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