Driver Update: ATI Catalyst 10.1

AMD has new Catalyst drivers ready for you and as usual, the month and year of release form the version number. The drivers are available for Windows XP, Vista and 7, with separate downloads for 32bit and 64bit environments. The new drivers are suitable for all Radeon models from the HD 2400 series; older maps rely on the 9.3 release. As usual, at the very bottom of this posting are the direct links to the pages where the available downloads can be found.

In the release notes, a performance increase of no less than three to four percent is announced on the Radeon 5700 and 5800 series, for both Left 4 Dead 2 and Crysis. In addition, of course, the drivers also contain the usual list of bug fixes, followed by a collection of problems that are already known, but are still being worked on:

Performance Improvements

• Left 4 Dead 2 – Overall performance improves as much as 3% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 series products and ATI Radeon HD 5800 series products
• Crysis – Performance improves as much as 3% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 series products and as much as 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 series products

Resolved Issues for All Windows Operating Systems

• Confirmation dialog box will now appear while extending the display through ATI Catalyst Control Center
• “Enable Manual Fan Control” check box will now be checked when utilizing external tools to apply fan speed
• [ATI Catalyst Control Center] The display order will now reflect changes properly when Eyefinity is re-arranged while desktop is rotated to portrait mode
• Hot unplugging one of the displays in an Eyefinity configuration no longer causes rotation modes to disappear from ATI Catalyst Control Center

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

• [ATI Catalyst Control Center] Enabling LCD Overdrive will no longer cause mouse cursor to magnify when moved overtop of the “Calibration Preview”
• DisplayPort “Lower Setting Applied” and “Link Failure” messages will no longer appear after driver installation and reboot with DP displays connected to the mini DP port
• Firefox now works properly and video no longer drop frames when playing Youtube clips with Adobe Flash Player 10
• CrossFire logo now appears properly in CFX enabled applications like “3DMark Vantage” or “Call of Juarez”
• [ATI Catalyst Control Center] Newly added custom modes will now appear properly in desktop area tree view
• Confirmation dialogue window will now appear when setting up Eyefinity mode
• 120 Hz is no longer missing from display modes for specific digital displays
• Specific configurations will no longer cause Ubisoft “Wheelman” to stop responding during gameplay
• Loss of HDMI signal may no longer occurs when viewing Blu-ray content, and rescanning for the HDMI signal no longer cause the entire screen to shift and display a green border
• Overscan/underscan issue no longer occurs when setting displays to HDTV modes
• Performance drop no longer observed during some scenes of Resident Evil 5 cinematics
• Blocky grass and trees no longer visible in Unigine “Heaven” in OpenGL mode

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System

• Changing basic color settings will now reflect properly during playback with Adobe Flash Player using Internet Explorer or Firefox
• The right side of HD progressive playback screen will no longer freeze while enabling split screen mode and dynamic contrast
• Green horizontal line no longer visible at the top of the playback window when viewing SD HQV content with desktop resolution set to 25×16

Known Issues Under All Windows Operating Systems

• [ATI Catalyst Control Center] Changing to deinterlace mode may default to adaptive deinterlace mode instead when playing videos
• Setting Eyefinity group may not work for some configurations with DVI and display port devices
• Creating an Eyefinity group on the non-primary display might not function properly
• [ATI Catalyst Control Center] Hotkeys for rotations may disappear after disabling rotated Eyefinity mode
• With active display in clone mode, creating an Eyefinity group might not function properly and message prompting user to disable the extended desktop might not pop up
• ATI Catalyst Control Center might not remember the position of the fourth monitor after displays are repositioned in Eyefinity grouping
• Intermittent gray screen or vertical line corruption may randomly appear on the screen

Known Issues Under the Windows 7 Operating System

• Media Center may display corruption when viewing DVB-T content
• Flickering grass and white borders may be visible in Unigine “Heaven” benchmark in DirectX 9 mode
• Performing rotation or resolution changes may cause the player to stop responding during h.264 HD content playback
• Enabling Catalyst AI in ATI Catalyst Control Center may cause severe flickering to be observed in Ubisoft “RUSE” beta game
• Dynamic contrast may stop functioning when detail enhancement is enabled
• Enabling split screen demo mode has no effect on WinDVD during Blu-ray content playback
• Corruption may be visible during “Resident Evil 5” gameplay in specific chapters
• Corruption might be observed in the opening cinematics and race preview of “EVE Online” game
• Corruption might be visible in “Resident Evil 5” during in game cut scenes with specific settings and HDR value set to high

Known Issues Under the Windows Vista Operating System

• ATI Catalyst installation log may report the HDMI audio driver as failed, although driver was successfully installed as shown by the Device Manager
• WinDVD 10 may stop responding when moved to an extended display in a multimonitor setup
• HDTV custom modes being added might not appear under the Desktop Area of ​​the Display Desktop Properties in ATI Catalyst Control Center
• With one of displays connected via the DisplayPort, PowerDVD may terminate during Blu-ray content playback in Eyefinity mode
• Laser designator beam might not focus on target properly in “Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2” during Act II: Exodus mission

Known Issues Under the Windows XP Operating System

• Flickering and corruption might be observed while playing “Wolfenstein Multiplayer” at high settings
• “ATI Theater Remote Receiver” might not be listed under “Human Interface Devices” in “Device Manager” after driver installation

The following downloads are available:
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows XP (32bit)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows XP (mobility)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows XP (64bit)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows XP (Media Center Edition)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows Vista (32bit)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows Vista (64bit)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows 7 (32bit)
ATi Catalyst 10.1 for Windows 7 (64bit)