ATI Catalyst Radeon Display Driver 4.9

The CATALYST™ software suite 4.9 contains the following:

• RADEON™ display driver 8.051
• MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ 9.02
• CATALYST™ CONTROL CENTER Version 4.9
• HydraVision™ 3.25.0006
• HydraVision™ Basic Edition 3.25.9006
• Remote Wonder 2.5
• WDM version 4.07
• Southbridge/IXP Driver

Desktop product family support

The CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop product family:

ATI Integrated Product Support

The CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following ATI integrated product family:

• RADEON™ IGP 320
• RADEON™ IGP 330
• RADEON™ IGP 340
• RADEON™ 9000 IGP
• RADEON™ 9100 IGP Pro
• RADEON™ 9100 IGP
• IXP 150
• IXP 200
• IXP 250
• IXP 300

Operating systems supported

The latest version of the CATALYST™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

• Windows XP
• Windows 2000

Performance Improvements for CATALYST™ Display Driver Version 4.9

As with most CATALYST™ releases performance has increased in various situations. The following performance gains are noticed:

Doom3 performance improves 10-15% on ATI RADEON™ X800 XT products when anti-aliasing is enabled.

Issues Resolved in CATALYST™ Display Driver Version 4.9

The following section provides a summary of the issues that have been resolved in the latest version of CATALYST™. These include:

• XIII: Light map artifacts are no longer noticed in the game when loading a saved game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9200 installed
• FarCry v1.2: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON X800 series installed no longer results in texture corruption being seen on the ground
• IL2 Forgotten Battles: Playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 series installed no longer results in the display corruption and the game failing to respond when FSAA is enabled and display is set to either 1200x960 or 1600x1200
• Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb: Display corruption and missing polygons are no longer noticed in the game
• PainKiller: missing textures are no longer noticed on the ground and light artifacts are noticed when moving around within the game or when moving in and out of the light.
• Serious Sam SE: Running the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 PRO installed no longer results in lens flares showing through solid objects within the game
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: An access violation error no longer occurs when using the function Alt-Tab to get out of the game and then using the function Alt-Tab to get back into the game
• Tabula Rasa: Video rendering issues are no longer noticed playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9700 PRO installed
• Tony Hawk 4: playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9100 installed no longer results in white pixels being seen around the edges of objects
• Connecting an HDTV 7pin dongle to the video card no longer results in TV detection issues when both the TV and YPbPr (HDTV) are active
• Playing a DVD with PowerDVD on the primary display and playing an MPEG clip with Windows Media Player on the secondary display device no longer results in flickering and corruption being seen

Known Issues for CATALYST™ Display Driver Version 4.9

The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of CATALYST™. These include the following:

• City of Heroes: Specular lighting issues and incorrect textures is noticed when playing the game under Windows XP. Further information on this issue can be found at: www.ati.com/support/infobase/4561.html
• Doom3: disabling the object buffers within the game results in the game failing to respond http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4619.html
• F1 Challenge: A performance decrease is noticed under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ X800 PRO installed. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4578.html
• Psychotoxic: Attempting to start a new game of Spiel starten (your German lesson for today) under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON™ 9700 PRO installed results in the game failing to load http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4618.html
• SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. Playing the game under Windows XP with an RADEON™ 9100 installed results in the character's shadows not being drawn properly when the game options for shadow type is set to high http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4617.html
• Attempting to play a Java based game or visit a Java based website results in display corruption under Windows XP when either an ATI RADEON™ 9800 SE or RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum card installed and AA is enabled. Further information on this issue can be found at: http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4570.html
• Dragging the MS Media Player over to the secondary monitor results in overlay not being available if SURROUNDVIEW is enabled http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4616.html
• Installation does not complete - Idriver.exe runs @ 100% CPU utilization (w/SP2 installed) http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4620.html
• Error: "Record not found on MSI.DB" during installation (w/ pre-RADEON™ integrated Video) http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4621.html

For further information and general help on driver or software installation, game issues, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.

UT2004 performance improves considerably on the ATI RADEON™ 9500 PRO, RADEON™ 9700 PRO RADEON™ 9800 PRO and RADEON™ 9800 XT products. The benefit can be 25% or more in some circumstances, particularly at extreme graphics settings such as 6xAA + 16xAF.

Note: Before proceeding with your driver installation we suggest you make sure you are installing the latest version available and for the appropriate model/revision and Operating System. We strongly suggest following 'readme' instructions for installing drivers when available. Often restarting your system will be necessary for the new driver to become active and start functioning properly.

You can check back regularly for the latest updates at TechSpot's Drivers section or stop by our homepage for the best daily coverage of PC technology news on the Web.