AMD to overtake Nvidia in WHQL driver wars

[JPB]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37726




UNLIKE PREVIOUS PRODUCT launches, AMD plans to make the R600 launch one that will last for two weeks, and right now, we don't see why that strategy would fail.

What is good is that AMD decided that it wants to have full support on both hardware and software front, so Catalyst WHQL'ed driver suite will be ready in full not for the official product launch, planned for week starting 24th of March - but for the first live showings of demos on CeBIT in Hangover.

The drivers will support SingleFire and CrossFire modes for all ATI cards including R600 generation, for both Windows XP and Vista. We don't have confirmation of DX10 drivers for 64-bit operating systems, but we have been assured that the driver support will be second to none and that AMD now has a levy over Nvidia measured in weeks - WHQL SLI driver for DirectX 10 or 64-bit Vista isn't expected until April - which is pretty sad. Nvidia has been shipping G80, or GeForce 8800 for almost six months now, and Chimpzilla will in the end ship more Vista WHQL certified dual-GPU systems than a six-month shipping product from their competitor.

This is a brilliant move and pretty much helps not just journalists with their reviews (being spared from all beta driver nonsense), but system integrators as well - drivers are WHQL'ed from day one. This includes not just Radeon X2900 series, but also low-end and mainstream parts under code-names RV610 and RV630, or Radeon X2200 and X2400. AMD decided on the currently final naming convention during last week, and you should not be surprised, since AMD wants to differ from ATI-vs.-NV name struggle of yesteryear.

As we have previously written, if you are a system integrator and are putting the machine together, having a WHQL driver for it means that you will get some dough from Microsoft. Sorry, sales and marketing incentives.

Confidentially, agreement ends on March 15th, aligning with first day of CeBIT, and you can expect that all major AMD partners will run DX10 demos such as one featuring Ruby's younger sister etc. on both CrossFire and SingleFire modes. Many RV610 and RV630 samples will also be making appearance in at least non-functional form, since ATI will have to counter Nvidia's new mainstream and low-end lieblings dubbed G84 and G86. µ

 

[Lonyo]

No surprises here. ATi > nVidia for WHQL drivers, and IMO drivers in general.

 

[Nightmare225]

Used to be the other way around.

 

[Aberforth]

drivers are fine but this card that costs 600 bucks and requires 300 W Power to start up (for a single card).

 

[JPB]

You see...I'm stuck with a problem. Ive never owned a Nvidia card. But all the reports of no drivers concerns me. I can get a 8800GTS now but I do not know if I should. I game at 1440x900. I would rather wait for the R600 cards ( XL and GT ) which may be comparable to the GTS. But most of the games I play is Quake 4, Doom 3 multiplayer. And other games that run better on NV. I have no plans on going with Vista until its been out for one full year ( just my rule of thumb for a new OS ). But like I said about the no drivers worries me.

How is the 8800 drivers in XP right now ? Are they up to par with everything else in this OS ? If so, then it may not be a problem to go with a GTS now.

Any opinions on this is greatly appreciated.

BTW....Yes, I am an ATI fanboy. I will admit that. But I have NO problem going with Nvidia if it'll make my games run better. Because at fast FPS games in multiplayer, I need the smoothest experience possible.

 

[Schadenfroh]

ATI user here, I prefer the ForceWare control panel to the CCC.

 

[JPB]

Well, I dont use CCC anyway. I just use ATI Tool

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
ATI user here, I prefer the ForceWare control panel to the CCC.

Both the old control panels from ATI/Nvidia are better IMHO,infact I still use Omega drivers so I have the old ATI style control panel.

I think one of the reasons why AMD/ATI drivers have caught up is the monthly updates,Nvidia IMHO have become lazy,they have relized this and that's why they have finally decided to have monthly updates in the near future.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
drivers are fine but this card that costs 600 bucks and requires 300 W Power to start up (for a single card).

that X2800XTX2 is a dual core and that is why it needs loads of power... not a single core.

 

[BroadbandGamer]

Go with ATI.

Until NVIDIA gets their act together I wouldn't go near their DirectX 10 cards. I don't see how ATI could possibly screw up their drivers as bad as NVIDIA has.

