Quick and simple: Has anyone tried the Catalyst 8.3s? How is performance? On my 3870x2, I noticed a stark drop in performance, a much lower 3dmark score and stuttering in gaming. I was wondering if anyone had similar issues.
I felt like my crysis framerates were cut in half, which means I lost about 10-15FPS
I just wiped XP and installed vista 32-bit so I will see if they are any better now. I have had issues with every 8.x XP driver so far, from artifacts to BSODs.
Message edited by randomizer on 03-14-2008 at 07:53:35 AM
I do find ATI is hit and miss... have been for years. I had an All-In-Wonder card a while back... every second update would kill it's ability to watch TV on the computer... which is the whole point of having that card. I currently have a 2600 pro and with two monitors the thing would crash occasionally. ATI didn't have a clue how to fix it... though some users found some ideas that helped. I have never used nVidia before... so not sure if they are any better. That I leave up to the others who know more about them. Though in the future I want to upgrade to 8800's (probably GTS because dual slot)... mainly because my editing program (Premier Pro and After Effects) generally just works better on nVidia for some reason. Plus, the 2600 pro is noisy... loudest part of my machine.
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Acer AM5620 Intel Q6600 2.4 Ghz Quad Core with 4GB 6400 Ram, 4x500 GB Hard Drives, Thermalright IFX-14 Cooler, and Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case. (Video Editing/Game Machine)
I had 8.3 from the date of release and i like it. It seems a little more stable and my 3dmark is at a new high 16,200+, was around 100 to 200 points less so its not much better really. I havent had a "driver stopped working and recovered" error since install even with a higher overclock. But like previous Catalyst drivers its an odd number (.3, .5, .7 kinda thing) so i cant play BF2142. Dont ask, i find it funny myself, all last summer i could only install the even numbered ones if i was planning on playing that game. i havent played it in a while but a few days ago i went to play and it wont load, just like before.
LOL i just read the above post. So its not just me with every other release problems!
Quick and simple: Has anyone tried the Catalyst 8.3s? How is performance? On my 3870x2, I noticed a stark drop in performance, a much lower 3dmark score and stuttering in gaming. I was wondering if anyone had similar issues.
Had the same problem. I reverted to 8.2 and all is well.
Quick and simple: Has anyone tried the Catalyst 8.3s? How is performance? On my 3870x2, I noticed a stark drop in performance, a much lower 3dmark score and stuttering in gaming. I was wondering if anyone had similar issues.
The main game I play is TF2 and I have yet to notice any performance drops in it. Still average around 150-200FPS sometimes a bit lower depending on the map.
I had 8.3 from the date of release and i like it. It seems a little more stable and my 3dmark is at a new high 16,200+, was around 100 to 200 points less so its not much better really. I havent had a "driver stopped working and recovered" error since install even with a higher overclock. But like previous Catalyst drivers its an odd number (.3, .5, .7 kinda thing) so i cant play BF2142. Dont ask, i find it funny myself, all last summer i could only install the even numbered ones if i was planning on playing that game. i havent played it in a while but a few days ago i went to play and it wont load, just like before.
LOL i just read the above post. So its not just me with every other release problems!
Same. Are you running Vista? Cuz I used to have that problem with the driver would stop working too but it has stopped since 8.3. Have yet to try 3DMark06 again. My top was 12320 with a 800MHz GPU 2200MHz Memory on a HD2900Pro 1GB. Might try again and see what happens.
So much angst for ATI. Bunch of blubbering vaginas, the lot of you =P
Really, this is the first issue I can recall having with an ATI driver. ATI stuff always ran just peachy for me until the 8.3 Cats. Nice to see the gamut of responses running from worse to same to better about them... a big help ;) Thanks everyone, though, honestly.
Ha! Blotch, I had the same issue. I was all geared up for the once in a blue moon scenario where ALL of my buddies were free to meet up for an evening of 2142. I even installed 8.3 in honor of the evening.
As you could predict, I only got in a total of about 15 minutes of gametime (of a losing Titan round no less!) because 2142 wouldn't run, so I had to uninstall 8.3, then install 8.2, then uninstall and reinstall 2142, 1.4 patch, Northern Strike, 1.4 patch again, Punkbuster update.... Needless to say, I was pretty annoyed at ATI at that point.
2142, BF2, Crysis, etc., seem to run well on 8.2 again. But now I am getting intermittent (i.e., every half hour) flickering on my 2 monitors where everything freezes for a second and a half or so while my screen flickers. Ever seen anything like that?
Do you all recommend uninstalling the previous version BEFORE installing the next version? Could that be part of the issue? Some products do that automatically when you install the new version. Others don't, and then become more and more unstable. Shouldn't it be standard procedure that an app should first unstall its previous version, since statistically most users will be upgrading from a previous version?
Sorry for the rant, but I would love to hear everyone's thoughts/experiences...
Message edited by husky mctarflash on 03-14-2008 at 07:36:15 PM
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e2180 at 3.2 GHz with AC Freezer 7 Pro | MSI P35 Neo2 FR | HIS HD3870 ICEQ3 | 4 GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800| 250 GB WD Caviar | 600 Watt OCZ StealthExtreme | Antec 900 | XP Pro
I always use the ATI Software removal tool (under add/remove programs) before installing the next drivers. I have 8.3 for my 2900XT, and they seemed to work fine for M2TW and Oblivion. 3D Mark 06 score was the same too, near 10K.
As my previous post implies I am feeling very bitter about my upcoming video card decision and purchase.
It is finally starting to dawn on me how ludicrous it is to drop $500.00+ dollars on one computer component to play some pew-pew video games. I'm still going to do it, but I really don't feel that excited about it anymore.
I was on the cusp of purchasing the X2, but now that the 8.3 drivers were (once again) not as expected, I will wait for the top-end 9800 series cards to become available.
I feel your pain Kataklyzm. I like the idea of ATI and all, but I am getting annoyed. I have had a bad experience with my HIS 3870. And it occurred to me: ATI technology may be good (or even superior?), but 1) NVidia has the better vendors, where as ATI has a few decent ones (Sapphire? Diamond? Visiontek?), and a bunch of crappy ones (the rest); and 2) there always seems to be the need to apologize for ATI drivers ("they are good, EXCEPT for..." or "this version didn't do it, but maybe the next version they will REALLY get the drivers optimized and kick NVidia's ass" ).
It figures that I bought a P35 Crossfire board that I quite like (MSI Neo2), but I am tempted more than ever just to forfeit the opportunity to Crossfire and just buy an 8800GT/GTS.
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e2180 at 3.2 GHz with AC Freezer 7 Pro | MSI P35 Neo2 FR | HIS HD3870 ICEQ3 | 4 GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800| 250 GB WD Caviar | 600 Watt OCZ StealthExtreme | Antec 900 | XP Pro
