New 5870....need some help please.

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Rogue71

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 25, 2007
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2 questions.

1. i have the asus 5870. should i use the asus driver cd or use the generic catalyst 10.1 drivers? the asus drivers say 8.69 so im not sure what the ati version numbers are. im not sure if there is a difference or if the included asus utilities are really worth installing. the ati driver thing seems to be a mess compared to nvidia, with all these hotfixes im hearing about.

2. i have to say that i was extremely disappointed about the "included" game dirt 2. you need F*&$ing steam to get it. that is just retarded. so thats a loss right there from the start. im not using that POS program. for the cost of the card they should have given you the damned discs, or at least a way to send for them.
 
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Not sure why you're complaining about the game. If anything, it makes it really easy to sell on ebay.
 
defy said:
Not sure why you're complaining about the game. If anything, it makes it really easy to sell on ebay.
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because i shouldnt need to install some shitty 3rd party app that retains total control over the content to play a game. because i shouldnt need to sell it on ebay (another thing i dont use) because this game is supposed to come with the card...which it really doesnt. you must have steam to "install it" which means you are forever tied to steam if you want to play the game. talk about pulling your strings....if i wanted that id buy a console.
 
1. try the newest Asus drivers from their website, if it's behind and has the gray line problem download the ATI drivers. Usually the ATI ones are more up to day, and it shouldn't be too different from the reference card since it's not the sapphire and powercolor with the special coolers.

2. I know it's a pain but at least they are throwing it in as a nice gesture, some cards come with less, or nothing but the card and the drivers, you always had the option to buy a card without a game, might have been slightly cheaper or the same price.

Things about steam, it's not as bad as it seems, you can find a lot of games on sale there on holidays or some weekends, your games are there so if you install steam on another computer you can install the games on the 2nd pc, you can only be logged in one at a time thou.

I like not having to worry about loosing a cd somewhere or worry about installing key deactivation since they provide them for you aka games like bioshock with 5 installs for pc or Command and conquer 4 or Farcry 2, they also take care of updating your games, sure steam has a few flaws but I like it so far, made out like a bandit on Christmas, tropico 3 was $13 on sale at one point.

Btw I don't own an ATI card yet, still waiting for fermi to either be amazed or dissapointed, either way I win, competition is good since it will force ATI to drop prices and the 5970's will somehow be in stock everywhere and Nvidia will have a more competitive launch price. My 8800GTX is still pulling strong enough

Anyways enjoy your card.
 
ellover009 said:
1. try the newest Asus drivers from their website, if it's behind and has the gray line problem download the ATI drivers. Usually the ATI ones are more up to day, and it shouldn't be too different from the reference card since it's not the sapphire and powercolor with the special coolers.

2. I know it's a pain but at least they are throwing it in as a nice gesture, some cards come with less, or nothing but the card and the drivers, you always had the option to buy a card without a game, might have been slightly cheaper or the same price.

Things about steam, it's not as bad as it seems, you can find a lot of games on sale there on holidays or some weekends, your games are there so if you install steam on another computer you can install the games on the 2nd pc, you can only be logged in one at a time thou.

I like not having to worry about loosing a cd somewhere or worry about installing key deactivation since they provide them for you aka games like bioshock with 5 installs for pc or Command and conquer 4 or Farcry 2, they also take care of updating your games, sure steam has a few flaws but I like it so far, made out like a bandit on Christmas, tropico 3 was $13 on sale at one point.

Btw I don't own an ATI card yet, still waiting for fermi to either be amazed or dissapointed, either way I win, competition is good since it will force ATI to drop prices and the 5970's will somehow be in stock everywhere and Nvidia will have a more competitive launch price. My 8800GTX is still pulling strong enough

Anyways enjoy your card.
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thanks for the reply, but my main reason for asking is because from the reading ive been doing online the ati drivers are not as well done as the nvidia......if i update nvidia drivers ive always been able to just install overtop and ive never had any issues. apparently with ati this is a bad thing to do. most people im reading are using some uninstall utility everytime they change the driver set (which is a pita to me) so i just wanted to install the right driver the first time if i can. this is my first ati card since my 386/486 days.....so i guess im kind of an ati noob. the other thing was im not sure if the asus branded driver is any different from the ati reference drivers, or if the tweak utilities are separate.

as for fermi, i really dont know what the hype is all about. for me its a mute point as fermi will need sli for multi-monitors so thats why i made the jump from nvidia to ati. the other thing is nvidia is going to have to do better than the regular 20-25% increase in speed to compete with ati's cards now.
 
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Rogue71 said:
thanks for the reply, but my main reason for asking is because from the reading ive been doing online the ati drivers are not as well done as the nvidia......if i update nvidia drivers ive always been able to just install overtop and ive never had any issues. apparently with ati this is a bad thing to do. most people im reading are using some uninstall utility everytime they change the driver set (which is a pita to me) so i just wanted to install the right driver the first time if i can. this is my first ati card since my 386/486 days.....so i guess im kind of an ati noob. the other thing was im not sure if the asus branded driver is any different from the ati reference drivers, or if the tweak utilities are separate.

as for fermi, i really dont know what the hype is all about. for me its a mute point as fermi will need sli for multi-monitors so thats why i made the jump from nvidia to ati. the other thing is nvidia is going to have to do better than the regular 20-25% increase in speed to compete with ati's cards now.
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Most people having to use the special driver removal because they are having issues because they changed from NV to ATI and never used it on the first place so they are having issues, or if they go from an really old card to a really new one in which the drivers are not even the same example NV unified drivers for the ancient stuff like an old gf4 ti4200 to a 8800gtx, the 8800gtx and some of the newer cards might have their own specific drivers.

