ATI Drivers Named Most Stable By Independent Agency

[fbrdphreak]

In an independent quality and stability test by AppLabs (formerly KeyLabs(TM)), ATI's recently released Catalyst(TM) 5.6 Software Suite proved to be more stable than the equivalent publicly available NVIDIA offering. An executive summary of this test is now
available and the full Display Adapter Stability Test Report issued by AppLabs and ATI Technologies Inc. will be available June 24, 2005.

In this series of independent trials, ATI consistently earned higher stability rankings, scoring as high as 8.6 percent above NVIDIA. The AppLabs report concluded: "Based on the results of these software stress tests, the stability of the ATI Catalyst software exceeded that of their NVIDIA counterpart."

Link

Flame away! j/k

No, I'm serious; don't flame :shocked:

I don't think it means anything more than sh!t on a stick, but thought I'd share anyway

 

[McArra]

They are good, no doubt, I like them as much as XG for Nvidia.

 

[Lonyo]

Thankfully the CCC isn't mandatory yet (hopefully never will be - unless it really is a lot better now)

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Thankfully the CCC isn't mandatory yet (hopefully never will be - unless it really is a lot better now)

It was great in my comp in my 9800pro times.

 

[Genx87]

They are ok, nothing special for my AIW 9600 Pro.

I get annoyed when every once in a while the WDM driver doesnt load and I have to reboot just to use the card to display any media.

 

[Elcs]

Ive had no issues with my old GeForce4 Ti4400 nor my Radeon 9800Pro.

Both driver sets have been exemplary although ATI's early CCC versions were awful and I cant find how to span displays on my ATI card whereas I could on my Nvidia card.

I dont particularly think one is more stable than the other in general terms. In specific games with specific setups, settings and driver sets, then one side may be more favourable than the other.

 

[fbrdphreak]

One thing I hate about ATI drives is the secondary display options. At least on laptops, its damn hard to get it to switch to the secondary display. Usually I have to reboot to get it to pick it up

 

[StrangerGuy]

Just a side note, Forceware 71.89 doesn't even enable the refresh rate override options by default, and it pisses me a little that I have to enable it myself via NVtweak. IIRC they always had included that in prior driver releases. That's one backwards step by Nvidia. And another annoying issue with 71.89 is whenever I use any Java app (like Azureus) with 2xQ AA on with my Ti4200, the entire screen will turn blurry due to FSAA being applied to the Windows desktop. I don't see this problem on my 9800 Pro with Cat 4.7.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
One thing I hate about ATI drives is the secondary display options. At least on laptops, its damn hard to get it to switch to the secondary display. Usually I have to reboot to get it to pick it up

Err, that's odd.
I used to switch on my secondary display all the time (2 x CRT) without any issues, and switch it off as well, all without reboots, multiple times (9800 with Cat 5.4's)

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
One thing I hate about ATI drives is the secondary display options. At least on laptops, its damn hard to get it to switch to the secondary display. Usually I have to reboot to get it to pick it up

Err, that's odd.
I used to switch on my secondary display all the time (2 x CRT) without any issues, and switch it off as well, all without reboots, multiple times (9800 with Cat 5.4's)

Maybe its either (A) just the laptop drivers or (B) 'cuz it happens when I hook up a TV via S-Video. Never really tried it w/a monitor, but I never have trouble hooking up a TV w/Intel's graphics

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
One thing I hate about ATI drives is the secondary display options. At least on laptops, its damn hard to get it to switch to the secondary display. Usually I have to reboot to get it to pick it up

Err, that's odd.
I used to switch on my secondary display all the time (2 x CRT) without any issues, and switch it off as well, all without reboots, multiple times (9800 with Cat 5.4's)

No problems here either. Even with an ancient Dell Inspiron 7000 w/ATI Xpert 98 card.

