Catalyst 5.7 Drivers: Memory Limited Performance Improvements
by Josh Venning on August 13, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
HyperMemory
HyperMemory is essentially a memory management system. Put very simply, it's meant to extend the apparent memory capacity of a card by transferring data into the system RAM if needed. This is similar to the way Windows sometimes pages data in system RAM to the hard drive when more space is needed.This system won't have much of an effect on higher memory cards. HyperMemory has already been implemented in earlier versions of the catalyst driver, but only for specially designated cards with less than 64MB of RAM. With Catalyst 5.7, ATI has included HyperMemory style memory management on 64MB and 128MB cards as well.
PCI Express motherboards will make best use of this system, but theoretically, you won't see as much of an improvement with HyperMemory on an AGP board due to its limited bandwidth. It definitely wouldn't hurt your framerates though, and in some cases, it will improve them, specifically on games with higher memory usage running 1600x1200 with AA/AF enabled.
In the past, there was some confusion about whether ATI's HyperMemory is hardware or software based. We suspected it to be mostly software even though there were a few products billed as HyperMemory cards. But with the latest catalyst release, we now find that HyperMemory is solely a software technology.
In the release notes for catalyst 5.7, ATI makes some pretty big claims about their latest driver. We were inclined to do some tests and see for ourselves what kinds of improvements the new drivers would have, and if they were really as dramatic as ATI said they would be. As the release notes also state, these performance gains only apply to 64MB and 128MB cards.
Here are some of the improvements that ATI claims are "most apparent" in the latest driver:
- 5-15% gain in 3DMark05 on some products
- 20-60% gain in Far Cry Regulator across multiple settings
- 25-60% gain in Half-Life 2 at 1600x1200 4xAA 8xAF
- 40-60% gain in UT2004 at 1600x1200 6xAA 16xAF
- 50-100% improvement in Comanche4 at 1600x1200 6xAA 16xAF
- 50-200% gain in certain ShaderMark tests at high resolution
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xtknight - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
No.bupkus - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
Where can I download the 5.6?I have a new ATI X800np w/ 256MB and I downloaded and installed this last Tuesday. I notice a small drop in 3DMarks2001 but just shrugged it off as the result of solar flares or whatever. It would be nice if ATI warehoused their older drivers and made them available.
nserra - Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - link
Did you look even look?At Ati site
Drivers and Software
+Windows XP
RADEON
Previous Drivers and Software
They are all there since Catalyst 2.1 or even older.
JarredWalton - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
Try http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=18">Guru3D - you can get practically every past driver version for ATI and NVIDIA cards there.JustAnAverageGuy - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
I'm still running the 4.6 drivers because 4.7 makes the textures in Battlefield 2 go crazy with my 9800 Pro.Gamingphreek - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
Where in the world are they pulling these framerate increases from??They have had 3 years to perfect these drivers, why all of a sudden are we seeing 0-10fps increases. Is ATI using shader replacement on more games? Did IQ suffer at all.
It just seems hard to believe that these drivers based on the exact same architecture since the 9700 still have gains of 10fps left in them.
-Kevin
Shadowmage - Sunday, August 14, 2005 - link
Did you even READ the article? ATI implements HyperMemory on ALL cards with 128MB and less of memory.ecvs85 - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
I have a question, since this hypermemory is a software based memory management software that makes use of the system ram, what about the AGP aperture settings in the bios? (well for agp boards)I got 1GB of ram and when I set the AGP aperture to 256MB I don't have much issue running games that need more that 128MB of video ram (which I have 9800pro). So is the hypermemory smooths things out, having less stuttering and results in higher overall framerates? If that is the case then I don't need to upgrade to this driver :P
MrSmurf - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
ATI's drivers have been going downhill lately. I don't care about gaining a few fps especially when they cause more bugs than they fix.I still use the 4.12's.
ElJefe - Saturday, August 13, 2005 - link
dang yo'z.i never had an issue this past year with ati's drivers.
besides my all in wonder not playing DVD correctly. no freakin idea why or how. reloaded all of it 2x and it stil doesnt work right. Cyberlink PowerDVD is what i use now, a shame though as ati's was very nice and integrated. I have a 9800 PRO AIW.
I dont knock ati, i mean, that whole intelligent CLI thing i have running actually works really well for games, i think everyone forgot about that. Works for new and old, i see lag on startup from it as it "thinks" for an older game, runs great though.
I still want to go nvidia myself for new system if I cant manage to run ATI allinwonder x800 XT on a linux system.
What's up with ati not putting out faster/better gaming Linux based drivers like nvidia does? that's a tad self defeating for such a giant in the industry.
I mean nvidia doesnt even make graphics cards! its not the big of a company! (only chips and chipsets and designs)