AMD Catalyst 11.1 Drivers Released

AMD has released the Catalyst 11.1 software suite, which updates both the AMD display driver, and the AMD Catalyst Control Center. The AMD Catalyst software suite 11.1 contains the following:

* AMD display driver version 8.812
* HydraVision for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
* Southbridge/IXP Driver
* AMD Catalyst Control Center version 8.812

The AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst Control Center can be also downloaded independently of each other. In addition, the AMD Catalyst Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Owners of 6000-series are recommended to download the 11.1a hotfix as well (only for Windows 7), which is also available today. As well as some card specific performance improvements, the fix will allow manual control of the tessellation factor through the Catalyst Control Centre, potentially boosting performance in tessellation-heavy games. There are also changes to the Catalyst AI texture filtering settings that should improve image quality at the 'Quality' and 'Performance' settings.

Catalyst 11.1 is available for 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows from the download page, along with full release notes.

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.1 Windows release includes:

The new AMD Catalyst Control Center user interface

o Easily enable/configure 3D settings to enhance game image quality
o Desktop and displays to setup AMD Eyefinity multiple displays to help increase productivity
o Control your video image quality, color and playback capabilities
o Adjust power settings to help increase battery life
o Support of two unique views – for mainstream and advanced users
o User Interface dynamically updates based on available AMD hardware

Support for OpenGL 4.1

* New features introduced in OpenGL 4.1
o Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs for easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms
o The ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
o The capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
o 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs for higher geometric precision
o Multiple viewports for a rendering surface for increased rendering flexibility

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.1 release includes:

* F1 2010:
o Performance increases up to 12% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
o Performance increases up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

* Left 4 Dead 2:
o Performance increases up to 17% on AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single and Crossfire configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
o Performance increases up to 8% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series single configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System:

* Aliens vs. Predator game no longer fails to load with quad Crossfire enabled.
* Text is no longer missing randomly in Nostradamus- The Last Prophecy demo.
* Graphical corruption is no longer seen occasionally in Nostradamus- The Last Prophecy demo.
* The Protoss Pylon Matrix is now rendered correctly in Starcraft 2.
* Task switching in Dirt2 with Vsync enabled no longer causes a dual link monitor to go black.
* System no longer crashes when enabling Crossfire with 2 monitors connected to the primary card and 2 monitors connected to the secondary card.
* List of supported TV resolutions now includes 1080p 24Hz (if supported by the TV display).
* Cyberlink PowerDVD no longer randomly exits when playing a blu-ray title with the "Aero-on" option enabled in the player.
* An error message is no longer intermittently displayed when viewing a slideshow using Windows Live Photo Gallery.
* Windows Media Player no longer displays a black screen when continuously playing several VC1 format files over a 4 hour period.
* "Host Application not responding" error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst Control Center.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

* Video corruption is no longer randomly seen during DVD playback using Windows Media Player.
* Progressive scan DVD content no longer causes Windows Media Center to hang.
* Interlaced DVD content no longer exhibits frame drops and jerky playback.
* "Host Application not responding" error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst Control Center.

Resolved Known Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

* Frame drops are no longer observed when playing HD interlaced content in Windows Media Center.
* Call of Duty Black Ops no longer randomly hangs on AMD Radeon HD 57xx series products.
* Crossfire using AMD Radeon HD 68xx series products no longer hangs intermittently when running 3dMark 2006.
* "Host Application not responding" error message is no longer randomly displayed when launching the AMD Catalyst Control Center.