# AMD Releases ATI Catalyst 9.7 Driver Suite



## btarunr (Jul 22, 2009)

AMD today sneaked in the latest version of its ATI Catalyst driver suite that provides support to several AMD/ATI components such as ATI Radeon series GPUs, AMD desktop chipsets, AMD FireStream GPGPU, and ATI Theater multimedia products. As revealed by the release notes document, AMD introduced several performance and feature-set changes, along with timely bug-fixes. Highlights include:

Crysis performance at very high quality preset increases by up to 8% on Radeon HD 4800 series
Lost Planet Colonies - performance increases by 7-11% when 8x Anti-Aliasing is used on the HD 4800 series products
Introduces support for the ATI Video converter under Windows 7 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit
A newly designed Desktops & Displays Manager
Added support for new OpenGL extensions: EXT_provoking_vertex and EXT_vertex_array_bgra

*DOWNLOAD:* ATI Catalyst 9.7 Driver Suite for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 22, 2009)

Lock and Load!


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## btarunr (Jul 22, 2009)

The AMD Game page header says 9.6, but the files and release notes are 9.7.







They're being added to our servers as we speak.


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## Kitkat (Jul 22, 2009)

lol load and lock lol


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 22, 2009)

Did anyone notice they increased the performance to Lost Planet? I can only wonder if it will help RE5 since its the same engine.


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## erocker (Jul 22, 2009)

*Facepalm* I downloaded and installed 9.6 about five minutes before 9.7's were released.


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## BrooksyX (Jul 22, 2009)

Nice timing. I should be putting my new rig together tomorrow morning.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 22, 2009)

erocker said:


> *Facepalm* I downloaded and installed 9.6 about five minutes before 9.7's were released.



I reinstalled Vista last night. Same problem here.


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## ShadowFold (Jul 22, 2009)

Same version as the leaked one at the beginning of July lol I've been using them all month and they're awesome


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## ShogoXT (Jul 22, 2009)

I skipped 9.6, i was wondering when these would show up!


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## Richieb0y (Jul 22, 2009)

i got my xfx 4890 and had a tons of problems hope this wil solve the INF errror


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## Velvet Wafer (Jul 22, 2009)

lol that was fast... asked me when they will be released an hour ago...


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## Cheeseball (Jul 22, 2009)

Hmm... no XP drivers yet?

Hey mussels, is this helpful for you?



> Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
> This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst™
> Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:
> �� Catalyst Control Center image scaling options, "Maintain aspect ratio" and "Use centered
> ...


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## Scrizz (Jul 22, 2009)

he wants on win7 i believe


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## shk021051 (Jul 22, 2009)

Two months after the driver still has defects
holy sh*t


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## erocker (Jul 23, 2009)

Richieb0y said:


> i got my xfx 4890 and had a tons of problems hope this wil solve the INF errror



Uninstall all instances of Microsoft Visual C++ through "add/remove" programs in the Control Panel, then install the drivers. It should work.


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## GSG-9 (Jul 23, 2009)

Significant driver updates make me happy.


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## Caonima (Jul 23, 2009)

I need the optimization for ArmaⅡ，please,ATI.There are not many people can run Crysis fluently with one piece of HD4850 or HD4870 at all very high,useless.Let the HD6850 handle it over 60FPS,do some useful works.


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## Nick89 (Jul 23, 2009)

Looks like we are starting to lose support for XP. Wish Win7 was out already.


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> Hmm... no XP drivers yet?
> 
> Hey mussels, is this helpful for you?



i'm not under XP - testing, will post results back in the scaling thread.

That said, i doubt they changed much between the RC/beta and this.


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

Nick89 said:


> Looks like we are starting to lose support for XP. Wish Win7 was out already.



it is - grab the RTM, run it for 120 days. you can then buy a retail copy in 120 days.


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## TAViX (Jul 23, 2009)

Any improvement in the latest Call of Juarez for X2 and crossfire cards??? this game optimisations sucks bigtime, I mean an 4850 is faster than 4870X2!!!!! hahaha


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## AsRock (Jul 23, 2009)

Mussels said:


> it is - grab the RTM, run it for 120 days. you can then buy a retail copy in 120 days.



Thats not a fix thats going around the issue lol.  There is NOTHING wrong with XP ..  And has for DX10 whats the point and for DX11 well that has to be seen and proven worth it.

They should not be stopping support for it thats just sad.. Although i can understand it due to there being 2 OS's to make drivers for.


