CATALYST 8.12 are live

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Majic 7

Senior member
Mar 27, 2008
668
0
0
I tested these out on Fallout3. No problems with the 4870X2 working as it should. Both cores work and at 1920 by 1200 it seems to have smoothed out most of the stuttering or framerate drops. Which for me were related, if the frames dropped below 35 it would sort of stop for a bit. 38 to 40 seems to be the low now and it is a lot smoother. In the wilderness with no npcs around it is pretty much 60 now with very little hitching. Great drivers for me.
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
9,537
2
0
Originally posted by: AmberClad
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Are these worth the upgrade? Im still with the cat 8.8s. Playing deadspace atm. Should I just stick with the "dont fix it if it aint broken" mentality here?
That's usually my policy actually :laugh:. I was stuck on Cat 8.8 for three months before I finally updated to 8.11 (on a whim). I'd probably be more diligent about doing it if I had a 1920x1080 and needed to squeeze out every last framerate.

I ended up updating immediately with this release only because I'm currently playing three of the games on the "performance improvements" list. Otherwise, I'd probably just leave it alone.

That's one mentality, the another would be proactively updating to avoid future problems, like taking your car in for scheduled maintenance, getting a flu shot, going to the doctor/dentist regularly etc.

This thread is hilarious though, how quickly they eat their own!


Anyways, to add to the findings:

PCGH 8.12 comparison

PCGH didn't find much improvement with these drivers but they're promising a review with the 4800s compared to the GTX c216 and 9800GTX+ with the 8.12s and 180s.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: Qbah
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
They didn't ever post specific resolutions/settings/situations either. Maybe the benchmark goes up but gameplay is the same *shrug* it's happened before.

BTW: for the AVIVO app you have to custom install for it to show up. Express install skips over it.

Nobody posts resolutions and settings for speed increases! Unless it's a specific fix like for AA for example. And you assuming things is not a very nice thing to do. You don't even own an ATi card - why would you assume anything (and obviously negative from the beginning). Now if you owned one, installed and tested - great, your argument would be valid. Because you didn't all you do is bait people with your blatant and obvious ATi hate - which starts flaming, thread gets closed, discussion is stopped. Mission accomplished!

EDIT: And my screens do blink in the end when adding a new display. But they don't switch or mess up or one gets turned off or w/e, so still improvement for me :) That was my last gripe with the drivers. Checked if Fallout 3 runs fine. It does. So do a few other games. So far nothing bad to say for those from me. Obviously I don't have CrossFire so can't comment on it.

You haven't been around so I'll forgive you. I just got this GTX280 this week.

Here I'll repeat it for everyone I OWN A 4870 FROM VISIONTEK!

You guys are ridiculous, calling people trolls for posting ligitimate concerns and observations. Go cry somewhere else for pete's sake.

Again, stop saying I don't own such and such a card. I can give you a picture of the damn thing if you want. The whole point is, there are real concerns with 8.12 drivers. I even linked to another discussion where you could see the issues people are having.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: dguy6789
This forum is full of so many Nvidia trolls it's insane. If nvidia sends someone out to suck your cock for saying ati sucks, tell me where to sign up.

God man, do you even know what the hell trolling is? It's obvious you don't. I own a 4870 card myself. I just got my GTX280 because I needed/wanted a faster card without multi-gpu. I AM NOT trolling.

You tguys just hate to admit that there was no miracle.

Personally I never expect any major speed improvements in drivers,so far niether ATi or Nvidia have proved me wrong in that department(don't bother meantioning Nvidia 180s drivers since personally I have uninstalled them due to issues).

Bottomline bug fixes and stability are my main concerns and priority with drivers from both Nvidia and ATI,anything else is a bonus.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: Mem
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: dguy6789
This forum is full of so many Nvidia trolls it's insane. If nvidia sends someone out to suck your cock for saying ati sucks, tell me where to sign up.

God man, do you even know what the hell trolling is? It's obvious you don't. I own a 4870 card myself. I just got my GTX280 because I needed/wanted a faster card without multi-gpu. I AM NOT trolling.

You tguys just hate to admit that there was no miracle.

Personally I never expect any major speed improvements in drivers,so far niether ATi or Nvidia have proved me wrong in that department(don't bother meantioning Nvidia 180s drivers since personally I have uninstalled them due to issues).

