EliteBastards on Catalyst vs Forceware efficiency

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Not FPS performance, but the basic characteristics of the drivers.

<A HREF="http://www.elitebastards.com/page.php?pageid=9412&head=1&comments=1" target="_new">http://www.elitebastards.com/page.php?pageid=9412&head=1&comments=1</A>

Download, install, boot, shutdown times. Memory useage, reverting to previous set, etc.

Quite a detailed and interesting look at the drivers, and it seems that ATi needs to move a long way to improve efficiencies. nV also shows that the .net overhead doesn't have to be that much.

I'm sure Game/Kinney will be happy to see this.

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[eden]

Well one thing I did notice was that when the WinXP splash screen is done, there is a rather long 5-7 second blank screen of wait. I can spot a few white pixels on top indicating it's a video card thing above all. In fact, when I updated my drivers today, upon rebooting when the drivers were removed, I did notice a speedup at that point. With nVidia it was definitely faster. When I intalled the 5.3s, it returned to that delayed bootup. It's not annoying, just that I wish it would sync along the other parts of a fast bootup.

I also disliked the sluggishness of the CCC (heck it got my startup commit charge at 300MBs, OUCH!), although it seemed to load faster each time I boot up now and has stabilized to a good load speed. Although I fear imagining what those with significantly weaker systems are getting in load times just to access GFX card display options.

Lots of work on ATi's side indeed. But the suite itself is well done, though I really miss digital vibrance!

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[DCB_AU]

No efficiency with older cards.

Forceware drivers are supposed to work on a GF4 MX440 and others but they don't. All they do is, wreck the Registry and cause faulty operation of the PC! Luckily, I always export a copy of the reg before instaling new drivers, etc.

Instal detonator drivers ie. 28.32, and these cards run OK.

So info from Nvidia incorrect.

Bastards

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[GAME]

Interesting.

I've been out of the forums for a few days and missed all this great news.

Pretty much expected though. I've been saying for a long time that ATI drivers are still not up to par.. they just arent.

Try ANY Geforce GPU then a 9XXX GPU.. there are a lot of oddities in the catalysts.. minor stuff (they do have reliability and game compatibility ironed out finally though).
They just need to step their game up on 64bit/linux/multiview and overall functionality on WXP.

I'll say that the differences are NOT enough to buy a NV over an ATI.. BUT if the cards are comparable (GF6 vs X800), it is enough to tip the scales.

Thats why I say with NV drivers (most wrongly assume I'm talking of the OLD ATI problems in basic games ect, which in my experience is no longer true), SM3, SLI definitely put this generation as the win for NV.

I've seen some other good articles from EB in the past.. they seem to hit up little oddities like this that alot of other sites dont (or don't want) to tackle.

Overall, the article confirms what I've been saying for a long time.. but the ATI devotees here never admit.

I'm a fanboy built off of experience, not blind bias. I really believe NV has the better product more often than not.
This article shows part of the attention to detail that they give to their driver coding.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah there's still a bit to work on on the overhead and memory/resource usage/commitment from teh ATI drivers, but it's not like that has the most impact once the application/game's started. Really I'd be more worried about the list of driver bugs from both companies.

... SM3, SLI definitely put this generation as the win for NV.

No more SLI advanatage though. If anything AMR makes more sense (don't need matching cards).

As for SM3, I wouldn't worry about it yet, it's just like like ATI's SmartShader effects. Woohoo, Cool, but I wouldn't buy it solely based on that (although sketch and stylised are pretty cool).

I've seen some other good articles from EB in the past.. they seem to hit up little oddities like this that alot of other sites dont (or don't want) to tackle.

Yeah EB's always been good when they do do a review, unfortunately they are a little few and far between. But they seem to do the reviews that are, well everyone's done the regular, let's look at something we've all been wondering about in the forum.

Overall, the article confirms what I've been saying for a long time.. but the ATI devotees here never admit.

However, it doesn't confirm anything beyond the resource hits and time differences. Not stability issues or feature-richness which is what people are more interested in and really they both hit and miss in that deperatment.


- 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

 

[GAME]

I dont know what you are doing wrong man.

But efficiency on older cards is tremendous. I installed the latest Forceware and the whole system ran much better on a GF2MX than it did on my 9800 Pro w/4.7-4.10 drivers.

Granted, those are ancient now, but it was compared to the NV drivers that are also ancient by now from the same era.

On a slower rig like a Athlon XP or P3, the difference between the Geforce and Radeon becomes even MORE pronounced. Its dramatic.

 

[GAME]

Really I'd be more worried about the list of driver bugs from both companies.

Generally NV is on top there as well.

No more SLI advanatage though. If anything AMR makes more sense (don't need matching cards).

Sure there is an advantage.. SLI is available. AMR isnt here, its vapor.
Dont say its the bees knees until its available, people have it and then we'll see how great ATI produces SLI.

As for SM3, I wouldn't worry about it yet, it's just like like ATI's SmartShader effects

But it is there. And it IS usable.
Smartshader just plain sucks. SM3 is desirable by people.

unfortunately they are a little few and far between.

I'd agree there.

However, it doesn't confirm anything beyond the resource hits and time differences. Not stability issues or feature-richness which is what people are more interested in and really they both hit and miss in that deperatment.

It shows the attention to detail, and precision work.
I dont like companies that dont pay attention to details like this.. its just a bad sign.