XSAlliN]

Same here, I wish it was true and my GPU would really be clocked at 819240 Mhz, then I would get max FPS in all games, present and future - at least for the next 10 years. :)

[iTravis]

So far stable for me on Vista 64 but I don't see any gain in performance for Crysis.

[Psyire]

New GPU-Z update fixed problem.

[road-runner]

8.9 Seemed to work ok with Vista 64, just got my 4870x2s in with no problems fresh format and all... http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=398915

[PrometheusCon]

Hmm no problems here. I don't use synthetic benchmarks though because they mean nothing compared to gaming performance.

[malik22]

These work great with my new 4870X2 except crysis 1 DX10 vh scaling isnt to good havent tried warhead yet.

[Bootup05]

Hey guys, My Sapphire 4850 comes tomorrow.

Will be my first ATi/AMD card ever!

Is it best for me to use 8.1 or 8.9 Beta? 8.1 are listed on the ATi site.

I'm used to Nvidia's beta drivers...

I have no experience with CCC, at all.

[Nomadsoul]

Catalyst 8.11 RC1 (8.542) is out

Vista x86/x64 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T9IM88BP

XP x86/x64 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L80CVRGH

:up:

Hey guys, My Sapphire 4850 comes tomorrow.

Will be my first ATi/AMD card ever!

Is it best for me to use 8.1 or 8.9 Beta? 8.1 are listed on the ATi site.

I'm used to Nvidia's beta drivers...

I have no experience with CCC, at all.

[Hockster]

Hey guys, My Sapphire 4850 comes tomorrow.

Will be my first ATi/AMD card ever!

Is it best for me to use 8.1 or 8.9 Beta? 8.1 are listed on the ATi site.

I'm used to Nvidia's beta drivers...

I have no experience with CCC, at all.

Those aren't 8.1, it's 8.10. ATI releases drivers every month, the 8 is the year (2008, the .XX is the month number, 10 being October.