The Catalyst software suite 8.6 contains the following:
* Radeon display driver 8.501
* Multimedia Center 9.16 (Windows XP only)
* HydraVision for both Windows XP and Vista
* HydraVision Basic Edition (Windows XP only)
* Remote Wonder 3.04 (Windows XP only)
* WDM Driver Install Bundle
* Southbridge/IXP Driver
* Catalyst Control Center Version 8.6

Caution: The Catalyst software driver and the Catalyst Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for maximum stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same Catalyst release
Caution: The Catalyst Control Center requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 be installed. Without .NET version 2.0 installed, the Catalyst Control Center will not launch properly and the user will see an error message.
Note: These release notes provide information on the Radeon display driver only. For information on the ATI Multimedia Center, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, WDM, Remote Wonder, or the Southbridge/IXP driver, please refer to their respective release notes found at: https://support.ati.com/

AMD Product Support
The Catalyst Vista driver for both the 32bit and 64bit versions of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system is supported on the following ATI Radeon products.
AMD Desktop Product Family Support for both Windows Vista and XP AMD Desktop Product Family Support
ATI Radeon HD 3800 series
ATI Radeon X1300 series
ATI Radeon HD 3600 series
ATI Radeon X1050 series
ATI Radeon HD 3400 series
ATI Radeon X850 series
ATI Radeon HD 2900 series
ATI Radeon X800 series
ATI Radeon HD 2600 series
ATI Radeon X600 series
ATI Radeon HD 2400 series
ATI Radeon X550 series
ATI Radeon X1950 series
ATI Radeon X300 series
ATI Radeon X1900 series
ATI Radeon 9800 series
ATI Radeon X1800 series
ATI Radeon 9700 series
ATI Radeon X1650 series
ATI Radeon 9600 series
ATI Radeon X1600 series
ATI Radeon 9550 series
ATI Radeon X1550 series
ATI Radeon 9500 series
ATI Radeon X700 series

AMD Multimedia Family Product Support for both Windows Vista and XP AMD Multimedia Family Product Support
ATI All-in-Wonder X1900 Series
ATI Theater 600
ATI All-in-Wonder X1800 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder X600 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder 2006 Edition
ATI Theater 550 PRO
ATI All-in-Wonder X800 Series
ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 Series
ATI Theater 650
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600 Series
Note: ATI All-in-Wonder boards operate with AMD's Windows Vista ready display and capture drivers under the Windows Vista operating system. However, the Windows Vista Media Center application does not support TV/Capture functionality provided by the ATI All-in-Wonder. TV/Capture functionality is qualified to function with Snaptream's BeyondTV 4.6 for Windows Vista. Other third party solutions (such as Arcsoft's Total Media 3) may support TV/Capture with the ATI All-in-Wonder, but these applications have not been fully tested by AMD.
AMD Chipset Product Support AMD Chipset Product Support
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Series
AMD 580X Series Chipset
ATI Radeon HD 3100 Series
ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 Series
ATI Radeon HD 2100 Series
ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 Series
ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 Series
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series
ATI Radeon X1250 Series
AMD 690 Series Chipset
ATI Radeon X1200 Series

