Catalyst 9.5 vs 9.6 for 4870

[metroplex]

I noticed that my SM 2/3 performance in 3dmark06 dropped significantly when I upgraded to Catalyst 9.6

Did anyone else notice the same thing? I have a sapphire HD 4870 512MB, and I am running all of the stock default settings 750/900, etc...

I am also running Vista 64-bit Business, and the scores are the same between SP-1 and SP-2

 

[dguy6789]

9.6 performs normally for me. I didn't notice any performance drops going from 9.5 to 9.6

 

[metroplex]

SM2 dropped by about 200 points, and SM3 dropped by 1200 points. The CPU score remained about the same, which led me to suspect the 9.6 drivers

 

[dguy6789]

I haven't run any 3DMark program in ages so I couldn't tell you if it's slower on mine in that or not. Performance is just as good in Team Fortress 2 and Unreal Tournament 2 for me as it used to be though.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: metroplex
SM2 dropped by about 200 points, and SM3 dropped by 1200 points. The CPU score remained about the same, which led me to suspect the 9.6 drivers

so what?

3Dmark06 is useless for anything - it is also way out of date 😛

i tested 13 games with 4870-X2 with Cat 9-6 vs 9-5 and there is really almost no difference

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: metroplex
SM2 dropped by about 200 points, and SM3 dropped by 1200 points. The CPU score remained about the same, which led me to suspect the 9.6 drivers

so what?

3Dmark06 is useless for anything - it is also way out of date 😛

i tested 13 games with 4870-X2 with Cat 9-6 vs 9-5 and there is really almost no difference

I agree test it on real games no pointless 3Dmark,personally I say they are about the same however some people forget about the bug fixes that new drivers bring to the table....I'm very happy with 9.6s on my 4870 card.

 

[nyker96]

I have a 4850, still on 9,4 tried 9,5 9,6 both seems slower and had a few crashes as well. so I think if your games run fine on a catalyst don't change it unless needed.

 

[FalseChristian]

Wrong advice. Always update your drivers to the latest versions to get the most out of your components.

 

[dguy6789]

There are two schools of thought and each one has merit. Don't fix it if it ain't broken or always stay up to date.

 

[KingstonU]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
There are two schools of thought and each one has merit. Don't fix it if it ain't broken or always stay up to date.

In my case, since I have limited free time I don't want to take the chance having to spend it fixing things if the update goes wrong, shows little to no improvement, or in your case makes performance worse. So I follow the "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: KingstonU

Originally posted by: dguy6789
There are two schools of thought and each one has merit. Don't fix it if it ain't broken or always stay up to date.

In my case, since I have limited free time I don't want to take the chance having to spend it fixing things if the update goes wrong, shows little to no improvement, or in your case makes performance worse. So I follow the "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

What about all the bugs fixes in later driver updates?...personally I have used every driver since 8.4s to 9.6s and never had a driver issue via updating or gaming.I like to update every month since its never an issue and yes I do read the driver release notes too 😉.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: Mem
What about all the bugs fixes in later driver updates?...personally I have used every driver since 8.4s to 9.6s and never had a driver issue via updating or gaming.I like to update every month since its never an issue and yes I do read the driver release notes too 😉.

The problem is when new drivers reduce performance without providing bug fixes that I'd benefit from. 9.5 is a good example of this; I skipped that release altogether.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: vj8usa

Originally posted by: Mem
What about all the bugs fixes in later driver updates?...personally I have used every driver since 8.4s to 9.6s and never had a driver issue via updating or gaming.I like to update every month since its never an issue and yes I do read the driver release notes too 😉.

The problem is when new drivers reduce performance without providing bug fixes that I'd benefit from. 9.5 is a good example of this; I skipped that release altogether.

9.6 review@[url="http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/2793/ati_catalyst_9_6_vista_driver_analysis/index8.html"]Tweaktown[/url]


You normally find slight performance increase somewhere too so its swings and roundabouts,anyway final analysis says it all

At some points we see a slight increase while other times a slight drop, but for the most part there isn't a whole lot going on.

If you've a HD 4850 and have moved to the 9.5s, upgrade to the 9.6s straight away. And even if you're a 9.4 user, we would recommend the move to the new driver as it's always best to be up to date so you can take advantage of the latest bug fixes which are always one of the most important aspects of a new driver release.

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: Mem
You normally find slight performance increase somewhere too so its swings and roundabouts,anyway final analysis says it all

I was referring to 9.5, not 9.6. I've had no issues with 9.6; I mentioned 9.5 as an example of why you don't want to blindly install every driver release just for the sake of having the newest driver. See Tweaktown's "final thoughts" on the 9.5 drivers:

As for the HD 4850 we see performance drops in many games and by a good chunk. For the most part we wouldn't recommend HD 4850 users upgrade to the latest set of drivers.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: vj8usa

Originally posted by: Mem
You normally find slight performance increase somewhere too so its swings and roundabouts,anyway final analysis says it all

I was referring to 9.5, not 9.6. I've had no issues with 9.6; I mentioned 9.5 as an example of why you don't want to blindly install every driver release just for the sake of having the newest driver. See Tweaktown's "final thoughts" on the 9.5 drivers:

As for the HD 4850 we see performance drops in many games and by a good chunk. For the most part we wouldn't recommend HD 4850 users upgrade to the latest set of drivers.

I see your point(I only meantioned 9.6 since they are latest version at the moment) and know what you was trying to say however what I'm saying is there are always some bug fixes in virtually every driver update,performance in general driver wise is not an issue for most users.

Drivers are there for two reasons(not counting to support new models),ie possible performance increase but more important are bug fixes etc...regardless of what driver you use, you can bet a later/updated driver down the road will have a few fixes especially if you miss a few driver updates,besides you never know when you might a buy a new game that may benefit from the fixes etc...I rather take bug fixes over performance decrease anytime.


vj8usa I think we have covered all bases between us.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: vj8usa

Originally posted by: Mem
You normally find slight performance increase somewhere too so its swings and roundabouts,anyway final analysis says it all

I was referring to 9.5, not 9.6. I've had no issues with 9.6; I mentioned 9.5 as an example of why you don't want to blindly install every driver release just for the sake of having the newest driver. See Tweaktown's "final thoughts" on the 9.5 drivers:

As for the HD 4850 we see performance drops in many games and by a good chunk. For the most part we wouldn't recommend HD 4850 users upgrade to the latest set of drivers.

they didn't test with 4870 - i did; 13 games, same issues with 4850 - BUT
- it was ONLY in TWO games - Clear Sky and FC2 😛
and in those SAME games, 4890 and CrossFire got nice improvements

i test every single driver set from ATi and Nvidia
- i would HIGHLY recommend updating to the latest

if it turns out badly - which is RARE - try roll back - it takes 10 minutes
:roll:

some people are SO lazy .. they want us tech sites to test for them
[glad to do it]