ATI driver issues??

{OF}Eaglerapids · 02-06-2010, 07:42 AM

After running a Nvidia card for the last few years, I've ordered a Visiontec HD 4870. So, while I'm waiting for it I go to get the latest drivers and find this:
ATI Catalyst™ 10.1 Driver – What’s New? | AMD at Play

OMG, are ATI drivers still this bad? Now I don't know if I want to deal with these ATI driver issues again or not, especially since it seems they still have OpenGL problems. Now I see why Newegg says they will only replace this card with the same....not refund your money:-) or trade it for an Nvidia card. I know only the po'ed complain but my goodness 174 complainers out of 176 posts? That's not a good average especially since most are complaining about the same issues they were complaining about 3 or 4 years ago! On the other hand if every one of the people who say they're going back to Nvidia went back to Nvidia, ATI would be selling three or four video cards a month...tops.
The only reason I bought the ATI card was because I have a crossfire mobo but I'm not even thinking of using crossfire so why did I do it? I don't know..................... just keeping it all in the family I guess. I got the card for a good price on a 24hr special so if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. It will work out anywho but I don't relish spending hours trying this and that to make it work out.
Most people seem to like the cat 9.12's over the new 10.1's so I'm off to try to find them, gotta find all my Radeon links again:-), I don't see the 9.12's on the main site.

{OF}Barney_B · 02-06-2010, 09:06 AM

I have the 4870 running on Win7 Premium at the moment and haven't had any issues. I used this same card in XP prior to upgrading the XP machine to a 5850. No problems there either. Understand I don't put my machines on the torture rack just to see if I can break them so I'm talking routine use...no overclocking or other stupid pet tricks. I won't say I'm a fanboy of AMD/ATi but I do feel that the image quality is better than other manufacturers that I've tried. Just a personal opinion. That being said, I will say I'm not a real fan of Visiontek. In a ranking of all the manufacturers who produce ATi cards, I would put VT at or near the bottom of the barrel. Again, just a personal opinion.

If you can't find the driver version you're looking for, I've probably got it. They range from 30 to 70 MB with the Catalyst thingee. Should be able to figure something out.

{OF}Eaglerapids · 02-06-2010, 11:37 AM

Thanks for the reply Barney. Well I didn't know that about Visiontek

, but I got the card for $150, maybe that's why.
I'm not planning on o/c'ing either so I think we'll just see how it goes. I hope you're not saying they are so crappy I should try something else?? There were only 5 reviews of the card at Newegg but they were all 5's. Of course they all probably work for Visiontek, lol.
I finally found older drivers and I've d/l'ed the 9.11's and 9.12's, what would you recommend for me to start with? I also have the hotfix for the 9.12's.
Do you mess with Avivo and Hydravision? Fusion Media Explorer? I'm excited about Hydravision while photo editing (I have two monitors) and Lightroom 2 supports two monitors.
Barney, for the price I paid I think I'll try this card but now I'm wondering if I just should have sprung for a HD 4890.

{OF}Barney_B · 02-07-2010, 02:30 AM

I may be a little harsh on VT. When you mass produce an item, sometimes a clunker is going to get through. The card I bought from them had a special feature chip built into it (warrantee timer clock) which worked as designed.
I haven't purposely tried any of those features mostly due to my computer desk. No room for multiple monitors at the moment. I can see where it would be very beneficial for what you want to do. I'm sure I've seen the Avivo settings kick in when playing movies but I've never purposely tried to make them work.
As far as the drivers go, install everything from the disk you get with the possible exception of the Catalyst registration and the folding at home thingee they try to slip in. Once that is done, go into Add and Remove Programs and use the ATi uninstall thing that's there to remove the old drivers and Catalyst, reboot and then load either of the new driver packages. I assume that you got the complete package (Drivers and Catalyst). Do the custom install so you can see what's being loaded and you can deselect the folding at home (appears in the first selection list) if that's what you want and deselect the catalyst registration and Parental Controls (I have no idea why this is even there). Anyway, I'd get even more verbose on this but it's time to get ready for work. Laptop at work so I'll pop in when life saving slows down.