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

AsRock said:


> Thats not a fix thats going around the issue lol.  There is NOTHING wrong with XP ..  And has for DX10 whats the point and for DX11 well that has to be seen and proven worth it.
> 
> They should not be stopping support for it thats just sad.. Although i can understand it due to there being 2 OS's to make drivers for.



win7 is a fix. virtual XP.


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## Easo (Jul 23, 2009)

XP must burn in fire...
But as future sysadmin i will have to see it a lot, hello driver problems... and other strange things.

P.S.
ARGH, i want my pc back from warranty service, NOW! So i can get in those drivers and play some Crysis.


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## W1zzard (Jul 23, 2009)

i hear catalyst 9.7 for xp today or tomorrow


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## Sir Alex Ice (Jul 23, 2009)

ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.


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## jamesrt2004 (Jul 23, 2009)

Sir Alex Ice said:


> ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
> I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.



so cause the game isn't supporting your cards, and the GAME forgets it's aa settings its ati's fault -sigh-


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

Sir Alex Ice said:


> ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
> I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.



if your crossfire doesnt give you performance boosts, i'd say somethings not set up right.

As for wow, well... if the game doesnt remember settings, thats the games fault. blame the right thing.


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## tzitzibp (Jul 23, 2009)

I agree with Mussels.... COD2 is a classic example of this.... I have to set it to recognize dual vga, everytime!


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## grunt_408 (Jul 23, 2009)

Great news about 9.7's being out just in time for me new build


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## Fishymachine (Jul 23, 2009)

Since you mostly play WoW why didn't you bought single a 9600GSO/9800GT or 4830/4770/4850? http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/mainstream-cards-mmorpg_14.html#sect0
And yes the game's 3D engine is to be honest a bit dated(and payed-of using nVidia money)


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## H82LUZ73 (Jul 23, 2009)

The only thing that is confusing me is the new layout of Control Center,Man took me the last 30 mins to find the avivo color and the HDTV settings.Click the icon in the lower left corner of  desktop & display section right click and select configure that brings up the scaling and all that.now im off to go play codwaw ctf ....


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## Sir Alex Ice (Jul 23, 2009)

Fishymachine said:


> Since you mostly play WoW why didn't you bought single a 9600GSO/9800GT or 4830/4770/4850? http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/mainstream-cards-mmorpg_14.html#sect0
> And yes the game's 3D engine is to be honest a bit dated(and payed-of using nVidia money)



Because I have also Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and others. Ultimately it can be only ATI's fault that the game is not optmized for their product. Consider this, WoW was ought for many years before HD4870 was launched. Therefore it should be HD4870 drivers that are optimized for WoW, not the other way around. ATI should be more concerned about selling their products, it's not Blizzard's job to sell it in their place.
Blizzard is doing just fine with 11.000.000 subscribers. Has ATI sold this many cards? Don't think so.


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## Imsochobo (Jul 23, 2009)

Sir Alex Ice said:


> ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
> I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.



How are YOU ABLE to manage that ?

Its a fact, ati is worse in wow than nvidia, but game resets stuff = not ati problem, its a problem with game.

My crossfire setup have been running issuefree for one year now.
Not a single complaint about ati drivers except one. 9.2 the one i could not upgrade....


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## toxirau (Jul 23, 2009)

It is now downloading i wonder if this will give my HD3300 any performance increases x.x or hopefully some much needed OpenGL performance increases...


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

toxirau said:


> It is now downloading i wonder if this will give my HD3300 any performance increases x.x or hopefully some much needed OpenGL performance increases...



sure, there might be increases. but youre using onboard graphics, its never going to be much faster than what it is, until you replace it.


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## toxirau (Jul 23, 2009)

Mussels said:


> sure, there might be increases. but youre using onboard graphics, its never going to be much faster than what it is, until you replace it.



Hehe, yea once UPS decides that it wants to bring me my new power supply then i can really see some increases. I'm mainly just hoping to get some OpenGL performance increase in SecondLife.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 23, 2009)

Sir Alex Ice said:


> ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
> I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.



First welcome to the forums. If WoW is not holding the settings its the games issue not ATI. To fix this problem I would say you need to ether wait for a patch or lock your config file.

Usually games have an ".ini" file or a "config" file that holds all your settings so you don't have to re-enter them every time. I suggest you find this file and edit it to your settings via the text editor all windows OS have. Once you make everything the way it "should" be lock the file. Then start the game. This will keep the game from resetting your preferred settings. This works with any game. That should solve your problem. You might even be able to manually start your crossfire via this file. 

