AMD Catalyst™ Software Suite Version 12.11 Beta Release Notes 

Package Content 

The AMD Catalyst software suite 12.11 Beta contains the following:

•  AMD display driver version 9.01.8
• HydraVision™ for Windows Vista^® and Windows^® 7
• Southbridge/ IXP Driver
• AMD Catalyst Control Center version 9.01.8/ AMD Vision Engine Control Center version 9.01.8 

Caution!

• The AMD Catalyst Control Center/ AMD Vision Engine Control Center requires that the Microsoft® .NET Framework SP1 be installed for Windows Vista. Without .NET SP1 installed, the AMD Catalyst Control Center / AMD Vision Engine Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.

Notes. 

• When installing the AMD Catalyst driver for Windows operating system, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights to complete the installation of the AMD Catalyst driver.
• The Catalyst driver requires Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to be installed.
• These release notes provide information on the AMD display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center™, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder™, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: http://support.amd.com/.
• AMD Eyefinity technology is designed to give gamers access to high display resolutions. As pixel count grows, the graphics “horsepower” required to drive the displays at a reasonable frame rate can increase dramatically. Depending on the game and system configuration, users may notice texture corruption and reduced frame rates when running games in multi-monitor Eyefinity modes.
• Windows Driver Model (WDM) drivers are no longer bundled in the AMD Catalyst software suite. The WDM drivers install bundle can be downloaded independently through the AMD website 

AMD Product Compatibility 

The AMD Catalyst driver is compatible with the following AMD products. 

AMD Mobility Radeon™ Family Compatibility 

AMD Catalyst Mobility is a notebook reference graphics driver with limited support for system vendor specific features. When used with Windows Vista or Windows 7, the user experience may be limited or compromised.

The Installation Verification Software is designed to prevent driver download on certain notebook products. This is to protect against the installing of drivers that may disable features or functionality provided by the system manufacturer. When used with Windows Vista or Windows 7, the user experience may be limited or compromised. In such a situation, it is recommended to revert back to the driver provided by your system vendor for your specific platform. Please contact your system vendor for the most recent drivers for your notebook.  

Compatible Operating Systems

The latest version of the AMD Catalyst software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft^® Windows^® platforms:

• Windows 8 32-bit version
• Windows 8 64-bit version
• Windows 7 32-bit version
• Windows 7 64-bit version
• Windows Vista 32-bit version
• Windows Vista 64-bit version 

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AMD CATALYST 12.11 BETA DRIVER:

This driver introduces significant performance improvements for many games across ALL 28nm AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series products: HD 7700, HD7800 and HD7900 products.

Performance Highlights of the AMD CATALYST 12.11 BETA Driver

• 10%-15% more performance in Battlefield 3 in most cases
• More than 20% in certain missions and sequences (Comrades)
• Up to 7% more performance in Metro 2033
• Up to 10% more performance in DIRT Showdown
• Up to 8% more performance in Sleeping Dogs
• Up to 12% more performance in Civilization V
• Up to 10% more performance in StarCraft II
• Up to 8% more performance in Sniper Elite: V2  

Resolved issue highlights of AMD Catalyst™ 12.11 Beta

• Resolves performance issues (where GPU activity runs at lower values than expected) seen on the AMD Radeon HD 7870
• AMD Catalyst Mobility 7970M performance for AMD Enduro™ Technology supported platforms has been substantially improved for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications. An updated driver for 7970M users featuring AMD Enduro™ Technology with additional DirectX 9 performance improvements will be released soon.
• 3DMark Vantage – Up to 15%
• 3DMark 11 – Up to 12%
• AvP – Up to 11%
• Battlefield 3 – Up to 25%
• Crysis 2: Up to 45%
• DiRT Showdown – Up to 62%
• ETQW – Up to 8%
• Hard Reset – Up to 8%
• Just Cause 2 – Up to 90%
• The Chronicles of Riddick – Up to 4%
• Shogun 2 – Up to 56%
• Sniper Elite V2 – Up to 60%
• Tom Clancy’s HAWX – Up to 56%
• Unigine Heaven – Up to 33%
• Wolfenstein – Up to 9%

Installing the AMD Catalyst Software Driver

For further information and general help on software driver installation, game issues, and more, visit AMD Customer Care.

Installation information can be found at: How to Install Your AMD Product.

AMD ISSUE REPORTING FORM

This driver release incorporates suggestions received through the AMD Issue Reporting Form. To provide us with your feedback, visit the appropriate form: 

• AMD Issue Reporting Form
• AMD Issue Reporting Form for Beta Driver
• AMD Issue Reporting Form for Mobility Driver