 

[Valkerie]

Several years ago, they were unstable, but after the Catalyst release, they have been as polished as any nVidia drivers ever been released.
It's easy to say that not all Catalyst drivers are made for ATI's mobile graphics, so the question varies. Also, the FireGL drivers are slightly different too since they're made for workstations and programability.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Valkerie
Several years ago, they were unstable, but after the Catalyst release, they have been as polished as any nVidia drivers ever been released.
It's easy to say that not all Catalyst drivers are made for ATI's mobile graphics, so the question varies. Also, the FireGL drivers are slightly different too since they're made for workstations and programability.

Yes, back in the first Mach days, I swore off using ATI for awhile. They did suck even better than a Dyson.

Lately, they have had less issues with my choosen NLE and been less version sensitive than nVidia's drivers (6x). The 7x nVidia drivers have been much better.

 

[VIAN]

Catalyst is the shiznit yo!

 

[ronnn]

What I hate about ATI drivers (besides ccc) is how slow my old card is. :beer:

 

[Munky]

I noticed a lot of people seem to favor 4.12 cats. What's so good about them?

 

[BFG10K]

Back before NV30 nVidia were definitely better but not any more. 66.93 and 71.84 have given some pretty horrific crashes at times though I do admirt 71.89 seems to be a lot better.

 

[Insomniak]

I think it's pretty much common knowledge that the Catalyst drivers have been about on par with Forceware for a while now in terms of stability.


Now about compatibility....

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: StrangerGuy
Just a side note, Forceware 71.89 doesn't even enable the refresh rate override options by default, and it pisses me a little that I have to enable it myself via NVtweak. IIRC they always had included that in prior driver releases. That's one backwards step by Nvidia. And another annoying issue with 71.89 is whenever I use any Java app (like Azureus) with 2xQ AA on with my Ti4200, the entire screen will turn blurry due to FSAA being applied to the Windows desktop. I don't see this problem on my 9800 Pro with Cat 4.7.

Don't set AA globally, use profiles to apply antialiasing only to the applications you want antialiased. You can also create a profile for internet explorer and disable things like AA.

This is all possible from the driver control panel, but is easier if you use nHancer.

Profiles are your friend - learn to use them.

 

[Gstanfor]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Back before NV30 nVidia were definitely better but not any more. 66.93 and 71.84 have given some pretty horrific crashes at times though I do admirt 71.89 seems to be a lot better.

71.89 is pretty good, but the 76.xx and 77.13 beta drivers are far superior, and more than match anything ATi can offer - where is the proflie support in ATi drivers? - one of the most powerful driver features nVidia (or anyone else for that matter) has ever introduced into a driver.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

"In June 2005, ATI commissioned AppLabs, a leading provider of quality
assurance and testing, to conduct the test, pitting ATI's Radeon(R) display
adaptors against comparable NVIDIA GeForce products."

I question the validity of an "independent" test that has been commisioned by one of the companies in question. IMO, that eliminates any objectivity since one of the companies is paying for everything.

However, I would also say that I've noticed very few problems with my Radeon ATI drivers.

I tested a number of FireGL cards for Pro/Engineer @ work, and those drivers were terrible, but the desktop ones seem stable (I don't use the CCC).

-D'oh!

 

[phisrow]

I'd tend to agree, at least in Windows. The 9700 in my desktop has been going strong, except for one weird bug in ET that was cleaned up in subsequent releases. The 9600 mobile in my Linux box, on the other hand, makes me deeply, deeply bitter.

 

[nRollo]

Their testing is pretty much irrelevant. They're testing drivers for a year old core against drivers for a 2.5 year old core.

If ATI can't get them stable in 2.5 years, something is wrong.

 

[ronnn]

Actually I thought this was just an ATI fan site, but seeing Rollo agree that ATI drivers are more stable has me thinking again. :beer:

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: ronnn
Actually I thought this was just an ATI fan site, but seeing Rollo agree that ATI drivers are more stable has me thinking again. :beer:

To me it makes sense: the nV40 is a much newer core, and they have to consider SLI as well. If ATI wasn't a little more "stable" something would be dreadfully wrong. In 2.5 years, it should be like doing your wife.

(i.e. you know the buttons to push)