AMD is keeping up its relentless monthly release schedule for ATI Catalyst drivers, but whilst recent months have disappointed in terms of new features, today's Catalyst 10.2 release and next month's arrival of Catalyst 10.3 look set to make amends.
ATI Catalyst 10.2, now available to download at game.amd.com, brings a number of improvements to ATI CrossFire technology. In an effort to provide better CrossFire support for new gaming titles, AMD has pulled CrossFire profiles from Catalyst's 3D driver and moved them to a separate file that will now be regularly updated via separate updates from AMD.com.
Similarly, the graphics giant has removed the multi-GPU code from the 3D driver to a new dedicated multi-GPU driver, paving the way for improved "Fusion" between IGPs and discrete GPUs in future products.
CrossFire support has also been enabled for ATI Eyefinity configurations, and multi-GPU users concerned about power usage can also look forward to an "Ultra Low Power State" that lowers the voltage and clock speeds of a second GPU when not in use.
Looking ahead, AMD has also revealed a number of new features scheduled to make an appearance as part of ATI Catalyst 10.3. The March release will introduce a monthly release schedule for the ATI Catalyst Mobility suite, and a wave of improvements for ATI Eyefinity - including a wizard that allows users to remove pixels occupied by display bezels, and the ability to adjust colour, brightness and contrast for each individual Eyefinity display.
Plenty of new toys to play with, here's the complete AMD-compiled list of new features:
Key new features in ATI Catalyst 10.2:
- ATI CrossFireX profiles - providing better CrossFireX performance, sooner!
- ATI CrossFireX re-architecture - providing better building blocks for the future!
- Ultra Low Power State - saves power when you are not gaming.
- ATI CrossfireX for Eyefinity - CrossFireX now improves your Eyefinity gaming performance!
- DisplayPort Audio - you can now pass audio directly through to you DisplayPort monitor equipped with speakers
Key new features in ATI Catalyst 10.3:
- ATI Catalyst Mobility - monthly updates for the mobile crowd
- ATI Eyefinity Technology Bezel Correction - compensate for your bezels so objects in your game move from one display to the other smoothly
- ATI Eyefinity Technology Per Display Control - adjust for differences in each individual displays brightness, color and contrast
- ATI Eyefinity Technology Multiple Display Groups - more display groups to give further control of your desktop with three displays or more connected
- ATI Eyefinity Technology Display Configuration Switching - easily switch from one display mode to another
- 3D Stereoscopic 3D driver hooks - enables 3rd party middleware vendors to bring more 3D stereoscopic gaming options
