• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Updating AMD catalyst drivers

R

Ruahrc

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
451
So I am running on a pretty new build (< 3 months) and got an update notification to upgrade my Catalyst drivers. Not being familiar with the current state of video cards/drivers, what's the best approach?

Should I just download the entire CCC suite, or is there a leaner/less bloat method? Do I need to uninstall the old drivers first before installing the new ones, or is it okay nowadays to just install the new version over the old, and everything's fine?

One caveat is that I would like to be able to set AA/AF settings at the driver level somtimes, since some of my games don't have AA options, or can be enhanced by driver-level settings (like SC2). Does that mean I need to have CCC installed?
 
You can just install new drivers over the old ones and yeah you need CCC installed. You can always try Radeon Pro or ATI Tray Tools instead of CCC although I'm not sure of the current state of tray tools.
 
click download, and go from there. got a notification today also.

with new drivers theres no need to "clean install" unless theres something wrong with the driver.
 
I would highly recommend to do clean install.
download a latest driver sweeper and uninstall your current driver from control panel.
Go to safemode and use your driver sweeper to clean out old registries and reboot.
install your latest driver.
 
Just download and run the installler. Driver cleaner or sweeper hasn't been relevant since Windows 98.

Just run the installer and it'll update your drivers
 
H-street said:
Driver cleaner or sweeper hasn't been relevant since Windows 98.
Click to expand...

That makes absolutely no sense, Driver Sweeper wasn't even released until 07.

The last time I checked AMD recommended uninstalling the old drivers/software from the control panel, then install the new drivers.
 
I've never done a clean install, is this just a superstitious thing or has someone from ATI actually come out and said to do it that way on record?
 
Ticker305 said:
I've never done a clean install, is this just a superstitious thing or has someone from ATI actually come out and said to do it that way on record?
Click to expand...

AMD recommend uninstalling old drivers first. Funnily enough, there's NO mention of using drivercleaner or any other crap, with good reason. The AMD installer does a perfectly good job. As has been hinted already, this isn't 1999 when the installers were somewhat less efficient.
 
Well you do not have to use driver sweeper, but driver sweeper makes everything very clean. I do swap my GPU very often, so I do use driver sweeper all the time. THink of as like clean install.
 
i've yet to have an issue with drivers, and i've been just "upgrading" driviers since the 3800 series came out. still waiting on the mystical unicorn to come and crash my pc with errors.
 
I'm another, "don't bother with the clean install"...........crowd, w/ Windows 7. Never had a problem. If you have a problem, then do a clean install, if you have to.
 
Some times I have issues with AMD drivers not displaying all the Video/Color options or the Overdrive tab not showing all my GPU's in a crossfire setup (haven't had either issue in awhile though, at least since they changed the GUI for the Video stuff) so as a result I install on top of and see if it works, if not I clean install.
 
I've seen ATi employees post on other forums and state that they personally do not bother to uninstall and there is no need to. I rarely followed that advice but it should not be a problem either way.
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
I've seen ATi employees post on other forums and state that they personally do not bother to uninstall and there is no need to. I rarely followed that advice but it should not be a problem either way.
Click to expand...

I don't either, constant installation of new drivers over old works just fine on all my setups.
 
I generally just install over the current drivers and if have issues. I wipe the drivers out with driver sweeper.
 
So it seems like the AMD recommended procedure is to uninstall the old drivers using add/remove programs, then install the new set.

Some (most?) people just install right over the old drivers anyway, and have no problem.

Some follow the AMD recommended procedure

Some go further and use driversweeper first, then install the new drivers?

I'll probably go with the lazy route and just install over the old stuff.
 
CCC is the only issue if you dont use Driver Sweeper, at least in my case. In fact I just installed the latest AMD drivers and didnt clean the old ones off and I just tried to open CCC and it wont. So yeah, its best to break out Driver Sweeper and give her a good sweepin' before installing.
 
Since cat 10 the uninstaller is included with it and is much better.
Before cat 9 i would uninsall it, now its not really needed.
 
Worked like a charm again. CCC wouldnt open at all, I go in and wipe the drivers with Driver Sweeper and now CCC works perfectly. Is kind of a pain to have to do that every time though. Think Ill skip the next few updates since none of them ever seem to apply to the 5800 series cards anymore anyway.
 
Ebernanut said:
That makes absolutely no sense, Driver Sweeper wasn't even released until 07.

