Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 driver:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

  • Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
  • Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections – 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements

  • Application Profiles 
    • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
    • Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Video UI improvements

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simply adjustment of video color and video quality controls

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Linux driver:

  • SLED 11 SP2 early look support
  • Ubuntu 11.10 production level support

If you already have the 12.1 Preview Driver installed and are looking for something new to test then grab the AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview:  http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst122Previewdriver.aspx

That is unless you already managed to find and purchase a Radeon HD 7900 users should keep using the 8.921.2 RC11 driver found here since the 12.2 preview does not support the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series.

If you do upgrade you can check out the new AMD Eyefinity 2.1 which allows you to choose from a larger set of resolutions when running AMD Eyefinity.

In addition you can also take advantage of:

  • Dynamic Configuration Changes:  Switching between different display configurations will occur automatically when physically plugging/un-plugging displays
  • HydraVision enhancements:  The Windows Task bar can now be moved and resized based on users preference
  • Profile Manager improvements:  Increased support for Display Groups (including 5×1) and Extended configurations within the Profile Manager

Happy gaming!