Radeon Drivers

[brandonb]

I haven't had any issues with either brand lately. I use ATI for my desktop and HTPC, and Nvidia in my laptop, and no issues either way.

 

[VirtualLarry]

First rule of windows updating - NEVER update hardware drivers through windows update.

 

[hdfxst]

so this thread is to warn people not to use windows automatic update if you have an amd card?

 

[Avalon]

I can't think of a single issue I've ever had with Nvidia or ATI drivers in single card configurations, using either the latest beta driver, drivers from windows update, or the latest WHQL drivers from either's website, and I usually update drivers every 2-3 months, and constantly have different cards going into and out of my system since I like to play with hardware.

Either something strange is happening with your configuration, or I'm really, really oblivious to my own setup.

 

[Elixer]

In the real world, both camps have issues with their drivers.
Some driver revisions are better than others, and well, you got people in both camps saying crap about the other guys.
Bottom line is, both camps are pretty much equal these days.

If you want to support proprietary things like physfx, then your only choice is nvidia, since they own it, and gimp it for intel/AMD guys.

 

[chihlidog]

AMD drivers are just fine. Both sides have their fanboys. I have been a fanboy of the red team since upgrading my 4400 ti, that's, oh, 4 card now, and I still love my 5850. So, yes, l I am a bit biased. But I havent had a driver issue since my X1950pro.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Ive never had a problem with either company. Used a 7800 GTX for 5 years. Before that I had a x800XTPE, 9800 Pro, GeForce 440MX etc etc.

 

[Gillbot]

1.) Did it work correctly after installing the drivers from the AMD site rather than the one from microsoft update?
2.) Are you sure that the card isn't the culprit? Maybe the card is already dying

Card works fine otherwise using older drivers.

ATI drivers are still shit, why? because an Anandtech ADMINISTRATOR said so.

I mean like.. hell, if even an Anandtech Administrator cant vouch for ATI drivers, they must be just terrible, in fact they are WAY worse than Nvidia drivers.

Nvidia as the only other competitor to ATI in discreet cards is just gotto be incredibly good to make such good drivers.


Anyway Gillbot, welcome to 2011, its AMD not ATI. That also goes for drivers.

:thumbsdown:

so this thread is to warn people not to use windows automatic update if you have an amd card?

Basically, Yes.

The short answer is "no."

To elaborate I think AMD drivers are now stable then ever before but video card drivers in general are still very volatile. When you updated through the Windows Update you probably ended up with a bad install of the drivers. Over the years I have learned video card drivers are something I would rather not mess around with if I have a working build and that has saved me a lot of time and trouble. Always go for latest drivers from the site, this cannot be stressed enough regardless of what company you card comes from and never update through any other procedure than getting the new drivers from the AMD/nVidia website.

Thank you for at least a worthwhile reply. While my intention was NOT to troll, it seems as though no matter what you post here, it's taken as such and you are attacked by the other camp right away.

I have NEVER had good luck with ATi. (i'll call it ATI if I want to, my card says ATi NOT AMD, get over it). I have always battled with their drivers since my first card and as I said, my luck seems to have not changed. I have never experienced the same issue with anything NV based, whether it was a windows update driver or not. It seems as though in my experience, a bad ATi update means a new windows install whereas a bad NV update I could just roll back or install a different one and be fine.

 

[Vic Vega]

Zero problems with my setup going on a year now. I've upgraded my video drivers once.

 

[busydude]

It seems as though in my experience, a bad ATi update means a new windows install whereas a bad NV update I could just roll back or install a different one and be fine.

I don't have this problem at all. I had issues when I was running frankenfire setup mainly with BSOD's.. but safe mode+ uninstall + rollback always worked for me as of today.

 

[Gillbot]

I don't have this problem at all. I had issues when I was running frankenfire setup mainly with BSOD's.. but safe mode+ uninstall + rollback always worked for me as of today.

I tried EVERYTHING I could think of. I seriously thought it was bad ram or something. In the end, after a fresh install and doing anything/everything except that update, it's fine. I'm really surprised to be honest as i've never had an issue with a set of drivers with windows update before.

I'm nervous about downloading the latest drivers direct. I may image this drive then try just so I can go back for sure.

 

[Binky]

I've had zero driver problems since switching entirely to ATI/AMD after Nvidia's Vista fiasco (incredibly bad drivers upon release of Vista). That was probably late 2006 or early 2007.

About the only posts I see about "bad" ATI drivers is from people that use driver cleaners then claim it's the drivers that are bad...! I had a bad experience back in the ATI 9800 days with a driver cleaner. It hosed my system pretty nicely. I wont do that again.

 

[Oyeve]

I lean more toward AMD/ATI but I have had many nvidia cards too. My last being a 9800GT. My current ATI 5770 was a real PITA when I first got it, the drivers were freaking horrible. I had to go back 2 revs before I it stable. I havent updated the drivers in nearly a year because its stable right now and plays what I need well. IMO, just because there is a new driver doesnt mean you need it. I too miss Matrox and 3dfx and stb and competition in general. Now its just like PC vs apple.

