Available March 18, 2009

Mar 18, 2009 07:26 GMT  ·  By

AMD is ready for the RTM release of Windows 7. Or at least this is what the chip-maker claims as it has released ATI Catalyst 9.3 Unified Driver introducing support for Windows 7 Beta Build 7000. The processor manufacturer, which acquired ATI, indicated that the advent of ATI Catalyst 9.3 drivers for Windows 7 represented a guarantee that support would be available with all planned future releases of ATI Catalyst, for the remaining milestones of the next iteration of the Windows client, but especially for the gold (final) version Windows 7.

“AMD’s expertise in visual computing shines through in the combined experience of Windows 7 and ATI Radeon graphics,” revealed Anantha Kancherla, group program manager responsible for Windows graphics, Microsoft. “With today’s release of a Windows 7 unified driver, AMD once again demonstrates its ability to deliver performance and cutting-edge driver support.”

At the start of March, rival NVIDIA also embraced the Beta Build 7000 of Windows 7 with the release of GeForce 181.71 graphics drivers. Now it's AMD's turn to applaud support for Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1 and a strong focus on allowing developers to leverage the advances introduced with the DirectX 10.1 API (application programming interface), via ATI Radeon HD 3000 and ATI Radeon HD 4000 product lineups.

The promise from AMD is that the new ATI Catalyst 9.3 drivers for Windows 7 will make advances in the Windows 7 graphical user interface such as Aero Peek and Aero Shake feel right at home with the ATI graphics cards. The CPU maker is emphasizing that the marriage between ATI Radeon graphics and Windows 7 will result in nothing short of high-fidelity graphics, as well as support for the Direct2D API, evolved Windows 7 acceleration, and a new level of 3D gaming performance associated with single- and multi-GPU CrossFireX.

“Thanks to the incredible expertise within our driver development team, we led the Windows Vista transition with a WHQL-certified unified driver that delivered industry-leading stability,” said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president, Software Engineering, Graphics Products Group, AMD. “The advanced state of our Windows 7 drivers this far ahead of the final Windows 7 release is yet another proof point of our graphics industry leadership. We are ready for Windows 7.”

ATI Catalyst 9.3 Unified Driver for Windows 7 will be made available for download today March 18, 2009. Keep an eye on this space and I will provide you with an update when the drivers go live.

UPDATE: Download links:

- ATI Catalyst Video Driver 9.3 for XP  - ATI Catalyst Video Driver 9.3 for XP64 - ATI Catalyst Video Driver 9.3 for Vista/Windows 7 - ATI Catalyst Video Driver 9.3 for Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit