Does AMD/ATI make stable drivers?

[Firestorm007]

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.

No. I think it's AMD and there spectacular hardware and drivers that frighten you. You're just so ashamed at buying that 470, that it fuels your jealousy of the Awesomeness that is AMD. It's ok. We forgive you. We all make mistakes. :awe:

 

[Obsoleet]

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:

The hotfixes are great. At least they support their product unlike Nvidia. Get out of here with the blatant hate, trying to make it seem like more frequent updates are bad. You don't have to update your drivers, I don't. I'm happy with 10.6 and no longer try the new drivers, maybe someday I will. And you have no choice but to not update your drivers if you use Nvidia.

AMD makes the drivers and hotfixes very visible and people are aware of them, they use them, it's a victory for the consumer.

This thread has made it clear that AMD drivers are better than Nvidia's. If you want the best engineered GPU you buy AMD, and since 2007 if you want the best drivers for Windows and gaming you buy AMD. Nvidia if you want to end up a crosseyed goofball with 3d vision.

 

[OCGuy]

The hotfixes are great. At least they support their product unlike Nvidia. Get out of here with the blatant hate, trying to make it seem like more frequent updates are bad. You don't have to update your drivers, I don't. I'm happy with 10.6 and no longer try the new drivers, maybe someday I will. And you have no choice but to not update your drivers if you use Nvidia.

AMD makes the drivers and hotfixes very visible and people are aware of them, they use them, it's a victory for the consumer.

This thread has made it clear that AMD drivers are better than Nvidia's. If you want the best engineered GPU you buy AMD, and since 2007 if you want the best drivers for Windows and gaming you buy AMD. Nvidia if you want to end up a crosseyed goofball with 3d vision.

.....

Sorry man, your post is comical. AMD has been having driver issues (especially Xfire) since early 2010. There is no denying this.

Does this mean "ZOMG AMD IS TEH SUCK!!!"? No. But it is abundantly clear they are having major problems with stability.

I assume this will be worked out soon. Personally, I have found a stable Xfire driver that plays everything except ARMA2 flawlessly.

This is my first ATi multi-GPU setup, and I cannot say I am dissapointed yet. But the fact that you have to be scared to update drivers is telling.......

Both sides have driver issues from time to time (who doesnt remember nV burning up cards last year? Who doesnt remember Intel bricking SSDs last year?) It just seems ATi is in a funk.

 

[Aikouka]

That reminds me of when I first got Vista with my 8800GTX. My god, that was probably the worst experience that I ever had with video card drivers. If I ever tried to enter an Arakkoa area in World of Warcraft, my computer would instantly lock up... every darned time! I always wondered if my eVGA card maybe didn't get fixed (as the 8800GTX cards had a bad... capacitor before release I think?)

 

[Grooveriding]

Considering AMD's Radeon 6 series cards crossfire scaling is superior to Nvidia's SLI scaling. I'd say their drivers are doing just fine. Both companies have issues. The Gtx 460 had tons of sli issues until they fixed it with a driver release.

Heck, it was a 3 month drought of no drivers out of nvidia before the most recent release. I think not many posters here even look at the Nvidia drivers forum:

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showforum=213

 

[Termie]

.....



I assume this will be worked out soon. Personally, I have found a stable Xfire driver that plays everything except ARMA2 flawlessly.

This is my first ATi multi-GPU setup, and I cannot say I am dissapointed yet. But the fact that you have to be scared to update drivers is telling.......

Both sides have driver issues from time to time (who doesnt remember nV burning up cards last year? Who doesnt remember Intel bricking SSDs last year?) It just seems ATi is in a funk.

Which driver are you using? Other than ARMA, no problems? None of the driver crashes some of us have experienced? By the way, didn't you also need to RMA your second XFX card (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2133025&page=3)? Did you get the problem resolved? I'm thinking of buying a second one myself, but only if crossfire doesn't introduce more problems.

 

[Wreckage]

The hotfixes are great.

Having to fix the same driver 5 times in one month is great? I guess we just have different standards.

 

[Zanovar]

Having to fix the same driver 5 times in one month is great? I guess we just have different standards.

What do you bring to this forum?...

 

[evolucion8]

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.

What do you bring to this forum?...

Don't feed them, both are known for being huge fanboys for nVidia, both have been banned several times due to their rude and deceive way of posting, so don't waste your time on them.

It seems that the OP has some issues with his hardware. AMD drivers are solid, just like nVidia's are. I own both and I haven't found any issue and I have a PC game library of over 150 games.

 

[Mem]

Having to fix the same driver 5 times in one month is great? I guess we just have different standards.

No company makes perfect drivers including Nvidia,(thats why both Nvidia and AMD release new drivers all the time)you could argue if a company releases regular hotfixes/patches etc..its good support from the company.

