Upgrading from Nvidia -> Ati

[ChipDeath]

I'm sat here at work with a nice shiny new Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro which I'm planning to fit when I get home. As my current card is a Geforce4 Ti4600, I'll be doing the switch from Detonators to Catalyst, so just thought I'd double check the recommended procedure for the switch:

1)Remove current Hardware in control panel;
2)Turn off PC;
3)Install Shiny new Radeon;
4)boot up, run driver cleaner to remove all remains of nvidia drivers;
5)Install Catalyst drivers

This a good way of doing things?

Also, should I just download the latest catalyst drivers, or an earlier version? I know there's the sticky showing relative performance, but any other input besides that regarding stability/compatability?

Just for reference, my rig:
Epox 8RDA+ 1.1 @ 205FSB
XP1700+ @ ~2.26Ghz
512Mb (2x256) Corsair PC3200LL @ 205Mhz
Win98SE

I just bought Deus Ex:IW and was annoyed by it not performing as well as I'd like, even at 800x600... Plus the 9800Pro seemed a good deal at ~£150, <i>and</i> I'd just got a pay rise, so I bought one

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<font color=red>Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.</font color=red>

 

[cleeve]

Nvidia drivers can be pretty tenacious. You might want to look for an Nvidia driver removal tool... Detonator destroyer I think one is called... before putting the Radion physically in your box.

And use the newest version of the Ati Catalyst drivers from the Ati website, should be version 4.3. Newer drivers are always your best bet if you want all your games to work without a glitch, especially newer games.

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<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[ChipDeath]

found Detonator destroyer, but it's from way back in 2001, so I Downloaded Detonator R.I.P instead, which is a bit more recent.

I'll try using add/remove programs to remove the nvidia stuff, THEN running detonator R.I.P, so my nvidia Ti4600 is in as 'Standard VGA Adapter', and only then I'll install the Radeon.

I'll prolly use the 4.3 cats (downloaded them already) anyway, was just wondering if anyone here had any problems with them with certain games or hardware combinations.

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<font color=red>Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.</font color=red>

 

[TheRod]

You can get Driver Cleaner there : <A HREF="http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/" target="_new">http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/</A>

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Would you buy a GPS enabled soap bar?

 

[ecar016]

there was some talk of the new 4.3 not working with the far cry demo......
I didnt have any problems.

In fact: my 9800pro 128 @ 4.3 runs the following with ALL the bells and whistles @ 1280x1024

Far Cry Demo
Never Winter Nights
Star Wars Old Republic
UT 2004
Castle Wolf....

honestly I'm not pumping but I've never owned a better card from ATI and the driver upgrades all are great. At least for the 9800 series.

EC


<font color=red> Quantum Computers! - very interesting </font color=red>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

IT's not the official FarCry that they have trouble with it's the new map from (GameSpy I think) that is causing the problems.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[phial]

Nvidia drivers can be pretty tenacious. You might want to look for an Nvidia driver removal tool... Detonator destroyer I think one is called... before putting the Radion physically in your box.

i got banned from Nvnews for posting that for someone.

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<A HREF="http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/you.html" target="_new">please dont click here! </A>

 

[pauldh]

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[ChipDeath]

Thanks for the input guys. I've got it installed and working, and after a little tweaking I'm getting ~17500 3dMarks, which looks around right (with texture/mipmap stuff on high quality) for a (slightly Oc'ed already )9800Pro.

Only issue I've had so far is that Call Of Duty crashes - just freezes completely less than a minute after starting to play.

Should I try some earlier Cats to get COD working? I don't actually play it much at all anymore anyway, so it's no big deal.

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<font color=red>Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.</font color=red>

 

[pauldh]

Unfortunelty IMO you may have to uninstall/reinstall Call of Duty to make that go away. I can't vouch for Cat 4.2 or 4.3 but I doubt it's the drivers. Cat. 4.1, 3.10 are both stable, 3.10 is possibly the fastest for COD.
From What I have read, CAT 3.8 & 3.9 were the ones that could give COD random crashes. Just avoid 3.8 & 3.9 and you should be fine.

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[ChipDeath]

Ah well, that's the only thing that's given me trouble, Deus Ex:IW runs just fine, X2 seems fine, and Far cry seems ok, so I'm not too bothered. I'll see if there are any COD patches next time I fancy playing it, or just re-install the game maybe, but I have other things to keep me occupied at the mo.

Now I just want more ram... Which means upgrading from 98 to XP.. and <i>that</i> just seems like far too much effort :frown: (not to mention expense) in a few months maybe...

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<font color=red>Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.</font color=red>