Does AMD/ATI make stable drivers?

[Twinpeaksr]

but it does not eliminate the issue with the maximum supported resolution. This is why you cannot run the correct resolution with the third monitor enabled.

To answer your initial question the answer is no, AMD has been doing better with their drivers but most of their drivers have a glaring fault or two and often older drivers are better for everything except benchmarking the latest game. With my 5870 I learned only to upgrade if something new came out that I wanted to play.

Great hardware, mediocre software.

That is definitely a big irritation, don't know if that is ATI or not, but I want the right monitor resolution!

10.10e installed, only had one soft crash today, so I guess that is better, but still not fixed.

 

[SolMiester]

Like you would know.

Well, that's no answer either!.....If the drivers are all good, then the issue is his Windows build....Whats the point of suggesting 5 downloads for drivers that are all good if the issue is his Windows build...be careful how you answer this question.

 

[Bateluer]

I've had ATI cards, 9600 Pro, X1900XT, 2900XT, and 4870 512MB, never had any issues with the drives crashing. Sometimes glitches related to certain games though, game developer's fault usually. I'll be buying a 6970 2GB before too long.

 

[Skurge]

Well, that's no answer either!.....If the drivers are all good, then the issue is his Windows build....Whats the point of suggesting 5 downloads for drivers that are all good if the issue is his Windows build...be careful how you answer this question.

I havnt suggested any drivers. If he tried that many already as per his OP, drivers arent his problem. Maybe it is his windows, maybe its the mobo, maybe the card, maybe the cables I don't know, but I doubt no single driver works for him. That is just beyond odd. Thats why I asked him to use the card in another system. Or maybe he should just get an nvidia card, but then he wouldn't be able to use all 3 of his monitors.

There are millions and I do mean MILLIONS of AMD user around there world, if their drivers were as bad as you people (who don't even have the hardware) make them out to be don't you think people would be dumping their AMD cards and AMD's marketshare would be falling?

Twinpeaksr, you clearly have a problem and it could very well be drivers and we are trying to help so I apologize for this outbusrt, but

It really pisses me off when people come into threads like this talk crap about AMD's drivers when they don't even own the bloody hardware that millions of other people are using with no issues what so ever.

If you don't have anything useful to add to the thread, why don't you just stay out and take your propaganda with you.

Do you ever see me popping up in nV threads talking crap about their drivers? Even when They were killing cards by stopping the fans or in the SC2 menu.

 

[Twinpeaksr]

I've had ATI cards, 9600 Pro, X1900XT, 2900XT, and 4870 512MB, never had any issues with the drives crashing. Sometimes glitches related to certain games though, game developer's fault usually. I'll be buying a 6970 2GB before too long.

I don't play any games, except solitaire, but I don't think that is ATI optimized

 

[Twinpeaksr]

There are millions and I do mean MILLIONS of AMD user around there world, if their drivers were as bad as you people (who don't even have the hardware) make them out to be don't you think people would be dumping their AMD cards and AMD's marketshare would be falling?

Twinpeaksr, you clearly have a problem and it could very well be drivers and we are trying to help so I apologize for this outbusrt, but

It really pisses me off when people come into threads like this talk crap about AMD's drivers when they don't even own the bloody hardware that millions of other people are using with no issues what so ever.

If you don't have anything useful to add to the thread, why don't you just stay out and take your propaganda with you.

Do you ever see me popping up in nV threads talking crap about their drivers? Even when They were killing cards by stooping the fans or in the SC2 menu.

Unfortunately I expected some of the mud slinging, people believe very strongly what they believe, hearing someone say something to the contrary is taken as a personal attack on that persons believe structure causing a flight or fight response, thanks to the internet, most of the are now fight.

A valid point, there are millions (even on this thread dozens) with working setups. Unfortunately there is a small but vocal group that has issues. We complain more when we have problems, then speak highly when things work. I knew that the title of this thread would get some visibility, controversy draws people in (sorry for the below the belt hit with the title, but was desperate for help!).

So I would also like to end the bickering, do AMD's drivers fail at times...yes, but so does every other driver as well and most drivers work more than they fail. Lets focus on the issue at hand and see if we can create something that can help others that go through the hell I have (alright, so a little melodramatic, but it is irritating).

Thanks!

 

[SolMiester]

There are millions and I do mean MILLIONS of AMD user around there world, if their drivers were as bad as you people (who don't even have the hardware) make them out to be don't you think people would be dumping their AMD cards and AMD's marketshare would be falling?

Twinpeaksr, you clearly have a problem and it could very well be drivers and we are trying to help so I apologize for this outbusrt, but

It really pisses me off when people come into threads like this talk crap about AMD's drivers when they don't even own the bloody hardware that millions of other people are using with no issues what so ever.

