Change AMD to Creative and you have the same thing. They'll make "highend" hardware and the support is garbage. Because of this issue I will not be putting my X-Fi Fata1ity Extreme (UBER Awesome Hi-Fi Bliss) in my next build. At least Realtek updates their sound drivers every month or two.
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AMD CrossFireX Drivers - Opportunity Lost @ [H]
- Thread starter FrgMstr
- Start date
byusinger84
Gawd
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I think some of you are missing the point here. Some of you are claiming that those with complaints are nothing but a bunch of whiners because they would like polished drivers at launch date. I don't think anyone here is expecting everything to work perfectly with new hardware, but it is not unreasonable to assume that they get the most important parts of their drivers working somewhat reasonably by launch date (ie CrossfireX).
The other issue at work here is that driver support on mature hardware still suffers from some of the same problems that they have had on launch date. They are also slow to get updates out by release date of some of the more popular games, and with Crossfire support even further behind (see Skyrim, Batman, and many others). What this appears to be is either poor planning by AMD and/or lack of sufficient driver staff to keep up with the release of new titles. I get that nvidia has their stamp on a lot of new and popular games, but there's no reason they can't work with the developer to try and get a semi decent driver by launch date.
The final point I think is being made is that AMD makes some truly beautiful hardware that's not only powerful, but efficient and sips power on idle. I think Kyle's issue is that if you're going to spend all that time on the hardware side of things with that much care and detail, shouldn't AMD do the same thing with their software as well?
The other issue at work here is that driver support on mature hardware still suffers from some of the same problems that they have had on launch date. They are also slow to get updates out by release date of some of the more popular games, and with Crossfire support even further behind (see Skyrim, Batman, and many others). What this appears to be is either poor planning by AMD and/or lack of sufficient driver staff to keep up with the release of new titles. I get that nvidia has their stamp on a lot of new and popular games, but there's no reason they can't work with the developer to try and get a semi decent driver by launch date.
The final point I think is being made is that AMD makes some truly beautiful hardware that's not only powerful, but efficient and sips power on idle. I think Kyle's issue is that if you're going to spend all that time on the hardware side of things with that much care and detail, shouldn't AMD do the same thing with their software as well?
Had pretty much the same experience *last night*.
My process is usually boot to safemode, uninstall, reboot to safemode, run driversweeper, reboot to standard, install new driver, reboot. I had to run through the install on a different computer, and count how many times to press Tab and Space or Enter on each screen and write it down, and install blind due to the exact same graphic corruption you described. I'm running an XFX 6990
I have learn my lesson with the 5970, that was a piece of shit to get to run in Eyefinity. I have 2 480's in SLI and in Portrait mode and not once I have had an issue on any new game. When swtor came up, I updated my drivers from Nvidia web site,and it ran fine. Here the kicker it did not break my other games, which happens a lot with the 5990. I have always said, for a single video card performance, you can go either way. For a dual card performance, Nvidia is the only way to go.
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AngelicPenguin
Weaksauce
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So I read this entire thread and am still not entirely sure of the answer. My graphics card came with a little piece of paper that said "download the driver from AMD because of updates" for some last minute update or something. So that's the driver I am using.
The driver online looks nothing like their other downloads as its clearly a 7970 only driver.
I have a second 7970 coming in tomorrow because the first one was so impressive. Should I expect CrossfireX to not function AT ALL? Or is it just typical ATI from the past few years where many games don't work right now, or have negative scaling or this power whatsamathing Kyle mentions.
I'm fine with the latter as this has been ATI dual GPU MO for a while now, and was expecting that (not happy mind you, but that's just the way it is with cutting edge.) No crossfire support AT ALL for the driver I am using, however does seem really bad and I hope that is not the case.
The driver online looks nothing like their other downloads as its clearly a 7970 only driver.
I have a second 7970 coming in tomorrow because the first one was so impressive. Should I expect CrossfireX to not function AT ALL? Or is it just typical ATI from the past few years where many games don't work right now, or have negative scaling or this power whatsamathing Kyle mentions.
