ATI driver changes

[Patriot]

It sounds pretty impressive... found on hexus
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22472

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

*Update - AMD doesn't appear to have flicked the switch, and its ATI Catalyst 10.2 driver release hasn't yet become available to download. The new release should appear at some point today.
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[jebo_4jc]

looks real good. a lot of those features are already in nvidia drivers, but the bezel correction is going to make eyefinity a bit more awesome

I'm curious about the crossfire stuff. CF has always been only mostly awesome, but I always felt like the drivers held it back. Hopefully this changes that.

[Patriot]

looks real good. a lot of those features are already in nvidia drivers, but the bezel correction is going to make eyefinity a bit more awesome

I'm curious about the crossfire stuff. CF has always been only mostly awesome, but I always felt like the drivers held it back. Hopefully this changes that.

guess I will have to try it out...

[jebo_4jc]

I think you need another 5870 so you can test CF

or maybe a 5890

[Patriot]

I think you need another 5870 so you can test CF

or maybe a 5890

and the water blocks for them...

gonna hold off on getting two more monitors though... see what 3d monitors pop up in march...

[jebo_4jc]

have you ever seen 3d?

I've never seen good 3d. but i haven't seen any of the "new" 3d either.

If I were you I'd go for the 3 monitors

[Patriot]

I saw Avatar 3d imax....

If they can make my monitor do that....
until then... I will run my 23 22 and 20 together... or buy 2 more 23s

have you ever seen 3d?

I've never seen good 3d. but i haven't seen any of the "new" 3d either.

If I were you I'd go for the 3 monitors

[jebo_4jc]

unfortunate:

There is still going to be one difference between the two companies however, and that’s letting end-users meddle with profiles. NVIDIA has allowed end-users to write and edit profiles for games (including through the use of tools like nHancer) while AMD has not. This will not be changing – AMD users will still not be able to write their own profiles.

[Patriot]

unfortunate:

there is a 3rd part tool that does that for ati...
I wonder if that is why ati doesn't bother to unlock it...

I still would rather everything be unlocked though I doubt I would use that functionality even if it was possible...

[jebo_4jc]

there is a 3rd part tool that does that for ati...
I wonder if that is why ati doesn't bother to unlock it...

I still would rather everything be unlocked though I doubt I would use that functionality even if it was possible...

apparently the tools dont work though, from what anandtech says

this would come in handy for all those TWIMTBP titles that dont have CF support out of the box (I remember trying to run Crysis on my 3870x2 + 3870 setup....I had to wait 2 months for a good CF driver).