 

[dust]

I ran two 4870's in crossfire for two years and a half and only had issues with one driver, 10.6 IIRC, I did some stupid things with the cards though and experienced additional issues, but as soon as I did a clean driver install the problems were gone.

I'd start again from scratch if I were you, and as far as cf is concerned, the 10.4 offered the best performance for my cards, nothing ulterior added anything else.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I've actually heard of more problems with recent Nvidia drivers than AMD drivers.

This has been my experience. My friend has had nonstop problems with nVidia drivers since early spring. AMDs seem to have been okay for quite some time. I never once had a problem with my 4890 since I got it (shortly after it came out). The 11.8's seem to have a very annoying problem with BC2 that doesn't seem to effect me on a 6950, but causes my friend with a 4870 (maybe xfire, I forget) MASSIVE grief. However, I also am lazy and tend to only update my drivers every 3 months or so instead of every release.

 

[Madcatatlas]

My apoligies IDC

hmm, what i ment to say was that anecdotal stories about ones failure with hardware or other things, really should be kept to oneself, unless you need help, i dont interpret this topic as such.

Another poster asked if the purpose of this topic was to "warn others to not use windows updater if you have a radeon card", and the OP said yes.
WHy isnt this reflected in the topic title?

What is reflected in the topic title is this: Are radeon drivers still THAT bad. Thats it. And the OP clearly knows where this is going, including a disclaimer of not wanting to start a flame war. Im no fanboy, just a critic of how somethings are presented and thus how they are (in the end) interpreted.
Do i read too much into it? maybe. But then i would either call you naive or think of you as not too bright, depending on your argumentation.

Gillbot, they are AMD drivers, if you install the latest Catalyst/radeon drivers, it is AMD who makes them, your card is irrelevant, as long as its included in the support list. Why do you insist on dragging your previous ATI experiance over to AMD?

What im trying to tell you, for the second time, is that things have changed, and while "things" have changed, you are arguing that you NEVER have had luck with ATI drivers. Wheres the sense in that?

I swear we wont ever see a topic made by (and lets use your own words here) "the other camp" where they admit to having good experiances with drivers that are not of their color, as apparant in this topic.

Finally:
I challenge you to post when you have worked out which driver to install and tell us of your experiances with the card and driver issues Gillbot. Once you have the system up and running, do you experiance problems, or is it silky smooth?

 

[happy medium]

I swear we wont ever see a topic made by (and lets use your own words here) "the other camp" where they admit to having good experiances with drivers that are not of their color, as apparant in this topic.

Ahh, I proved you wrong in this post.

NO, they are much better than they used to be. Honestly.

Never mind you said "topic"

 

[Firestorm007]

They are just fine. I've had issues with both camps, but it has never been anything major; and those issues are typically sorted out within the next driver release. I've run into a few issues reverting back with AMD drivers. For some odd reason, they don't always want to take. However, a little driver sweeper goes a long way. All in all though, once i've got it working right, I rarely see any glaring issues. That goes for both companies. I have a 6970 in my machine and my son has a 580 gtx. I like AMD and he likes Nvidia...go figure...but like I said, AMD drivers are just fine...

 

[Rifter]

I've used alot of different versions from both camps on alot of different OS's lately. I used to have a 4890 before my 460 SLI setup. My GF currently has the 4890, and im running ATI in my HTPC, and Nvidia in my server. So over the last 2 years ive gone through almost every driver revision from both camps either under vista/win7/ubuntu.

For windows drivers i have had zero major issues with either camps. I have had minor crashing issues with a few select games with drivers from both camps over the last 2 years but i would not consider any of them major, rolling back to older revisions always solved the problem.

One thing i will say is for Linux ATI is still light years behind Nvidia in stability and performance but for most users this will be a non issue as most do not use linux. I would NEVER buy a ATI card for a linux system, and since i dual boot that means i will probably never purchase a ATI card again, had way to many issues with my 4890 under linux, some drivers were so bad desktop effects were laggy and slow.

 

[amenx]

I think some combinations of hardware (esp motherboard, soundcard) may have more issues with some graphics cards than others. My experience with Nvidia drivers in last several years has been stellar, which is one reason I'm in Nvidia camp. BUT I have seen several people complaining in driver forums using same card, same drivers as I was, albeit diff mobo, hardware. So I can only assume its that, diff hardware combinations are not as 'synergetic' as can be and/or drivers conflicting with other hardware or even software.

 

[apoppin]

I think some combinations of hardware (esp motherboard, soundcard) may have more issues with some graphics cards than others. My experience with Nvidia drivers in last several years has been stellar, which is one reason I'm in Nvidia camp. BUT I have seen several people complaining in driver forums using same card, same drivers as I was, albeit diff mobo, hardware. So I can only assume its that, diff hardware combinations are not as 'synergetic' as can be and/or drivers conflicting with other hardware or even software.

Let me give you a recent example with my HD 6990. It failed in my X58 MB and AMD's advice was to move it to another MB. Well it works fine in my Phenom II MB but when i move it back to my Intel PC, it BSODs the system


AMD has acknowledged that my problem is not unique. Unfortunately, i do not believe they will replace or repair it so i am stuck with it in a Phenom II system
(980BE at 4.3GHz) and can no longer bench it in my flagship PC.

