Catalyst 3.2 Drivers Out

*CATALYST maker* · Mar 13, 2003, 09:51 PM

Yup, they are out everyone, go grab em. First place I have announced it is here at DH

Zardon will be providing them on the DH mirror as well. Make sure you read the release notes for what is new in these drivers.

Off to work on version 3.3 no2

digitalwanderer · Mar 13, 2003, 09:53 PM

Thanks, and good luck rushing those 3.3s out!

Leechmo · Mar 13, 2003, 10:07 PM

wohoo

... reformat time it is....new video drivers..new soundcard drivers and a new mmc... fun fun fun

shuki · Mar 13, 2003, 10:17 PM

thank you for the early release CM!! And in a realistic way, what sort of time frame are we talking about before the 3.3s with marked improvement for 9700 pro owners are released? Really not meaning to sound like an unappreciative ass but just longing to experience the most from my card

AT_curiousB · Mar 13, 2003, 10:27 PM

Down loading now thank you.

digitalwanderer · Mar 13, 2003, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shuki
what sort of time frame are we talking about before the 3.3s with marked improvement for 9700 pro owners are released?

I think I can field that one as I know EXACTLY when the 3.3 set is gonna be released.

Exactly two days after I get my 9700 Pro....

NewsFactory · Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM

Hey Dig,

where's my ATI 9700 Pro? don't make me come round and make you scream like a Bi***

LOL

Hand it Over

*CATALYST maker* · Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shuki
thank you for the early release CM!! And in a realistic way, what sort of time frame are we talking about before the 3.3s with marked improvement for 9700 pro owners are released? Really not meaning to sound like an unappreciative ass but just longing to experience the most from my card

Honestly, I dont know when right now. We are executing on a 6 week cycle so I will do my hardest to bring it in for these drivers. If you want a rough estimate (and in no way is this any indication), I would say about 5 weeks from now.
I dont wanna be quoted on that or anything ever it is just a rough estimate.

DW I am gonna send you some stuff next week, Im working a LAN party with some stuff were giving out and I am going to keep one of each of whatever we have for you. (and no, there are no graphic cards involved)

Mystik · Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM

As Peggy Hill would say:
"Hooyeah!"

You guys rule.

Candyman · Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM

Let me do some math here....Today is March 12, 2003.

6 weeks from now will be exactly April 24th!!!

There you have it.....Third week of April we should see the 3.3 set (my guess)

Now that the above is out of the way, I hope people don't ask when anymore....

This set rocks!!! Great speed, stability and IQ! Hats off to you Terry!

Now show me some benchmark results!!!

ZenmasteR · Mar 13, 2003, 11:13 PM

these drivers didnt solve the stutter issue in Project IGI2 for me, (fsaa and af is enabled) however freelancer, Mafia and UT2003 seemed nippier though. cheers for the release

shuki · Mar 13, 2003, 11:54 PM

Catalyst Maker - thank you! and this guy will NOT be quoting ya on this one

DW - I thought I was the only one that sent you free stuff

Candyman - April 24 sounds like a GREAT day as I'll turn 29 on that day

And you are absolutely correct! this set does in fact ROCK! I did lose ~120 points in 3dmark2k1SE down to 14,924 from 15,142. But did gain 22 points in 3dmark2k3 up to 4733 from 4711. And MOHAA.... wow!

Again, really, really proud/happy r9700 pro owner here...

Edit RIV@NVX - fixed link for comparison

dipstick · Mar 14, 2003, 12:02 AM

I agree, these are the best yet. Unreal 2, UTk3 and Mafia are smooth as butter. Thx so much for the hard work. Now hurry up and release a 256mb 9800

Thx again

Edit- I also noticed a great improvement on my R8500, so thx for not forgetting about those.

Candyman · Mar 14, 2003, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shuki
Again, really, really proud/happy r9700 pro owner here...

[/B]

Just imagine how content you will be when the Catalyst 3.3's are out and your frames jump up big time across the board!!!

I think you will be having a very Happy "ATI" Birthday!

gibbon565 · Mar 14, 2003, 12:24 AM

the sprites on CS are messed with these for me

AT_curiousB · Mar 14, 2003, 12:29 AM

Downloaded and installed the drivers within half an hour of the announcement being posted.

