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AMD/ATI Catalyst 7.1 is now available for Windows Vista

Time: 11:58 EST/16:58 GMT | News Source: ActiveWin.com | Posted By: Byron Hinson

ATI/AMD have just released the first official WHQL certified Catalyst Windows Vista release on ati.amd.com:

New features

Blu-ray and HD DVD playback

Catalyst 7.1 introduces the ability to playback Blu-ray and HD DVD protected high definition content under Windows Vista 32-bit edition (support for Windows Vista 64-bit edition will be available in a future Catalyst release), when used in combination with a software content player from vendors such as Cyberlink or Intervideo and an ATI Radeon X1000 series graphics accelerator (with HDCP support). Note: an HDCP ready Display is also required.

Crossfire support under Windows Vista

Catalyst 7.1 introduces Crossfire support for the entire ATI Radeon X1000 product series under Microsoft Vista. Users will see significant performance gains in a number of applications when running in Crossfire mode under Windows Vista. (Initially available for Direct3D only, coming soon in a future Catalyst release for OpenGL)

Native OpenGL Windows Vista support

Catalyst 7.1 introduces native support for OpenGL, delivering a number of OpenGL application performance gains over the previously released AMD Vista RTM driver (8.31.100.3.2.1). Future Catalyst releases will include further OpenGL optimizations to further enhance performance of Vista OpenGL applications

Catalyst Install Manager for Windows Vista

Catalyst 7.1 provides Microsoft Vista users with a new ATI Radeon graphics installer that will help users more easily update and install ATI Catalyst software. Users will also experience a significant improvement in install and un-install times of ATI Catalyst software components.

New Catalyst Control Center

Catalyst 7.1 introduces a brand new version of the Catalyst Control Center for Windows Vista, which delivers a number of significant enhancements:

o Significant performance gains; Catalyst Control Center start-up time has been substantially reduced, and overall responsiveness has improved.

o Reduced system resource usage

o New 3D preview � significantly improves the ability for users to understand the benefits of enabling the many Catalyst features of their ATI Radeon graphics accelerator

o Increased stability

o Native Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit support

For more information on Catalyst 7.1 for Windows Vista, including all of the resolved issues in this release, please see the Catalyst 7.1 release notes found in driver download section.