Catalyst Control Center is a special program from AMD, which was created to configure the video card, image on the screen, monitor driver updates and all other functions. The developers are very proud as they created a single control center represented by the Catalyst Control Center. What kind of program is this? You will find out by reading this article.
Utility Functionality
The company began to attach this program to the drivers on its video cards, starting in 2007. For 9 years, with the release of new generations of graphic chips, this utility has been improved and finalized. AMD's video cards are becoming more powerful and cooler every year. However, without the proper configuration and control of the software, the iron part cannot independently allocate resources independently, which often leads to poor performance. Or vice versa: the video card can run at full power and overheat because of this, which will lead to malfunctions or a complete breakdown of the equipment.
But not only for modern platforms, this software can come in handy. On fairly old machines, this program can help optimize performance and “squeeze” some FPS for your favorite game. Also, the application is able to track all changes and updates in the drivers and carefully notify the user about this. In addition to the tasks described, the program is engaged in setting up several screens connected at the same time, allows you to adjust color rendering, contrast and other parameters bypassing monitor settings and much more. Not a single owner of a system built on the AMD platform will abandon the Catalyst Control Center. What is this program and what are its tasks, we figured out. Now let's move on to the installation.
Program installation
To do this, you need to go to the official website of AMD amd.com. Click on the AMD Software tab in the left column of the menu. Here you will see a page with a full description of the program of interest to us and its capabilities. If you wish, you can familiarize yourself with it and learn something new for yourself. At the bottom of the text there is a button “Download here” - click on it.
You will be redirected to the download page of all drivers and software. In the menu, select your operating system, its capacity (the most important) and the model of the video card (just specify the series). Next, you will go to a page with all the available software for your characteristics of the video card and OS. Download the Catalyst Control Center from this page. Next, open the installation file and follow the instructions. During the installation, you can select the components that you want to install. You have the opportunity to install the immediately updated version of the drivers along with the software. Now you know how to install the Catalyst Control Center.
To remove the program, you must use the Windows "control panel" or go to the folder with the installed program and open the uninst.exe file. Be careful and do not uninstall the driver for the video card by mistake with the setup application. How to remove the Catalyst Control Center, you know, now let's move on to the first launch.
The first launch of the program
At the first start, you need to choose one of two modes. If you are not very knowledgeable about the configuration, then choose the basic mode. Here you can set the screen resolution, adjust the picture quality and the number of connected monitors. Also, in a simplified form, it is proposed to choose the mode of operation of the video accelerator: either quality or performance. The setting is made in the form of a slider, by default there is a balanced mode. In the last tab, you can configure the video display. This is where the capabilities of the basic mode end.
If you can independently configure the work of the video card in all respects, then select the advanced mode of the AMD Catalyst Control Center. Setting up in the additional mode opens very simply, even if you chose the basic mode at the first start. To do this, just click on the "Advanced" button. Here the experienced user has a place to roam. Consider this mode in more detail.
Additional settings
In advanced mode, you will find everything you can imagine. Starting from changing the appearance of the window and ending with subtle settings for the video card in the Catalyst Control Center. What kind of program is this, you ask, where are the settings themselves? First, let's figure out in which channel you need to configure the graphics card.
If you know that the power of the video card is enough with a margin, but it is not used, you need to twist all the parameters to the maximum. You can also configure the program for performance, which will allow you to get a small increase in FPS on a weak video card.
Details on items
To configure 3D parameters, go to the “3D Graphics Settings” tab. The first subparagraph is “Standard Settings”. Here everything is exactly the same as in the basic mode - a visual image that shows the changes and the “Performance-Quality” slider. We expose to the position we need or leave in the middle.
Next up is Smoothing. By setting the parameter to position 6X, you will save yourself from ladders on the edges, but the number of frames per second will decrease. Reducing the parameter to 2X works on the opposite principle.
Anisotropic filtering is responsible for detailing the surface of objects. The minimum parameter is 2X, and the maximum is 16X. Performance and quality works on the same principle as in the case of smoothing. Detailing is also configured in the same way.
The last sub-item is additional settings. Here you can select the DirectX 3D and OpenGL accelerator options. As you can see, you can configure almost any characteristic of the video card using the Catalyst Control Center. What kind of program and settings are these, you know. It remains to deal with possible problems.
Startup troubleshooting tips
If there are any problems with the launch or stable operation of the program, check its capacity and compare with the capacity of your operating system. Catalyst Control Center also does not start due to an outdated version. Download the latest update for the utility on the official website.
If all else fails, try completely removing AMD software along with the video card driver and reinstalling it. The installation location, select the Program Files folder on the system partition of the hard drive. The path to the folder should not contain Russian letters.