SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB. Which driver?

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ahtze

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Hi, I just bought the card and still waiting for it to arrive.

Do you think I should download the latest driver from sapphire website or I should get it directly from ati.com?

Which one will be better? Is there anything I need to do other than cleaning my current driver?

Thanks.
 
T

TonyStark

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Use the drivers found on the disk that comes with the card. If you have any problems, update to the latest drivers.

Before installing your card, uninstall all the current display drivers.
 
sarsoft

sarsoft

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Install the drivers from ati's website first. If you have trouble (probably you wont) go to saphires website, but i think they might have the same driver version as ati. Yep uninstall the old drivers first before installing the new card. GL.
 
MrSiko

MrSiko

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I too have an x1950Pro, and have found the best drivers to use with it are ATi Catalyst 6.12.

Basically every Catalyst higher than 6.12 (i.e. 7.1,7.2 etc) cause flickering of your desktop if you overclock the card even by 1 hz...

Plus, all Catalyst since 6.9 have the "Oblivion" patch, so that you can use HDR and Anti-Aliasing in Oblivion and some other games.

And, in tests the 6.12 driver is faster than the 7.x series drivers...

All of the Catalyst drivers, including old drivers can be found at
http://ati.de/support/drivers/xp/radeonxprevious-xp.html

Enjoy your sweet card...
 
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ahtze

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Hmm.. is using ATi Catalyst 6.12 really better than the newest driver?

I don't plan to overcloak my card though.

"And, in tests the 6.12 driver is faster than the 7.x series drivers... "

Where do u know that.
 
sarsoft

sarsoft

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You can always install and test different drivers and see which one is best or good for you. From my experiance every newer driver that i installed on my previous ati x1900xtx card i got improved results (fps). I see you dont plan to oc so just install any driver and if it works and you dont have problems leave it at that driver.
 
A

ahtze

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I never see any problems for drivers for all my other cards before for the last 8 years.

Any tips for what I should look for :D
 
erocker

erocker

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Use the drivers found on the disk that comes with the card. If you have any problems, update to the latest drivers.

Before installing your card, uninstall all the current display drivers.
Click to expand...
I completely disagree. Install the Catalyst 7.3 drivers directly from ATi.
 
erocker

erocker

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By the way... I have done testing of Catalyst drivers from 5.8 all the way up to the latest. Guess which works best overall? The newest. And if the drivers are installed correctly and if you have problems, look somewhere else.
 
MrSiko

MrSiko

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I just completed some benchmarking for the various drivers...

Benches.jpg


The scores for F.E.A.R. and Company Oh Heroes show the Average FPS.

Note: The only driver I found that allowed successful overclocking was the 6.12 driver... If you plan on overclocking this is the best driver I have found.

Test System : AMD 64 3700+ @ 2.53 GHz, AsRock 939Dual-Sata2 (bios 2.20), Connect3D ATi x1950 Pro, 1.5 GB Corsair DDR-400, 250GB DiamonMax HDD.

Basically there is not a tremendous amount of performance difference between the latest drivers, and the differences detected do fall into the negligible category for the mostpart.

So, if you don't wanna overclock (and there isn't much headroom on these cards in the first place), then logic dictates you use the latest version 7.3.

All drivers can be found at
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonxprevious-xp.html
 
blade85

blade85

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Use the drivers found on the disk that comes with the card. If you have any problems, update to the latest drivers.

Before installing your card, uninstall all the current display drivers.
Click to expand...
I completely disagree. Install the Catalyst 7.3 drivers directly from ATi.

may i know why you disagree??

cause a few people have been having problems installing drivers first time directly from the site as they have specific files missing in windows.

When you use the cd, it updates all these missing files and then you can just upgrade from the site afterwards.

Iv seen quite a few posts about driver not installing properly that were resolved just by using the original cd and installing everything, then updating like normal.
 
MrSiko

MrSiko

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Sure thing,

Just ran with the 7.1 Omega driver.

Very disappointing, although well within the scope of the other drivers tested.

CS:S 152.27, Lost Coast 84.49, F.E.A.R. 59, Comapny Of Heroes 44...

In every game tested, the ATi 7.1 and 7.2 drivers beat the Omega drivers...

Gonna go back to 7.2 though, as the 7.3 driver seems to limit me to 2x Anti-Aliasing in the Control Centre...
 
blade85

blade85

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yeah, but the omega drivers are supposedly more optimised for better visual image without tweaking any in game settings.

The example images on the driver site definitely show improvements in the images.

Perhaps thats why its slightly lower :? :?

oh well, will have to wait and see how the next one turns out. thanx for testing it :)
 
MrSiko

MrSiko

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In all tests I used the in-game benchmarking, with all settings set to max, except no vertical-synch. Generally at 1280*1024. where I ran multiple tests, I took the highest average. Just thought it would be helpful, and it certainly opened my eyes a little...
 
Dr_asik

Dr_asik

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In my experience, the Omega drivers have been more stable (sometimes the Catalyst refuses to activate) and unlock additional resolutions. When I format I always start with the Catalyst drivers, but I always find myself going back to Omega drivers after a while.
 
A

ahtze

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MrSiko, Do you able to run F.E.A.R in Maximum graphic??

I can't run at maximum graphic with x1950pro ; ; I use the default graphic and it still laggy. It has alot of hickup.

I upgrade from 6600GT to x1950pro but I don't see much different :/

I thought the graphic card will run smooth on old games, but it doesn't :(
 
D

darren2011

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hi i have the x1950 pro 2 of them in fact..... but i got mine second hand and take my advice... DONT download the latest drivers from sapphiretech.... because thats where the problems start...... i did a clean install of windows vista, and my pc was running fine until i downloaded the updated drivers from sapphiretech's website, its the same thing from amd's site also, once you download and install the drivers, crap happens.... for starters, gpu fans increase speeds, then lock ups which by that time you have to hard restart your pc..... if i know where i can download the original image cd for these cards i will be chuffed to bits becase then i can play all the demanding graphic games that i like playing on my pc
 
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