14 DAY TRIAL // Advanced Micro Devices has just outdone itself without trying, having somehow allowed its next driver package to slip through its fingers and reach the Internet.
We aren't talking about the latest official release of the software meant to go with the Radeon series of graphics adapters.
Instead, NGOHQ somehow spotted the next release and the software can even be downloaded from here.
Keep in mind that this is the Catalyst 12.5 Beta, which means that some things may not necessarily work very well.
Then again, the build is supposed to only come out in late May, 2012, a month from now.
Only the Windows Vista/7-compatible version of the driver is available.
That said, we aren't going to recommend that people just go ahead and get this early Catalyst leak. That isn't to say we've had problems. We haven't actually tested it after all.
Then again, people around the net have taken the risk, and some of them say that they like them so far. For example, one said that the FSAA settings have been rearranged and that MLAA use in games doesn't cause Aero to lag (12.4 WHQL is said to seriously suffer from this), among other things.
That said, if you don't feel like the 12.5 is a safe bet, there is always the 12.4 release, which we mentioned above. Go here for the download and to get a quick rundown of the most relevant assets contained within.
AMD's Radeon HD 7900 series of add-in graphics adapters is pretty much complete, even selling with three games included free of charge.
The only model still on the way is the Radeon HD 7990, equipped with two 28nm GPUs (graphics processing units). Advanced Micro Devices will only launch it in June, or so the story goes. That means it will give NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 690 a nice head start.