DriverTT: AMD Catalyst 12.8's are now available

AMD have just released a tasty version of their Catalyst drivers, version 12.8. The biggest gem in this driver is most likely going to be the Windows 8 support, which includes AMD's first logo certified and unified driver for Windows 8 production. This includes:

• AMD's first official unified and logo certified driver for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista
• Target-Independent Rasterization (TIR): TIR is a new rendering path that enables superior anti-aliasing in Direct3D driver applications
• Native Stereo 3D Support: Windows 8 natively supports stereoscopic 3D gaming and videos via compatible applications
• Unified Video API: Video playback has been integrated into the DirectX® 11 API, enabling simultaneous video and gaming content. Transcoding performance may also be improved for supporting applications.
• Optimized screen rotation for rotation aware devices
• Improved sleep/resume performance
• Optimized GPU power consumption

Major technologies / features also supported under Windows 8:

• AMD Eyefinity technology
• OpenCL™
• OpenGL
• Unified Video Decoder (UVD)
• AMD Dual Graphics
• AMD CrossFire technology
• AMD Overdrive
• AMD Catalyst Control Center
• Vision Engine Control Center

There's also some performance improvements with Catalyst 12.8 when versed against Catalyst 12.6:

• Up to 25% in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
• Up to 3% in Battlefield 3
• Up to 6% in Batman: Arkham City
• Up to 3% in Dues Ex: Human Revolution
• Up to 6% in Crysis 2
• Up to 15% in Total War: Shogun
• Up to 8% in Crysis Warhead
• Up to 5% in Just Cause 2
• Up to 10% in Dirt 3

AMD haven't stopped there, they've also released the latest Catalyst Application Profile: AMD Catalyst 12.7 CAP 3 (to be used with the new Catalyst 12.8 drivers). This has now included The Secret World (DX11) which resolves some corruption issues when running CrossFire on the HD 7000 Series. TorchLight 2 seems some improvements in single GPU performance, and disables CrossFire due to some compatibility support when running a multi-GPU config. Spec Ops: The Line gets some improved CrossFire performance, and finally, Hawken receives "improved" CrossFire performance.

There's the usual bug fixes and resolved issue highlights of Catalyst 12.8:

• Over/underscan settings are correctly restored on system reboot
• Audio is no longer disabled if the connected HDTV Is switched off/on
• Shogun 2 : Flickering text is no longer experienced
• Star Wars - The Old Republic : In game cinematic no longer experience flicker when using the arrow keys
• Dirt Showdown: 8-Ball track No longer hangs with Crossfire enabled
• Max Payne 3 : A black screen is no longer observed when launching game in DirectX 11 mode with Crossfire enabled

And lastly, AMD have included Linux support for Ubunutu 12.04 production support.