radeon 9700 pro...new owner...which drivers & utilities?

[MTDEW]

I havent pulled my GF4 Ti4600 yet, i went to Rage 3D to se what the newest drivers & utilities are for my 9700 pro b4 installing it.

I downloaded driver v.6193 (is this the newest one?)
And Im used to using Rivatuner with my Ti4600, so I believe Id like to have the Rage3d tweak utility also.

But im a bit confused as to which version to use with the 6193 drivers.
Heres a qoute.

Version 3.6 now available!

Important note: Version 3.6 is for use with ATI's drivers version 7.72 and newer, meaning all drivers that fit under the Catalyst name. If you wish to run a driver version older than 7.72 with Rage3D Tweak, then use version 3.2 of the tweaker for full compatibility with all tweaks

Are the 7.72 drivers newer than the 6193's i just downloaded?
Which version Rage3D Tweak do i use with the 6193 drivers?
Whats different about the Catalyst drivers?

And one more question.
Is Rage3D tweak the best tweak utility for the 9700 pro?
Or is there a bunch of different "tweak" ultilities like there are for the geforce cards?

My god , after being with Nvidia since the Tnt, i now feel bad for new geforce owners trying to figure out which detonator drivers to use. LOL

And,
(as far as ive read, the 6193 drivers fixes bfld 1942, GTA3 and Mafia)
anything i might NEED to know for running the following games on the 9700 pro?
Heres what im currently playing
Mafia
Battlefield 1942
GTA3
NOLF2
MOHAA
Nascar 2002
Soldier Of Fortune 2
Tiger Woods 2002

Im installing the 9700 Pro on the system in my sig.
WinXP Pro with SP1 and all updates installed.

Thanks
I dont mind searching for tweaks, but id rather do it WITH my new card installed.

 

[microAmp]

All I did was get the Catalyst drivers from ATi and the Control Panel.

I believe the 6193's are beta, so I'm advoiding them for now. I started off with 6166, and saw a patch for BF 1942 at ATi's website, updgraded to them 6180's or 6170's can't remember. Works fine for me.

But I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see anything for tweaks.

 

[30wolverine30]

I installed the 6193's w/ no problem whatsoever and it raised my 3Dmarks 290 pts.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Definitely use the 6193 drivers. They're not beta, just not WHQL certified yet.


As for tweaking, the Rage3Dtweaker is the best I think. You can also try Powerstrip, but the Rage3D one is more specific to ATI cards.

 

[Killrose]

Whatever you do, you ought to get Detonator destroyer to remove all Nvidia drivers. Then install the 9700.

 

[ScrewFace]

I'd recommend a clean install of everthing just to be safe. I know it sucks but you don't want any conflicts between the 2 driver sets down the road like I had.

 

[TMS]

I think the ati version numbers are as confusing as possible.
The current drivers (6193) are catalyst version 2.3 and build 7.78.
The latest rage tweaker works for all drivers that were released for the 9700.
The first thing that you must do is to set the refresh rates in the tweaker...

 

[MTDEW]

A clean install of winxp is exactly what i did.
(thanks for the advice though, i figured the same thing about the detonator drivers.)

Ok, now i understand how the driver version numbers work.

It took awhile to get replies to this thread , so i got impatient.
Already installed the 6193 drivers a couple of days ago, so i guess i did a "good thing". lol

No problems whatsoever with Mafia, btlfld 1942, Hot Pursuit2 demo or any other of my games so far.
So im more than happy with these drivers.
(i havent installed GTA3 yet, so i cant vouch for the game ousing the 6193's)

TMS,
thanks for the driver explaination, ill get the latest tweak utility.

Im already using refresh force & it worked just fine with my 9700 pro, everything set at 85hz, just the way i like it.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

Get PowerStrip, you'll be glad you did.