AMD Released Catalyst 11.1 WHQL And 11.1a Hotfix Driver Suite

AMD today formally introduced Catalyst 11.1 WHQL software suite and Catalyst 11.1a Hotfix update. AMD Catalyst installs drivers and system software for ATI/AMD Radeon graphics processors (HD 2000 series and above), AMD chipset integrated graphics, and other ATI multimedia products. The Catalyst 11.1 WHQL finalizes the new Catalyst Control Center (referred to so far as CCC2), as the default control center, which simplifies control for mainstream and advanced users. It also formally introduces support for OpenGL 4.1. Catalyst 11.1 WHQL adds performance updates to F1 2010 and Left 4 Dead 2, the performance increments are more for the HD 6000 series GPUs. Next up is the 11.1a Hotfix update, which packs all the features of 11.1, plus performance improvements for Radeon HD 6000 series GPUs. It also adds new tessellation level controls. A number of Catalyst AI texture filtering updates are also added.

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AMD Catalyst 11.1 WHQL
Catalyst 11.1a Hotfix Update

A list of changes follows.
Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.1 Windows release include:

New Features:

• The new Catalyst Control Center
o The new Catalyst Control Center enables a simplified user experience to help users get the most out of their AMD product
o Easily enable 3D settings to enhance game image quality
o Setup multiple displays to increase productivity
o Adjust power settings to increase battery life
o Supports two unique views – designed for mainstream and advanced users
o User Interface dynamically updates based on available AMD hardware

• Support for OpenGL 4.1
o New features introduced in OpenGL 4.1
o Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs for easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms
o The ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
o The capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
o 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs for higher geometric precision
o Multiple viewports for a rendering surface for increased rendering flexibility

Performance highlights:

• F1 2010:
o Performance increases up to 12% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 and AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
o Performance increases up to 10% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single card configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

• Left 4 Dead 2:
o Performance increases up to 17% on AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series single and Crossfire configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.
o Performance increases up to 8% on AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series single configurations with anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing disabled.

Highlights of the AMD Catalyst 11.1a Hotfix include:

• Performance improvements for the AMD Radeon HD 6800 & HD 6900 series in a number of applications
• Catalyst Control Center – New Tessellation controls
• Gives users full control over the tessellation levels used in applications
• Catalyst AI Texture Filtering updates
• The Quality setting has now been improved to match the High Quality setting in all respects but one; it enables an optimization that limits tri-linear anisotropic filtering to areas surrounding texture mipmap level transitions, while doing bilinear anisotropic filtering elsewhere. This optimization offers a way to improve filtering performance without visibly affecting image quality
• The Performance setting has also been updated to address comments about the sharpness of the default Quality setting causing shimmering in certain cases. It now provides a smoother filtering option that eliminates most shimmering while preserving the improved detail provided by anisotropic filtering.