ATi CATALYST 5.4 software suite

[Steve]

A new month, a new CATALYST release from ATi. Aside from the usual treats you'll find in a driver release, such as bug fixes and performance tweaks, this CATALYST release also has a variety of new and imrpoved features. ATi has provided HEXUS with a handful of slides from a presentation by Terry Makedon, outlining these new features.


2D image quality is equally, if not more important that 3D image quality and framerates, given how much time people spend using computers for tasks other than gaming (let's face it; gaming is such an arduous task.)



The next big thing in broadcasting is HDTV and so we're seeing more and more HDTV products popping up on the market. Hooking up an HDTV to your ATi card just got easier.



Colour control, HDTV and video options... I am starting to see a trend in the new CATALYST features.



Improvements to the Control Center make it more appealing to use, perhaps enough to get those who still use the control panel to switch.

The release notes for version 5.4 state they they will work with ATi's newest ALL-IN-WONDER products. The new features outlined above certainly seem aimed to users who will be working with various video sources and outputs.

As release of 64-bit Windows XP draws ever closer and the number users running beta versions is ever growing, so the 64-bit version of the 5.4 release will be welcomed, release notes for which can be found here. Grab the driver from ATi's website.

If you're running good old 32-bit XP, then you can grab the Catalyst Control Center version of the drivers, alternatively there's a version with the classic Control Panel.

[autopilot]

When are they going to make a Control Centre that does not require .NET? Am i the only person who finds installing .NET a real pain which does stange things to my PC?

[Ruggerbugger]

What strange things does it do dom? I'm interested to see what the new desktop options do.

[Stoo]

When are they going to make a Control Centre that does not require .NET? Am i the only person who finds installing .NET a real pain which does stange things to my PC?

Then use the other one (They have the CCC and CP editions of the drivers), you still get the same functionality, just without the frills.

[autopilot]

What strange things does it do dom? I'm interested to see what the new desktop options do.

I did not really look into the causes to much, but basically when I installed .NET one time in completely b0rked my net connection and another time I had some odd graphically errors and a drive vanishing from My Computer (before i installed Control Center). Another thing with .NET is that it creates it's own user account. I find that annoying as I only have one account and like being able to boot straight to my desktop. Both times I had to do a system restore. There are a few other well known quirks which i forget now.

I'm sure most people don't have a problem, maybe it's just my PC, but it would be nice if ATI did not make you have to install .NET. Out of interest, why do they? Is Control Center writen in C# or something like that?

Yeah, I am using the Control Panel. Does all i need really, for now anyway.

[Steve]

Yes it's written in a language requiring the .NET framework. Despite a few people having .NET issues I presume the benefits using it are greater then rewriting the whole thing.

[Ferral]

Last time I used the control center instead of the normal control panel I got quite a drop in 3dmark scores and framerate in general for some bizarre reason. Prefer now just to stick with what I know (Yes I am one of the people that sets XP up to have the classic start menu and Windows 2000 interface !!! )

[bouncin]

HaHa me too

[Zak33]

(Yes I am one of the people that sets XP up to have the classic start menu and Windows 2000 interface !!! )

good man

[Rys]

While I don't use the basic XP interface either, neither do I use the backwards pile of filth that comprises Microsoft's Windows 2000-esque theme on Windows XP.

Does it somehow make you feel more of a man if you turn off the colourful widgets? More of a hardcore computer user that knows more than someone that doesn't mind Luna? I'll answer for you and say yes.

As for the classic Start menu, well, that's a decent choice. If you like not getting any work done.

No wonder nothing ever gets done in this world! All you people are using XP with a decent user interface completely switched off!

Pfffffft....

[Stoo]

You really shouldn't be on the sauce at this time of the day Rhys

[Zak33]

Does it somehow make you feel more of a man if you turn off the colourful widgets? More of a hardcore computer user that knows more than someone that doesn't mind Luna? I'll answer for you and say yes.

My mighty Pentium 3 550 with 128 ram was suffering badly with the XP cartoon effects of menu's closing and stuff like that. I didn't even KNOW they did that, because all my other PC's were fine, but the whole XP thing take valueable memory and processing power...

As you well know, you big tease.

When the ram went up to a sensible level I forgot to turn all the stuff back on.

I do like the XP start menu and having all my recent programs in it is ace, but I HATE having "My Computer" anywhere but the top left of my desktop....so I just left it like an old PC!

Sorry Rys...I shall try harder to use the modern functions of my PC.

Now this UBS port people keep talking about...I cant get my floppy disk into it
whats THAT all about

[Zak33]

ooh nearly forgot..I like old cars that drive badly and handle in a dire way too. I'm wierd...I admit it.

[suryad]

I hate the .NET framework...never really figured out exactly how much hdd space it eats up and since my laptop only has 60 gigs of space on the hdd max, I am kind of stingy when it comes to what i put on my hdd. I usually avoid the CCC and just go straight to Omegas.