I'm fine with the latter as this has been ATI dual GPU MO for a while now, and was expecting that (not happy mind you, but that's just the way it is with cutting edge.) No crossfire support AT ALL for the driver I am using, however does seem really bad and I hope that is not the case.
AngelicPenguin
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Do you mean the 5970? Funny that is the card I just replaced and had really very little problems with eyefinity with it. Probably ran different games, I'd guess. I only replaced it with the 7970 because it started to physically flake out and it was out of warranty
WorldExclusive
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Yes, the grass is indeed "greener" on the other side.
Let 'em hate.
Let 'em hate.
Crossfire does work. This was my main contention with the article, CFX does work but some games don't have CAP profiles.
You should be fine. If you need an installation CD driver, PM me and i'll upload it for you.
Some at ATF have xfire working with the website driver.
Just checked out AMD's forum and they have a new blog/twitter site up so you can go on there and tell them how fine of a job they are doing.
http://blogs.amd.com/play/tag/ati-catalyst/
http://blogs.amd.com/play/tag/ati-catalyst/
Whisperfang
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I've had a GTX580 in my system since a month after launch. At the beginning of the year i wanted more performance and was considering a 7970 instead of a second GTX580 because of the better hardware. After seeing all the issues with the drivers (that still haven't been resolved!!!) over the past several months with Skyrim, BF3, etc etc, i just didn't want any part of that driver mess. I spent $450 on a GTX580, $180 on a new PSU to support SLI, and $200 on a new motherboard because my old one wasn't compatible. All because i didn't want the current ATI driver mess.
This is the issue as i see it -
1. Microsoft as they make the DX 9/10/11 API
2. AMD / Nvidia - drivers
3. Game / Application developers.
Game developer has to not be completely stupid and not know eyefinity is broken when they release a game, and full well know the driver release schedule is not for a month later, so users whom by on launch date will have a 1st months broken game.
Another key point is AMD and Nvidia have driver schedules to release that make new games applications work. Well those game / application developers release schedules more often then not, different from the driver release schedule. So they full well know the game is busted upon release, but they need cash to make sales, so they release it and do the finger point game its not our fault system. Yet most go hidden as we see they make quick game patches, which is their fault not amd as they dont design patch games, they only make drivers.
How many games did a patch occur soon after release, vs a video card driver game never patched after release fix video isses ?? The blame is 2 fold.
Also how many are simply game / application piss poor software developers that are not programming it correctly within the DX structure, and also Microsofts training and development tools for DX as we all know is not 100% perfect either,
1. Microsoft as they make the DX 9/10/11 API
2. AMD / Nvidia - drivers
3. Game / Application developers.
Game developer has to not be completely stupid and not know eyefinity is broken when they release a game, and full well know the driver release schedule is not for a month later, so users whom by on launch date will have a 1st months broken game.
Another key point is AMD and Nvidia have driver schedules to release that make new games applications work. Well those game / application developers release schedules more often then not, different from the driver release schedule. So they full well know the game is busted upon release, but they need cash to make sales, so they release it and do the finger point game its not our fault system. Yet most go hidden as we see they make quick game patches, which is their fault not amd as they dont design patch games, they only make drivers.
How many games did a patch occur soon after release, vs a video card driver game never patched after release fix video isses ?? The blame is 2 fold.
Also how many are simply game / application piss poor software developers that are not programming it correctly within the DX structure, and also Microsofts training and development tools for DX as we all know is not 100% perfect either,
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This is why I am happy to sit on the fence a few months and see how the 7970 plays out. It's still early into the life cycle and with the overclocking abilities of the stock cards, it's probably worth it to wait for custom PCB boards like the ASUS ROG cards. If the drivers aren't mature by then, I'll just wait for Kepler. It's not like dual GTX580s are limiting me in any way right now.
Do you mean the 5970? Funny that is the card I just replaced and had really very little problems with eyefinity with it. Probably ran different games, I'd guess. I only replaced it with the 7970 because it started to physically flake out and it was out of warranty
Your correct, 5970. The game that gave the worst nightmares was Borderlands. I also remember the monitors will just power off on their own depending what drivers we where using.
