ATI Catalyst 8.3, Hybrid CrossFire and CrossFireX Announced

[malware]

AMD today announced its latest graphics driver release to advance the Ultimate Visual Experience for PC gaming enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. Expected to be available for download starting March 5, ATI Catalyst 8.3 is a milestone software update in delivering both CrossFireX for Windows Vista - the world's first quad-GPU support, and scalable, cost-effective three GPU support - as well as ATI Hybrid Graphics Technology for casual gamers. These multi-GPU capabilities provide gamers a more realistic and immersive experience allowing them to play at high resolutions with demanding image quality settings, and at a better value than competing multi-GPU solutions.


"AMD packed ATI Catalyst 8.3 with a double-barreled set of leading technologies to simultaneously push the Ultimate Visual Experience to new heights and to a wider population of PC users," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president, AMD Graphics Product Group. "We deliver industry firsts that make a visible difference to PC users, whether it's CrossFireX and the first ever quad-GPU performance on Windows Vista, or ATI Hybrid Graphics that bring a new level of performance to mainstream PC platforms."

Advancing Multi-GPU Gaming with CrossFireX
Through three- and four-GPU configurations in CrossFireX, gamers can see multi-GPU performance scaling across a range of today's most popular DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games on Windows Vista -- up to 3.2 times the performance over a single GPU2 in some scenarios. The flexible architecture of CrossFireX allows for the mixing and matching of high-performing ATI Radeon GPUs. Any ATI Radeon HD 3850, ATI Radeon HD 3870 or ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 cards can be combined to harness the power of up to four GPUs. CrossFireX also supports a wide range of platforms, enabling many gamers to take advantage of three- and four-GPU gaming on their existing hardware.

Boosting Game Performance through ATI Hybrid CrossFire
ATI Catalyst 8.3 also introduces ATI Hybrid Graphics support for Windows Vista. An industry first that is unique to AMD processor-based platforms, ATI Hybrid CrossFire delivers a significant 3D performance boost. Up to 70 percent increases in performance are possible in some gaming scenarios3 based on PCs comprised of an AMD 780G motherboard and ATI Radeon HD 3400 Series graphics product in Windows Vista. ATI Hybrid Graphics also support up to four independent displays through the SurroudView feature for those who want to maximize productivity.

Additional Innovations Found in ATI Catalyst 8.3
Beyond multi-GPU configurations in CrossFireX, ATI Catalyst 8.3 introduces a number of new features including:

• DirectX 10.1 and Tessellation Support: ATI Catalyst 8.3 marks the first time DirectX 10.1 support for the ATI Radeon HD 3000 series, and tessellation support for the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series have been made available to developers.
• Anti-Aliasing enhancements: ATI Catalyst introduces anti-aliasing support for all Unreal Engine 3.0-based games running in DirectX 9 mode. ATI Catalyst also allows users to enable the Custom Filter Anti-Aliasing filters (box and wide tent) while running in CrossFire Super Anti-Aliasing modes, providing superior image quality.
• HydraVision support for Windows Vista: HydraVision support is now included in ATI Catalyst Control Center for Windows Vista. HydraVision enables users to efficiently organize multiple applications across single or multiple displays. You may configure up to nine virtual desktops, and divide the Windows Vista desktop into definable areas helping to easily move and organize multiple applications.
• Digital Panel GPU image scaling: For those using widescreen displays, ATI Catalyst now allows users to enable GPU-accelerated scaling to maintain the aspect ratio of the display while providing superior image quality.
• Advanced Video Quality controls: With ATI Catalyst 8.3, multimedia enthusiasts get further control over video quality. Using the new edge enhancement feature, the level of sharpness of video content can be adjusted. Through the new noise reduction feature, ghosting artifacts can be removed while preserving the details of the original video. The new slider controls can be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found in ATI Catalyst Control Center.

Availability
ATI Catalyst 8.3 is scheduled to be available as a free download starting Tuesday, March 4 online at http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Great, when can we download? As of this post it still reads 8.2...

 

[malware]

Great, when can we download? As of this post it still reads 8.2...

I'll add the hot download links as soon as they go online...it's only a matter of hours I guess.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

ok

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

This looks to be quite a release!

I just need Crossfire support for OpenGL applications and I'll be golden...

 

[imperialreign]

TBH, I'm really excited to see ATI pushing multi-GPU setups so strongly. I had initially thought it would just be one of those 'fad' ideas they threw out but then drop rather quickly. I guess the success of the 3870x2 must have reassured them they're on a good path to regaining their market shares, as these capabilities will open up quite a few doors for people with aging hardware and don't have the means to upgrade as the next biggest thing rolls out.

 

[EastCoasthandle]

Oh snap, they revised their press release to say it will be released tomorrow. I knew I should have used screengrab!!

