ATI, graphics business unit of Advanced Micro Devices, on Wednesday said that in March it would provide a number of important software updates that will improve functionality of its graphics cards, including the latest ATI Radeon HD 5000-series, just in time when its arch-rival Nvidia Corp. plans to unleash its forthcoming GeForce GTX 400-series.

Among the things that ATI plans to support in its ATI Catalyst 10.3 software suite due next month as well as Catalyst 10.2 version that is set to become available on the 17^th of February, 2010, are stereoscopic 3D technology, majorly improved power saving capability, ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor output, improved ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU technology, DisplayPort audio and some other improvements.

ATI plans to update its Direct3D driver to enable thirdf party middleware vendors, such as iZ3D, to output stereo L/R images at 120 Hz (60 Hz per eye) monitors. This means that select video games as well as forthcoming Blu-ray 3D movies will work in stereo 3D mode, however, ATI’s solution will not be able to force all video games to work in stereo mode, unlike Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology.

Other features that AMD’s graphics unit plans to implement are the following:

• ATI CrossFireX for Eyefinity - CrossFireX now improves Eyefinity gaming performance.
• ATI CrossFireX profiles and re-architecture of ATI CrossFireX in general, which promises to improve performance of multi-GPU configurations. The CrossFireX profiles will be possible to update more frequently than drivers.
• DisplayPort Audio support now allows to pass audio directly through to DisplayPort monitor equipped with speakers.
• ATI Eyefinity Technology Bezel Correction – compensates for bezels so objects in video games move from one display to the other smoothly.
• ATI Eyefinity Technology Per Display Control – adjusts for differences in each individual displays brightness, color and contrast.
• ATI Eyefinity Technology Multiple Display Groups – more display groups to give further control of your desktop with three displays or more connected.
• ATI Eyefinity Technology Display Configuration Switching – allows to easily switch from one display mode to another.

ATI Catalyst updates will arrive just in time before Nvidia releases its highly-anticipated GeForce GTX 400-series that is based on the code-named GF100 (NV60, GT300, G300) graphics processor that is expected to provide performance that will be able to compete against ATI Radeon HD 5800- or 5900-series graphics boards.

Tags: ATI, AMD, Radeon, eyefinity, CrossFire, Evergreen