Performance Improvements
The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst.
* 3DMark Vantage:10 to 15% gains across all Radeon HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with larger gains in specific cases.
* Call of Duty 4: Performance increases across all Radeon HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with gains as large as 35% in specific maps.
* Call of Juarez DX10: Performance increases between 2 and 9% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
* Company of Heroes (DX10 version): Performance increases between 4 and 10% across HD 36xx and HD 34xx products.
* Lost Planet (DX10 version): Performance increases by 1 or 2 fps across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, creating in some cases up to 20% increase.
* Lost Planet (DX9 version): Performance increases between 2 and 20% across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products
* Prey OpenGL: 3-5% gains across HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
* Quake 4 OpenGL: Up to 8% increase across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.
* Shadermark 2.1: Minor improvements across all HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products, with the largest gains appearing on HD 3650 (up to 9%)
* ViewPerf 10: Substantial performance improvements across several of the sub-tests, with the largest gains in ugnx (up to 55%), catia (up to 17%) and tcvis (up to 10%) across all of the HD 3xxx and HD 2xxx products.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:
* Call of Duty 4: Intermittent flickering is no longer noticed when playing the game with CrossFire enabled on a systems running Windows XP and containing an ATI Radeon HD 38x0 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35092
* Lost Planet: Switching from the game to the Windows XP desktop and then back to the game no longer results in corruption being noticed within the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35091
* The Catalyst Control Center menu option no longer fails to function when changing the skin from system skin to any other available skin. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30570
* Intermittent flashing is no longer noticed in the right portion of the display when playing a 720p or 1080i media file when using the Windows Media Player v10. Further details can be found in topic number 737-32666
* The ATI OpenGL driver no longer fails to be applied on systems containing an ATI Radeon 3600/3650 AGP series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33467
* Moving the Realplayer to the secondary display device no longer results in the playback windows appearing black. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34116
* The Rotation option is now available for the primary display device when two or more display devices are connected to the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34113
* Moving the WinDVD player to the secondary display device no longer results in the playback window appearing blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34120
* Connecting an HDMI display device to a system containing an ATI Radeon HD 3100/3200 series of product no longer results in the display failing to be detected as a DTV(HDMI) in the Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35083
* The scaling option no longer changes from Full Screen to Centered after setting Extended desktop mode using the Quick Launch Buttons or FN F4. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35084
* Intermittent flashing is no longer noticed in the right portion of the display when playing a 720p or 1080i media file when using the Windows Media Player v10. Further details can be found in topic number 737-32666
* Audio no longer fails when dragging the InterWinDVD or the Windows Media Player window to the extended desktop display. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35085
* The Windows XP operating system no longer fails to respond after completing the installation of the display driver for a second ATI Radeon HD 38x0 series of product inserted into the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35086
* CrossFire can no longer be enabled/disabled when running full screen D3D applications. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35087
* A warning message no longer fails to be displayed when reaching the maximum number of modes in the Predefined and Custom HDTV modes section of the Catalyst Control Center. This issue may also be experienced under the Windows Vista and XP Professional x64 Edition operating systems. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33468
* Adjusting the flicker removal in the TV properties of the Catalyst Control Center no longer results in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35088
* The Rotation option is now available for the primary display device when two or more display devices are connected to the system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35089
* Corruption is no longer noticed when playing the Asian game WOW when using certain in game options. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35090
* Installing two ATI Radeon HD 38x0 series of product into a system running Windows XP no longer results in the operating system failing to respond when attempting to enable CrossFire support. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35093
* Installing the Catalyst Control Center on a previously installed version no longer results in a warning message that the setup is installing over an earlier version, and that the previous version needs to be uninstalled before installing a more current version, resulting in the Catalyst Control Center failing to be installed 737-28513
* Anti-Aliasing no longer becomes disabled after minimizing and restoring any OpenGL window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35094
* The CrossFire tab is no longer missing when using two ATI Radeon X19x0 series of products in a system running Windows XP. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35095
* The display mode of 1776x1000 is now listed in both the Catalyst Control Center and the operating system's display properties. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35096
* Connecting a 1080p display device followed by playing h.264 interlaced content no longer results in a slight jitter and frame drops being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35097
* Playing an interlaced MPEG2 file no longer results in a grey hue being noticed on the bottom of the playback window. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35098
* Moving the WinDVD player to the secondary display device no longer results in the playback window appearing blank. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35099
* Moving the Realplayer to the secondary display device no longer results in the playback windows appearing black. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35100
Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Operating System
This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. These include:
* Unreal Tournament 3: Changing the in-game display resolution no longer results in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33470
* The Windows XP Professional x64 Edition operating system no longer fails to resume from VPU Recover. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35101
* The CrossFire option is no longer greyed out after closing OpenGL applications. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35102

It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available.
Do not forget to check with our site as often as possible in order to stay updated on the latest drivers, software and games.
Try to set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed a wrong driver. Problems can arise when your hardware device is too old or not supported any longer.