SUMMARY: ATI has just released their latest set of new monthly Catalyst drivers for their range of Radeon graphics cards. The latest version is Catalyst 4.7 and promises some performance increases along with a range of bug fixes. We have compared the performance of the new drivers on a Radeon X800 XT PE for your viewing pleasure.
Processor(s): Intel Pentium 4 520 (3.2GHz LGA-775) Video card(s): ABIT AS8 Springdale (Supplied by ABIT) Video card(s): HIS Radeon X800 XT PE AGP 8x (Supplied by HIS Technology) Memory: 2 X 512MB Corsair PC4000 Pro LED (Supplied by Corsair) Hard Disk(s): WD Raptor 36GB 10,000 RPM (Supplied by Western Digital) Drivers: ATI Catalyst 4.6 and 4.7 Final (both with Overdrive enabled)
We wanted to also compare results of the new drivers against the older Catalyst 4.5 drivers however we had problems installing the drivers with the brand new HIS Radeon X800 XT PE.
Like our previous article, we have kept the results to a minimum. We have got our synthetic benchmarks included and our more popular real world gaming benchmarks to give you an idea of how the new drivers perform on the new games. We also test using high quality 6x AA and 16x AF to see if the new drivers offer an increase in performance in this area.
Let’s not go on anymore and see just how the new Catalyst 4.7 drivers perform against the previous generation from last month.
3DMark 2001 SE
3DMark2001 SE is a part of the popular 3DMark series. By combining DirectX 8.1 support with completely new graphics (including the GeForce4), it continues to provide benchmark results that empower you to make informed hardware assessments.
In 3DMark 2001 the new drivers take a little bit of a dive.
3DMark 2003
3DMark03 is the latest installment in the popular 3DMark series. By combining DirectX 9 support with completely new graphics (including the GeForce FX and ATI Radeon 9800), it continues to provide benchmark results that empower you to make informed hardware assessments.
Please Note: Due to recent events with the 3DMark03 series, we are adding results purely for those who are still in favor of 3DMark03. These results should not be taken too seriously and are only added for interest sakes.
As you can clearly see the new drivers get a nice little jump in 3DMark 2003 of around 500 points.
Aquamark 3
Aquamark3 is the latest installment of the Aquamark benchmark suite. This new benchmark is much more powerful and demands much more from both the system and the graphics card. If there is any weakness in the system or 3D components, Aquamark3 will find them.
Here we see another jump in performance. Let’s have a quick look at our real world gaming.
