5.7 Catalyst...Hmm?

[y2butonz]

Is it me or do the latest 5.7's disappoint?

Used to get 6.5k in 3DMark05

I get about 4.5 now...I mean wtf isnt Ati supposed to b fixing performance? Unless Ati sort their drivers out im gonna think serious about moving to GF.

What u guys think? Coz im extremely farked off with these drivers Ati say that are gonna own but dont. I think im probs best off moving back to my Omega 5.6's.

What u guys running atm? (Surely not 5.7?!)

[dsio]

Dave (cadaveca) found the same thing with his X800s on the 5.7 drivers. From what I hear, they are meant to be more for 64mb and 128mb cards, of the lower end variety, to give them a shot in the arm, rather than improving X series performance. 5.6 Omegas still seam to be the best around.

[Allan]

I just got a X800Pro to play with, I'm seeing 5K in 3Dmark05 with the Cat 5.7.
I'll try the Omega 5.6 and see how they do for comparison.

[GrahamGarside]

Ati's own releae notes confirm that the performance boosts are for lower memory cards

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst...es.html#189260

[y2butonz]

Still why make them compatible with the X800-X850 range if this performance decrease is implied?

Doesnt make sense.

[GrahamGarside]

It would probably be moer trouble than it's worth to remove X800 comptability plus they probably still solve some bugs for X800 cards even if they do take a hit performance wise.

And if the performance loss is really a problem there are still the 5.6's to fall back to

[cadaveca]

These drivers are as of yet incomplete, and ATi have already stated:

Catalyst 5.7

• Significant improvements in HyperMemory for 64 and 128MB boards will give budget users a nice performance boost when they install the 5.7 release for all applications that require a large amount of memory (ie: games!). ATI hasn't mentioned how exactly they are doing this but they show performance improvements up to 150% compared to the upcoming 5.6 in some cases.
• http://www.rage3d.com/previews/softw...mceext_sml.jpg
  
  Media Center Edition extensions Coming next month in release 5.7 are new Windows Media Center Edition extensions that should hopefully allow easier setup of our displays on Windows MCE based computers. The new extension will allow users to adjust settings in a living room environment and will support all the HDTV resolutions (including 1080p should you be lucky enough to have a capable set). Scaling controls should allow us to resize out desktop to fit our display screen.
• Thanks to CCC 64bit processor support, Windows XP 64bit users will be able to get the benefits of Catalyst Control Center when revision 5.7 is released.
• Also next month will come official support for CrossFire in CCC. Officially announced only a week and a half ago, CrossFire is ATI's answer to nVidia's multi-GPU SLI technology. CrossFire isn't available yet, but support in the drivers will be there starting with the 5.7 set. More info about CrossFire is available in our quick look at the emerging technology.

Catalyst 5.8

• Improved HDTV support will arrive with Catalyst 5.8. A new HDTV Wizard will hopefully mean that setting up a HDTV will be as easy as setting up a normal display. DVI HDTVs will also be supported in the 5.8 drivers. If it can handle my 32" 4:3 CRT HDTV that I haven't be able to configure properly since I bought it then I'll be impressed for sure.
• New CCC Wizardhttp://www.rage3d.com/previews/softw...wizard_sml.jpg
  
  
  A new Catalyst Wizard will contain a list of tasks that envelope all the functionality from CCC. This should make controlling CCC easy for novices.
  
  The Wizard will work on 640x480 low resolution displays as well so in those cases where you can't fit the entire CCC panel on the screen (CCC was designed for 800x600 minimum), you should be able to use the wizard to adjust the display. Speaking from personal experience, this will be particularly useful for HTPC users trying to setup their HDTV sets.

Whether or not ATI can come through on these feature promises remains to be seen, but the simple fact that they've revealed them to us is a good indication that they probably already got them working and in some builds floating around. If ATI sticks to their monthly release cycle then we don't have long to wait to find out.

-SOURCE

All of this being said, Crossfire support is being worked on as well, so overall implementation is not yet complete. Adding additional features to a driver is, of course, going to decrease performance somewhat, but when you look at the gains throughout the year, and what is coming ahead, ATI have done a good job with thier drivers thus far. Also, as graham states, you can always go back to your favorite version!

[Kobaia]

My 128Mb 9700pro is showing very smooth gameplay at 1024x768 with the 5.7's.
Games are: Riddick, Brothers in arms, Flatout, SWAT4 and Republic Commando.
I'm happy!

[jimbobaggies]

Cat 5.7 killed my gameplay with battlefield 2, everytime I entered a server I would get lag and sound loop then lose connection, Omega 5.6 are the best for me atm...