ATI is a little eccentric when it comes to patches, they like to do mini patches to immediately tie ppl over while they work on getting the big patch together, NV likes to do one big patch or an updated patch and get things over with, I am not a fan of that but it's how they roll. NV might have less issues because they are optimized for a lot of games or have they developers on their pockets so they limit what runs on their competitors example batman arkam azylum locks down physics and some special effects for NV hardware and the only way to enable it is to hack the game and have a NV card as a slave card for physics, I also heard about poor performance on borderlands.

I've been tempted to try ATI out but it's so difficult with the price jacking that they are doing atm since there is no competition, my friend tells me about how aggressively ati/amd is know for value but they are just as bad as NV, I bet the NV card comes out the 5970's will magically be back in stock everywhere. Still Nice being able to do 3 monitors out of one card, don't care about 3d too much since I am visually impaired aka glasses so it's gonna be a bit more challenging for me. Another variable that's holding me back is how likely I am to own 3 monitors, go 3 monitors or have a single 30 inch monitor that does fit on my desk, ATM I am running a Sony FW900 crt and I love this thing, can't stack 3 of those because of power cost and having a desk strong enough to to support 350lbs just for the monitors. What I love about CRT is being able to use any resolution I want and refresh rate while not having it look like junk if I use a non supported resolution.

It's just trial and error and working around some issues and I'll bet you'll be a happy camper with your card, it's kinda like going from PC all your life to trying a mac, I tried one at a store and I fell out of place, even thou they are supposed to be a lot easier. Just find the right settings and hopefully it works out for you, I don't blame you for being a little frustrated or upset, I probably would too if I changed over and had to learn some things over or do things differently.
 
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well im not frustrated...yet. lol im doing a fresh install tomorrow , flipping my system to windows 7 64bit from 32bit,as well as changing to the 5870 video card from my gtx275. im just trying to get as much info as possible so i can try to eleviate a bunch of trial and error if possible. i wont be oc'ing my card, dont have crossfire and i wont have my 3 new screens for eyefinity for at least a few weeks.
 
1. Always use the latest drivers from the AMD/ATi website. I believe they are at 10.2 or something. Sometimes I wonder why they even bother to ship a driver CD because it's usually outdated by the time it gets to you. There is also a hotfix that's available for 10.2 that enables anti-aliasing in Mass Effect 2 which is pretty sweet if you need it.

2. Steam isn't really a POS. I use it for CoD, HL:2, and Mass Effect 2 and I have to say it's pretty sweet. I don't have to worry about CD keys or CDs for that matter. I can download and play my games anywhere on any machine. It's not nearly as bad as you are making it seem.
 
Fenix793 said:
Steam isn't really a POS. I use it for CoD, HL:2, and Mass Effect 2 and I have to say it's pretty sweet. I don't have to worry about CD keys or CDs for that matter. I can download and play my games anywhere on any machine. It's not nearly as bad as you are making it seem.
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This.

Not to mention steam cloud that saves all of your settings going from computer to computer. It's awesome, I don't know about any of you - but I take my laptop to work on overnights and it's nice having the same stuff as at home.
 
I used to be a Steam hater, but it's grown on me over the years.

My biggest complaint is that it was a resource hog, but that doesn't matter much these days with quad-core processors and gigs of spare memory. Other than that, I didn't like being forced to register for HL2.

It's kind of proven to me over the years it's worth. Switching from computer to computer (upgrades, or multiple computers), I have been able to re-download all my games and settings with ease. During sales, Steam usually has the best deals around.

But, if you hate it... I can't really help you with that. I would just say give it a try and see what you think. Many people think that Steam is one of the largest factors keeping PC gaming alive (and in fact helping it grow). Otherwise, most big budget games will end up going straight to console, and you'll have to buy a console anyway.
 
Seriously steam is POS? Dude its the most viable app of its kind and steam doesn't install bloatware on your computer .. not sure where you're pulling that from. It takes 2-3 mins to install and then time to download Dirt 2 .. get over it.
 
Godmachine said:
Seriously steam is POS? Dude its the most viable app of its kind and steam doesn't install bloatware on your computer .. not sure where you're pulling that from. It takes 2-3 mins to install and then time to download Dirt 2 .. get over it.
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just because its a viable app doesnt mean its the best thing to use. its just the best thing available. i have had many systems come to me massively screwed up due to problems with steam installations and problems. i just will not touch it. thats my opinion and you are welcome to yours. i have major problems with a 3rd party app controlling what im playing, updating etc..the fact that you have to have it installed to even access your games, and you also have mod limitations. so no thanks.

this is the same mentality that allowed apple to ramp up the marketing hype of the ipod and now most people assume its the best out there. its not. but for alot of people (especially in canada) its pretty much all thats available due to the way that company has dug in among the major retailers.
 
Steam has really picked up over the last 2 years. If it is the first time installing it on your machine, you will have no problems with Dirt 2. Game updates and patches are a breeze with Steam and the Steam community is great for teaming up in multiplayer games. The Steam overlay works in just about any game, giving you quick access to chatrooms and VOIP while in game.

You could be paying $50 a year for the same service from Xbox Live. Steam is free. There is nothing insidious about Steam - it's a new, more efficient business model. Really, the way we've bought games in the past is more controlling. We had to drive to Best Buy, Gamestop, Walmart, or Target to pick from a selection of games that they control. They don't sell AO games (a form of censorship) and they don't carry many (if any) indie games. I'm not sure if Steam allows the former, but they do have a big selection of the later.
 
For me Steam ain't a problem for me. You can turn it off. Dirth2 is a problem though. I do not want to install utility for windows gaming so there is no normal save game in game. So I have played it once and never again. Tbh it doesn't do much for me either.


MD
 
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