Fuckin A right I'm cooler than most.
I am similar to you though. I almost never buy a game at release. God knows I have more than enough that I've bought and haven't even played yet.
In addition to that, I'm kind of a cheap skate, I hate paying $50-60 for a game when I know that in a month or two it'll most likely be on sale through steam for a fraction of the price. Hell, I only paid $6.75 for BFBC2, $5 for Mass Effect and so on.
The last game that I bought at release was Mass Effect 2, before that BF2142.
Regardless, even those games that I bought at release, played well enough that I really didn't care if they had a CF or SLI profile.
I don't bench anymore really so all of this bullshit that people whine about, makes not an iota of difference to me.
As I eluded to before, more often than not it's user error that causes most of the issues that people have. I've been a member over at OCN since '08 and have helped countless people with their driver issues. More often than not it's someone using driver sweeper to try and remove any last remnant of the previous driver and mistakenly remove chipset drivers and so on.
I'd dare say that 80% of driver related issues are PEBKAC, plain and simple.
Obviously scaling is another story, but still, I've found games that aren't officially supported still utilized both GPU's. Sure maybe not as much as I'd have liked, but I've never had to turn down any setting on almost any game with the exception of Metro 2033. Even Metro I could run almost completely maxed, just had to crank down AA.
In the respect I have used never was referring to the past. Although you're right they still have a chance to cook up your brand new 7970.
And I wholeheartedly agree with the dual GPU cards. ATi has consistently made better ones than Nvidia.
The 9800GX2's hardcore microstutter problem, the twin PCB GTX295 wouldn't work half the time and have usual hardware failures. I swear I've read WAAAAY more posts about people having issues with the 295's than any other dual GPU card. Couple that with poor drivers from Nvidia supporting it, that card was a fail all around.
Then you have the 590 which is just a piece of crap. Doesn't OC almost at all, and if you do, it fails never to be heard from again. Hence most distributors dropped them almost as fast as they picked them up.
Sure the 5970 had issues, but never at a hardware level. Sure ATi drivers didn't support CF in some games, but as with ANY dual GPU configuration, you should expect that. This goes for BOTH Nvidia and ATi.
However, I think that there's this bandwagon that people like to jump on with ATI CF hate. People run unstable overclocks and then wonder why their driver installs fail, hmmmm.....I wonder?
I very rarely buy or play games on release day as im more concerned about bugs in the game that need patching than a worry about multi GPU support and of course like waiting for the steam sales.
Lets not forget the soul of 3DFX still lives on at Nvidia. You know, the people who invented multi GPU setups back in the 90s...
Current SLI technology is totally different than what 3dfx used. I doubt it's still relevant. Not to say that they aren't good engineers, but the old tech is long dead.
Hmm?
3dfx invented SLI and created the term SLI. So while i'm sure it evolved, 3dfx DID cerate SLI.
Nvidia did have sli support until they acquired most of the old 3dfx engineers.
CrossfireX is not the most important part of new hardware release, making the drivers work with games is first and foremost, getting CrossfireX working is secondary as what's the point if there was perfect CrossfireX compatibility, but most games failed to work on the new card period when most users are single card users and you would then have a much bigger outcry.
The new cards require a completely new driver coding technique than the cards before.
I think these companys are just supporting way to many products. AMD is supporting 2006 hardware. We are now in the 6th year of software support for that hardware. perhaps amd should separate the radeon hd 3x00 and 4x00 series from the monthly upgrade path and put it in a 4 month update cycle or even 6 month upgrade cycle . That could allow the driver team to focus on the newer hardware.They are now also supporting vliw 4 , 5 and gcn . it may be way to much for the game
Amd Update the drivers every month as well and been doing so for years, where have you been.
As regards to sound cards they should not require a monthly update.
No shit sherlock, thus why i carefully avoided the use of the term 'SLI'. I said 'multi-gpu'. As in "My Cyrix 200 white box computer had a trident 2D card and (2) Diamond Voodoo 2 3D GPUs" (although i dont think the term GPU had been coined yet).
