AMD Catalyst 11.8 Driver Analysis

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 Windows release include:

New Features

• AMD Overdrive has been enhanced to include both CPU and GPU over-clocking controls within the AMD Vision Control Center
• CPU over-clocking is only supported on AMD Black edition CPUs

Performance Highlights

• Improves performance up to 10% in Crysis 2 DirectX 11 version for both non-Anti-Aliasing, and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
• Improves performance up to 8% in Fear 3 DirectX 11 version with application enabled Anti-Aliasing on the
  AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
• Improves performance up to 30% when AMD’s Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA) is enabled through the
  Catalyst™ Control Center on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 Series
• Improves performance up to 20% in Call of Duty Black Operations for single GPU and Multi-GPU configurations on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon™ HD 5000 Series

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

• The option to “Apply current video quality settings to internet video” is no longer randomly missing from the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center / AMD Vision™ Engine Control Center.
• 3DMark 11 no longer intermittently generates a BSOD error when run using a standard user account.
• Playing HD video content overnight using Windows Media Center no longer causes the system to hang or generates a BSOD error.
• Random graphical corruption is no longer experienced when playing Crysis 2 in a Crossfire environment.
• Image stabilization is now correctly applied to DivX clips when using Windows Media Player.
• Enabling AntiAliasing when playing Starcraft 2 no longer causes random screen blackouts.
• Video corruption is no longer seen when scrolling through DivX 5 video files using Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player.
• Menu corruption is no longer seen when running F.E.A.R 3 in DirectX 11 mode.
• Video playback now functions correctly after enabling hardware acceleration in VLC version 1.1.10.

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 software suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• PowerDVD no longer randomly displays a blank screen when playing back BluRay content with Crossfire enabled.
• BSOD errors are no longer intermittently experienced after installing the driver with Crossfire enabled.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 11.8 software suite for Windows XP. These include:

• PowerDVD no longer randomly displays a blank screen during video playback when switching from extended display mode to cloned display mode.

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

• STALKER – Call of Pripyat may randomly hang when entering a new or saved game.
• F1 2010 may randomly hang on application launch.
• Battlefield – Bad Company 2 may randomly hang after a period of game play.
• Dungeon Siege 3 may randomly hang on application launch.
• Dead Rising 2 may randomly hang on application launch.
• Random flashing may be observed while playing F1 2010 and Dirt 2.

Known Issues under the Windows Vista Operating System

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

• Windows Aero options may not be available after installing the driver.
• Performing Bezel compensation in certain Eyefinity configurations may cause some bezel groups to not appear.

Known Issues under the Windows XP Operating System

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include

• Enemy Territory – Quake Wars may experience random graphics corruption.