Bottomline bug fixes and stability are my main concerns and priority with drivers from both Nvidia and ATI,anything else is a bonus.

Quite right. The problem is, 8.12 introduced many problems that were not present in 8.11. These are outlined in the thread I linked to if anyone cares to read. Otherwise keep calling me a troll, cursing at the sky, and shaking your fist at Nvidia for "keeping ATI down" whatever.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: Mem
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: dguy6789
This forum is full of so many Nvidia trolls it's insane. If nvidia sends someone out to suck your cock for saying ati sucks, tell me where to sign up.

God man, do you even know what the hell trolling is? It's obvious you don't. I own a 4870 card myself. I just got my GTX280 because I needed/wanted a faster card without multi-gpu. I AM NOT trolling.

You tguys just hate to admit that there was no miracle.

Personally I never expect any major speed improvements in drivers,so far niether ATi or Nvidia have proved me wrong in that department(don't bother meantioning Nvidia 180s drivers since personally I have uninstalled them due to issues).

Bottomline bug fixes and stability are my main concerns and priority with drivers from both Nvidia and ATI,anything else is a bonus.

Quite right. The problem is, 8.12 introduced many problems that were not present in 8.11. These are outlined in the thread I linked to if anyone cares to read. Otherwise keep calling me a troll, cursing at the sky, and shaking your fist at Nvidia for "keeping ATI down" whatever.

Drivers are drivers you'll always find people with issues on both sides of the fence,as to the 8.12s I can say I'm very happy with these in gaming and my general use,so they are keeps until nextyear when 9.1s due.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Well, I linked it because it was cause for concern and maybe someone would gleam something useful from the thread. Like perhaps a fix for their own issue.
 

CrystalBay

Platinum Member
Apr 2, 2002
2,175
1
0
Unfortunately , I think it's PEBKAC flu season for a lot of folks , seriously some folks should buy a pre manufactured supported PC .
 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
Good review using 8.12's and a 4GHZ QX9770 in a dozen games:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9770 @ 3.852Ghz
Memory: G.Skill 2x 2GB DDR2-1000 @ 1052Mhz DDR
Motherboard: ASUS P5E Deluxe X48
Disk Drive: Pioneer DVD Writer
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 320GB SATAII
Fans: 2X Yate Loon 120mm @ 1200RPM
Power Supply: Corsair HX1000W
Monitor: Samsung 305T 30? widescreen LCD
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1

World at war
Dead space
Left for dead
Need for speed undercover
Farcry 2 dx9
Farcry 2 dx10
Fall out 3
Stalker clear sky
x3 terrain conflict
Crysis warhead dx9
Crysis warhead dx10


Graphics Cards:
Palit HD 4870 X2
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB
Palit HD 4870 512MB
Sapphire HD 4850 512MB
EVGA GTX 280
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked
BFG GTX 260
EVGA 9800 GTX+

Drivers:
Nvidia 180.48 WHQL
ATI 8.12 WHQL
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: CrystalBay
Unfortunately , I think it's PEBKAC flu season for a lot of folks , seriously some folks should buy a pre manufactured supported PC .

If you go to the thread I linked pages back, you will see this is not the case. 8.10 and 8.11 works for them and 8.12 does not. They're not doing anything different than the people who have it working.
 

SSChevy2001

Senior member
Jul 9, 2008
774
0
0
@jaredpace

Yeah I posted it earlier in this thread.

Anyway the GTX260 C216 and 4870 1GB still are very close. What's really impressive is the 4870 1GB still can beat the GTX280 sometimes. FC2 and Dead Space still need work though, hopefully with 9.1 they'll get fixed.

FiringSquad Review
http://www.firingsquad.com/har...50_x2_review/page3.asp

GTX280 vs 4870 1GB
GTX280 5 out of 6

GTX260 c216 vs 4870 1GB
TIE

Hardware Canucks
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com...formance-part-1-a.html

GTX280 vs 4870 1GB
GTX280 6 out of 9

GTX260 c216 SC vs 4870 1GB
5 out of 9
 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
oops sorry about that, sschevy2001

I figured posting a 4 day old review of this caliber would be a repost. :eek:
 

YBS1

Golden Member
May 14, 2000
1,945
129
106
8.12s won't even install for me, I'm not even getting to the point where most that are having trouble are getting to. The actual install program itself hangs at "detecting graphics hardware", it won't go any further and takes Vista 64 down with it if you attempt to force it closed via task manager. I've already read that these still do not fix the stuttering issue in DX10 Far Cry 2, counting the hot fix drivers this makes five releases since FC2 came out yet still the problem remains. They need to get their software in order in a hurry before people start seeing green.