I can see a great improvement in the IQ of 3DMark2003. I had noticed that the two tests most affected by stuttering on my system were the Nature Test and the Plinth with the wood effect Elephant and Rhino. Running 2003 after the installation of these drivers there is no stuttering in these tests on my system any more.

Thank you Catalyst maker for the heads up. Thanks to ATI for supplying these drivers, am looking forward to the release of the Cat 3.3's. If this latest driver release is any indication of the improvement that can be expected within the 3.3's then all I can do here is to parphrase a quote from a posting I saw earlier, This truly will be the year of the CAT..

wlsh242 · Mar 14, 2003, 12:47 AM

ATI and this site are the greatest. I love my 9700 pro and always get great info and support from this site and ATI. Your hard work doesn't go unappreciated.

toddsmack2k · Mar 14, 2003, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by wlsh242
ATI and this site are the greatest. I love my 9700 pro and always get great info and support from this site and ATI. Your hard work doesn't go unappreciated.

I totally agree! Everybody that is a member here should read this and get a big grin on their face, don't ya love it when people say this

Rayder · Mar 14, 2003, 01:39 AM

Good to hear about significant speed boosts for 8500's, especially since we have 3 of them running here(1- 8500 128DDR and 2- 8500DV's).

tazdevl · Mar 14, 2003, 01:51 AM

Thanks for the updates.

Noticed an increase in 8500 performance, 2D is nice and the WinXP GUI seems a bit snappier.

Now all I need are the 3.3's and a 9800, followed by a Prescott, WD raptor, Canterwood based mobo, 1gig of PC3500, Dual format DVD burner, and so on and so on and so on.

Funny how the list keeps going no?

~~Asuka~~ · Mar 14, 2003, 01:57 AM

Groovy

The 3.1 ones already run fine with me, and if these 3.2 ones are even better...

Great job, dude!

Btw... why don't you send any new Radeon cards over here to Germany? Since over a month I'm already trying to get my hands on a Radeon 9500 Pro, but with absolutely *any* retailers here (local ones or over the net), it's absolutely *impossible* to get anything but a Radeon 9000/Pro (crap worse than my current 8500) or a 9700 Pro (which rules, but is *way* too expensive for a poor student like me

)
So, could you please send some 9500 Pro cards (ok, one would already be enough for me) over to Germany? Or should I be forced to buy that GeFarce sh!t which stinks worse than a three months dead fish?

~~Asuka~~ · Mar 14, 2003, 02:13 AM

Just read this in the 3.2 Release Notes:

"Dungeon Siege framerates are improved as much as 24% across multiple products, especially when running at higher resolutions."

This rocks! How much improvement is there for the 8500 specifically? (and for the 9500 Pro... should it ever make it's way to Germany

)

AlternateVirus · Mar 14, 2003, 02:42 AM

got around 500 point increase from this driver with R8500 64mb Retail. Great drivers set as always. Thanks ATi.

Rayder · Mar 14, 2003, 02:46 AM

Big Scale Racing - STILL has some wierd kind of overlay problem within just a few seconds of play. When the overlays start blinking, the track will get all "liney" looking.

Incoming - STILL has screwed-up graphics when shooting the enemies.

BOTH of these games NEVER had a problem before the release of DX9 drivers.

Apparently, my reports of problems with these games are being completely IGNORED by ATI.

I've mentioned it in the ATI feedback AND here at DH since the first DX9 drivers.

Just because they aren't the latest FPS or strategy game doesn't mean that they should just be ignored.

*CATALYST maker* · Mar 14, 2003, 04:03 AM

sounds like everyone is generally happy now :-) yaa baby!
2003 - year of the CAT
Ben (ATI's VP of software) and I keep our promises, when we went out on a mission to have the worlds best drivers we were'nt screwing around.

They will get better with many many suprises for the rest of the year.
Special thanks to Zardon for beta testing these drivers for me (even though we kept him busy with his 9800 review at the same time )as of two weeks ago or so. Appreciate the effort sir!

DallasStar · Mar 14, 2003, 04:22 AM

These drivers are noticeably better than the last release. On a game I'm working on, my framerates went from the 130s to the 190s ! Great Job developers

!