The last time I checked AMD recommended uninstalling the old drivers/software from the control panel, then install the new drivers.
Click to expand...

Driver sweeper itself may have been released in 07 but the type of utility has been around for a while.
 
Ticker305 said:
I've never done a clean install, is this just a superstitious thing or has someone from ATI actually come out and said to do it that way on record?
Click to expand...

Yes they have. http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx

1) when you wish to update your drivers, AMD recommends using the complete package, ie CCC + drivers.

2) AMD recommends uninstalling the old package through the Windows Control Panel, then installing the new package.

I generally uninstall, using the uninstaller>safe mode>drivercleaner.net (clears the registry, Drivercleaner.net you must purchase, but it is kept current via updates. I think I spent $10.)>install the new drivers.

You will see many say that is not necessary. I have NEVER encountered a problem or conflict doing it that way, but I HAVE encountered problems just installing over a prior set.
At least use the uninstaller.

Don't forget to install the laters CAP (catalyst application profile) while your at it.

To uninstall a prior CAP.......uninstall the driver package........the again go to the Control Panel and uninstall the CAP.:D
 
I use the AMD recommended process which is just use their manager to handle installs, repairs, upgrades, and just uninstall and then reinstall for a proper downgrade.

Under Windows 7 I have yet to run into a problem with driver maintenance relying on only AMD's software to take care of it.
 
What exactly are the CAPs and what do I need them for? I looked up some other sources of info on these and it seems like they pertain only to crossfire (multi-GPU) setups? If I am only running a single video card, then I don't really need these?

BTW, is there a way to set 3D settings on a per-application basis? For example 2 games I play have conflicting 3D settings. In Starcraft 2 there is no AA setting in the video graphics options, so I set the AA settings in the AMD CCC to be "override application settings" and set it to 4x. But in Star Trek Online, I can manually set AA options, up to a maximum of 8x. But if I have the CCC set to "override application settings" I only get 4xAA in STO. If I want 8xAA, I have to go to CCC and set it to "use application settings" but if I do this and forget to set it back, SC2 will run with no AA.

Is there a way to set it up so that when running SC2 it gets forced to 4xAA by the driver, but in STO it uses 8xAA by the application (supposedly this method gives better performance?)
 
I've installed literally 1000's of drivers (from all types of cards) since XP came out, and have yet to have a single problem.......

However, I am meticulously unrelenting about keeping my system as lean & clean of crap as humanly possible too, which I am sure has alot to do with it :eek:

as is demontrated here, YMMV, so do what you feel is necessary..........
 
I'm totally with you bonehead, I have had a similar behavior ingrained in me since the good ol' Win98 days. I don't even have flash, java, or MS office installed on my PC- it's purely for gaming only. I can't even read PDF game manuals on this PC it's so lean :).

And I bring down righteous and mighty retribution on any wayward process that dares, dares defile my system tray with an extra or unnecessary icon. The only icon thus far to earn my badge of approval there is MSI afterburner, the windows speaker icon, and the wireless networking icon :).
 
Ruahrc said:
What exactly are the CAPs and what do I need them for? I looked up some other sources of info on these and it seems like they pertain only to crossfire (multi-GPU) setups? If I am only running a single video card, then I don't really need these?

BTW, is there a way to set 3D settings on a per-application basis? For example 2 games I play have conflicting 3D settings. In Starcraft 2 there is no AA setting in the video graphics options, so I set the AA settings in the AMD CCC to be "override application settings" and set it to 4x. But in Star Trek Online, I can manually set AA options, up to a maximum of 8x. But if I have the CCC set to "override application settings" I only get 4xAA in STO. If I want 8xAA, I have to go to CCC and set it to "use application settings" but if I do this and forget to set it back, SC2 will run with no AA.

Is there a way to set it up so that when running SC2 it gets forced to 4xAA by the driver, but in STO it uses 8xAA by the application (supposedly this method gives better performance?)
Click to expand...

An excellent question.
Yes, the CAPs(Catalyst Application Profiles) are generally small software packages that are designed to run Crossfire specific functions for individual games.
That said, AMD says single card users may benefit as well.
The CAPs are released to update profiles that are already in driver sets as new games come out.

As of this month, AMD has released a user defined profile system.
Theis would be just what you want.

Read this:http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/12/19/amd_catalyst_121_preview_profiles_performance :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top