- New Month = New ATI Catalysts

 

To come with the beginning of a new month, ATI's latest 4.3 Catalysts! Apparently these are a nice step up from the 4.2's, rectifying several issues the previous suite had as well as the apparent increase in pixel shader performance. Happy benching!

 

- Release Notes
- Catalyst 4.3^Win2k
- Catalyst 4.3^WinXP
- Catalyst 4.3^Win9x/ME

 

As with most CATALYST™ releases performance has increased in various situations. The following performance gains are noticed:

 

* The Pixel Shader performance of our DX9-class products has improved considerably with Catalyst 4.3.
* Halo and Tomb Raider framerates are up 3-7%.
* Shader-specific technology tests such as ShaderMark show gains in the region of 10-20% or more.
* 3DMark03's Mother Nature scene runs 2-5% faster across the entire DX9 product line. Our 3DMark03 Pixel Shader 2.0 framerate improves 7-15%.
* Aquamark 3 performance has also improved slightly, at higher resolutions.

 

- Prescott Dynamic Voltage info

Interesting stuff we have here, particularly for you Prescott owners. The folks over at IAmNotAGeek discuss Intel's new Prescott line in the way of it's purposely "dynamic" voltage fluctuation (merely to assist in cooling) which would adversely hinder performance and overclocking potential. They are currently fiddling with what could potentially be a successful workaround in order to sustain a consistant voltage flow for overcoming this current trait across the prescott range.

 

First of all I have to give Kyle props for being the first website I saw with any information posted on this Prescott voltage issue. It apparently is one of the new features Intel is using to keep these beasts cool. The processor senses when it's getting too hot and lowers the voltage to help cool itself off. The heat production of these processors is simply insane. If they were to keep the processor at 1.525v all of the time it would take way better cooling than any OEM would ever put in their systems. We all heard enough about Intel's struggles to go to the 90nm process and the delay the prescott and other products saw because of this. I don't believe they really fixed the issues they were having. I believe they used a bandaid and shipped it out anyway! Of course I can't prove this but it's just what it smells like from here.

 

- Articles and Reviews from around the Web

- Intel Prepares Low-Voltage Xeon with 64-bit Extensions @ XBit Labs
- WiFi future lies within 108Mbit @ NewsFactor
- Plantronics Audio 90 Headset @ Gruntville
- Shure E3C Earphones @ DesignTechnica
- Tagan TG480-U01 PSU @ PCReview & OC Prices