ATI Catalyst 8.8 Drivers Now Online
ATI recently released its ATI Catalyst 8.8 driver update. While many may be excited about the rumored big Crossfire improvements, the release notes from the ATI revealed none.
The 8.8 update is a bug fix for preinstalled device drivers as well as glitch fix for popular gaming titles.
ATI Catalyst is a special support software drive package for many ATI products. First distributed after the release of Radeon 8500, the driver package is updated on a regular basis every month.
The Catalyst 8.8 sports new features like the Control Center, a new Avivo video feature that allows dynamic gamma and contrast correction. It basically improves video image quality by capitalizing on more vivid colors of images with high defined brightness of the environment. The new catalyst driver also offers the Hybrid Graphics Support for the favorite Windows XP OS. This boosts the performance of many AMD integrated graphics mobo and ATI graphics accelerator.
The drivers also contain fixes in game performance as well as glitches and small compatibility issues with recently released games. Gamers and hardcore users will now have a chance to have fully functioning software experience with fewer bugs.
Source: TweakDown
EVGA Unleashes 790i SLI-based FTW Mobo
EVGA, NVIDIA‘s leading channel partner released the 790i SLI-based For The Win motherboard.
This motherboard is based on NVIDIA’s nForce advanced chipset. It is engineered to accommodate the newest Intel processors and support DDR3 and SLI. This will result in the latest configuration for the hardcore computer and graphic engine users.
The new NVIDIA chipset and EVGA platform can structure the most advanced computers suited for graphic artists, hardcore gamers, web designers and other high-end users.
The mobo is built in black ATX PCB that allows direct airflow away from the graphics card. It is economical and practical. It sports 6 USB ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, HD Audio, 2 PS2 ports, serial port and FireWire 1394 port.
The mobo can house Dual-Channel DDR3 memory of up to 8GB. It also has a three PCIe x 16 graphics slots are vital for a triple SLI setup that enables high-users to use multiple GeForce graphics card.
The new EVGA mobo is now available for $299.99.
Source: SoftPedia
NVIDIA Releases Beta Drivers with OpenGL 3.0 Support
NVidia, one of the world’s leading providers of graphics and video solutions released a new set of beta drivers for developers. These beta drivers come with support for the OpenGL 3.0 API and also the GLSL 1.30 shading language.
Perhaps reacting to the Khronos Group’s release of the OpenGL 3.0 specifications, NVidia immediately released its beta drivers with version 177.89. This is the first round of NVidia drivers that carries support for the new API. It has new features that aid in the OpenGL development, but these are all inactive by default. Developers need to activate these options thru NVidia’s NVemulate utility.
NVidia’s GeForce 8 series or higher is required to be able to activate OpenGL 3.0. The same is need if one needs to avail himself of the GLSL 1.30 functionality. Quadro FX cards can also be used by the developers.
The drivers are downloadable in 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista versions. It will automatically integrate into the standard ForceWare driver releases after the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference. This is a part of NVidia’s Big Bang II, a special driver release that brings OpenGL 3.0 and SLI Multi-monitor support.
Source: TomsHardware