ATI Catalyst 7.4 Performance Analysis (Windows XP)

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Introduction

When we received an email from ATI/AMD the other day we were a little shocked that we would see a Catalyst set significantly earlier then we have over the past few months. The reason for this would probably be that with the R600 coming out early next month ATI did not want to release the 7.4s with the 7.5s due out only a week later.

The release notes are a bit sparse with only the single performance improvement below mentioned.

Performance improvements

OpenGL performance under the Windows Vista operating system improved for all Radeon X1000 series of products, in both single card and hardware CrossFire configurations. Typical Improvements of 15% or more can be seen in games such as Doom 3, Quake 4 and Prey, with enthusiast class products seeing improvements of 30% or more.

So not a lot happening by the look of things, especially if you are not one of those who has already switched over to Vista. Nevertheless, let us give these drivers a workout on our testing rig and see if they are worth an update.