Get your AMD 10.3a Drivers today: Yes, with an "a".

[BD231]

Dude look at my sig....I don't own any games. I'm not a gamer but I like to play with the technology.
I think they are just trying to tweak the drivers for better performance currently. If it was just to mess with nvidia then I'd think something more like a bios update for the ref cards would be more in order. Most of the cards are conservativly clocked at the moment.

I was just speaking generally, didn't say anything about AMD's intent. And for the love of God get Mass Effect 2 with that PC of yours, you'll be hooked.

 

[poohbear]

Dude look at my sig....I don't own any games. I'm not a gamer but I like to play with the technology.

Now I'm thinking of buying a game but haven't decided which one. I kinda like the game play of things like Tomb Raider, Drakes Fortune etc. Anybody got some rec's for something that has some nice eye candy and would take advantage of my system.



I think they are just trying to tweak the drivers for better performance currently. If it was just to mess with nvidia then I'd think something more like a bios update for the ref cards would be more in order. Most of the cards are conservativly clocked at the moment.

why would u spend $300 on a graphics card if u're not a gamer? makes no sense at all to me. A $120 5750 would've been more than enough for u and u could've done plenty of playing around w/ all its new features.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Now if they could roll out an update that allowed Bad Company 2 to load shaders in under 3 hours we'd really have something.

 

[1h4x4s3x]

Kyle or another moderator at H is collecting those issues and will notify ATI. Hope they'll work it out soon.

 

[SlowSpyder]

The difference between the two is that Catalyst™ 10.3a Preview will contain future Eyefinty 6 updates and an Alien vs. Predator optimization which the Catalyst™ 10.3 WHQL posting does not have.

Can anyone tell me why they are not including a game optimization in the WHQL driver, but are in the 'a' driver? I'm a bit confused as to why they would do that. I guess I'm a bit confused to if I want the 'a' driver or the WHQL 10.3 driver?

 

[Kuzi]

Because the 10.3 WHQL is an older driver, maybe submitted a few weeks ago to MS for certification. And whatever improvements are in the 10.3a driver, we will probably get next month with the next official driver.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Because the 10.3 WHQL is an older driver, maybe submitted a few weeks ago to MS for certification. And whatever improvements are in the 10.3a driver, we will probably get next month with the next official driver.

Got it, thanks.

 

[Kenmitch]

why would u spend $300 on a graphics card if u're not a gamer? makes no sense at all to me. A $120 5750 would've been more than enough for u and u could've done plenty of playing around w/ all its new features.

When looking for a video card I wanted to get something that matched my system performance wise. The important thing is if I wanna game I can. I can most likely not even worry about the specs on the box.

It's not like I said I didn't have any intent to game. More like I just haven't got any games yet. Not like these modern games are cheap. I just gotta find a game that looks good to me. Something that I won't regret buying 2 minutes after I fire it up for the first time.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[lavaheadache]

So my real world experience with these drives have been very positive.
4870x2 + 4870 1gig at 2560x1600


My settings include 4xaa with adaptive AA on and 16xaf.

I've just finished playing through a few missions of HAWX dx10.1 and results are awesome
the benchmark gave me
66fps average and 216 max

I don't have previous driver #'s but what i can tell you is that i used to get a very minor slow down when there would be a near by explosion. Now there is none.

I fired up Far Cry 2 and there was way less noticeable hitching without doing the max_fps trick.

I'm sold on these

 

[Dorkenstein]

Hmm, mostly 2% increases in the games I own. Not a great improvement.

 

[43st]

Now if they could roll out an update that allowed Bad Company 2 to load shaders in under 3 hours we'd really have something.

I'm a bit disappointed with that as well. As well as a few white box artifacts on level load.

 

[nemesismk2]

No UT2k4 improvements?

I need all the help I can get with UT2k4 so I am disappointed there is no increase

 

[mm2587]

what 2000fps isn't enough?

 

[lavaheadache]

seems like prices have risen on newegg for 5800's since these drivers came out. lol

 

[Darkrage]

seems like prices have risen on newegg for 5800's since these drivers came out. lol

lol I know right..haha was thinking the same thing... then again they been rising since the 5830 launch.....

anyway going to try these drivers

 

[Chiropteran]

Anyone else excited by the fact you can run these on mobility GPU as well? I've always hated waiting for my laptop manufacturer to update their drivers, if they ever do. It's nice being able to just download the drivers from AMD. I'm aware of the prior existence of hacked drivers that work on mobility cards, but these feel more legit since they come directly from AMD.

 

[The Sauce]

Awesome. Not.

What about some benchmarks that matter, like games?

Sry. Didn't think to bench games before I updated. Pleanty of reviews around that did, though.

 

[Sylvanas]

Anyone else excited by the fact you can run these on mobility GPU as well? I've always hated waiting for my laptop manufacturer to update their drivers, if they ever do. It's nice being able to just download the drivers from AMD. I'm aware of the prior existence of hacked drivers that work on mobility cards, but these feel more legit since they come directly from AMD.

Absolutely. Finally laptop users are not left in the lurch with drivers. I can't seem to find the release notes however (probably because it's a 'preview' driver) of what model mobilty GPUs the new driver updates will extend back to.

 

[e_marston]

Hmm, mostly 2% increases in the games I own. Not a great improvement.

It's an improvement and it's free so why disparage it?

 

[Kenmitch]

Hmm, mostly 2% increases in the games I own. Not a great improvement.

Every little bit does help ya know

I guess you'd rather say why bother it's only 2% on the games I play.

Others like to say it's nice that ATI is working on driver improvements that maximize performance for my video card. From the launch of the 5xxx series of cards they have made some massive improvements in the drivers. Yep they still need some work but the important thing is they did not forget all those whom have made and investment in ATI by buying their products. I'm sure they are working on the 6xxx series of cards and it's kinda nice they are still putting the effort forward to improving what they have already produced!

The current video card industry just might be following the AMD vs Intel core 2 duo path. You guys all remember the day when AMD ruled and what happened when Intel launched the Core 2 duo line. Intel has not looked back ever since and AMD has been unable to compete for the crown. Nvidia's living on it's name and reputation currently and has let alot of fanboys down. How long will it's past reputation carry it into the future is unkown.

I'm not a fanboy of either ATI or Nvidia but just a consumer that bases his purchases on what is going on today....Not what happened in the past!

 

[slayernine]

Well after using these drivers for a few days I would agree that they seem to increase my FPS in most of my favorite games.