Good Luck! I would offer more help but I don't have WoW.


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## Altered (Jul 23, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> Hmm... no XP drivers yet?



Still none posted on ATI site.


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## ShogoXT (Jul 23, 2009)

The interface will take a little getting used to...


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 23, 2009)

ShogoXT said:


> The interface will take a little getting used to...



Personally I don't like the new interface.


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## Mussels (Jul 23, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Personally I don't like the new interface.



neither.

Sure, its smaller and cleaner but some options are hidden away in un-intuitive places (scaling settings etc) - why have two icons for each screen, and different right click settings on each? Surely an icon per monitor, with all menus in the one right click (context) menu would be simpler?


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 23, 2009)

Mussels said:


> neither.
> 
> Sure, its smaller and cleaner but some options are hidden away in un-intuitive places (scaling settings etc) - why have two icons for each screen, and different right click settings on each? Surely an icon per monitor, with all menus in the one right click (context) menu would be simpler?



I agree. However I have very little understanding of WTF you just said.


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## AsRock (Jul 23, 2009)

Mussels said:


> win7 is a fix. virtual XP.



Yeah a highly patched Vista lol,  Which you have to pay for...  I've played every game i play since win7 was available to public and found near every time i was better of with XP.

It's not as if i can afford Win7 either so that don't help.  In the end win7 or Vista have nothing to offer me..


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## indybird (Jul 23, 2009)

Ok so does anyone else in this thread use TPU GPUTool?  As soon as I installed Catalyst 9.7 _any_ core overclocks over 900Mhz (w/ or w/o voltage) on my ASUS HD4890 were now completely unstable.  Furthermore GPUTool is now stating that there are errors at 975Mhz Memory (i.e the default clock).

Just a heads-up, if you're using GPUTool, stick with Catalyst 9.6.

-Indybird


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## js01 (Jul 23, 2009)

The resident evil 5 benchmark still blows under DX10, I hope this is not how the drivers are when the games released.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 23, 2009)

js01 said:


> The resident evil 5 benchmark still blows under DX10, I hope this is not how the drivers are when the games released.



I doubt it. AMD is really good with fixing Nvidias "Tanya Harding" antics.


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## erocker (Jul 23, 2009)

js01 said:


> The resident evil 5 benchmark still blows under DX10, I hope this is not how the drivers are when the games released.



Does most of the RE5 bench run good, but one part of it is just horrible in DX10? That's what I got. The part where the frames really dip it seems as if the ATi drivers are forcing more AA than what is selected in game. It almost looks like it's trying to push at least 24x AA through it.


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## MrMilli (Jul 23, 2009)

Sir Alex Ice said:


> ATI are failing again to keep up with Nvidia. I have 2 ATI HD4870 boards, great performance in single set-up, they suck in every possible way in Crossfire.
> I play World of Warcraft mostly, and I can't play using the new Ultra setting for video quality. In addition, Crossfire does not bring performance improvements whatsoever. Furthermore, every time I enter WoW I have to change resolution and AA settings, as the game forgets to apply AA from one game session to the other.





tzitzibp said:


> I agree with Mussels.... COD2 is a classic example of this.... I have to set it to recognize dual vga, everytime!



Well the combination of old(er) games and Vista / Win7 can result in this problem.
The problem lies in the fact that the user has reading rights but no writing rights to a certain file (the config file in this case).
It's quite easy to fix this. Locate the config file (can be in the user folder or game folder) and in properties (second or third tab in think), give 'user' all rights (including modify and write).


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## Altered (Jul 23, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> i hear catalyst 9.7 for xp today or tomorrow




_ATI Catalyst™ 9.7 Display Driver for Windows XP Professional/Home Edition_ is posted.


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## fullinfusion (Jul 23, 2009)

I must put in my 2 cent's worth.... ATI finally put out a driver that makes my tri-fire real happy!!! GG ATI


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## Nick89 (Jul 24, 2009)

There is no new interface for the windows XP version. Just installed 9.7's and nothing new with the interface for me.


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## Mussels (Jul 24, 2009)

Nick89 said:


> There is no new interface for the windows XP version. Just installed 9.7's and nothing new with the interface for me.



i have two opinions on this matter.


1. Damn. i dont really like it.

2. Another reason to tell XP users to get with the times


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## fullinfusion (Jul 24, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i have two opinions on this matter.
> 
> 
> 1. Damn. i dont really like it.
> ...


