ATI's Release Notes
A couple of minor extra features aside, CATALYST 5.1 seems to mainly concentrate on bug fixes, mentioning plenty of them over any performance improvements. Thus, what you see below is a list of fixes implemented by ATI in this driver release. If you've been suffering from any of these problems, time to turn that frown upside down and start downloading.- Men of Valor: Buffering issues are no longer noticed when playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON(tm) 8500 or 9100 series installed
- Myst URU Ages Beyond Myst: Attempting to turn 180 degrees and head towards the barb wire fence displayed within the game no longer results in the system failing to respond. This issue is known to occur under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON(tm) X800 XT Platinum Edition installed.
- Richard Burns Rally: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON(tm) 8500/9100/9200 series installed no longer results in the trees flickering
- Sid Meier's Pirates: Enabling Anti-aliasing no longer results in video flicker being noticed when starting the game
- Playing an MPEG using the media player found in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 no longer results in the ATI VPU Recovery failing if it is disabled and then re-enabled
- Connecting a TV and a monitor to an ATI RADEON(tm) X800 series and having the TV set as the primary display device no longer no longer results in the Video Mode remaining checked when switching to a resolution which is not supported
- Intermittent desktop corruption is no longer noticed when enabling or disabling a secondary display device
- Dragging or resizing the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 window no longer results in a VPU recovery when playing video on an HDTV
- Running Maya under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON(tm) X800 series installed no longer results in display corruption being noticed when moving the mouse
- Attempting to add a custom timing specification such as; 960x724 for the HDTV device properties page, no longer results in the custom timing not being added to the HDTV resolution menu list.
An error message is no longer displayed when attempting to switch a secondary display device back to the primary display device when using the CATALYST(tm) CONTROL CENTER
- Installing the CATALYST(tm) CONTROL CENTER under the Windows XP operating system (French version) now results in the localized French version being installed
- The text now changes and provides the correct information when changing the slider position for CATALYST(tm) AI
- The Restore Factory Default option is now working for all sub-aspects found in the CATALYST(tm) CONTROL CENTER 3D tab
ATI also brings good news for Linux users this time around, with the release of a new driver for such OSes, which now includes X.org 6.8 support, and x86_64 drivers for both XFree86 4.3 and X.org 6.8.
On the CATALYST Control Center side of the fence, we see a couple of small changes which represent the extra features I mentioned earlier - These features are namely the addition of CATALYST Control Center support for all Radeon products, from the original Radeon upwards, and also the ability to disable and/or pause the 3D preview mode used when changing graphical options. You can see how this is implemented in the screenshot below - Personally, I'm glad to see this option included, as the 3D preview window did have a tendancy to slow things down.
If you want to be rid of the preview, simply hit the cross at the top-right of the preview window to close it. Alternatively, you can pause it using the appropriate button underneath. Disabling the 3D preview will greet you with the following sight.
I know a lot of people have been frustrated by the 3D preview making CATALYST Control Center less responsive, so I would imagine all of those people will be rejoicing at the inclusion of this feature. Kudos to ATI for listening to the feedback from the community and implementing it in an effective manner.