If you don't have anything useful to add to the thread, why don't you just stay out and take your propaganda with you.

Do you ever see me popping up in nV threads talking crap about their drivers? Even when They were killing cards by stooping the fans or in the SC2 menu.

Right, so you cant answer the question...instead you resort to stats that I have already acknowledged and then rant because the truth hurts, and try to divert attention by derailing the thread.

WHY suggest several difference driver versions for download when they are all allegedly good, if the issue is a Windows problem...

If there is a NV driver issue, you try can try current or previous. If the issue remains you have Windows issue or conflict or hardware...Here, we need to test with half a dozen drivers or hotfixes.....Sorry if this offends you Skurge, the OP was regarding driver stability of AMD\ATI, not nVidia!..How is this thread crapping?

 

[bryanW1995]

Tried that, made no difference.




Not sure it is the card, since what is happening changes with the driver. I can not think of a reason that this would change with a hardware failure, (power most likely cause but verified good). I have another card (NVidia 7600GT) that I can try in the next few days.

if you've have 7 cards fail on you then you need to start troubleshooting the entire system. my bet is that the ram is bad.

 

[Skurge]

Unfortunately I expected some of the mud slinging, people believe very strongly what they believe, hearing someone say something to the contrary is taken as a personal attack on that persons believe structure causing a flight or fight response, thanks to the internet, most of the are now fight.

A valid point, there are millions (even on this thread dozens) with working setups. Unfortunately there is a small but vocal group that has issues. We complain more when we have problems, then speak highly when things work. I knew that the title of this thread would get some visibility, controversy draws people in (sorry for the below the belt hit with the title, but was desperate for help!).

So I would also like to end the bickering, do AMD's drivers fail at times...yes, but so does every other driver as well and most drivers work more than they fail. Lets focus on the issue at hand and see if we can create something that can help others that go through the hell I have (alright, so a little melodramatic, but it is irritating).

Thanks!

Well put.

You said earlier that you would try an old 7600gt and see if that works without issues. Have you tried that?

 

[Skurge]

Right, so you cant answer the question...instead you resort to stats that I have already acknowledged and then rant because the truth hurts, and try to divert attention by derailing the thread.

WHY suggest several difference driver versions for download when they are all allegedly good, if the issue is a Windows problem...

Read my edit.

the OP was regarding driver stability of AMD\ATI, not nVidia!..How is this thread crapping?

I wasn't referring to you specifically, but there are a number of posts in this thread like that.

 

[brandonb]

I never had issues with ATI, but since I've upgraded to version 10.11, I've run into about 5 crashes over the last few months (according to Windows Error Report.) I am going to have to try the new drivers. I'm a bit sad that it's starting to crash more often.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I haven't had any driver issues for a long time. Actually none to speak of with either my ATI card in my main rig or my nvidia in my secondary.

In the past, I've had bad drivers from both companies, but not often.

I think one reason why I have very few driver problems compared to other people is I do not update my drivers every single freakin' month. If it works, I don't screw around with it. I'll update the drivers every 6 months or so unless there is a need or reason to do so sooner (like if I reload windows I'll get the latest driver then). I think having a zillion driver versions go through one install of windows is just asking for trouble. Also whenever I do update drivers, I fully remove the old ones first, then reboot, install new, and reboot. Not any of that install over top of old crap I see so many people do.

FWIW, I'm running fairly recent drivers on my 4870 right now. I'm running the Catalyst 10.12, zero problems.

 

[Twinpeaksr]

Well put.

You said earlier that you would try an old 7600gt and see if that works without issues. Have you tried that?

Have not yet, Blizzard has been distracting...however the 5ft tall drift in the drive is now moved!

 

[Termie]

if you've have 7 cards fail on you then you need to start troubleshooting the entire system. my bet is that the ram is bad.

I agree (and reiterate) that RAM is a potential culprit.

So I just rolled back to Catalyst 10.6 and loosened the timings on my memory. I watched some hulu videos for the first time in months.

I should note that RAM settings don't just affect ATI. When I upgraded from an HD4670 to a GTX460 in my HTPC, the computer wouldn't boot at first. I was afraid it might be the new card, but after some troubleshooting, I loosened the timings on my memory. Presto - the GTX460 fired right up. Something about the increase in power draw probably threw off the balance of my system.

OP - seriously, loosen up your timings and see what happens. And try 10.6 while you're at it.

