The new Catalyst Drivers for the Radeon series for ATI video cards was supposed to greatly improve performance on some new games. The main featured game was Battlefield 2. So, since I have BF2, I upgraded to these drivers, and then went to play BF2. I did actually notice a performance enhancement, and it seemed to run a lot smoother and be less glitchy.

Well, I went to go play Star Wars Galaxies afterwords. Here is where the tide turns. I got huge video glitches while playing Galaxies, causing my game's framerate to drop to nearly zero, which in turn caused it to constantly crash. This really was annoying, but it got worse.

I went to go play Jedi Knight after that, and only to find out that the new drivers prohibited that completely. I could no longer get past the level loading bar, because I would get a CTD every time.

In the end, I just wound up rolling back to my previous drivers.

Why do new drivers always have such appealing aspects to what they're trying to accomplish, but at the same time wind up screwing previous stuff up that was fine before that?

It's ATI.

Whatever.

Try to uninstall the drivers, run this http://www.drivercleaner.net/ and install them again in case some files got corrupted by the installer or are out of date.

My Nvidia card has done me no wrong. Works under FreeBSD too (though the radeondrm is finally getting updated to the 9xxx series), so I'm pretty much an Nvidia guy now.

Yeah. If you don't uninstall the old drivers, there can be some issues.

It happens, with both nV and ATi. Hell, on my 6800GT I can't play Starcraft with FRAPS on, could with my Ti4400. Also can't play JK with the crosshair on because it draws weirdly. I just learned to live with it.

the 5.8 catalysts suck. They made my card overheat. Using 5.8 i got lots of artifacts and it'd eventually freeze game. I went back to 5.6 which i was using before and all is fine.

That seems to be a problem with some recent drivers - they adapt them to better serve newer games and lose compatibility with older games.

not just games but hardware too...

for example my last computer with it's GF4MX is still running 45.23 (i think) because one update killed my framerate in UT2K3... ok so my framerate wasn't all that great anyway but that means any decrease is going to hurt alot

Oh silly people. I personally have always gone with ATI and had no trouble.

It's okay...the previous drivers are fine *sigh*

NVidia, the way it was meant to be played.

My past 3 NVidia cards, from TNT2 to the 6800, have always served me well.

Too bad for those drivers though. I had similar problems when I tried to install a Radeon a few years ago. Then I switched to NVidia and installation was smooth like butta.

Gee, I just must be that one lucky person out of millions that has an ATI card that works flawlessly with the 5.8 Cataylst drives (the CCC versions).

I got huge improvements in HL2, being able to run 1280x768, 6x/16x, everythign high without dropping. (Then again, an 800Mhz overclock might help that from the last time I played).

All BF2 problems were fixed, and it runs better than ever.

Also, JK works fine on my end. However, it worked with 5.7 too, so I didn't expect much.

And Yoshi, my card also displays the crosshair weirdly, so maybe it's just something with newer cards, both ATI and Nvidia.

So yeah, 5.8s were a great improvement for me. And I'm happy.

My stats btw (Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2.5Ghz, 1Gb RAM at 2-2-2-6 1T, and a ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB)

I'll try clearing my drivers and reupdating then

[QUOTE=Dj Yoshi]It happens, with both nV and ATi. Hell, on my 6800GT I can't play Starcraft with FRAPS on, could with my Ti4400. Also can't play JK with the crosshair on because it draws weirdly. I just learned to live with it.[/QUOTE]

This is a driver issue. My 9800 Pro used to not have this problem, but more recent drivers did indeed bring it on. Crosshair now = dots on screen.

I have an ATI TV-tuner card sitting two slots down from my nVidia graphics card. They fight a lot, but it's fun to watch them sling insults at each other.

The last nVidia driver update I tried rendered HL2 unable to load. I don't know if they've updated the drivers again since then, but just so you know, both companies have these problems.

edit- futurepost by prodigyoddigy

I don't have any problems with them either.

yeah wtf, same with force targets

I just bought this with Yoshi's help (Only have $100 to deal with), was wounder if I can get some questions answered, as I don't know anything really about video cards.

