New ATI Driver UI: The Catalyst Control Center
by Derek Wilson on September 2, 2004 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
ATI got on the right track when they started the Catalyst series of drivers, and we are seeing the first big steps beyond the Catalyst driver with the Catalyst Control Center. The 3D preview alongside each setting is nothing short of revolutionary in terms of making very complex functionality intuitive. Whenever we have to go back and explain Anisotropic filtering and Antialiasing, we have difficulty getting across exactly what the settings mean visually, even if we can communicate exactly what's going on in the hardware. Perhaps we should write a little java script to have the AA or AF setting change on an image when a slider is moved the next time we need to go there.The profile manager is very functional, and very powerful. Making the actual profile the focus (rather than the executable for which it is intended) allows for more freedom and a cleaner feel. Overall, the interface is very clean and intuitive.
We are not a fan of skinned windows, rather preferring consistent look and feel to unique window shapes and decoration, but this is admittedly a preference issue. There is a kind of "windows-ish" skin included in the CCC, but it doesn't do as good a job as we would like (it's just off enough to fit in worse than the default skin). But on the upside, users can create their own skins as ATI uses Stardock for skinning.
We only have a few real complaints with the Catalyst driver and Control Center combo right now. We really want to see the option to adjust how much trilinear filtering that it does. It would also be nice to have the option of setting anisotropic filtering to always use trilinear. As far as the Control Center goes, we would like to see the option to run a lower profile, non- .NET version, for those out there who know exactly what they want and don't care for all the bells and whistles. Perhaps ATI could continue to offer their current control center with future drivers and offer users a choice (with the default being the new CCC). We would also like the default skin to be a standard Windows XP skin that actually looks like WinXP. Currently, the Catalyst Control Center only works with R3xx and R4xx based cards, but upcoming versions will support older hardware as well.
Our final thought is that the Catalyst Control Center fits in very well with what consumers need from a graphics driver UI in order to get the most from their card. The features offered are well suited to both new users and seasoned GPU aficionados. Now, all we need is for ATI and NVIDIA to take some cues from each other and come out with something like a "ForceALYST" that combines the low level and extensive control of ForceWare with the intuitive, easy-to-use UI of the Catalyst Control Center.
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LoneWolf15 - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
I don't care if it's streamlined or not, I refuse to run a driver control app that requires .NET. Period. If it gets to the point where I don't have a choice, I'll sell my Radeon 9700 and get a GeForce 6600GT or similar. 60-70megs won't just annoy "resource snobs"...60-70 megs is enough RAM for a major app all by itself.wassup4u2 - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
I have an emachines notebook with a Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro. Will CCC/the normal Catalyst driver work with it?Jeff7181 - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
You'd think being .NET it might run good... nope... it takes longer for it to save changes than ATI's previous drivers. It's very frustrating.My advice... don't download it. It's worthless. The application preferences don't work correctly for me with Doom 3. I can start Doom 3 normally, but when I try to use the shortcut ATI creates it doesn't work... and I can't see the exact error message because the stupid Windows error box covers up the Doom 3 window that shows where it gets stuck and exits.
Phiro - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
The message is clear; .Net for teh win.Seriously; we're using .Net more and more where I work, and maybe it's just the refactoring but when they rewrite something here to .Net we see HUGE improvements in stability, performance, etc.
OTOH, new development in .Net here hasn't been so good.
gsellis - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
I suspect the package is so big because they have included .Net in it.Jeff7181 - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
Am I a moron or is there nothing about where or when we can get this?PorBleemo - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
Well, at least they still offer the Control Panel.PorBleemo - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
I agree #2 that's crazy. At least I have 1.5GB...nserra - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
Excelente. I didnt expect something like this from Ati, is more ala Rage3DTweak.However i still think its too much complicaded for the ordinary Joe.
For me its great, now i dont need Rage3D since i only used their profiles because they run over aplication level, now Ati CP already have this too.
crazycarl - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
60-70 extra megs?????