 

[hawtdawg]

Yes, their drivers are stable. I can't recall ever having a stability issue with them. Sometimes their installer/uninstaller can lead to some real headaches if you're constantly changing driver versions and sometimes there are issues with crossfire, but as far as actual game stability, they're perfectly fine.

Having owned multiple products from both Nvidia and ATI I can say that neither is really better than the other. I think Nvidia has had more major issues in recent memory than ATI. One NVIDIA driver was keeping fans from kicking up and frying video cards. Also, I own an alienware laptop, the original release of this model laptop had SLI 280's, but there was a serious DCP latency issue that their drivers were causing that took them forever to fix, AW ended up putting ATI cards in the laptop instead, even though the motherboard was made by Nvidia.

You'll hear people talking about Nvidia having better drivers, but it's honestly been nearly a decade since ATI's driver releases could really be considered worse than Nvidias.

 

[Wreckage]

There are millions and I do mean MILLIONS of AMD user around there world, if their drivers were as bad as you people (who don't even have the hardware) make them out to be don't you think people would be dumping their AMD cards and AMD's marketshare would be falling?

Millions of people use Windows, would you say it's more stable than Linux or OSX?

Having to hotfix a driver upwards of 5 times in a single month does not exactly inspire confidence. :thumbsdown:

 

[Grooveriding]

No drivers are perfect. Personally I haven't had major issues with video drivers at all.

Seems a lot of people do though. My suspicion is a healthy dose of pebkac or faulty psu, mobo, rambling etc.

Nvidia drivers are responsible for the majority of windows crashes though, so who knows.

 

[Mem]

Millions of people use Windows, would you say it's more stable than Linux or OSX?

Having to hotfix a driver upwards of 5 times in a single month does not exactly inspire confidence. :thumbsdown:

I have used both AMD and Nvidia drivers for decades,I can honestly say I have no real issues updating every month with AMD drivers(never had to use any hotfix driver or patch)..... I do game a lot as well not to mention beta games testing,Nvidia drivers are the same to me ie both stable .

As usual threads like these blow everything out of proportion.

 

[Wreckage]

Nvidia drivers are responsible for the majority of windows crashes though, so who knows.

Yeah we also covered how NVIDIA had the majority of the market at the time and was ahead of AMD in releasing a DX10 part for Vista. But you can keep beating that dead horse, if it makes you feel better. Got a more recent graph? Probably not.

I'm guessing NVIDIA's superior drivers are why you chose them over AMD? Or at least one of the reasons.

 

[GaiaHunter]

OP - seriously, loosen up your timings and see what happens. And try 10.6 while you're at it.

So now you have to try the newer drivers to make sure it wasn't your memory only.

 

[Termie]

So now you have to try the newer drivers to make sure it wasn't your memory only.

Yeah, that would be pretty sad, but remember that I hadn't seen a video driver crash until November, and 10.6 came out in June. Since November, I've had video driver crashes routinely in Firefox beta, Hulu, and the Starcraft II demo. Arguably, all of these could have been putting new stresses on my system that exposed a bad memory setting. So there are two parts to this equation, and it might not be the updating of drivers during that time that caused it. Hard to pin down, but yes, I'll eventually go back to 11.1 and see if hulu crashes within five seconds. Not a difficult test to perform.

I'm still of the opinion that the drivers appear to be unstable and at least partly to blame, as these crashes did not occur at points where the system was particularly stressed, especially the internet surfing crashes. I've never had a video driver crash in BC2, and that pushes the system harder than even Starcraft, I assume.

 

[thilanliyan]

Both companies have crappy drivers sometimes. In my case the only major driver problems I've had were with my 8800GTS 640 where some games wouldn't work and I would get the driver crashing errors constantly. Recently I've tried both the 11.1a and 11.1 WHQL drivers and have not had problems with either. This is just my system of course...I'm not saying others won't have problems.

 

[Konjislav]

100%, 50%, no difference, the noise difference is so minimal, might as well max the fan speed, lower temp is better.

Anyone confirm 60C is reasonable with 3 monitors running?

The point is running 3 monitors cripples amd's drivers in such a way that u're only able to go to 2.5D mode instead of 2D mode in desktop operations. (2.5D mode is the mode which activates while watching dxva movies)

I have done 6950 shader unlock mod + asus smart doctor unlock high range OCC clocks mod and done some overclock myself, but in the process i've lost the possibility of 2D mode, and am stuck running @ 450/1250 in this mode, which brings my temp @ 58C with fan set to 35% manually. Hope this clears ur disputes about ati drivers. It seems to be hardcoded in ati drivers, for now at least.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

they need a profiling system like nvidia

 

[Zanovar]

used drivers 9-11.1 not 1 prob on ati 5850? am i doing it wrong?*laughs*.