Posted 10/30/09 at 01:00:27 PM by Paul Lilly

We're hoping for great things out of Nvidia's upcoming "Fermi" graphics chips, and we can only hope the leaked pics showcasing what the GPU can do turn out to be legit.

The pics come courtesy of Chinese website PCZilla and show a pair of human face renderings like nothing we've ever seen before, at least not on the desktop. There's so much detail the images could pass as real photos, but let's hope they're not.

There's also an image of a ray-traced demo that may not look as impressive at first glance, at least until taking in the various lighting sources and reflections, which requires a second and third look to fully appreciate.

Update: Source video found! Find if after the jump. 

Read More

Posted 10/23/09 at 08:45:40 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD's latest graphics drivers -- ATI Catalyst 9.10 -- are now available for download, and it appears that most of the attention was placed on squashing bugs.

On the performance side, AMD claims the latest release adds GPU acceleration for the Windows 7 Drag and Drop video converting application, and super anti-aliasing for the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series has been tossed into the mix as well. And that's it, at least according to the release notes.

Bug fixes are another story. Catalyst 9.10 resolves several issues, some of which include:

• Video preview in Avivo Video - Basic Quality page no longer flickers while playing SD/HD Blu-ray titles
• Switching profiles in Avivo Video - Basic Quality now works as it should
• Ghostbusters game no longer flickers between desktop and game play when AA is set to 8X and game resolution set to 2560x1600 in under Windows 7 
• Combat Mission Shock Force no longer fails after a duration of game play (Vista)
• Intermittent flashing no longer visible in Windows with ViewSonic VE150m displays (Vista)
• No more corruption during Blu-ray DVD H.264/VC-1 content playback (XP)

Read More

Posted 07/24/09 at 09:00:45 AM by Paul Lilly

Now that Windows 7 has officially been released to manufacturing (RTM), expect to see third-party driver development kick into high gear, especially as the OS's October 22nd release date inches closer. AMD appears to be ready and has announced the release of the company's first WHQL-certified ATI Catalyst graphics drivers for the RTM.

AMD's Catalyst drivers are of the unified variety, meaning the same set works with both Windows 7 and Vista. With regards to Windows 7, AMD promises its drivers will offer stability and compatibility out of the gate, bring "full support for the visually stunning desktop environment of Windows 7," better gaming performance when compared to Vista, and full support for ATI FirePro professional graphics.

Catalyst 9.7 Driver Download
Release Notes

Read More

Posted 06/19/09 at 02:58:39 PM by Paul Lilly

Nvidia this week released new WHQL videocard drivers, now in version 186.18. A handful of bugs have been squashed in this newest update, most of which relate to Windows 7. Some of the resolved issues include:

• Resolves issue where PhysX option would be disabled by default in multi-GPU configurations (XP)
• Resolves issue where the system would not resume from Standby mode when running a 9800 GX2 (Vista and Windows 7)
• Changes made to program settings from the Nvidia Control Panel in 3D Settings are now preserved after closing and reopening when running a 9500 GS (Windows 7)
• SLI focus display can now be switched using "Set SLI configuration" for GTX 260 owners (Windows 7)

Not a whole lot has been done to improve performance if you're upgrading from a previous 186.xx or 185.xx driver release. However, if you're upgrading from 182.xx, Nvidia claims double digit performance boosts in a number of titles, including up to 45 percent in Mirror's Edge with antialiasing enabled, 30 percent better performance in Half-Life 2 engine games with tri- and quad-SLI enabled, and a 25 percent boost in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

Windows XP Release Notes (PDF)
Windows Vista Release Notes (PDF)
Windows 7 Release Notes (PDF)

Read More

Posted 06/17/09 at 09:00:24 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD/ATI this week released new Catalyst drivers, now in version 9.6. The new driver package sports a number of performance improvements, including:

• Company of Heroes - up to 25 percent better performance with HD 4600 series
• Crysis - up to 13 percent better performance in multi-GPU configurations
• Crysis Warhead - up to 11 percent better performance in mutli-GPU configurations 
• World in Conflict - up to 30 percent better performance in settings that were previously CPU limited

In addition to goosing performance in a handful of titles, Catalyst 9.6 also squashes a boatload of bugs and resolves a ton of issues across all current Windows operating systems. Some of these include:

• Opening Crossfire pages no longer causes Catalyst Control Center to stop responding (all Windows OSes)
• Catalyst Control Center no longer appears interlaced when automatic deinterlacing is enabled (all Windows OSes)
• On some configurations, video artifacts are no longer visible during playback of transcoded video files (Vista)
• Team Fortress 2 some slowdowns no longer occur during gameplay (XP)
• Catalyst Control Center no longer shows Crossfire as disabled (Windows 7)

Read More

Posted 05/06/09 at 08:25:12 AM by Paul Lilly

Asus this week announced new beta drivers for several of its motherboards that "enable Asus motherboard users to run Windows 7 RC." By doing so, Asus claims its mobos are the world's first to support the newly released operating system.

"Asus' industry-leading Research & Development team has kept close pace with each new beta release of Windows 7, and has developed beta drivers that enable Asus motherboard users to try Windows 7 RC immediately," Asus wrote in a press release. "The drivers can be downloaded from the Asus Motherboard Support website (http://support.asus.com/)."

Asus notes the following models are now officially supported:

• P6T Deluxe V2
• P5Q-E
• P5Q PRO Turbo
• P5Q SE PLUS
• M4A78-EM 

Read More

Posted 04/16/09 at 04:30:00 PM by Alex Castle

Back in February, we brought you an article called Give Windows a Clean Start, which explained all the details about how to properly perform a system-cleansing reformat, without losing your valuable data. It covered important steps like salvaging product keys, deactivating apps, prepping iTunes and making backups. The original article was written for desktop PCs, and although nearly all of the techniques also work for laptops, we thought a supplement about how to install laptop drivers on a fresh Windows install as called for.

Sure, almost all laptops come with recovery discs or recovery partions, so a full reformat is rarely absolutely necessary, but there are a number of reasons you might want to do it:

1.    You want the cleanest of clean—not even a thorough decrapifying is enough for you.

2.    You want to reformat and upgrade or downgrade to Vista or XP.

3.    You’ve managed to truly, thoroughly hose your laptop beyond all recognition, and you lost your restore disc.

If one of the above applies to you and you have a retail Windows install disc, then give your laptop a clean start!. First, check out the original article for advice about saving your data, then read on to learn what software you'll need to install after your reformat.

Read More

Posted 04/09/09 at 08:56:46 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD has just released new Catalyst 9.4 drivers for ATI videocard owners. In keeping with the promise the company previously made, Catalyst 9.4 offers unified support for Windows 7, XP, and Vista.

Highlighted in the 9.4 release is the new ATI OverDrive auto-tuning application. Designed for the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series, the new OverDrive module claims to "accurately determine the best overclocked engine and memory values for ATI OverDrive supported ATI Radeon graphics accelerators." AMD cautions it will not warranty busted videocards that give up the ghost as a result of using the utility, which further highlights why it's so cool XFX, who will have your back, now sells ATI-branded cards.

Catalyst 9.4 resolves a number if issues covering all supported operating systems. Among the resolutions:

• World of Warcraft no longer flickers when Shadow is set to medium/high in a CrossFire configuration (Vista)
• Resolutions above 1024 x 768 will now full screen properly for specific HDMI displays (Vista)
• Overlay Theater Mode display no longer corrupt after enabling 3D screen saver (XP)
• Display now redraws correctly in City of Villains after changing graphics settings (Windows 7)
• No more jitter or flicker caused by WinDVD9 HD playback (Windows 7)

Read More