I say it again over the last decade I never had to use a hotfix driver for any of my cards or gaming needs,again its all blown out of proportion.

I'll say sometimes the issues are with the game developers game rather then drivers so both Nvidia and AMD sometimes provide fixes while we wait for the game patch from the software company in question.

 

[Cuular]

I'm thinking airflow issues through the system causing heat problems. Near the top of the thread the OP claims to be using overdrive to run his fans at 100% to keep the card from getting too hot. Overheating graphics card can indeed cause stability issues.

 

[Zanovar]

Don't feed them, both are known for being huge fanboys for nVidia, both have been banned several times due to their rude and deceive way of posting, so don't waste your time on them.

It seems that the OP has some issues with his hardware. AMD drivers are solid, just like nVidia's are. I own both and I haven't found any issue and I have a PC game library of over 150 games.

skurge is rational,i always enjoy reading his posts,so i doubt hes been banned for anything,wreckage on the other hand...

 

[evolucion8]

I meant Wreckage and SolMiester, Skurge is very rational and had owned nVidia and AMD cards in the past.

 

[Zanovar]

I meant Wreckage and SolMiester, Skurge is very rational and had owned nVidia and AMD cards in the past.

ah ,thought ya did

 

[Twinpeaksr]

I'm thinking airflow issues through the system causing heat problems. Near the top of the thread the OP claims to be using overdrive to run his fans at 100% to keep the card from getting too hot. Overheating graphics card can indeed cause stability issues.

I thought so too, but keeping the card at 35C gives no stability improvements over 60C. Still see it as a driver problem, not a hardware issue.

Will add 10.6 to the list to try next, so far 10.10e is working the best, 1 crash in about 12hrs of use.

As far as AMD vs NVidia...I don't give a sh*t, I just want a stable card and drivers so that I don't have to spends many hours troubleshooting a poorly verified card/driver. As has been shown, both can be flawless and both can suck. I have had both, I picked AMD this time so I can get 3 monitors on 1 card, really that is the only reason.

Thanks for all the valuable input from many, hope to solve this soon to help the next person out.

 

[nemesismk2]

Does AMD/ATI make stable drivers?

I have used AMD/ATI for many years and cab confirm that their drivers are stable. I've used Nvidia for many years also and their drivers are stable too.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I've been using AMD/ATI AND NVIDIA cards for MANY years and NEVER had video card driver issues.

 

[Skurge]

I thought so too, but keeping the card at 35C gives no stability improvements over 60C. Still see it as a driver problem, not a hardware issue.

Will add 10.6 to the list to try next, so far 10.10e is working the best, 1 crash in about 12hrs of use.

As far as AMD vs NVidia...I don't give a sh*t, I just want a stable card and drivers so that I don't have to spends many hours troubleshooting a poorly verified card/driver. As has been shown, both can be flawless and both can suck. I have had both, I picked AMD this time so I can get 3 monitors on 1 card, really that is the only reason.

Thanks for all the valuable input from many, hope to solve this soon to help the next person out.

You said that you don't game much, you could try returning the 5870 and get a 6870 or something in its place. I've heard much less drivers issues with them. Maybe thats just cause there are less 6000 cards around.

 

[Twinpeaksr]

You said that you don't game much, you could try returning the 5870 and get a 6870 or something in its place. I've heard much less drivers issues with them. Maybe thats just cause there are less 6000 cards around.

The thought has crossed my mind...but I am stubborn, want to get it to work!

 

[Cebu]

I have used both Nvidia and ATI cards over the years and to me Nvidia's drivers seem a little more polished. I been using a XFX 5970 for the past year or so and it has been stable and played all of my games correctly. I was having some stability and fan issues that I contributed to the drivers but as soon as I upgraded my system, which included a new a new motherboard, all of the issues went away. Go figure. I'm tempted to upgrade when Nvidia and ATI release their new cards but I game at 1900x1200 so I'm not sure it would be worth it. Hell, as long as my 5970 will run DNF and Crysis 2 with all of the eye candy turned on then I will be happy.

 

[dlamb2471]

Twinpeaksr, I'm wondering if you can try running on a single monitor just for testing, to see if you have the problem (or if you've tried that already)?

I know that isn't a solution, but I'm curious if the issues come from multi-mon setups.

 

[Rifter]

Twinpeaksr, I'm wondering if you can try running on a single monitor just for testing, to see if you have the problem (or if you've tried that already)?

I know that isn't a solution, but I'm curious if the issues come from multi-mon setups.

This is a good idea, it does seem alot of the issues posted about ATI drivers are with multi monitor setups. I would be interested to see if running one monitor works for the OP. Perhaps the ATI drivers just cant handle multi displays well.