AMD Catalyst™ 11.4 Release Notes 

This article provides information on the latest posting of AMD’s software suite, AMD Catalyst™ 11.4. This particular software suite updates both the AMD display driver, and the AMD Catalyst Control Center. This unified driver has been updated to provide enhanced level of power, performance, and reliability.

Package Content
The AMD Catalyst software suite 11.4 contains the following:

• AMD display driver version 8.841
• AMD HydraVision for Windows® XP, Windows Vista® and Windows 7
• Southbridge / IXP Driver
• AMD Catalyst Control Center version 8.841

Important ! Caution !

• The AMD display driver and the AMD Catalyst Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for better stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same AMD Catalyst release.
• The AMD Catalyst Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes

• When installing the AMD Catalyst driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst driver.
• These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge / IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/.
• ATI Eyefinity™ technology gives gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics horsepower required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes.
• Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website

AMD Product Compatibility
The AMD Catalyst™ driver is compatible with the following AMD products.

AMD Mobility Product Family Compatibility
AMD Catalyst Mobility is a notebook reference graphics driver with limited support for system vendor specific features. When used with Windows Vista or Windows 7, users may have unwanted experiences.

The Installation Verification Software will prevent driver download on certain notebook products. This is to protect against the installing of drivers that may disable features or functionality provided by the system manufacturer. If unwanted experiences occur using AMD Catalyst Mobility, it is recommended to revert back to the driver provided by your system vendor for your specific platform. Please contact your system vendor for the most recent drivers for your notebook.

Compatible Operating Systems
The latest version of the AMD Catalyst™ software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:

• Windows 7 32-bit version
• Windows 7 64-bit version
• Windows Vista 32-bit version
• Windows Vista 64-bit version
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home Edition
• Windows XP Media Center Edition
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.4 Windows release includes:

New Features:

Enhancements to the AMD VISION Engine Control Center / AMD Catalyst Control Center

• New task based Display Management controls
• Simplifies the configuration of displays and display settings
• New Eyefinity setup group
• Setting up an Eyefinity group has never been easier
• AMD Catalyst update notification (found within the Information Center)
• This feature notifies users that new AMD Catalyst software packages are available 

GPU Compute enhancements:

• The OpenCL runtime (included in AMD Catalyst 11.4) includes performance enhancements supporting zero-copy on APUs and increased performance for PCIe transfers between a CPU and discrete GPU.

Performance Enhancements
A number of performance enhancements are seen with the AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series:

• Call of Duty Black Ops – gains of up to 15% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single GPU configurations.
• Battleforge – gains of up to 15% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Batman Arkham Asylum – gains of up to 20% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Aliens vs. Predator – gains of up to 8% with Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Civilization 5 – gains of up to 15% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Far Cry 2 – gains of up to 6% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Just Cause 2 – gains of up to 9% on single and multiple GPU configurations.
• Lost Planet 2 – gains of up to 10% on single and multiple GPU configurations.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 11.4 software suite for Windows 7. These include:

• The GPU no longer shows high GPU usage after running Firefox 4 with hardware acceleration enabled.
• Bioshock no longer displays random tearing and screen corruption with Vsync and MLAA enabled.
• Water textures no longer flicker in Two Worlds II in Crossfire mode.
• Bulletstorm lightshafts no longer appear broken when running on a HD 6970 series product.
• Bulletstorm no longer displays random texture corruption when running in Crossfire mode.
• FI 2010 no longer slows down intermittently when in Crossfire mode.
• PowerDVD no longer crashes if Crossfire is enabled / disabled during playback of a BD title.
• WinDVD no longer displays corrupted BD playback when the monitor is rotated to portrait mode.
• Crysis Warhead corruption is no longer randomly observed when launching the game.
• Running the Heaven benchmark no longer displays graphics corruption during DirectX 11 tests.
• Catalyst Control Center Avivo settings are now correctly displayed after connecting a secondary display.
• The Catalyst Control Center screen no longer flickers while adjusting screen brightness.

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 11.4 software suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• Mpeg2 video clips now use hardware acceleration when played using Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center.
• Adding bezel compensation to a 2x1 Eyefinity configuration no longer causes both displays to blank out.
• The Catalyst Control Center screen no longer flickers while adjusting screen brightness.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

• System no longer displays random corruption when playing World of Warcraft.
• Star Wars –The Force Unleashed no longer causes random system reboots.

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:

• PowerDVD may randomly crash if HDMI 8 channel audio is enabled.
• The image may freeze if HD video is played over an extended period of time.
• Some BD content my not playback smoothly using WinDVD.
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II / Jedi Academy may randomly crash during game launch.
• OpenGL acceleration may not always function with Adobe Photoshop CS5.
• High GPU clock speeds may be retained after exiting a 3D application.
• PowerDVD my display random jitter when playing a 1080i BD video with Aero mode turned off.

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 may be disabled after installing the driver.
• Doom 3 and Quake 4 may display random corruption with HD 4770 series products.

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:

• Quake4 may display random screen flicker and texture corruption.
• The system may hang while playing Dead Rising 2.
• Civilization V may stop responding when Crossfire is enabled.

Installing the AMD Catalyst Software Driver
For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit AMD Customer Care.

Installation information can be found at: How to Install Your ATI Product.

AMD Catalyst™  Crew Driver Feedback
This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the AMD Catalyst™  Crew Driver Feedback program. To provide us with your feedback, visit Catalyst™ Crew Driver Feedback.