Official Catalyst 9.7 is out!

The new Catalyst just got released.

# Catalyst™ 9.7 brings performance benefits in several cases where framerates are CPUlimited.
# Crysis performance at very high quality preset increases by up to 8% on Radeon HD 4800 series
# Lost Planet Colonies - performance increases by 7-11% when 8x Anti-Aliasing is used on the HD 4800 series products

Those seem to be the only performance increases with these drivers, plus a lot of bug fixes for windows vista and windows 7.

Not sure if its worth updating to them since you wont see any difference in the games you play. Since the increases they offer is for 4800 series cards and not 3800's

Note that the new Catalyst has a different UI from the previous versions.

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

 

welllll 4850's

 

Ah yea, forgot that they actually ship them with the new systems Which Catalyst 9.8 will be out by the time they receive it

 

Thanks for this CoolMinE!! I always look forward to new Catalyst drivers.

 

THX!

I'll give it a shot
Ähm I can't find them here:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Where can I get it?

Greetings
Julian

 

They have only updated the Vista version, which is labelled as Vista AND windows 7 but will probably need modding. Guess Windows 7 users have to wait about a day more till they upload the rest of them lol

 

Ah ok I see ... hm ...

But I guess the only difference between this and the W7 only version is, that the W7O version is smaler? Or am I wrong? Does the mixed one miss stuff wich is in the W7O version?

Greetings
Julian

PS: kk I'll wait xD Ah and here is the guid for the modding just for them who never did it http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4947123#post4947123
GL & HF!

 

Ahhhh rofl ... when I klick on Windows 7 it showes me the same driver

I am not sure wheather they are going to change that, but I think this seems quite final

I am just dl and installing now^^

Greetings
Julian

 

Basically the difference is that they didnt upload the mobility drivers yet. All 9.7 drivers currently in AMD's site is for desktops. Which means either they stopped providing Windows 7 with mobility drivers or something is delaying them from uploading them.

 

Anyone get these up and running on Vista x64 yet? As CoolMinE said, doesn't really look like anything worthwhile for HD3870 users, and I'm pretty happy with 9.6 right now, although I've had 2 rather random BSOD's over the course of a few weeks I've had them running related to atimag.sys (or similar). Just curious if the 9.6 had a bug they fixed though to eliminate that.

 

I've been using the 9.7 betas for the last 2/3 weeks on my desktop, and I'd actually say give them a shot. If anything I haven't noticed any performance loss with them; and by the sounds of it there are some improvements; not to mention the rejiggered CCC.

By the sounds of it; CPU heavy games like MMOs may get a performance boost too

 

Alex, you haven't had the 4850s cancelled in your ordered laptop or anything have you? If they haven't cancelled the 4850 orders for new systems then we may still see an upgrade for current M17 owners...I bloody well hope so anyway. I'm going to become seriously annoyed if AW gives new M17 owners the 4850s and not old ones.

Oh, and where's the link to the 9.7 download? I'd like to see if they do offer any performance increase.

edit: Never mind, found the download

 

Nope not as yet *fingers crossed*. The finance was approved and the signed paperwork was sent back in the post today, 1st class. All going well, they should see that tomorrow, and I should have a shiny 4850 based laptop in my hands in about 2 weeks time.
If they try and mess me around, because this is finance-based I will be pushing for them to make it up with me [with a comparably updated M17x - base model with SLI 280s and a 1920x1200 screen ]; especially as I had an email a few days ago from one of the Alienware reps confirming new orders for 4850s were being taken, they just weren't offering upgrades as yet due to stock issues, but new owners could still order without fear; as I explicity stated the 3870 crossfire weren't suitable for me.

Should be some links to standard 9.7 drivers on game.amd.com

 

I think they are going to give us 4850s but they want to have same reserves for the "new owners".

Greetings
Julian

 

Lol, totally forgot about it Added it in the first post thanks

 

Could someone link a guide to updating the graphics cards drivers? I think I messed up because Catalyst Control Center isn't on my lappy anymore but when I install the drivers it comes up as 'installed'.

 

Did you mod the package ?

Julian made a how to a few weeks ago. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4947123#post4947123

 

Well, I just Downloaded, MobModded, and Installed these, so we'll see how they work.

 

Of course I modded it. But CCC just does not want to install. It doesn't even have the option when I go to the custom install menu. Maybe it's because I'm running 32-bit? Should I try re-downloading and re-modding it?

 

Make sure you download the 32bit windows vista FULL version, not just the drivers, and then mobmod it, and install. Follow the instructions in the link above.