Update: I was finally able to get the 8.12s installed. I thought something strange might be going on since I wasn't even getting to the point where most are reporting the issues. Turns out for some reason (and it's never done this before so something must have changed slightly to the install program or from a Kaspersky update), Kaspersky Internet Security was placing the ATI install manager in the restricted group rather than in trusted as it always has before and preventing the installer from continuing. All seems well now.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Originally posted by: SSChevy2001
@jaredpace

Yeah I posted it earlier in this thread.

Anyway the GTX260 C216 and 4870 1GB still are very close. What's really impressive is the 4870 1GB still can beat the GTX280 sometimes. FC2 and Dead Space still need work though, hopefully with 9.1 they'll get fixed.

FiringSquad Review
http://www.firingsquad.com/har...50_x2_review/page3.asp

GTX280 vs 4870 1GB
GTX280 5 out of 6

GTX260 c216 vs 4870 1GB
TIE

Hardware Canucks
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com...formance-part-1-a.html

GTX280 vs 4870 1GB
GTX280 6 out of 9

GTX260 c216 SC vs 4870 1GB
5 out of 9

Yeah, but to be fair neither card is unplayable in the game they don't win in. In the case of L4D the GTX280 is really only trailing 2fps and both are averaging above 70fps at 1920x1200. GRID is still Nvidia's stinker when it comes to any type of performance relative to the competition.

Still I don't like x2 cards (the review linked from FS was for the 4850x2). I'm still someone who wants a card that does not rely on scaling or crossfire/SLI. I did seriously look at the 4870x2 as an alternative to the GTX280, but having read some of the issues I was swayed toward a GTX280. Granted if the X2 works for you then it is faster overall.
 

solofly

Banned
May 25, 2003
1,421
0
0
On Monday I will be fresh installing Vista and the new driver with two physical cards in Tri-Crossfire. Will be back to report...:)

 

neothe0ne

Member
Feb 26, 2006
197
0
0
Originally posted by: evolucion8
Originally posted by: SlowSpyder
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: Sylvanas
These drivers are awesome. Installed fine as usual (I have never had problems on either my 3850 Crossfire or my current 4870X2) and fired up Clear sky Maxed out 1920x1200 DX10.1 2xAA where my last save was I was getting around 32 FPS on the 8.11's, it is now around 34 or 35 with these 8.12s- not too shabby at all. Will try Crysis later.

2fps difference is considered "awesome"? :confused:

That could even be margin of error. sometimes after a fresh restart I get 2fps extra.

Going from 150 to 153 FPS is meaningless. Going from 32 to 35 has some benefit. You know, kind of like how the 'Big Bang' drivers for Nvidia gave it that extra few FPS to win some benches, this does the same thing for AMD.

I second that, 2fps can make a difference between 28fps and 30fps and same improvements happened in some games with the Big Bang drivers, but not all people are happy with such accomplishments and just keep trolling, hard to please everybody.

Originally posted by: neothe0ne
Yeah uh, the AVIVO converter definitely isn't working correctly (also it's a separate download entirely, so it won't be in custom install.. and then you can only see it in Basic CCC mode, not Advanced). Many different XviD/Lame avi's are turning into AAC audio in mp4 container only for me when trying the iPod Video and PSP profiles.

Try to update to the latest .Net 3.5 SP1 framework, clean your registry, mine installed correctly and the AVIVO converter always has been like that, only can be seen through the Basic CCC mode. I used the PSP profile with the CCC to convert a video and it used the mp4 container and the AAC audio, it also happened with the previous version, may be you have a codec conflict.

I'm running a build less than 2 weeks old. I already have .NET 3.5 SP1 installed. And if I do have a so-called "codec conflict" you can be sure ATI is the one at fault since no other programs are broken.
 

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
Originally posted by: habbakuk87

< Crysis DX10 ? performance gains of up to 25% for Single and Crossfire
mode. Performance gains were noticed on all Radeon HD4xxx.

