On September 2nd, ATI released the Catalyst Control Center, the long-awaited overhaul of the control panel for their ?Catalyst? drivers. The Control Center promised many enhanced or new features and an easier to use interface. However, despite the hype that many ATI fans had placed on the Control Center, it was met with lukewarm reception. Why? The initial release was plagued by slow performance, broken features, and complaints that it took too large of a memory foot print. Also, some people didn?t want to download the additional 16MB that the Control Center adds to the already substantial Catalyst package, or the .NET framework required to use the panel. 

However, with the release of the official 4.9 Catalyst drivers last week, ATI offered a new version of the Control Center which was supposed to alleviate some of the initial bugs and problems and boost performance. From their releases notes:

Performance improvements:  The latest release of the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER provides for faster start-up time and Quicker response time to controls and switching between different settings. Further, the MULTIMEDIA CENTER? and HYDRAVISION? can now be launched through the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER System Tray.

Today, in addition to covering all the new features and the new interface of the Catalyst Control Center, we will be comparing both released versions and seeing what, if any, improvements ATI has made to performance. We will also compare it against the older Control Panel.

So what is this new Catalyst Control Center, and how is it different?

The Catalyst Control Center is a complete redesign and rewrite of the old Control Panel, complete with many new features. Taken from ATI?s website:

ATI?s all-new CATALYST? Control Center goes far beyond traditional driver configuration software?it?s a feature-rich and stable 3D acceleration control application that puts you in complete command of your ATI visual processing unit (VPU). CATALYST? Control Center offers exceptional graphics performance and visual quality for the ultimate in performance, stability, and innovation. Safe GPU overclocking, custom profiles, and assignable hotkeys are just a few of the many new features. You?ll also enjoy frequent updates, reliable customer service, and an interactive user feedback program, all backed by ATI?s technical confidence, industry-leading capability, and uncompromising commitment to creating your ultimate visual experience.

 

The backbone of the new Control Center is the Microsoft .NET 1.1 framework. This allows for easy customization and future updates, due to the client-server structure:

The CATALYST? Control Center uses the extensible Microsoft? .NET client-server architecture framework to enable developers and advanced users to easily develop and integrate their own software features. The CATALYST? Control Center run-time (which can include third-party plug-ins) acts as the server component, providing the interface between the display driver and the Control Center user-interface client component. The .NET framework enables new CATALYST? Control Center features to be rapidly created in many programming languages, including C#, C++, C, Visual Basic, Java, and others.

The .NET architecture allows for vendors to customize the interface for their respective products easily, as well as allow for users themselves to tweak and build plug-ins. If you are interested, ATI will provide you with the SDK so you can develop software yourself.

Let?s get down to business and take a look at the new Catalyst Control Center.

next >

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• Control Panel / Control Center Comparison (1 of 4)
• Profile Manager (2 of 4)
• Performance Impact. (3 of 4)
• Conclusion (4 of 4)