 

[InfDamarvel]

Now imagine if they had support for this on XP. Im sure someone will mod the hell outa it.

 

[Fitseries3]

damnit! let me download it already!!! i've got my 3870x2 and my 3870 in my machine and vista doesn't know what to do!

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Give him^^ the damn driver already! I want to see what the Tri-fire can do!!!!

 

[miksanity]

SICK! but my 850 plat will hold me off untill 2010 or longer

 

[MarcusTaz]

"Tessellation Support" could it be that the stream processors will get some help here with this type of supprt? I wonder if this will even improve the 2900 series...

 

[a111087]

lol, can't you people wait? its starting March 5= tomorrow

 

[tvdang7]

isnt scaling too well according to firing squad. 2 x2's loses to 3 gtx's DAMN IT!!

 

[thequestor]

damnit! let me download it already!!! i've got my 3870x2 and my 3870 in my machine and vista doesn't know what to do!

I'm in the exact same boat. I read some details at a few places that showed gpu scaling above 3 gpu's is nearly non-existent, even so i "was" going to get a 2nd X2 but now if I can Crossfire my X2 with my 3870 I'm golden. Only problem I see so far is this is Vista only and not even Crossfire will drag me into that almost shiny turd. I want so much to like Vista, and even after beta testing it for nearly 2 years I still won't run it as my primary OS. It's just too slow in just about everything that matters to me. I was hoping having upgrading the rig to get a 5.9 in Vista it would be usable, and it is, unless I want to play a game [which is often, hence the X2 and 3870] which is a horrible exerience to say the least. The problem with my experience is not so much the graphics, but the horrible drivers from Creative, and Vista's new sound stack. Hate em both!!!!!! And ATI's less than stellar performance in either DX9 or DX10 modes. Vista will rock for games in about 2+ years, when the hardware is there to be able to push Vista to do, what XP has been able to do now for about 4 years, [I don't count pre SP2 XP as an os]. The problem I forsee is that in the next 2 years we will have Vista R2 and it will screw up everything further as MS tries to do what my grandad used to say. "You can't shine a turd"

But it is the shiniest turd I've ever seen

 

[Fitseries3]

i have the 8.3!!!!! it's installed and does support crossfireX(duh) but my 3870 is dead. SUCKS!!!

 

[thequestor]

damnit! let me download it already!!! i've got my 3870x2 and my 3870 in my machine and vista doesn't know what to do!

Also, just remove the crossfire ribbon and Vista runs fine [er runs Vista fine] but grey's out the Crossfire box in CCC.

 

[Fitseries3]

it's a NO GO. my 3870 is dying.

 

[thequestor]

i have the 8.3!!!!! it's installed and does support crossfireX(duh) but my 3870 is dead. SUCKS!!!

The one floating around on the net for a couple weeks now is not 8.3 it was some biostar bastardized driver set that didn't allow disjoined cards Xfire. So you card is probably fine.

Take the X2 out, put the 3870 in the slot and take a look to see if it boots, if it boots, card is fine. Or if your board bios allows tell it to boot from PCIex2 instead of PCIex1 or 0/1 what ever.

I'll wait until http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=vista32/common-vista32 shows 8.3 or at least

http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
shows the X2 as a card at all

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Uff da! So close....

 

[Fitseries3]

here guys.... just DL the damn thing already.....

thanks goes to EROCKER....

http://www.directx10-games.com/Sample_vista_8-471-80222a-60170.exe

 

[EastCoasthandle]

isnt scaling too well according to firing squad. 2 x2's loses to 3 gtx's DAMN IT!!

I stop reading firing squad ages ago.

 

[thequestor]

here guys.... just DL the damn thing already.....

thanks goes to EROCKER....

http://www.directx10-games.com/Sample_vista_8-471-80222a-60170.exe

I downloaded them [again] and installed them [again] and again I no longer have a 3870 lol. The X2 works fine, except CCC wont load. The 3870 shows in device manager but not in display manager at all

I'll wait for the real ones. again

 

[thequestor]

isnt scaling too well according to firing squad. 2 x2's loses to 3 gtx's DAMN IT!!

Let's see.
2 HD 3870 X2 = 2 x 429.00 [ish] = 858.00
3 8800 GTX = 3x 400.00 [ish] = 1200.00 [FREAKIN OUCH, though I did spend 1200 on 2 X800 XTX once[shame on me]]


At 2/3 the price for "nearly" the same game experience, I'd have to call the X2's the winner!

 

[Saakki]

hmm..8.1 neither hotfix NOR 8.2 didnt fix my AGP card drivers..im runnin some MSI drivers on my card but hey..they work fine so aint bragging about..good luck for rich guys buying 4 x 3870x2 ;D