This article provides an overview of the Catalyst Control Center application. It provides a general description, a description of the main features and gives some tips on working with the described utility.
general characteristics
Catalyst Control Center is a dedicated utility developed by AMD. With its help, control over driver updates and video card management is carried out. Utility developers consider their brainchild to be unique, since it contains all the basic functions necessary for the user to control one of the main devices in the computer.
The application is installed with the ATI drivers . The Catalyst Control Center was first attached to the system component installer in 2007. All 9 years of its life, the product was constantly being developed, overgrown with functionality, became more stable. And according to the developers, this was necessary, because AMD video cards are constantly being improved in terms of architectural solutions, and their power is growing. If you do not pay special attention to the correct software configuration, the device can never work as efficiently as possible, while the performance of the chips will decrease.
The reverse scenario is also real: the video card runs at full power during maximum loads, which is why it overheats. As a result, the equipment crashes or malfunctions begin in the programs.
The reviewed utility is necessary not only for the operation of modern computers. On older PCs, with its help, gamers will be able to add several FPS in computer games and optimize 3D applications.
Automatically detecting the latest drivers is automatically enabled in the Catalyst Control Center utility . What does this give the user? The user saves time, instead of regularly checking the latest software versions on the manufacturer’s website, it’s enough to just run a program that will perform the necessary actions.
In addition to the functions listed above, the utility can be used to configure several connected monitors to a PC. It allows you to change the contrast and color settings without affecting the display settings.
Catalyst Control Center. What is it and where to download the program
To install CCC, you must visit the official online resource of AMD Corporation. After that, click on the "Get drivers" link. Experienced users can independently choose the software version. For beginners, it’s best to download an application that automatically downloads the right software.
First launch and basic mode
After the first successful launch, the CCC utility will prompt you to select the display mode of the settings. Experienced users usually choose "advanced." For beginners, "basic" is better. After selecting the basic mode, the utility will display a settings window. In it, you can change the display resolution, choose how many monitors are connected to the PC.
Also, in the simplified settings, you can change the rules of the video adapter. Two options are available: quality or performance. To switch, move the slider. By default, it is in the center, and the video card works in a balanced mode.
The last tab contains the image settings when playing video files. The basic mode cannot boast anything more.
To enable the advanced display of options, click on the "Advanced" button.
Advanced settings
Catalyst Control Center Advanced Configuration Mode - what is it and what features does it open? It has everything the user needs. However, before making any changes, you must decide what the settings are being edited for.
If it is known for sure that the power of the video card far exceeds all the user's needs and never works 100%, all sliders should be moved to the right. The image quality will improve, but the load on the video adapter will increase.
If the computer is used primarily for modern games, but the video card does not provide the required FPS level, the sliders must be moved to the left. This will disable many effects, but increase the frame rate in 3D programs.
Catalyst Control Center: how to change settings for games
Setting 3D parameters becomes possible after clicking on the link "Three-dimensional graphics." Standard options are unlikely to interest experienced users. There is nothing beyond the basic mode.
The Smoothing tab allows you to improve image quality. If you increase the parameter value to 6X-8X, the step effect will disappear at the boundaries of objects, and the frame rate will decrease.
Detailing of surfaces in games is set up on the "Anisotropic Filtering" tab. The right the slider, the higher the picture quality.
On the last tab, you can fine-tune OGL and DirectX. To describe their correct setup, you need not one article, but a whole cycle. The main rule when configuring a video card is not to act at random. If you don’t know what the change of this or that parameter will lead to, first find detailed information about it on the Internet.
Catalyst Control Center does not work with nVidia and Intel video cards. Other tools are required to configure adapters from these manufacturers.
We introduced you to a program such as the Catalyst Control Center. What is it is now clear.