Today is the big day for ATI Radeon users and enthusiasts. As promised, Advanced Micro Devices' graphics unit ATI is releasing the latest driver update for this year, the Catalyst 8.12. Once the drivers become available, Radeon users will be able to benefit from new features like Free ATI Video Converter and the unleashed power of ATI Stream Technology.

The update is stated to enhance the ATI Stream acceleration capabilities of certain ATI Radeon HD 4000 Series and ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series graphics cards. Moreover, the new ATI Stream, which powers the Free ATI Video Converter, is also able to leverage the speed of high-definition file conversion by more than 17 times on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series and ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series GPUs.

Millions of ATI Radeon users around the world will be offered the possibility to run higher-demanding computing tasks faster than ever through the new Catalyst 8.12, which is also capable of improving performance in demanding games by up to 10 percent. The list of games that will see enhancements includes Crysis, Crysis Warhead, Devil May Cry 4, Fallout 3, FarCry 2, Left 4 Dead, Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions – Colonies Edition, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

The technologies included in ATI Catalyst 8.12 drivers are capable of unleashing the ATI Stream compute acceleration capabilities the company has built in its ATI Radeon HD 3870, ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, and all ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics cards. The ATI Stream technology is meant to leverage performance of applications like desktop productivity, HD entertainment and gaming, which are known as resource demanding.

The ATI Stream technology also powers the free ATI Video Converter, which offers users a new way to speed conversion of video from one format to another. Owners of ATI Radeon HD 4800 series and ATI Radeon HD 4600 series cards will be able to benefit from the accelerated conversion of high-definition video files into smaller files which would be suitable for playing on portable devices.

AMD's unique combination of GPU and CPU expertise has allowed the Sunnyvale company to deliver new solutions to enhance the user experience for a wide range of consumers, from expert gamers to everyday users of digital media. Through the ATI Stream technology, platforms that use both CPU and GPU are enabled to run demanding computing tasks faster than the CPU alone.

The company will highlight the ATI Catalyst driver update and free ATI Video Converter in a live Webcast that will take place on December 10, at 9:30 am PDT/11:30 am CDT/12:30 pm EDT. The presentation will be available here. More information on the ATI Stream technology is available on the company's site.

UPDATE: The Catalyst 8.12 has been published by the ATI graphics team a few minutes ago. Those interested in the release can download the Software Suite from Softpedia:

ATI Catalyst 8.12 Software Suite Vista 64bit
ATI Catalyst 8.12 Software Suite Vista 32bit
ATI Catalyst 8.12 Software Suite XP 64bit
ATI Catalyst 8.12 Software Suite XP 32bit

Additional downloads are available on our Essential Drivers section or on AMD/ATI site.