 

I did download the complete package. So I'm downloading the CCC seperate installer to see if that will work. If not I'll try redownloading the full package. It's strange because I'm 100% certain I've downloaded the full package, it's got the right file name and the right file size.

 

Download the complete package. Mod it. Uninstall your drivers, reboot, use driver sweeper to get rid of the remaining files, reboot, install the drivers, reboot. Should be working by then.

The reason i prefer reboot -> driver sweeper -> reboot is because i used to have problems with the installation if i just rebooted only once, i can go into more details if you want but its irrelevant at the moment So this tactic used to work better for me

 

This is exactly what I did the first time around. I'm going to try it again...

 

Well, the 9.7 seem pretty stable. 2 Days now and no issues thus far with them.

 

yeah and another thing; since I installed this 9.7 I realised that my Windows 7 experience index score has gone up to 7.0 from 6.4 in the 3D graphics section. I know its not most peoples favourite way of gauging performance but it certainly makes me feel better.

 

How the bloody hell did you get 7.0? My M17 only gets 5.9! What the hell...

 

here we go;

 

mines a special M17 made especially for me by the best tech minds @Alienware...LOL

 

I think these new drivers have helped of course!

 

Ah wait...are you running 64-bit? It might have something to do with that, because I went to the Microsoft website on one of those links and it said the maximum score in any category is 5.9...

 

ah possibly! and could be something to do with the screen as well I think.

 

Ah, you're running it in 1920x1200? Possibly as well.

It's just I'm running 9.7 as well so there really should be no difference in terms of graphics performance.

 

Yeah 64bit and 1920x1200.

I was definitely gunna get 64bit this time around and Im glad I did.

What about upgrading Evil?

 

Yeah, I'd upgrade to 64-bit if it wasn't for 2 things:

1. I have no idea how. I will as long as I don't have to purchase anything

2. I don't have anything to back all my data up onto. Is there a way to remove an operating system and install a new one apart from formatting the hard drive?

The reason I got 32-bit was because I'd heard a lot of bad things about 64-bit...most of which of course were about the terrible XP 64-bit.

 

Well you would be advised to upgrade your RAM to 4GB for 64bit. you could upgrade to Vista 64bit but I dont know whether it would require a clean install or not?

64bit platform still struggles with poor drivers I have found but its getting better and Ive already pre-ordered Windows 7 which has improved the 64bit situation no end.

 

I'm hoping to upgrade to 4GB RAM around christmastime, and I'm also hoping to pick up Windows 7 around then. I'll get a 64-bit version of it then.

 

Yeah, hopefully we will have the 4850s by then as well.

Have you not tried Windows 7 x32 BETA or RC Evil?

 

I'd try Windows 7 but I've no idea how to remove an operating system so...

I'm actually wondering right now if Linux is worth trying at all.

 

You can upgrade to the Win7 BETA from Vista without removing your OS. But if you want the latest version(RC) then Im afraid its a clean install mate!
They would have been a way for you to upgrade to Win7 on Oct 22nd from Vista but all this grief between Microsoft and the European union means we have to clean install in order to remove Microsofts internet explorer browser.

You know you could partition your HD and dual-boot as some do.

Good luck either way!

 

Evil, if you're looking to upgrade to 4GB Ram in December anyway, just purchase Windows 7 64-Bit then (Windows 7 Releases in October). You can run the Windows 7 install from the official release over your existing installation if you don't want to clean install and lose all of your installed programs and files. Its not the recommended way to do it simply because it leaves a bunch of stuff behind that is just simply taking up space on your HD, but its the simplest solution if you don't want to clean install.

 

The last time I attempted to format my hard drive, my system screwed itself over and I had to use the restore disk. Luckily because it was on the very first day I got it o ) there was really no new files on there. Is there any partitioning system that you would recommend?

I was planning to buy the 4GB RAM and Windows 7 64-bit at Christmas anyway... Well, it depends. If the 4850s are out for upgrade by then (which I bloody well hope they are ) then it might be a choice between the RAM and Win7, or the 4850s, and I'd have to be MAD to postpone getting 4850s. I might have money left over afterwards for the RAM but definetely not Win7.

 

And you just missed the $49 Pre-Order Windows 7 window too. They stopped it at July 23rd

 

I'm aware of it, I spotted it here in the UK too (well it was £49 here which is a bit of a markup but still a very nice saving...) but I was completely out of money... (still am... )

 

He's running Windows 7 64bit. Windows Vista tops out at 5.9/6.0.

I've also noticed some improvements to framerates in Dalaraan while playing WoW. Before I would get 25-40 max, now I get a sustained 40-55 for the most part.