Driver Version 8.702 Enables Real-Time Photoshop® CS4 Workflows, and Support for Stereo 3D and DisplayPort Audio

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 11, 2010 — AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced professional graphics users can access several new ATI FirePro™ graphics driver features designed to accelerate application performance and enhance reliability. Available for download, version 8.702 of the ATI FirePro™ graphics driver incorporates tremendous application tuning efforts, resulting in significant performance improvements − more than 20 percent –for Dassault Systèmes CATIA, Autodesk® 3ds Max® and PTC® ProENGINEER® users, for example¹.

“With more than 20 percent performance improvement for many industry leading applications, this new performance driver increases the value for both existing and new ATI FirePro users,” said Janet Matsuda, senior director, AMD Professional Graphics. “Certified on more than 90 professional applications, ATI FirePro graphics drivers provide the right combination of application performance, reliability and feature support today’s professional need.”

Key features of the ATI FirePro graphics driver:

• Compared to previous drivers, version 8.702 provides Dassault Systèmes CATIA users more than 25 percent performance improvement, and Autodesk 3ds Max and PTC Pro/Engineer users more than 20 percent performance improvement¹.
• Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 users can now render images with 10-bit² per component color, helping provide exact representation of colors between Photoshop and their 10-bit display, as well as the ability to maintain an enhanced end-to-end 10-bit color workflow.
• In addition to current support of numerous active, passive and autostereoscopic displays, blue-line stereo³ for synchronizing 3D glasses is now supported.
• DisplayPort audio is now enabled on select ATI FirePro professional graphics cards, with support for 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 DTS surround sound as well as 8-channel and 2-channel uncompressed audio⁴.

Later this year, AMD plans to issue reliability, application performance and feature enhancements in bi-monthly driver updates for notebooks that feature ATI FirePro™ professional graphics. AMD is working closely with workstation notebook manufacturers to ensure support for this initiative.

Resources

• Download: ATI Catalyst™ display driver version 8.702
• Certification page: ATI FirePro graphics have received more than 90 application certifications
• More information: ATI FirePro™ professional graphics
• Twitter: Follow AMD professional graphics updates @ATIFirePro
• Facebook: Become a fan of AMD technology on Facebook

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and technology partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

¹Based on SPECViewperf® 10 benchmark scores as tested by AMD performance labs for Dassault Systèmes CATIA, Autodesk® 3ds Max® and PTC® Pro ENGINEER®, using ATI FirePro™ V3750, V5700, V7750, and V8700. Testing compared ATI FirePro™ graphics driver version 8.603 vs. version 8.702. Testing performed with the following configurations: HP Z400, Intel® Xeon® quad-core 1xW3570 @ 3.2 GHz, Intel® X58, 3GB DDR3, Microsoft® Windows® XP 32-bit SP3.

²Requires 10-bit monitor for true 10-bit color display; only on Microsoft® Windows® XP.

³Blue-line stereo: Blue-line stereo support is available on following Operating Systems: Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows Vista® and Windows 7.

⁴Available on the following ATI FirePro™ professional graphics: ATI FirePro V3750, V5700 and V7750. Audio formats achieved will depend on what audio formats the DisplayPort display supports, as well as which audio driver is used.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, FirePro, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

AMD Global Communications
John Swinimer, 905-882-2600, Ext. 2704
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