Still using 4.12 Cats - any reason to change?

[Graham Saad]

Last time I enquired about newer Catalyst driver revisions (3-4 months back)
the consensus seemed to be that the 5.1 - 5.4s did little more than a
address a few particular bug fixes.

Since then has there been any noticeable improvements? Is there yet a
compelling reason to start using CCC instead of the control panel? Is there
any performance increase in the latest drivers?

 

[vellu]

Graham Saad kirjoitti:

Last time I enquired about newer Catalyst driver revisions (3-4 months back)
the consensus seemed to be that the 5.1 - 5.4s did little more than a
address a few particular bug fixes.

Since then has there been any noticeable improvements? Is there yet a
compelling reason to start using CCC instead of the control panel? Is there
any performance increase in the latest drivers?

The very latest (5.6) atleast claimed a 5-10% performance increase.
Haven't run any benchmarks myself so I don't know for sure. Just playing
games, haven't noticed changes. As for comparison between 4.12 and 5.6
performance, I have no idea.

Absolutely no reason what so ever to use CCC. Control panel has all the
same functions but is much, much smaller in size and much, much less
resource heavy.

 

[NightSky 421]

Last time I enquired about newer Catalyst driver revisions (3-4 months
back) the consensus seemed to be that the 5.1 - 5.4s did little more than
a address a few particular bug fixes.

Since then has there been any noticeable improvements? Is there yet a
compelling reason to start using CCC instead of the control panel? Is
there any performance increase in the latest drivers?

Actually the 5.6 drivers are really good in my experience. I have a 9800
Pro that will be two years old this month and it's running better than ever
with these drivers. I've even tried out Doom 3 with it again and notice
that the split-second pauses that I would sometimes get when confronting a
new monster are completely gone now. The subtle improvements in speed in
general with my games are a welcome thing as well. This is what I like
about ATI - in my experience, they don't forget about you from a driver
point of view if you don't own current model video cards. If they keep this
up, it's pretty much guaranteed that my next video card next year will also
be an ATI.

 

[NightSky 421]

I should also mention that it's getting close to that time of the month
again when ATI should be releasing new drivers. I would hold off updating
until the 5.7's come out and see what they have to offer. It could and
should happen this week.

 

[Rick]

Last time I enquired about newer Catalyst driver revisions (3-4 months back)
the consensus seemed to be that the 5.1 - 5.4s did little more than a
address a few particular bug fixes.

Since then has there been any noticeable improvements? Is there yet a
compelling reason to start using CCC instead of the control panel? Is there
any performance increase in the latest drivers?

Go back a few weeks in this group and read about the
CCC nightmares people are having. Stay at least 100 feet
away from Microsoft's .NET framework, and the 5.xx
drivers.

 

[NightSky 421]

Go back a few weeks in this group and read about the
CCC nightmares people are having. Stay at least 100 feet
away from Microsoft's .NET framework, and the 5.xx
drivers.

That's a good point - don't download the drivers with the CCC, just get the
drivers with the old-style control panel! They work great.

 

[Sleepy]

Last time I enquired about newer Catalyst driver revisions (3-4 months
back) the consensus seemed to be that the 5.1 - 5.4s did little more than
a address a few particular bug fixes.

Since then has there been any noticeable improvements? Is there yet a
compelling reason to start using CCC instead of the control panel? Is
there any performance increase in the latest drivers?

I've just gone back to the Omega 4.12s - the 5.6s seemed okay most of the
time
but I did get a couple of random reboots which I think are down to those
drivers.

 

[Jeff McNulty]

I've just gone back to the Omega 4.12s - the 5.6s seemed okay most of the
time
but I did get a couple of random reboots which I think are down to those
drivers.

I have had the same problem with reboots with lately but didnt make the
connection that it could be driver related. It seems to happen a couple of
time a week. I play Tiger Woods 2004 and Half-Life II and it will happen on
both.

P4 3.2
Abit IS-7 mobo
1gig PC3200 Dual Channel
ATI 9800 pro 5.6 drivers No CCC

As far as performance I havent seen any noticable performance gains in
Half-Life 2.

 

[Ken Marsh]

Hi,

#This is what I like
#about ATI - in my experience, they don't forget about you from a driver
#point of view if you don't own current model video cards.

The 9800Pro *is* a current model card, that is, the GPU and card are both
still in production. As such, I would expect it to be well supported.

It is not, however, a current generation card. The same critique might
be made of some of their X series cards, too.

#If they keep this
#up, it's pretty much guaranteed that my next video card next year will also
#be an ATI.

Well, yes, it is to be commended.

However since ATI seems to feel that the video card market needed to be
covered by several complete ranges of really slow, 4-pipe PCI-Express
cards, duplicating the performance of both existing and obsolete
previous-generation AGP cards, while falling continuously further behind
on mid and hi-end cards on both top performance and price performance, I
doubt if my next card will be an ATi.

Unless, of course, they pull something new out of their hat. Something
that could beat the price/performance of the 6600GT would be nice.

Anyone listening?

Ken.

 

[NightSky 421]

Hi,

Greetings, I saw your post and got a copy of it in e-mail.

The 9800Pro *is* a current model card, that is, the GPU and card are both
still in production. As such, I would expect it to be well supported.

I was not aware.

It is not, however, a current generation card.

In the case of the above, this is what I meant.

However since ATI seems to feel that the video card market needed to be
covered by several complete ranges of really slow, 4-pipe PCI-Express
cards, duplicating the performance of both existing and obsolete
previous-generation AGP cards, while falling continuously further behind
on mid and hi-end cards on both top performance and price performance, I
doubt if my next card will be an ATi.

I think this point is debatable to some degree. It's true that the X series
of cards don't have Pixel Shader 3.0 support, but they are otherwise rather
competitive performance-wise against similar offerings from nVidia. I don't
think I need explain what the 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro/XT did to the GeForceFX
series. I'm sure the R520 will be out in October and November and we'll see
how they are.

Unless, of course, they pull something new out of their hat. Something
that could beat the price/performance of the 6600GT would be nice.

It's generally agreed that the 6600GT is the best card on the
price/performance curve. However, as I say, I do like ATI because their
driver support for cards that are not current generation as witnessed by my
own experience. But at the end of the day, it's good to see a competitive
marketplace where consumers have choices between decent products from
different makers.