- ATI Catalyst 5.5 Drivers Now Available

Without fail, ATI stay well committed to their monthly driver updates as they dish out their fifth certified CATALYST package for the year. The CATALYST 5.5's naturally bring a mass of bug fixes and minor performance enhancements across the board, as well as a somewhat more robust 64-bit driver release for those of you now playing with Microsoft's WinXP x64 OS, and they're not forgetting Linux users either.

To obtain a detailed listing of whats been fixed and improved, check out the official release notes over here folks.

Should you prefer to initially get some idea of how the new drivers fair without having to install them yourself, both Origo3D and NGOHQ have performed comparison tests between the 5.5's and previous driver sets.

We have just posted the 5th official certified CATALYST software package for 2005. The CATALYST version 5.5 release includes the following:

1) An updated Microsoft Certified WHQL CATALYST driver for Windows XP and Windows 2000
2) An updated CATALYST CONTROL CENTER for Windows XP and Windows 2000
3) An updated Microsoft Certified (WHQL) driver for Windows XP x64 Edition
4) An updated CATALYST Multimedia Center software package
5) An updated Linux driver

Full information can be found in the release notes.

- Advanced VIA DualGFX Express Technology in Action at E3 Expo 2005

Straight from E3 which is taking place at the moment in LA, VIA have issued out a PR which lets us know they're currently demonstrating their new DualGFX Express Technology. From what can be gathered thus far, sounds very similar to that of NVIDIA's SLI arrangement with dual-GPUs providing enhanced performance and multi-display functionalities. VIA now have a product page up which briefs you on the new DualGFX Express Technology.

Hand-in-hand, S3 are in on the action as well as they demonstrate their latest GammaChromeS18 GPU at the event which is the first mainstream native PCIe offering from them.

Full details can be found in the joint PR over at VIA's press room.

E3, Los Angeles, USA, May 17th 2005 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions today announced the demo of VIA DualGFX Express technology at E3 Expo, in Kentia Hall booth #6814 from 18-20 May, along with performance systems featuring cutting edge VIA core-logic chipsets, the latest S3 Graphics PCI-Express GPUs and the VIA Grease Monkey game maintenance application.

VIA DualGFX Express technology enables dual-graphics card platforms providing exceptional 3D graphics performance on a single display, as well as the ability to provide enhanced support for powerful multi-display systems. E3 will see the first public display of the high-performance VIA K8T890 Pro core-logic chipset, running dual graphics cards for enhanced 3D gaming performance. Also being displayed is an advanced multi-display system based on the unique architecture of the VIA PT880 Pro chipset, which supports both PCI Express and AGP graphics interfaces.

S3 Graphics will be demonstrating GammaChromeS18, the first in the GammaChrome line of native PCI Express GPUs targeted at the mainstream graphics market, featuring full DirectX 9.0 hardware and S3G's signature Hi-Def™ native HDTV display capability for the ultimate visual experience.

- Articles and Reviews from around the Web

- Titan Alaska 3D HD Cooler (TTC-HD88) @ xHardware Reviews
- Digital Camera Basics... Some Vocabulary @ BigBruin
- The Decline of Ugly Cases @ CoolTechZone
- COLORS-it 8008-B3 Case + Remote HTPC bits @ 3DVelocity
- HIS ATi Radeon X700 Pro IceQ 256MB @ OCPrices
- 3 Radeons from Sapphire @ GDHardware