AMD Catalyst 11.12 and AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview drivers are now available

AMD have released two new drivers, the AMD Catalyst 11.12 and the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview drivers. Highlights of the Catalyst 11.12 driver are: AMD OpenGL 4.2 production support, where it includes official support for the OpenGL 4.2 specification. Enhancements for Eyefinity are included, with support for AMD HD3D technology when using 3x1 Landscape Eyefinity display group, on supported DisplayPort 3D monitors.

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Also included is AMD Vision Engine Control Center enhancements for Dual Graphics, where AMD have implemented to better facilitate the enabling and control of the Dual Graphics within the Vision Engine Control Center. Next up, we have the gem that is the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview, which includes multiple improvements and new features such as:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

· Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations

· Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections - 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Application Profiles

· AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications

· Please be sure to select the "Restore Factory Defaults" option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature - this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

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Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Video UI improvements

· AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simply adjustment of video color and video quality controls

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)

· Improves performance (10%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossFireX configurations

AMD's driver for the Windows 8 Developer build is also now available on www.amd.com for download. This is the same driver that was made available through Windows Update when the Windows 8 Preview Build was released in September 2011. AMD plans to release new drivers for Windows 8 on www.amd.com the same day as all future Windows 8 milestone releases (Beta, RC, RTM) - just as AMD did for Windows Vista and Windows 7.

You can download the Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver here, and the Catalyst 11.12, here.