 

[Rifter]

AMD has acknowledged that my problem is not unique. Unfortunately, i do not believe they will replace or repair it so i am stuck with it in a Phenom II system
(980BE at 4.3GHz) and can no longer bench it in my flagship PC.

If they do not replace the card i would go postal, you spend that much cash on something it better work properly. Which AIB made the card? most have decent customer service.

 

[Gillbot]

I lean more toward AMD/ATI but I have had many nvidia cards too. My last being a 9800GT. My current ATI 5770 was a real PITA when I first got it, the drivers were freaking horrible. I had to go back 2 revs before I it stable. I havent updated the drivers in nearly a year because its stable right now and plays what I need well. IMO, just because there is a new driver doesnt mean you need it. I too miss Matrox and 3dfx and stb and competition in general. Now its just like PC vs apple.

I ran two 4870's in crossfire for two years and a half and only had issues with one driver, 10.6 IIRC, I did some stupid things with the cards though and experienced additional issues, but as soon as I did a clean driver install the problems were gone.

I'd start again from scratch if I were you, and as far as cf is concerned, the 10.4 offered the best performance for my cards, nothing ulterior added anything else.

My first battle was a pair of 3870's in crossfire. No matter what I tried with those things, they would NOT run stable regardless of the drivers I tried. Granted, that was LONG ago but it put a bad taste in my mouth. My next attempt was 4870x2's and it ended just as badly fighting crossfire issues and drivers. One set would work great until you'd enable crossfire, the next set wouldn't crossfire but everything else was super stable. I couldn't win.

My apoligies IDC

hmm, what i ment to say was that anecdotal stories about ones failure with hardware or other things, really should be kept to oneself, unless you need help, i dont interpret this topic as such.

Another poster asked if the purpose of this topic was to "warn others to not use windows updater if you have a radeon card", and the OP said yes.
WHy isnt this reflected in the topic title?

What is reflected in the topic title is this: Are radeon drivers still THAT bad. Thats it. And the OP clearly knows where this is going, including a disclaimer of not wanting to start a flame war. Im no fanboy, just a critic of how somethings are presented and thus how they are (in the end) interpreted.
Do i read too much into it? maybe. But then i would either call you naive or think of you as not too bright, depending on your argumentation.

Gillbot, they are AMD drivers, if you install the latest Catalyst/radeon drivers, it is AMD who makes them, your card is irrelevant, as long as its included in the support list. Why do you insist on dragging your previous ATI experiance over to AMD?

What im trying to tell you, for the second time, is that things have changed, and while "things" have changed, you are arguing that you NEVER have had luck with ATI drivers. Wheres the sense in that?

I swear we wont ever see a topic made by (and lets use your own words here) "the other camp" where they admit to having good experiances with drivers that are not of their color, as apparant in this topic.

Finally:
I challenge you to post when you have worked out which driver to install and tell us of your experiances with the card and driver issues Gillbot. Once you have the system up and running, do you experiance problems, or is it silky smooth?

I had an absolutely horrible experience with a 9800GX2 that fits this EXACT profile. There's a similar thread to this one somewhere "bashing" NV's drivers so pick up your cast stones please. I lean towards NV because I primarily use Quadro cards I pick up from work. Their stability for me has been much better than anything consumer based.

Aside from that, my driver issue has been fixed from what I can tell. I just used the original drivers from the windows disk and i'll not let it update at all. It works, why mess with it? It was a simple mistake allowing windows to update the driver, BUT my complaint is the fact that a rollback or other driver install would NOT rectify the issue. It took a full re-installation of windows to bring back stability.

 

[apoppin]

If they do not replace the card i would go postal, you spend that much cash on something it better work properly. Which AIB made the card? most have decent customer service.

AMD sent my HD 6990 directly to me for review; i am Editor-in-Chief for AlienBabelTech.

AMD is ignoring me and my requests for a replacement or repair as somehow it was my fault. This is same company that got the HD 6990 tested with the AUSUM switch by all of the tech sites - and after the results were posted versus the GTX 590, AMD changed their minds and refused to warranty it if the switch is flipped.

Well, we overclocked it (only for the review) and it failed a few months later and now i think i'd like to do a YouTube video and a creative way to destroy it; Shotgun blast sounds good and a HD 6990 funeral with full honors
:whiste:

 

[zebrax2]

AMD sent my HD 6990 directly to me for review; i am Editor-in-Chief for AlienBabelTech.

AMD is ignoring me and my requests for a replacement or repair as somehow it was my fault. This is same company that got the HD 6990 tested with the AUSUM switch by all of the tech sites - and after the results were posted versus the GTX 590, AMD changed their minds and refused to warranty it if the switch is flipped.

Well, we overclocked it (only for the review) and it failed a few months later and now i think i'd like to do a YouTube video and a creative way to destroy it; Shotgun blast sounds good and a HD 6990 funeral with full honors
:whiste:

I believe it was given to you free? If that is the case since it has done its purpose (in their view) there is no point in replacing your (probably) dud card.