ATI claim they have, once again, gone where no graphics card maker, nVidia, has gone before. According to the Canadian company, version 3.0 of the catalyst drivers, for the Radeon 9700 Pro and a variety of other ATI cards, is the first to support DirectX 9. This in turn means that ATI claim to be the first company to support the upcoming DirectX in both hardware and software.
The drivers are ready, WHQL certified and awaiting download in ATI's web site. According to ATI the new drivers now support the most important new DirectX 9 features such as:
2.0 Vertex Shaders
2.0 Pixel Shaders
Floating Point Data Formats
It seems that ATI are trying hard to make a habbit of getting there first, that means before nVidia, and have once again placed the ball firmly in their rivals court.
ATI are also offering a DirectX 9 FAQ and whitepaper on their site in order to better inform consumers. The links for the drivers and the documentation can be found by following the download tab above.