This release of Catalyst introduces an enhanced version of ATI Overdrive for the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Series and ATI Radeon HD 2400 Series. Users can now Over-clock both GPU engine and graphics memory clock speeds in Crossfire mode (and over-clock single ATI Radeon graphics accelerators as well). This version of ATI Overdrive also includes a new stress test application to verify any over-clocking speeds users may have configured (either manually or through the auto-tuning tool) on their ATI Radeon graphics accelerators.

In CrossFire configuration, the OverDrive 5.0 test application will run only on first GPU and any unlinked GPUs. As a consequence auto-tuning of linked adapters will not be available in the Radeon 8.40 software driver release. Also, the Manual Test button will be grayed out if the selected GPU is Slave. Missing support is due to a limitation in current driver implementation and will be resolved in upcoming driver release.

The following performance improvements are noticed with Catalyst 7.8:

• Lost Planet DX10 with anti-aliasing improves 11% or greater on Radeon HD2900XT products
• Radeon HD2600 and Radeon HD2400 (single and CrossFire) show improvements of as much as 6% in 3DMark 2006 and 3DMark 2005
• Serious Sam 2 with HDR enabled improves as much as 14.5% on Radeon HD2900, Radeon HD2600 and Radeon HD2400 products

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• Call of Duty->United Offensive: Having all of the in-game settings at their maximum levels along with the Catalyst Control Center->3D aspect set to Optimal Quality no longer results in the Windows Vista (64 bit) operating system failing to respond after a short period of game play. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28793
• The default audio device is no longer set to ATI HD Audio after installation of the display driver for the ATI Radeon HD2900, HD2600, and HD2400. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28483
• Hot-plugging a CRT to a system running Windows Vista and containing an ATI Radeon X1100/1150 series of product no longer results in extended desktop mode failing to be applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25801
• Enabling CrossFire followed by disconnecting and then reconnecting the CRT display device no longer results in duplicate video options being seen within the Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27457
• Enabling CrossFire followed by setting AA to 14x and AF to 16x no longer results in the AA showing a setting of 0x level when disabling CrossFire and unchecking the AA option in the 3D aspect. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27458
• Making changes to the Color aspect found in the Catalyst Control Center without applying the changes no longer results in the Reactivate ATI color controls button remaining active after the Catalyst Control Center is closed and then re-launched. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27459
• Enabling CrossFire followed by setting the OverDrive clocks to their maximum settings no longer results in the Catalyst Control Center failing to accurately report the requested OverDrive values. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27621
• Performing an un-install of the display drivers on a CrossFire configured system no longer results in extended desktop mode becoming active resulting in all of the desktop icons failing to appear. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28478
• Catalyst Control Center->3D->Anti-Aliasing: Unchecking the option to Use Application Setting found in the 3D aspect page when CrossFire is enabled no longer results in the maximum AA setting being 6x. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28479
• Performing either a custom or express install of the display driver no longer results in the system possibly failing to respond and the installation of the driver failing. This issue was known to occur when using an ATI Radeon X1950 CrossFire Edition product installed on in a system containing an Intel975. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28481
• HDMI audio stutter is no longer heard when playing MPEG clip at certain resolutions on some HDMI device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28484
• The Scaling options found in the Catalyst Control Center no longer disappears when relaunching the Catalyst Control Center after applying optimized and custom formats for Component Video. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28855
• Connecting a secondary display device (CRT) and enabling extended desktop mode no longer results in invalid refresh rates being available in the Display Manager. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28787
• Making adjustments to the Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast and not applying the changes no longer results in the desktop image failing to return to its default color values when performing a hot-reboot of the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28787
• All supported display resolutions are now available in the Display Manager when connecting a secondary display device and enabling extended desktop mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28789
• Performing an un-install of the display driver no longer results in the display entering an extended desktop mode and the desktop icons failing to be displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28478
• Setting the Avivo Video Brightness to less than 0 within the Catalyst Control Center no longer results in a white frame being created in the Windows Media Player when fullscreen mode is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28790
• The Enable ATI Overdrive clocks for 3d applications is no longer available on non supported products such as the ATI Radeon HD 2600 series of product. Further information may be found in topic number 737-28477
• Setting the Avivo Video De-interlacing setting to auto, motion adaptive or vector adaptive no longer results in certain DVDs, menu videos and some special features failing to benefit from the options. Further information on this issue may be found in topic number 737-27196
• The color depth no longer changes to 8bpp when enabling or disabling CrossFire for the first time. Further information may be found in topic number 737-28485
• Connecting a TV followed by removing the display resolution of 640x480 from the mode table no longer results in the both the TV and LCD failing to display an image. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28490
• An unhandled exception no longer occurs when running an OGL application and resuming from S3 under Vista on various ATI Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1300 series products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27960
• Windows Media Player: Playing a DVD in full screen mode no longer results in vertical bar corruption being noticed during playback. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28497
• DVD display no longer blinks in red when Overdrive is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28794

This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

• Star Wars knights of the Old Republic 2: Corruption is no longer seen when running the game on some members of the ATI Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1300 series of products. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27098
• CounterStrike Source, Day of Defeat Source, and Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Excessive fog is no longer noticed when playing these games. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28795
• The Overscan/Underscan slider bar is no longer enabled when setting display resolutions of 1280x1024 or higher on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28843
• Adobe After Effects 8: The application no longer fails to load on systems containing an ATI Radeon X700 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28796
• PowerDVD6: Momentary desktop corruption is no longer noticed when minimizing the DVD playback window after stretching the playback window approximately 80%. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28797
• The system no longer becomes unresponsive and no longer requires a reboot while randomly moving Video Player window from primary to extended desktop under certain hardware configurations where the second adapter is an ATI Radeon X1200/1250/1270 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27092
• A warning message indicating CrossFire cannot be enabled because some 3D applications are running or the interconnect cable is not connected, or the motherboard has no communication channels between PCI-Express slots is no longer displayed when using a motherboard with an Intel I965 chipset. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28798
• The CrossFire page is no longer greyed out and cannot be enabled when attempting to use a software CrossFire configuration on a system using a motherboard with an Intel I975 chipset. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28799
• The Avivo components are now listed in the ADD/Remove Programs after installation of the display driver. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28800
• Switching HD-DVD titles during playback with hardware acceleration enabled no longer results in the playback to be blocked. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28802
• WinDVD8: Playing a DVD and changing the video setting to Hardware Acceleration mode no longer results in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28803