One bug that still exists (and has existed for a long time) is the bug with vsync in opengl and how it sometimes limits the framerates to half the refresh rate of the monitor rather than the actual refresh rate. This is especially annoying when it alternates between these two forms of vsync and then the framerates toggle between 38 and 75 and the result ends up being random "pauses" in games. I hope you guys fix this sometime soon.

Other than that, great job!

Asmoday · Mar 14, 2003, 04:31 AM

Yay....i love these drivers .......very good job mr. Catalyst maker...!!!!!!

btw.....Ati must have some insane bandwidth on their servers....check this out(and i'm in northern Sweden..!!!!

Rayder · Mar 14, 2003, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
sounds like everyone is generally happy now :-) yaa baby!
2003 - year of the CAT
Ben (ATI's VP of software) and I keep our promises, when we went out on a mission to have the worlds best drivers we were'nt screwing around.

They will get better with many many suprises for the rest of the year.
Special thanks to Zardon for beta testing these drivers for me (even though we kept him busy with his 9800 review at the same time )as of two weeks ago or so. Appreciate the effort sir!

Um....you read my reply directly above yours right? I'm not trying to be harsh or mean or anything, but those are games that my brother and I like and they aren't working right.

MousePotato · Mar 14, 2003, 05:43 AM

anyone with a mirror site with the 3.2 yet please ? ATI is getting hammerd now. 3.4KB/sec with my HS cable

peterosesbookie · Mar 14, 2003, 06:08 AM

It states this on the site

Catalyst

download

CATALYST™ 3.2
Fully WHQL Certified release for all RADEON™ family products
Multimedia Center 8.1
Free Download - Owners of RADEON™ 9000/9500/9700 series graphics adapters and ALL-IN-WONDER® 9700PRO / 9000 / VE multimedia adapters have access to a free upgrade to MMC 8.1.
Buy Now - $9.99 (USD) plus shipping and handling for MMC 8.1 Installation CD for all RADEON™ owners.
overview

CATALYST™ - Commitment, Confidence and Capability

ATI introduces CATALYST™ - industry-leading software suite that enhances and accelerates the visual experience. The suite is a package that consists of the latest driver, HYDRAVISION™ (multiple monitor management software), MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ and REMOTE WONDER™ support.

At-a-glance
Industry's most stable 3D acceleration software
Exceptional visual quality
New features and functions
Frequent updates and reliable customer service
CATALYST Crew Program

features

Confidence
Industry's most stable 3D acceleration software
Fully supported by ATI's customer support
Featuring SMARTGART™ - a diagnostic tool that determines the optimal settings to ensure maximum stability. With SMARTGART™, the display driver will automatically test the AGP capability upon its initialization and dynamically adjust the necessary settings based on the test results. This provides users with a more stable system
SMARTGART™ White Paper (PDF)
SMARTGART™ FAQ (PDF)

Capability
CATALYST™ software supports component output for a number of RADEON™ graphics cards. Component Output provides the highest quality method to deliver HDTV support and allow users to use their PCs as a central entertainment hub while watching high-definition TV or playing games
CATALYST™ provides plug-ins for the REMOTE WONDER™ software. This lets users control applications such as WINAMP and Microsoft® POWERPOINT with REMOTE WONDER™
[COLOR=red]CATALYST™ includes a new Direct 3D™ and OpenGL® control panel that gives users full control over performance and image quality settings[/COLOR]

Commitment
ATI is committed to providing frequent updates of all CATALYST™ elements. For example, the driver element of the CATALYST™ will be updated as frequently as 8-10 times a year! Each update will focus on improving CATALYST™ attributes
Introducing CATALYST CREW™ - ATI's end user feedback program. Join now and let us know what you think of CATALYST. For more information, see CATALYST Crew .

Gives us full control over opengl and direct3d

later

pete

Mar 13, 2003, 09:51 PM	#1
CATALYST maker ATI driver guru Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: ATI, Canada Posts: 678 Rep Power: 63	Catalyst 3.2 Drivers Out Yup, they are out everyone, go grab em. First place I have announced it is here at DH Zardon will be providing them on the DH mirror as well. Make sure you read the release notes for what is new in these drivers. Off to work on version 3.3 no2

Mar 13, 2003, 09:53 PM	#2
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,619 Rep Power: 0	Thanks, and good luck rushing those 3.3s out! __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Mar 13, 2003, 10:27 PM	#5
AT_curiousB DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Location: England Posts: 128 Rep Power: 0	Down loading now thank you. __________________ Bill

Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM	#9
Mystik i'm an errand. Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 237 Rep Power: 0	As Peggy Hill would say: "Hooyeah!" You guys rule. __________________ For as long as the sun shines, there will always be darkness. -- me.

Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM	#10
Candyman [DH] Lover! Join Date: May 2002 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 284 Rep Power: 0	Let me do some math here....Today is March 12, 2003. 6 weeks from now will be exactly April 24th!!! There you have it.....Third week of April we should see the 3.3 set (my guess) Now that the above is out of the way, I hope people don't ask when anymore.... This set rocks!!! Great speed, stability and IQ! Hats off to you Terry! Now show me some benchmark results!!! __________________ AMD Athlon XP 1700+ @ 2.53GHz Abit NF7-S v.2 Thermalright SP-97 w/ TT Smart Fan 2 2 x 512MB GeIL PC3500 Platinum DDR 2 x 120GB WD HDD - RAID-0 2 x 80GB Barracuda V HDD - RAID-0 ATI Radeon AIW 9800PRO SB Audigy 2 HP L2335 23" LCD (DVI-D) WinXP Pro SP2

Mar 13, 2003, 10:07 PM	#3
Leechmo HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	wohoo ... reformat time it is....new video drivers..new soundcard drivers and a new mmc... fun fun fun

Mar 13, 2003, 10:17 PM	#4
shuki DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: in the hidden place Posts: 1,975 Rep Power: 0	thank you for the early release CM!! And in a realistic way, what sort of time frame are we talking about before the 3.3s with marked improvement for 9700 pro owners are released? Really not meaning to sound like an unappreciative ass but just longing to experience the most from my card

Mar 13, 2003, 11:10 PM	#7
NewsFactory News Guru Join Date: May 2002 Location: UK Posts: 1,400 Rep Power: 0	Hey Dig, where's my ATI 9700 Pro? don't make me come round and make you scream like a Bi*** LOL Hand it Over

Mar 13, 2003, 11:13 PM	#11
ZenmasteR DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	these drivers didnt solve the stutter issue in Project IGI2 for me, (fsaa and af is enabled) however freelancer, Mafia and UT2003 seemed nippier though. cheers for the release

Mar 13, 2003, 11:54 PM	#12
shuki DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: in the hidden place Posts: 1,975 Rep Power: 0	Catalyst Maker - thank you! and this guy will NOT be quoting ya on this one DW - I thought I was the only one that sent you free stuff Candyman - April 24 sounds like a GREAT day as I'll turn 29 on that day And you are absolutely correct! this set does in fact ROCK! I did lose ~120 points in 3dmark2k1SE down to 14,924 from 15,142. But did gain 22 points in 3dmark2k3 up to 4733 from 4711. And MOHAA.... wow! Again, really, really proud/happy r9700 pro owner here... Edit RIV@NVX - fixed link for comparison Last edited by RIV@NVX; Mar 14, 2003 at 04:04 PM.

Mar 14, 2003, 12:02 AM	#13
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	I agree, these are the best yet. Unreal 2, UTk3 and Mafia are smooth as butter. Thx so much for the hard work. Now hurry up and release a 256mb 9800 Thx again Edit- I also noticed a great improvement on my R8500, so thx for not forgetting about those.

Mar 14, 2003, 12:24 AM	#15
gibbon565 Bouncy BOUNCY! Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 316 Rep Power: 0	the sprites on CS are messed with these for me __________________ 3500 x64 ASRock Dual Sata 2 7900 GTO 512 1 gig OCUK HANNS-H HW13D

Mar 14, 2003, 12:29 AM	#16
AT_curiousB DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Location: England Posts: 128 Rep Power: 0	All I Can sat is WOW!!! Downloaded and installed the drivers within half an hour of the announcement being posted. I can see a great improvement in the IQ of 3DMark2003. I had noticed that the two tests most affected by stuttering on my system were the Nature Test and the Plinth with the wood effect Elephant and Rhino. Running 2003 after the installation of these drivers there is no stuttering in these tests on my system any more. Thank you Catalyst maker for the heads up. Thanks to ATI for supplying these drivers, am looking forward to the release of the Cat 3.3's. If this latest driver release is any indication of the improvement that can be expected within the 3.3's then all I can do here is to parphrase a quote from a posting I saw earlier, This truly will be the year of the CAT.. __________________ Bill

Mar 14, 2003, 12:47 AM	#17
wlsh242 HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: FL USA Posts: 44 Rep Power: 0	ATI and this site are the greatest. I love my 9700 pro and always get great info and support from this site and ATI. Your hard work doesn't go unappreciated.