And saying modern SLI architecture wasnt largely influenced by the acquisition of 3DFX is jsut foolish. They draw the screen in halves instead of interlacing, other then that not conceptually much difference in the technologies. GPU 0 draws one section, GPU 1 draws another section, combine
I don't understand why AMD didn't just wait. It's not like Nvidia's breathing down their necks.
Honestly, AMD's driver team needs a good kick in the pants. Their interface has been traditionally idiotic and nonsensical, every iteration being another step backwards. Their crossfire support is marginal, especially for older cards, which is bad, because crossfireing older cards is ideally a good upgrade path. My HD4850X2, for example is great hardware, and shouldn't have a problem, but they won't even release a Skyrim profile for it. AMD might have good hardware, but without software support, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. They need to really shake up their driver department, because the people in charge can't seem to do what it takes to get the job done.
Honestly, I don't see any reason to invest in their hardware anymore, if it means I'm going to encounter premature obsolescence due to lousy driver support. I'd rather have a slightly slower card from Nvidia that I can trust to work, especially these days, when games aren't really pushing cards very hard.
Honestly, AMD's driver team needs a good kick in the pants. Their interface has been traditionally idiotic and nonsensical, every iteration being another step backwards. Their crossfire support is marginal, especially for older cards, which is bad, because crossfireing older cards is ideally a good upgrade path. My HD4850X2, for example is great hardware, and shouldn't have a problem, but they won't even release a Skyrim profile for it. AMD might have good hardware, but without software support, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. They need to really shake up their driver department, because the people in charge can't seem to do what it takes to get the job done.
Honestly, I don't see any reason to invest in their hardware anymore, if it means I'm going to encounter premature obsolescence due to lousy driver support. I'd rather have a slightly slower card from Nvidia that I can trust to work, especially these days, when games aren't really pushing cards very hard.
BF3 quad fire worked me on release days AMD had a driver ready for it.
Everything is not equal between setups
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33984962
Bought into the whole 5970 quadfire thing back when they launched, driver support was absolutely abysmal. Frequent BSODs regardless of whether I had either one or both cards in there, disappointing performance. As others have stated hardware was great at least in theory but drivers blew ass. Replaced the 5970 x2 with a single GTX580 and not only doubled performance in my main game but my system no longer BSODed. The thing that pissed me off the most was this was supposed to be AMD's flagship product, their best of the best and a quick google search showed that I was far from the only person having these exact same problems. I was stuck on the 10.5 release drivers for over 7 months because with those I only got BSOD's every 2 or 3 days where anything else BSOD'd within a few hours.
I refuse to even consider another AMD/ATI card until I've heard at least TWO generations in a row that the AMD drivers are better/more stable than nVidias, and judging by this article and posts from other users that won't be til at least 2014 that I have to reconsider.
I refuse to even consider another AMD/ATI card until I've heard at least TWO generations in a row that the AMD drivers are better/more stable than nVidias, and judging by this article and posts from other users that won't be til at least 2014 that I have to reconsider.
Digital Viper-X-
[H]F Junkie
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Sorry for the newbness, but from my experience, there is no current problem with CFX on 7970s, I understand that as new games come out new CAPs are needed, and AMD was slow with that for the last year on some titles, but why is that tainting the 7970? I assume you've run into some issues when reviewing 7970 but just asking to be sure
Have to agree that 5970 quadfire thing back when they launched was bad and that's why i didn't jump on until near the end of the 5 series and never once had a 5970 quadfire related BSOD.
But i do noitce a trend of people when they go from Multi GPU of a brand, that they go to Single GPU of the other and make out as if its Apples to Apples when its not, when Multi GPU to Multi GPU like for like is,
I was useing the drivers from 10.5 to 10.10 before i had an issue that got up my nose and i think that 11.6 was when things turned around for the better again for me.
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3dfx's SLI was for "Scan Line Interleave", NVIDIA uses it to mean "Scalable Link Interface". It's totally different technology. This is like saying that RISC and CISC architectures are the same because they are both referred to as CPUs.
byusinger84
Gawd
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I didn't say it was THE most important. Simply that it is one of the most important parts of their drivers. I could honestly care less about the ability to change colors, etc etc in the control panel and more about games working since that what most enthusiasts are after.