This section provides information on known issues associated with the ATI Catalyst. These include:

• City of Heroes: Attempting to play the game on a system with a dual link panel connected to it may result in the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28495
• Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter: Pressing the Alt+Tab keys when playing the game may result in the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28491
• Day Watch: Playing the game on a system running Windows Vista may result in the flickering being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28825
• Gods: Land of Infinity (demo): Having the in-game options set to 1920x1200 32bpp, Shadows on High, and Texture Quality set to High may result in only the mouse pointer being visible. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28810
• Lost Planet: Setting AA to either 4x or 8x may result in the game failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28492
• Rainbow Six Vegas: Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and applying the in-game settings to high may result in corruption being noticed when using an HDMI display device. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28826
• World of Warcraft: Playing the game with wide or narrow tent Anti-Aliasing filters may result in wireframe flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28807
• Catalyst Control Center->OverDrive: The OverDrive setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805
• The Record function currently fails to work when using an ATI All-In-Wonder X1300 and time shifting is enabled. Further information can be found in topic number 737-22014
• A blank screen may be displayed after unchecking all the Component Video formats except when the 480i30 custom mode is applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27620
• A green or black screen may be displayed when configuring MCE to ATSC mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-27622
• The 3D aspect may appear blank when launching a second instance of the Catalyst Control Center. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows XP operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28482
• The Catalyst Control Center version number may fail to be updated after the installation of a newer Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28493
• Dragging player window to secondary display while playing back HD content and moving it back to primary may result in blank player window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28496
• Attempting to enable CrossFire on a secondary display device no longer results in CrossFire failing to be enabled. Further information on this issue may be found in topic number. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28844
• Creating a secondary user account and switching from the secondary user account to the primary user account may results in CrossFire failing to be enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28786
• Connecting a secondary display device and enabling CrossFire, followed by disabling CrossFire no longer results in CrossFire pages in the Catalyst Control Center showing that it is enabled. Further information on this issue may be found in topic number 737-28845
• Windows Dream Scene Content: Corruption may be noticed when attempting to run the preview for the chosen clips. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28856
• The ATI resolution and color text "mouse over" dialog box may contain a mix of English and Arabic. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28811
• The composite video slider values may be automatically applied without clicking on the Apply button. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28812
• Setting the language option to any of the supported languages other than English may result in the help page for Advanced Color failing to be displayed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28822
• Using live TV on a system containing an ATI HD 2900 XT product and running the Windows Vista operating system may result in the application failing if the Catalyst 7.6 driver is installed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28823
• When running certain OpenGL samples, the ATI Radeon graphics adapter may not be running at the requested clock values on a CrossFire configured system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28824
• Resuming from an S3 state may result in a longer than expected time for the Windows Vista operating system to resume. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25798
• The Catalyst Control Center version number may fail to be updated after the installation of a newer Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28493
• Playing an HD-DVD title using the Cyberlink player may result in corruption or the Windows Vista operating system failing to respond after a short period of playback time. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28827
• Setting the display resolution to 1680x1050 and playing either an MPEG 2HDi/p, VC1, or H.264 interlaced content may result in the content not being accelerated and resolution restrictions being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28828
• A Windows error message may occur when game settings are set to their highest levels. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28830

The following section provides a summary of open issues in the latest version of Catalyst. These include:

• City of Heroes: A fatal error message may be displayed when exiting the game and attempting to launch the Catalyst Control Center in Advanced mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28514
• Catalyst Control Center->OverDrive: The OverDrive setting are not retained for individual accounts. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-25805
• Connecting two display devices to an ATI Radeon X1600 series product may result in the device manager failing to detect the secondary display device. Further information may be found in topic number 737-21266
• PowerDVD: Playing a DVD on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 2400 series of product may result in missing pixels being noticed on the DVD menu selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28511
• On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher may result in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515
• On certain products, dragging player window from primary to secondary display no longer results in hardware acceleration being disabled which resulted in the CPU usage increasing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28516
• With some h.264 titles that have MPEG2 introductions; playback may switch from hardware accelerated to software once the introductory content is finished. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28517
• Playing an HD Blu-ray title using Cyberlink PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra for Blu-ray and HD-DVD followed by open multiple windows and moving them around the desktop may result in the windows background not being re-drawn properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28831
• Installing the HDMI audio driver and the VIA audio chipset driver may results in a compatibility issue being noticed and a yellow exclamation mark showing up in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28833
• PowerDVD: Playing a DVD on a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 2400 series of product may result in missing pixels being noticed on the DVD menu selection. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28511
• Enabling CrossFire may result in display corruption being noticed when playing a DVD or media clip using either WinDVD 7, Windows Media Player or PowerDVD 6. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22806
• Setting the display device to 1280x1024 and attempting to playback a VC1/h.264 title using the Cyberlink player may result in choppy playback. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28832
• On certain products playing back VC-1 and H.264 content with display resolution set at 1360x768 or higher may result in screen flashing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-28515