Mar 14, 2003, 01:39 AM	#19
Rayder Mostly lurking lately.... Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 2,161 Rep Power: 73	Good to hear about significant speed boosts for 8500's, especially since we have 3 of them running here(1- 8500 128DDR and 2- 8500DV's).

Mar 14, 2003, 01:51 AM	#20
tazdevl DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: May 2002 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 310 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the updates. Noticed an increase in 8500 performance, 2D is nice and the WinXP GUI seems a bit snappier. Now all I need are the 3.3's and a 9800, followed by a Prescott, WD raptor, Canterwood based mobo, 1gig of PC3500, Dual format DVD burner, and so on and so on and so on. Funny how the list keeps going no? __________________ RIG: P4 2.6C, Thermalright SP94/Panaflo 92MM M1A, IC7 Max3, Swifty MCX159, 1GB Geil PC4000 Ultra Plat, Modded Radeon 8500, Audigy 2, 2X WD Raptor RAID 0, WD 250GB SE, Plex 708A, 166SDVD, LianLi PC75, WinXP Pro SP1, Z680's.

Mar 14, 2003, 01:57 AM	#21
~~Asuka~~ BANNED Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 579 Rep Power: 0	Groovy The 3.1 ones already run fine with me, and if these 3.2 ones are even better... Great job, dude! Btw... why don't you send any new Radeon cards over here to Germany? Since over a month I'm already trying to get my hands on a Radeon 9500 Pro, but with absolutely any retailers here (local ones or over the net), it's absolutely impossible to get anything but a Radeon 9000/Pro (crap worse than my current 8500) or a 9700 Pro (which rules, but is way too expensive for a poor student like me ) So, could you please send some 9500 Pro cards (ok, one would already be enough for me) over to Germany? Or should I be forced to buy that GeFarce sh!t which stinks worse than a three months dead fish?

Mar 14, 2003, 02:13 AM	#22
~~Asuka~~ BANNED Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 579 Rep Power: 0	Just read this in the 3.2 Release Notes: "Dungeon Siege framerates are improved as much as 24% across multiple products, especially when running at higher resolutions." This rocks! How much improvement is there for the 8500 specifically? (and for the 9500 Pro... should it ever make it's way to Germany )

Mar 14, 2003, 02:42 AM	#23
AlternateVirus DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 282 Rep Power: 0	got around 500 point increase from this driver with R8500 64mb Retail. Great drivers set as always. Thanks ATi.

Mar 14, 2003, 02:46 AM	#24
Rayder Mostly lurking lately.... Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 2,161 Rep Power: 73	Broken record....... Big Scale Racing - STILL has some wierd kind of overlay problem within just a few seconds of play. When the overlays start blinking, the track will get all "liney" looking. Incoming - STILL has screwed-up graphics when shooting the enemies. BOTH of these games NEVER had a problem before the release of DX9 drivers. Apparently, my reports of problems with these games are being completely IGNORED by ATI. I've mentioned it in the ATI feedback AND here at DH since the first DX9 drivers. Just because they aren't the latest FPS or strategy game doesn't mean that they should just be ignored. Last edited by Rayder; Mar 14, 2003 at 02:52 AM.

Mar 14, 2003, 04:03 AM	Thread Starter #25
CATALYST maker ATI driver guru Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: ATI, Canada Posts: 678 Rep Power: 63	sounds like everyone is generally happy now :-) yaa baby! 2003 - year of the CAT Ben (ATI's VP of software) and I keep our promises, when we went out on a mission to have the worlds best drivers we were'nt screwing around. They will get better with many many suprises for the rest of the year. Special thanks to Zardon for beta testing these drivers for me (even though we kept him busy with his 9800 review at the same time )as of two weeks ago or so. Appreciate the effort sir!