Also I don't think you read my entire post. If you looked at what I was saying, I said that I and most users understand that new hardware and new drivers take time. That's not the issue. The issue is what Kyle was saying which is that drivers not just this time around, but for the older gen cards have issues as well, that new games when they came out took MONTHS for support to come from AMD, etc. Those are the issues at work here. I get what you are saying, but you like many others are missing the point. If you disagree, good for you. Move on. But the rest of us definitely have a right to express our frustration in a calm and rational manner.
I have two 6970s and for a lot of things, I give credit to AMD. But when nVidia has official driver releases that coincide with releases of games and AMD is lagging a month or two behind, it's not ok.
The same goes for older NV cards.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18362256
There is likely lots of other example of the official NV forums and others but i rarely go into NV forums and subsections.
I have to admit this has always been the one thing that bothers me about ATI.
I'm as far from a fanboy of any brand as one could be. I've been gaming since the 286 days, and I spent years playing with any card I could get my hands on; I started on a Rendition Verite V1000 card, I've had almost every 3dFX board out there, PowerVR, ATI, Nvidia, S3, and even some that I bet almost no one here has heard of (Number 9 Ticket To Ride - excellent card for the time, btw)... All I want is innovative hardware that advances the baseline, and software that works. I don't mind if it takes you a month or two to work out some launch niggles, but come on - these issues seem to go on WAY past that now.
ATi has never really had a problem with the first one (the HD2900 aside, although Nvidia had the FX5800 as well) - but they've often missed on the second one. I gave up on my original Radeon DDR due to driver issues, and stepped back to a GeForce2 MX simply to get stable, reliable drivers. Same with my Rage 128, although that was an upgrade to a Riva TNT instead. My 9800 Pro (and 9500 softmod) were both perfect and reliable, and my 4XXX series cards were great after a month too... I know tons of people with 5XXX series cards and no problems, but I DREAD every driver update for my two 6870s - I never know if they're going to come back or something is going to break badly when I try, and that's just NOW starting to fade almost a year after release. And I still can't play rage well (black / missing textures even with the latest drivers and patches). Nevermind getting eyefinity to work right without having to unplug the active DP adapter.
I've always liked what ATi did hardware wise - indeed, they've had some of the best silicon for some time, especially when you look at cost and power usage, but it's getting to the point that I can't stand dealing with their software anymore. I'm waiting to see what Nvidia comes out with next, and I may be migrating to that (given that there's no other option out there right now - 2 vendors only sucks ass, I really miss having PowerVR/Rendition/3dFX/etc out there) depending on cost, just to get to something where I'm not fighting the software every time I move. I just want to play games.
I'm as far from a fanboy of any brand as one could be. I've been gaming since the 286 days, and I spent years playing with any card I could get my hands on; I started on a Rendition Verite V1000 card, I've had almost every 3dFX board out there, PowerVR, ATI, Nvidia, S3, and even some that I bet almost no one here has heard of (Number 9 Ticket To Ride - excellent card for the time, btw)... All I want is innovative hardware that advances the baseline, and software that works. I don't mind if it takes you a month or two to work out some launch niggles, but come on - these issues seem to go on WAY past that now.
ATi has never really had a problem with the first one (the HD2900 aside, although Nvidia had the FX5800 as well) - but they've often missed on the second one. I gave up on my original Radeon DDR due to driver issues, and stepped back to a GeForce2 MX simply to get stable, reliable drivers. Same with my Rage 128, although that was an upgrade to a Riva TNT instead. My 9800 Pro (and 9500 softmod) were both perfect and reliable, and my 4XXX series cards were great after a month too... I know tons of people with 5XXX series cards and no problems, but I DREAD every driver update for my two 6870s - I never know if they're going to come back or something is going to break badly when I try, and that's just NOW starting to fade almost a year after release. And I still can't play rage well (black / missing textures even with the latest drivers and patches). Nevermind getting eyefinity to work right without having to unplug the active DP adapter.