Crysis Warhead DX10 ? performance gains of up to 13% for Single card
mode and up to 16% for Crossfire mode. Performance gains were noticed on
all Radeon HD4xxx.



Can any body confirm this with a HD 4850 @ stock on a Vista system.

man, I was all excited to run my crysis results...until I noticed that you wanted dx10.

on crysis demo with dx9, all high, 4x00, 0xaf, I went from 29.07 avg to 31.92, so nearly 10%. however, min fram rate went from 14.65 with 8.11 down to 10.87 with 8.12. oddly, the min frame rate was identical for all 4 passes with 8.11 and also all 4 with 8.12.
 

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
Originally posted by: manimal
I get nice improvements in gaming on both my systems but I may have to go back to 11s on my htpc since I am getting those blocky Grey squares and ghosts in my hd rips and other assorted videos. I may try reinstalling all my video related software-ffdshow, matroska-etc- and see if I can isolate the issue.

Man x64 has been a pain on the htpc.....

+1

I think that x64 would probably be easier if it was your daily rig b/c you'd fix all the stupid crap then forget about it, but on an htpc you don't use it nearly as much and it's much more annoying to fix things on it.
 

Dadofamunky

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2005
2,184
0
0
Hmmm... I may stick with 8.11 for a while. A couple FPS improvement for a bunch of games I don't play doesn't seem worth it, esp. if a lot of people are reporting basic problems :p

I am wondering about the Avivo stuff. AMD seems kind of disorganized on their site: claiming the Complete Avivo transcoder package only runs on the X1000 series? WTF? I'd be interested in faster video conversions, since I do that a lot with Fair Use Wizard.
 

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,674
2,824
126
I look forward to testing them, especially in older games like Fear and Prey.
 

evolucion8

Platinum Member
Jun 17, 2005
2,867
3
81
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: Qbah
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
They didn't ever post specific resolutions/settings/situations either. Maybe the benchmark goes up but gameplay is the same *shrug* it's happened before.

BTW: for the AVIVO app you have to custom install for it to show up. Express install skips over it.

Nobody posts resolutions and settings for speed increases! Unless it's a specific fix like for AA for example. And you assuming things is not a very nice thing to do. You don't even own an ATi card - why would you assume anything (and obviously negative from the beginning). Now if you owned one, installed and tested - great, your argument would be valid. Because you didn't all you do is bait people with your blatant and obvious ATi hate - which starts flaming, thread gets closed, discussion is stopped. Mission accomplished!

EDIT: And my screens do blink in the end when adding a new display. But they don't switch or mess up or one gets turned off or w/e, so still improvement for me :) That was my last gripe with the drivers. Checked if Fallout 3 runs fine. It does. So do a few other games. So far nothing bad to say for those from me. Obviously I don't have CrossFire so can't comment on it.

You haven't been around so I'll forgive you. I just got this GTX280 this week.

Here I'll repeat it for everyone I OWN A 4870 FROM VISIONTEK!

You guys are ridiculous, calling people trolls for posting ligitimate concerns and observations. Go cry somewhere else for pete's sake.

Again, stop saying I don't own such and such a card. I can give you a picture of the damn thing if you want. The whole point is, there are real concerns with 8.12 drivers. I even linked to another discussion where you could see the issues people are having.

Please stay in topic, you are threadcrapping for no reason, moving from a HD 4870 1GB to a GTX 280 is barely an upgrade which no one here cares, only in TWIMTBP games a nice performance gap is noticeable , so stop the thread crapping and ATi bashing which you are doing in all threads!
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,001
126
cmdrdredd, I think there is always someone somewhere that has some issue with every driver release... infact I see a thread about someone complaining about the Nvidia 180.xx drivers on the front page.

For me, 8.10's worked great, 8.11's did not. I'm going to install 8.12's this weekend. I look for drivers to help with stability more then anything, any performance upgrade is welcome, though I don't expect it. 3FPS isn't a big jump, but it is still a 10% gain. If a game runs 10% smoother, it is probably noticable. I don't know what you were expecting. I don't see anywhere were anyone was expecting a 'miracle driver'. It's just another release with some fixes and some performance tweaks. Why did you come here just to complain? I don't get it.

If you installed them and ran into a specific problem on your rig, post it. But it seems you're just here to say anything negative you can about AMD.