Mar 14, 2003, 04:22 AM	#26
DallasStar Junior Join Date: May 2002 Location: Wave Existence Posts: 2,065 Rep Power: 0	These drivers are noticeably better than the last release. On a game I'm working on, my framerates went from the 130s to the 190s ! Great Job developers ! One bug that still exists (and has existed for a long time) is the bug with vsync in opengl and how it sometimes limits the framerates to half the refresh rate of the monitor rather than the actual refresh rate. This is especially annoying when it alternates between these two forms of vsync and then the framerates toggle between 38 and 75 and the result ends up being random "pauses" in games. I hope you guys fix this sometime soon. Other than that, great job! __________________ "A picture of my existence... would show a useless wooden stake covered in snow... stuck loosely at a slant in the ground in a ploughed field on the edge of a vast open plain on a dark winter night." --- Franz Kafka

Mar 14, 2003, 04:31 AM	#27
Asmoday Demonic Join Date: May 2002 Location: In the cold, dark north... Posts: 5,198 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Yay....i love these drivers .......very good job mr. Catalyst maker...!!!!!! btw.....Ati must have some insane bandwidth on their servers....check this out(and i'm in northern Sweden..!!!! __________________ How You can help Hardwareheaven by using Digg

Mar 14, 2003, 05:43 AM	#29
MousePotato HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Location: N.S., Canada Posts: 124 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	anyone with a mirror site with the 3.2 yet please ? ATI is getting hammerd now. 3.4KB/sec with my HS cable

Mar 14, 2003, 06:08 AM	#30
peterosesbookie HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: OHIO Posts: 556 Rep Power: 0	I think that this driver fixes the opengl refresh problem It states this on the site Catalyst download CATALYST™ 3.2 Fully WHQL Certified release for all RADEON™ family products Multimedia Center 8.1 Free Download - Owners of RADEON™ 9000/9500/9700 series graphics adapters and ALL-IN-WONDER® 9700PRO / 9000 / VE multimedia adapters have access to a free upgrade to MMC 8.1. Buy Now - $9.99 (USD) plus shipping and handling for MMC 8.1 Installation CD for all RADEON™ owners. overview CATALYST™ - Commitment, Confidence and Capability ATI introduces CATALYST™ - industry-leading software suite that enhances and accelerates the visual experience. The suite is a package that consists of the latest driver, HYDRAVISION™ (multiple monitor management software), MULTIMEDIA CENTER™ and REMOTE WONDER™ support. At-a-glance Industry's most stable 3D acceleration software Exceptional visual quality New features and functions Frequent updates and reliable customer service CATALYST Crew Program features Confidence Industry's most stable 3D acceleration software Fully supported by ATI's customer support Featuring SMARTGART™ - a diagnostic tool that determines the optimal settings to ensure maximum stability. With SMARTGART™, the display driver will automatically test the AGP capability upon its initialization and dynamically adjust the necessary settings based on the test results. This provides users with a more stable system SMARTGART™ White Paper (PDF) SMARTGART™ FAQ (PDF) Capability CATALYST™ software supports component output for a number of RADEON™ graphics cards. Component Output provides the highest quality method to deliver HDTV support and allow users to use their PCs as a central entertainment hub while watching high-definition TV or playing games CATALYST™ provides plug-ins for the REMOTE WONDER™ software. This lets users control applications such as WINAMP and Microsoft® POWERPOINT with REMOTE WONDER™ [COLOR=red]CATALYST™ includes a new Direct 3D™ and OpenGL® control panel that gives users full control over performance and image quality settings[/COLOR] Commitment ATI is committed to providing frequent updates of all CATALYST™ elements. For example, the driver element of the CATALYST™ will be updated as frequently as 8-10 times a year! Each update will focus on improving CATALYST™ attributes Introducing CATALYST CREW™ - ATI's end user feedback program. Join now and let us know what you think of CATALYST. For more information, see CATALYST Crew . Gives us full control over opengl and direct3d later pete __________________ A Cat almost always blinks when hit in the head with a ball peen hammer! Last edited by peterosesbookie; Mar 14, 2003 at 07:42 PM.