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Upgrade to latest Catalyst or not?

J

jujujarlo

n00b
Joined
Aug 30, 2006
Messages
5
Hi guys,

I'm new to ATI scene, since I have always used Nvidia.
But, since the terrible experience I had with the 7900 GTX series (3/3 defective) I moved on, and bought an HIS x1900XTX Iceq3.

Before installing the new card I cleaned everything up, including driveclean, and then installed the Catalyst drivers that came with my card (version 6.3).
Would you suggest that I install newer or newest Catalyst drivers? Will I gain something in performance (w/o oc... I am still scorched after the 7900)? Will the annoying screen flashing I have every time I access CCC disappear (I read somewhere that it's normal... annoying, nevertheless).
Or should I go with the "ain't broke, don't fix it" approach?

System config as follows:
AMD 3500+@2.4 GHZ
MB ASUS M32n-SLI
2x512 MB ICE 533 MHZ
3x250 GB Maxtor SATA
PSU Liberty 500W (32 Amp on 12v rail)

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
i believe that ati didnt released the new cats for that family the 6.9s u could give it
a try if u want. I have a x800 series card. And the cats worked fine on my system.


Products Supported:

* Radeon® X1900 series
* Radeon® X1800 series
* Radeon® X1600 series
* Radeon® X1300 series
* Radeon® X850 series
* Radeon® X800 series
* Radeon® X700 series
* Radeon® X600 series



* Radeon® X550 series
* Radeon® X300 series
* Radeon® 9800 series
* Radeon® 9700 series
* Radeon® 9600 series
* Radeon® 9650 series
* Radeon® 9550 series
* Radeon® 9500 series

NOTE: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also supported.
 
I'm pretty sure going from cat 6.3 to 6.9 you'll get some performance improvements.
I'd use driver cleaner on everything.
And then download just the DD and WDM packages from ATi.

Don't use or even install CCC.
Use tray tools instead.
 
Stereophile said:
I'm pretty sure going from cat 6.3 to 6.9 you'll get some performance improvements.
I'd use driver cleaner on everything.
And then download just the DD and WDM packages from ATi.

Don't use or even install CCC.
Use tray tools instead.
Click to expand...

whats so bad about ccc?
i know its not the most user friendly program but i like it cuz it has temp monitor, even though i have ati tool running, but i dont think its that bad.
 
[teh]manwich said:
whats so bad about ccc?
i know its not the most user friendly program but i like it cuz it has temp monitor, even though i have ati tool running, but i dont think its that bad.
Click to expand...

First of all thanks for the answers.
I have already upgraded to 6.6 (the latest version that was on the HIS website) and I think I'll go for 6.9.
Still, I too would like to know why CCC is so badly considered. Does it hinder performance somehow? I seem to recall having read something like that in a previous thread, but I'm not too sure about it.
 
jujujarlo said:
First of all thanks for the answers.
I have already upgraded to 6.6 (the latest version that was on the HIS website) and I think I'll go for 6.9.
Still, I too would like to know why CCC is so badly considered. Does it hinder performance somehow? I seem to recall having read something like that in a previous thread, but I'm not too sure about it.
Click to expand...
It's a resource hog.
 
I found the CCC to be pretty useful, but I could easily see why it would be a system hog. It uses .net framework and runs 3D demonstrations when you change 3D settings.
 
or you could simply use the Display Driver alone and get ATI Tray Tools. Problem solved...
 
in the release notes then mentioned crossfire improvements for a few items, so I upgraded.. they seem to work fine. I haven't benched out any hard numbers yet tho. :)
 
Budwise said:
or you could simply use the Display Driver alone and get ATI Tray Tools. Problem solved...
Click to expand...

Problem with ATI Tray Tools is that it doesn't work very well.

For example, try changing the 'Catalyst AI' settings in it, then compare the settting in CCC. The two are not at all related. Ditto Aniso settings ('quality' vs 'performance'), and a few other things - FSAA is usually iffy, as well.

It's not to say that ATI Tray Tools doens't have a better looking interface, that consumes less resources than CCC...it just doesn't work as well.

CCC really isn't that bad, anyway.
 
dderidex said:
Problem with ATI Tray Tools is that it doesn't work very well.
Click to expand...
Bingo. The word I'd use is "unreliable", though mileage may vary. For X1900 cards, ATT is still particularly unreliable.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
What is catalyst AI anyway?
Click to expand...

A whole bundle of things. In briefest overview - it allows the driver to take action based what an application is trying to do vs what it actually requested to do.

In practice, it's a database of "known issues" with games and the needed work-around. It's critical for Crossfire to work, too, as it makes sure the best Crossfire mode for any particular game is the one being used for it. It also lets the driver take shortcuts in rendering for some 3d apps when a known shortcut exists that does not impact visual quality much (or, sometimes, at all). This is also ATI's facility to drop in re-written shaders for some game's whose performance would otherwise be abominable on ATI hardware. It controls certain filtering optimizations on a per-title basis, and it can also override user-set options on games that are known to be invalid choices (IIRC., certain releases did this for Battlefield 2 - you'd set FSAA, but since it didn't work for that particular Catalyst + BF2 version combination, it would simply not be enabled in-game).

You could keep going with all the stuff it does. Basically, any sane end-user wants to leave it enabled, and generally cranked all the way up - unless you are noticing some negative effect from it in a specific title.

phide said:
Bingo. The word I'd use is "unreliable", though mileage may vary. For X1900 cards, ATT is still particularly unreliable.
Click to expand...

Agreed. For X800s, and pre-6.xx Catalyst drivers, it worked fairly well.

It just doesn't any more, though - the author simply hasn't had time to update it enough to keep up with ATI's team.
 
dderidex said:
A whole bundle of things. In briefest overview - it allows the driver to take action based what an application is trying to do vs what it actually requested to do.

In practice, it's a database of "known issues" with games and the needed work-around. It's critical for Crossfire to work, too, as it makes sure the best Crossfire mode for any particular game is the one being used for it. It also lets the driver take shortcuts in rendering for some 3d apps when a known shortcut exists that does not impact visual quality much (or, sometimes, at all). This is also ATI's facility to drop in re-written shaders for some game's whose performance would otherwise be abominable on ATI hardware. It controls certain filtering optimizations on a per-title basis, and it can also override user-set options on games that are known to be invalid choices (IIRC., certain releases did this for Battlefield 2 - you'd set FSAA, but since it didn't work for that particular Catalyst + BF2 version combination, it would simply not be enabled in-game).

You could keep going with all the stuff it does. Basically, any sane end-user wants to leave it enabled, and generally cranked all the way up - unless you are noticing some negative effect from it in a specific title.



Agreed. For X800s, and pre-6.xx Catalyst drivers, it worked fairly well.

It just doesn't any more, though - the author simply hasn't had time to update it enough to keep up with ATI's team.
Click to expand...

Ah thanks, good information to have.
:D
 
I don't notice any problems with CCC, it works great for me, no complains (anymore)

I have the same card you have, it works so well, and the new cooler on it easily warrants the price
 
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