I've always liked what ATi did hardware wise - indeed, they've had some of the best silicon for some time, especially when you look at cost and power usage, but it's getting to the point that I can't stand dealing with their software anymore. I'm waiting to see what Nvidia comes out with next, and I may be migrating to that (given that there's no other option out there right now - 2 vendors only sucks ass, I really miss having PowerVR/Rendition/3dFX/etc out there) depending on cost, just to get to something where I'm not fighting the software every time I move. I just want to play games.
MavericK
Zero Cool
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- 31,898
Agreed 100%. My Radeon 9800 Pro was one of the best/most exciting cards I ever used. Unfortunately, even then it was plagued with driver issues and since then all of my cards have been nVidia. My last rig was Opteron based, as well. I'd really like to root for AMD but they just aren't pulling it together, first with the Bulldozer failure and now with lackluster driver support on what seems to be a great piece of hardware in the HD 7xxx series.
Not arguing your main point, but many driver issues have been there for MONTHS now, through 4-5+ releases. they're not working on the GAMES either.
Some General Observations:
I can be considered an ATI/AMD video card fanboy. From the 9700 series forward I have owned every series of their cards(except the 6xxx series). I currently own 2 ASUS 2GB Eyefinity 6 cards. However, there is a constant theme I am seeing with the AMD products. They always seem to be half-baked whether it be the CPU's or the GPU's. A lot of hype, but failure to deliver a total package. Bulldozer was suppose to obliterate the INTEL lineup. nope! It is great on a pricepoint level but the brute performance is lacking. The GPU's are great but on a value added plane they are lacking. Specifically I am referring to their level of support in S3D. I am glad AMD is on the playing field because if they were not, the advancement of technology would be lower and pricing would be higher from their 2 major competitors; and THAT may be the issue with AMD. I applaud them for being able to compete on two major fronts, but it also makes them weaker on both fronts and prevents them from totally winning on either.
I stayed out of the 6xxx series because I was hoping for direct S3D support in the 7xxx series. In a way this proves my point. I do not believe they have the resources to develop and support S3D so they are putting the best spin on it as possible by claiming to offer an open standard for it. Adding S3D would create another layer of drivers they would have to deal with.
With S3D, 120HZ and "Surround multi-monitor" gaming proliferating, the underlying push (for all three)is for the highest framerates as possible. This would mean having Crossfire available at launch or technically it is not really a "hard" launch. BUT, it is a half-baked launch.
When you have purchased all the parts to make a killer computer system and then get brought to your knees by a driver!!!, It does tend to make one a bit angry. A system is only as strong as the weakest part of it and in this scenario there is nothing you can buy or do about it.
I can be considered an ATI/AMD video card fanboy. From the 9700 series forward I have owned every series of their cards(except the 6xxx series). I currently own 2 ASUS 2GB Eyefinity 6 cards. However, there is a constant theme I am seeing with the AMD products. They always seem to be half-baked whether it be the CPU's or the GPU's. A lot of hype, but failure to deliver a total package. Bulldozer was suppose to obliterate the INTEL lineup. nope! It is great on a pricepoint level but the brute performance is lacking. The GPU's are great but on a value added plane they are lacking. Specifically I am referring to their level of support in S3D. I am glad AMD is on the playing field because if they were not, the advancement of technology would be lower and pricing would be higher from their 2 major competitors; and THAT may be the issue with AMD. I applaud them for being able to compete on two major fronts, but it also makes them weaker on both fronts and prevents them from totally winning on either.
I stayed out of the 6xxx series because I was hoping for direct S3D support in the 7xxx series. In a way this proves my point. I do not believe they have the resources to develop and support S3D so they are putting the best spin on it as possible by claiming to offer an open standard for it. Adding S3D would create another layer of drivers they would have to deal with.
With S3D, 120HZ and "Surround multi-monitor" gaming proliferating, the underlying push (for all three)is for the highest framerates as possible. This would mean having Crossfire available at launch or technically it is not really a "hard" launch. BUT, it is a half-baked launch.
