Catalyst 7.1 blir den första officiella drivrutinen för Windows Vista från AMD/ATI. Catalyst 7.1 är WHQL certifierad och kommer med en mängd intressanta funktioner men det de flesta kanske är mest intresserade av är prestandan i Microsofts nya operativsystem. Det har redan dykt upp ett par artiklar som går på djupet med AMD/ATIs första officiella Vista-drivrutin och i prestandatester på Firingsquad och TweakTown ser vi att det faktiskt hänt en hel del sedan tidigare betadrivrutiner. Det finns fortfarande vissa speltitlar som har problem, men mer noterbart är att flera titlar faktiskt når märkbart högre prestanda i Windows Vista än i Windows XP.
AMD/ATI verkar utan tvekan vara på rätt väg med utvecklingen av sina Vista-baserade Catalyst-drivrutiner och även om det finns en hel del att förbättra, som det nya OpenGL-stödet, verkar Catalyst 7.1 vara en bra grund att stå på för de flesta Vista-användare. Den nya drivrutinen går att ladda ner från vårt filarkiv.
– Catalyst 7.1 CCC (Windows Vista 32-bit, 38.7MB)
– Catalyst 7.1 CCC (Windows Vista 64-bit, 48.8MB)
Highlights of the Windows Vista Catalyst 7.1 release include: New features
Blu-ray and HD DVD playback
Catalyst 7.1 introduces the ability to playback Blu-ray and HD DVD protected high definition content under Windows Vista 32-bit edition (support for Windows Vista 64-bit edition will be available in a future Catalyst release), when used in combination with a software content player from vendors such as Cyberlink or Intervideo and an ATI Radeon X1000 series graphics accelerator (with HDCP support). Note: an HDCP ready Display is also required.
Crossfire support under Windows Vista
Catalyst 7.1 introduces Crossfire support for the entire ATI Radeon X1000 product series under Microsoft Vista. Users will see significant performance gains in a number of applications when running in Crossfire mode under Windows Vista. (Initially available for Direct3D only, coming soon in a future Catalyst release for OpenGL)
Native OpenGL Windows Vista support
Catalyst 7.1 introduces native support for OpenGL, delivering a number of OpenGL application performance gains over the previously released AMD Vista RTM driver (8.31.100.3.2.1). Future Catalyst releases will include further OpenGL optimizations to further enhance performance of Vista OpenGL applications
Catalyst Install Manager for Windows Vista
Catalyst 7.1 provides Microsoft Vista users with a new ATI Radeon graphics installer that will help users more easily update and install ATI Catalyst software. Users will also experience a significant improvement in install and un-install times of ATI Catalyst software components.
New Catalyst Control Center
Catalyst 7.1 introduces a brand new version of the Catalyst Control Center for Windows Vista, which delivers a number of significant enhancements:
o Significant performance gains; Catalyst Control Center start-up time has been substantially reduced, and overall responsiveness has improved.
o Reduced system resource usage
o New 3D preview significantly improves the ability for users to understand the benefits of enabling the many Catalyst features of their ATI Radeon graphics accelerator
o Increased stability
o Native Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit support