1.) Does higher the memory mean it's better? (this is 256 MB one)
2.) What is overclocking?
3.) This should last me 3 years of games, right? (Before the next generation)

1. The 256MB RAM cards may be slower in some benchmarks (only slightly though), but that is really testing current gen games. The 256MB will be a HUGE benefit in the long run. It's starting to benefit a lot now as games are becoming RAM hogs

2. Overclocking is making your card run faster than it's stock speeds, by making the core speed and the memory speed faster in increments of Mhz. Depending on the card, you can push it very far to the point that you just saved a lot of money by buying the lower version, and then clocking it to match the higher version. (In terms of CPU, to give an example, I overclocked my CPU from 1.8Ghz, to 2.6Ghz, and saved about 100 dollars in doing so. Yoshi will give you his example where he has his GeForce 6800GT overclocked PAST a 6800 Ultra, and saved a lot of money)

3. I wouldn't say three years, but it'll let you run games reasonably well for a while. It all depends on how technology goes.

Guess now was a good time to switch back to nvidia. So the game goes...

First it was 3dfx. Then it was nvidia, then it was ATI, and now we're back to nvidia. Here's to hoping we go back to 3dfx!

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Guess now was a good time to switch back to nvidia. So the game goes...

First it was 3dfx. Then it was nvidia, then it was ATI, and now we're back to nvidia. Here's to hoping we go back to 3dfx! :D[/QUOTE]

You do know 3dfx was bought by nVidia right?

I never had a problem until a friend of mine loaned me a processor that was struck by lightning.

I've stuck with the 4.11s for a while now. They just run everything faster for me. They seem to affect things like shadows in some games, though, but it might just be the way shadows are implemented in the games. I haven't really taken the time to compare newer drivers to the 4.11 drivers, so I'm not sure.

A lot of people are talking about upgrading now, and unfortunately, I think I'm starting to feel the same. At least they're starting to advance the technologies.

[QUOTE=Outlaw Torn]I never had a problem until a friend of mine loaned me a processor that was struck by lightning.[/QUOTE]

Because then it could go back in tiiiiIIIIMMEEEEE.

I don't see why anyone should be worried about not being able to play JK...

ATI sucks. I've had nothing but problems with them, so I stopped using them.

Nvidia cards are okay, and still have problems. However I've had less problems with Nvidia BY FAR than I have ATI.

1. It won't help a card with a 128bit bus very much.

2. Wahahah! *mirth* It means making your card go faster and possibly making it die, giving you an excuse to buy a bigger better one. Ya gots to learn sometime. If you want to learn any more about OCing or any other unspeakably geeky things, places like hardforum.com are great.

3. The next gen. is already here. And the one after that just came out. So, no. It'll get you by until you get the money to buy a better one. Unless of course you like playing at 640x480 on low settings @ 12 fps., then the answer is yes.

Disclaimer: Never listen to Obi-Kwiet.

He's right on the second two parts. But it does help, even on a 128-bit bus. There's quite a significant difference between the 128mb version and the 256mb version of the 128-bit 9600XT in games like HL2 and Doom 3 where memory is a big deal.

Also, Rob, your 'hatred' of ATi is very unfounded. They've had a lot of problems? If I remember right, the card you had before this new computer you just bought was a 5200...honestly, all the ATis before the 5*00 and 9*00 series weren't that great (though they were comparable) but they've gotten a lot better since then. That's what I hate, is some people have hatred of cards that's years old. Card companies change from year to year. There's no reason to hold any animosity against any company longer than a few months, unless you're talking about a specific card.

Did you miss the 'I'VE HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS," part?



I've never had a problem with this card... other than it sucking more than a vacuum cleaner.

What was the alst ATi card you used?