When you have purchased all the parts to make a killer computer system and then get brought to your knees by a driver!!!, It does tend to make one a bit angry. A system is only as strong as the weakest part of it and in this scenario there is nothing you can buy or do about it.
bigdogchris
Fully [H]
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How pedantic of you. The point is that Nvidia took the abbreviation "SLI" and has used it to carry on the 'dual GPU' tradition that 3DFX started. Regardless of how it's done, SLI means hooking two cards together for more GPU power.
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AMD's driver team has dropped the ball in the last year and it shows. I do not want to watch this continue to happen going forward and the CFX issue is a perfect example of AMD not being ready for the market it is entertaining.
Godmachine
[H]F Junkie
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While I understand why you would be made with that new $550 card you bought not working correctly because of weak drivers but you know what? You are an early adopter , that is the risk you take.
AMD has a weak driver team , I'm sorry they just do. I own both 2 6950's unlocked to 6970's and 2 GTX 480's , guess which have given me less driver issues over time? The 480's. I've really and honestly not had issues with them but with the 6970's I've had all kinds of Crossfire issues in all kinds of games. I've even gotten use to disabling Crossfire so it could actually at proper frame rates UNTIL AMD would release some kind of temp fix.
AMD's driver team needs have its house cleaned , they need get on the ball .. its starting to get to the point where I might just stay Nvidia only for a while. I hate being a fanboy of anything but Nvidia simply has there shit together when it comes to driver support. The one thing AMD does do better however is GPU tech , there cards run cooler , quieter and use less power yet when the drivers aren't messing things up they are a sight to be seen.
Please AMD , get your driver team in order and make them stop breaking games with every release to fix Crossfire problems? Ok? Thanks.
AMD has a weak driver team , I'm sorry they just do. I own both 2 6950's unlocked to 6970's and 2 GTX 480's , guess which have given me less driver issues over time? The 480's. I've really and honestly not had issues with them but with the 6970's I've had all kinds of Crossfire issues in all kinds of games. I've even gotten use to disabling Crossfire so it could actually at proper frame rates UNTIL AMD would release some kind of temp fix.
AMD's driver team needs have its house cleaned , they need get on the ball .. its starting to get to the point where I might just stay Nvidia only for a while. I hate being a fanboy of anything but Nvidia simply has there shit together when it comes to driver support. The one thing AMD does do better however is GPU tech , there cards run cooler , quieter and use less power yet when the drivers aren't messing things up they are a sight to be seen.
Please AMD , get your driver team in order and make them stop breaking games with every release to fix Crossfire problems? Ok? Thanks.
I have to agree, not that it really matters though but Nvidia's SLI is clearly a carry over of their purchase of some of 3dfx's assets and the hiring of a good portion of their engineers.
to be honest the Voodoo5 5500's SLI wasn't Scan Line either..
from what i could gather is the V5 5500 acts like the "Scissor" SLI method
techreport said:
what is kindof cool about the V5 SLI too is it appears to have had a programmable SLI that a game maker could utilize to optimize their own game for SLI.. Imagine if today the SLI capability was in the maker of the game instead of the drivers, then out of the box game experience with SLI would be much more guaranteed and games themselves could be optimized on their own
V5 5500 SLI Document said:
My response wasn't intended to purely argue semantics, someone made a reference to how NVIDIA absorbed 3dfx, which is true, but the technology that NVIDIA uses is different so it's not an inherent advantage. I would actually argue that CrossfireX is a better hardware implementation as it supports load balancing between different GPUs (e.g. you can mate together 6950s/6970s, etc) and generally has been scaling better than SLI on the last generation. The problem is the software support is not as robust as with SLI currently.
I was going to buy 2 7970s to replace my 6970, but then saw a CFX review on another website and saw the miserable BF3 performance which convinced me to hold back. Now I am glad I did. I can play BF3 on high on my Eyefinity setup with 1 card (around 35 fps). That will do.
Once Kepler comes out I will go back to Nvidia. The last card I had from them was a 8800 GT
Once Kepler comes out I will go back to Nvidia. The last card I had from them was a 8800 GT