Yeah but ya know....

XP gives a tad higher clock then the later.... I agree it only gets better with upgrades.. +UPDATES


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## AsRock (Jul 24, 2009)

Nick89 said:


> There is no new interface for the windows XP version. Just installed 9.7's and nothing new with the interface for me.



Good it's bad enough as is.



Mussels said:


> i have two opinions on this matter.
> 
> 
> 1. Damn. i dont really like it.
> ...



Yeah the new Win 7 \ Vista  one is so much better "COUGH"

I don't like either of them.


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## sixor (Jul 25, 2009)

i hate the new gui, useless tons of clicks


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## DRDNA (Jul 25, 2009)

I tested these 9.7's and found a BIG MAJOR HIT in OpenGL...Dont believe me just run Furmark once you install 9.7 and see....I took a 6000 point hit....everything else was about the same as 9.6 for me , the 9.7's seemed to be 1-5 FPS slower than the 9.6...I rolled back to 9.6 and will wait to test the 9.8 as i don't want to settle for the OpenGL hit. Just my two cents worth.


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## Mussels (Jul 25, 2009)

are you sure the hit wasnt JUST in furmark?


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 25, 2009)

I gained 30+ points in 3dmark 06. Edit: I lost 600 points in Vantage


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## Meecrob (Jul 25, 2009)

AsRock said:


> Good it's bad enough as is.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



then I think you should probably just give up and buy a mac or run linux and forget gaming and the like, because vista/7 are here to stay, well at least for 2 years when win8 comes out and is even more mac-ish then 7.


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## emel2ald (Jul 27, 2009)

*-*-*



TheMailMan78 said:


> Lock and Load!



Lock yung ngai


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## Sir Alex Ice (Jul 27, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> First welcome to the forums. If WoW is not holding the settings its the games issue not ATI. To fix this problem I would say you need to ether wait for a patch or lock your config file.
> 
> Usually games have an ".ini" file or a "config" file that holds all your settings so you don't have to re-enter them every time. I suggest you find this file and edit it to your settings via the text editor all windows OS have. Once you make everything the way it "should" be lock the file. Then start the game. This will keep the game from resetting your preferred settings. This works with any game. That should solve your problem. You might even be able to manually start your crossfire via this file.
> 
> Good Luck! I would offer more help but I don't have WoW.



Well, oddly enough, this new Catalyst seems to not have a problem remembering AA setting in WoW.
Folding@home seems stable, at least so far.

Haven't done any benchmarks yet.


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## DRDNA (Jul 27, 2009)

Mussels said:


> are you sure the hit wasnt JUST in furmark?



No I am not sure of that...but furmark is openGL...what other benches are just OpenGL? Even with the 6000 point drop I am sure OpenGL still wouldnt be a problem ....Hmmm I wonder


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## AsRock (Jul 27, 2009)

Meecrob said:


> then I think you should probably just give up and buy a mac or run linux and forget gaming and the like, because vista/7 are here to stay, well at least for 2 years when win8 comes out and is even more mac-ish then 7.



Hows that ?.. XP x64 runs all my games i want to play including new releases.  Until DX11 has settled in there's no point.

The one and only game i was going to play in even DX10 was Alen Wake and look whats happened to that.

I have a copy of Vista of MS for free when they were giving them away so if a odd game does come DX10 only i be just fine .


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## Meecrob (Jul 27, 2009)

xp x64 is not xp, its server 2003, and its "ok" but honestly, if you cant adapt and move along, soon you will be stuck not being able to play alot of newer games, even ones that should work on xp/2k3 just fine, hell look how many games wont install or start on win2k now days without tricking it into thinking its on xp or even vista!!!

and I am not win7 fan, incase it came off that way, I use server 2008 and love it 

MS also gave me vista ultimate, I hated it(pre service pack) and traded it to a friend who now dosnt use it because he to is on server 2008


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## Mussels (Jul 28, 2009)

IF you can get drivers for your hardware under XP 64, its a good OS. Its a big IF however, as a lot of companies outright ignored it.


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## AsRock (Jul 28, 2009)

Mussels said:


> IF you can get drivers for your hardware under XP 64, its a good OS. Its a big IF however, as a lot of companies outright ignored it.



Well i got it back when the 3800x2's were $330 chips which is like 3 year ago and never had a issue with getting X64 drivers.  There was a minor issue later when SP2 came out for 32bit XP but with most things you were able to work around it.