NVIDIA's XP 8 series drivers are a little better then their Vista drivers but that's not saying much. Both drivers suck. I've been regretting my purchase just about every day.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: x80064
You see...I'm stuck with a problem. Ive never owned a Nvidia card. But all the reports of no drivers concerns me. I can get a 8800GTS now but I do not know if I should. I game at 1440x900. I would rather wait for the R600 cards ( XL and GT ) which may be comparable to the GTS. But most of the games I play is Quake 4, Doom 3 multiplayer. And other games that run better on NV. I have no plans on going with Vista until its been out for one full year ( just my rule of thumb for a new OS ). But like I said about the no drivers worries me.

How is the 8800 drivers in XP right now ? Are they up to par with everything else in this OS ? If so, then it may not be a problem to go with a GTS now.

Any opinions on this is greatly appreciated.

BTW....Yes, I am an ATI fanboy. I will admit that. But I have NO problem going with Nvidia if it'll make my games run better. Because at fast FPS games in multiplayer, I need the smoothest experience possible.

You own a 19" monitor only capable of 14x9 you don't need anything from nvidia ATM, ATI has you covered with 1950GT on up. You don't need anything from ATIs March launch either until dx10 games come.

 

[Wreckage]

Of course if the ATI drivers do suck (which is very possible) you would have waited 6 weeks (or almost half a year since the 8800 launch) for nothing.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Of course if the ATI drivers do suck (which is very possible) you would have waited 6 weeks (or almost half a year since the 8800 launch) for nothing.

Of course if you buy an 8800 card now, the drivers suck so you would have spent a whole lot of money for nothing

See how that works?

 

[terentenet]

Originally posted by: BroadbandGamer
Go with ATI.
Until NVIDIA gets their act together I wouldn't go near their DirectX 10 cards. I don't see how ATI could possibly screw up their drivers as bad as NVIDIA has.
NVIDIA's XP 8 series drivers are a little better then their Vista drivers but that's not saying much. Both drivers suck. I've been regretting my purchase just about every day.

Why do Nvidia drivers suck? I have 2 8800GTX's in SLI and had no problem with drivers in XP or Vista* (after the official launch). They run everything I throw at them smooth as butter and it's been this way since I got them, in december 2006. I personally don't care much about WHQL certification, I ran betas when I didn't have WHQL and still was stable and running fine.
I've had no problem with my 8800GTX's so far. I think most of the problems with Nvidia drivers are just in your heads.

Originally posted by: gersson

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Of course if the ATI drivers do suck (which is very possible) you would have waited 6 weeks (or almost half a year since the 8800 launch) for nothing.

Of course if you buy an 8800 card now, the drivers suck so you would have spent a whole lot of money for nothing

See how that works?

gersson, tell me that application/game that your ATI can run/play and my Nvidia can't. I bet I can run all you can run, plus more (dx10), with at least 50% speed improvement (CPU limited).

 

[LittleNemoNES]

gersson, tell me that application/game that your ATI can run/play and my Nvidia can't. I bet I can run all you can run, plus more (dx10), with at least 50% speed improvement (CPU limited).

Dude there are tons of complaints on this site about issues with G80 and SLI, etc in vista and even in XP. I was just balancing out wreckage's post

 

[terentenet]

Originally posted by: gersson

gersson, tell me that application/game that your ATI can run/play and my Nvidia can't. I bet I can run all you can run, plus more (dx10), with at least 50% speed improvement (CPU limited).

Dude there are tons of complaints on this site about issues with G80 and SLI, etc in vista and even in XP. I was just balancing out wreckage's post

Well, I've had none and most of the problems can be solved if the user is patient and "debugs" the problem. I don't even have that kind of problems, all runs as expected. SLI works in both XP and Vista, all games I run in XP I can also run in Vista. A FPS loss is expected, Vista is new, is a new architecture, it will take some more months and driver releases until Vista's performance will be on par with XP's and users should understand this. It's the same case we had with XP and 98. 98 was a better gaming platform than XP for some time. Eventually, as XP got more popular, it became equal to 98 and them surpassed it.
I'm 80% this will happen with Vista as well, just give it time and patience.
2 drivers teams are now required. One for XP, one for Vista. As Vista will become more popular, the XP department will "migrate" to Vista and better drivers will come.