I've had 3 issue in total which have been game issue's with dumb setup installers which is also fixable too.

I heard a load of people having issue's with it like for scanners and printers and stuff.

I'll use it as long as i can till forced to change as i am a avid gamer but till now at least there has been no reason and cannot justify spending more cash on a OS just to get a tweaked version of Vista with DX11 as seen as there's no game yet maybe in a year there might be a hand full..

Maybe by then Vista will have DX11.

Now if Win7 had a version were EVERY thing was stripped out of it and i do mean every thing and was aim just for games i would have a different thoughts about it.

But anyways 9.7's been working ok in games for me except with GPUTool which from time to time will give me  a error when testing for stability.

Still have the issue in SOME games scaling issue's and refresh rate has to be changed and game has to be ran once then the refresh rate can be set back to 60hz again.

How i see this is a game issue and possibly a driver\CCC issue.  A Game called Trine worked fine till they changed some thing in their 1.2 patch.  But a quick change of refresh rate solves it permanently as far as i can tell.


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## Mussels (Jul 28, 2009)

i've had a lot of hardware that had no XP64 drivers (or bad ones) - creative sound cards, web cameras, TV tuners, printers, that kind of thing.

If you run mainstream hardware from big companies (and no extra peripherals) then you should be ok. That said, vista x64 and 7x64 have a lot better driver support than xp 64 ever did.


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## AsRock (Jul 28, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i've had a lot of hardware that had no XP64 drivers (or bad ones) - creative sound cards, web cameras, TV tuners, printers, that kind of thing.
> 
> If you run mainstream hardware from big companies (and no extra peripherals) then you should be ok. That said, vista x64 and 7x64 have a lot better driver support than xp 64 ever did.



Well out of all them things i only have a HP printer and it works 100%.  A friend had a TV tuner and yes he was left in the dark too . I do believe my sound blaster live worked though and there was 1 reasons i stopped using it.  No optical port but was no driver issue though.  How ever if i remember correctly a later version of the SB Live! did have a issue with XP X64 ( a low profile ) which was no were near as good as the original one i had which had died.

My game pad works(Fang), joystick, printer, Track IR 3\4, Diamondback mouse, iPod, camera and UPS works perfectly.

Maybe i'm just one of the lucky ones.  If i was using XP 32bit then that be a whole different matter and would be either using Vista x64 or thinking of getting Win7.


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## Meecrob (Jul 28, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i've had a lot of hardware that had no XP64 drivers (or bad ones) - creative sound cards, web cameras, TV tuners, printers, that kind of thing.
> 
> If you run mainstream hardware from big companies (and no extra peripherals) then you should be ok. That said, vista x64 and 7x64 have a lot better driver support than xp 64 ever did.



1. creative sucks, their supports been utter shit since the sb16 days, it just became more noticeable as time went on.

2. webcams dont get driver updates, the companies tend to view them as desposible devices you should just buy a new one of(bastards) 

3. tv tuners, alot dont have "official" x64 drivers, but if you look up the chip and dig around with google a bit, there are drivers for most conextant/rockwell and other common chip based cards, the card makers just dont post them because they want you to buy a new card.

3. printers, if its a ltp/para port printer you can easly get it working, if its USB you can normally get it working at least in a basic fashion using a generic usb print driver, wont have all the features of a full driver, but u can print.

4. scaners, yet another device that companies see as disposable, and just want you to buy a new one, any time a new OS comes out that changes driver models you endup needing a new one 9/10 times.

yeah there are devices that dont have x64 drivers, but enlarge the same devices lack vista drivers, and if you go back in time, alot of devices that worked on 9x or nt4 didnt ever get 2k or xp drivers 

Not really MS's fault but the device makers being bastards, my advice if you dont like that crap, dont buy from companies that do it, and email them letting them know why you wont buy their products again.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 28, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i've had a lot of hardware that had no XP64 drivers (or bad ones) - creative sound cards, web cameras, TV tuners, printers, that kind of thing.
> 
> If you run mainstream hardware from big companies (and no extra peripherals) then you should be ok. That said, vista x64 and 7x64 have a lot better driver support than xp 64 ever did.



I run Vista 64 without a problem. Honestly I think a lot of more people are going 64bit than before due to the about of RAM thats now available for cheap. I've even seen a lot of OEMs going x64 with consumer lines. The days of crappy 64bit drivers I think is long since over.


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