 

[MTDEW]

I personally have no issues with the Nvidia drivers in Xp with my single 8800GTX.
And most games work in Vista too.

I dont get it.

Im not biased either way, I buy Ati or Nvidia , whichever i feel is the best performance i can get when im ready to buy. (i just came from an Ati x1900 crossfire setup)

But if Ati is going to have their drivers ready by the end of March, AND Nvidia will most likely have their driver bugs all worked out by then also.

How the heck is this a "win" for Ati?

Its stated because the drivers will be ready at launch of the new cards.

SO WHAT!
Ati's cards launched later than Nvidia's , but drivers for both companies should be mature at around the same time frame. (we hope)

If you're currently only running Vista and are upset at Nvidia because their Vista drivers currently aren't flawless, then you need to step back and look at the big picture.
New OS, new Directx , new Architecture.
If you wanna play with the "latest and greatest" , then a few bugs is expected until things mature.

For example, go look in the motherboard forums.
Everytime a new mobo or chipset is released, its always several bios and driver revisions until everything runs flawless.

Its not just Nvidia and Ati, its just a REALITY that comes with purchasing the latest hardware when its first released and now we have Vista and a new directx that cpmplicates matters.

We can complain all we want that Vista and the new cards were released too early.

But in my opinion, the sooner they released these things, the sooner we will get the point where driver support for Vista will be as good as Xp's.

And id much rather be going through this now and still be able to fall back on gaming in Winxp, then to have it happen when im trying to play a new Directx 10 game and have no option.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: gersson

gersson, tell me that application/game that your ATI can run/play and my Nvidia can't. I bet I can run all you can run, plus more (dx10), with at least 50% speed improvement (CPU limited).

Dude there are tons of complaints on this site about issues with G80 and SLI, etc in vista and even in XP. I was just balancing out wreckage's post

There were and are tons of complaints on this site and others about CCC dragging ass and crashing. Does that mean people should have never ever bought ATI cards.

Based on the reviews, the number of 8800's selling and listed in people sigs, it seems more just ATI "supporters" who are complaining the most about it.

Spreading pure FUD, by saying the card does not work at all is just sad. From what I have seen it's working a hell of a lot better than some mythical card that may be out sometime in the distant future.

 

[Matt2]

ATI user here and I think Nvidia's drivers own ATI's.

This may change with R600, but ATi has the crappiest, most bloated drivers ever.

 

[MTDEW]

ATI user here and I think Nvidia's drivers own ATI's.

This may change with R600, but ATi has the crappiest, most bloated drivers ever.

I always felt Ati's drivers were fine, i never had any real issues, the same as Nvidia's drivers.
It was just Ati's CCC that i HATED!
Im not too thrilled with Nvidias new control panel either, but its better than Ati's current CCC.

 

[miniMUNCH]

I was an ATI customer for a long, long time... I just put together a new Vista 64 rig with a 8800 GTS. I have no complaints about the 100.54 drivers, even, of any kind.

The only problem I have is that two single player maps in far cry won't load.

My thoughts on ATI R600 DX9/DX10 drivers for Vista...I'll believe it when I see it. I've owned several ATI cards in the past and had to deal with that "our drivers will be really great" snow job before.

And, startled that nobody mentioned it... WHQL certification does not mean that the drivers are bug free, or that they even perform well. I have had some really buggy WHQL ATI drivers in the past...so we will see.

If the ATI drivers are ready to roll and solid and the R600 cards beat the 8900 series from nVIDIA... then maybe I'll go back to ATI.

 

[Wreckage]

Well NVIDIA's Vista drivers have been WHQL certified so this whole thread may be a moot point now.

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Well NVIDIA's Vista drivers have been WHQL certified so this whole thread may be a moot point now.

yet another INQ report of misinformation.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Well NVIDIA's Vista drivers have been WHQL certified so this whole thread may be a moot point now.

yet another INQ report of misinformation.

I keep checking their site to see who Anna Nicole Smith's baby is. :laugh:

 

[Praxis1452]

all I know is the new vista drivers for ATI own. I'm not sure how nvidia stacks up but they did a great job in comparison to the old CCC.