Upgrading from 9500pro to x800 - which Cat?

[Wigwam]

currently have the Sapphire 9500pro with Cat 5.5 on my machine
Have bought an x800.
I want to install it but have gotten somewhat lost in the discussion on .net/control panel/which cat to install and would appreciate some help.

Which is the most stabe Cat i should install?
What do i gain by installing .net?
what do i LOSE by installing .net [don't seem to need it for anything else]
I have the old ATi Control panel and basically never use it - what features will i need i gain with the new one - and will i need them or are they resource-grabbing candy?

machine is asus a7n8x-D nforce2 machine with xp-sp1a [reinstall with sp2 next week!]

help appreciated so i can crack on and upgrade!

 

[sandorski]

latest version

 

[Wigwam]

ooookkkaaayyyy.....so what about all this malarkey with CP vs CCC and installation of .net?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

CCC is required unless you get non cats...like the omegadrivers

 

[Wigwam]

so i can't use 6.6 with the old CP? I ask because I don't use this function at all so certainly don't need an enhanced version of it.
Also I have heard of something call "ATi Tray Tools":
What does it do, what does it replace?
is ATT a replacement for the CCC which works with the new Cat 6.6 without needing .net? If so do i just download the driver-only 6.6?

 

[sandorski]

Just goto ATI's website, download the latest drivers, .Net, and use them. ATI Tray Tools and other such apps are a matter of preference and if you want to try them go ahead, but just install ATI's stuff to get going.

 

[TheRyuu]

Which Cats?

I say WARCATS!!!

 

[Wigwam]

in the end I didn't have much option. did a default install and CCC kept crashing on every startup and every time I manually started it so have bene forced to uninstall it and load ATT

Also, I note that there is an "auto-overclock" setting in ATT.
What does this do - is it like the old overdrive feature?

 

[ElFenix]

get the 5.12s without CCC from guru3d.

or download the 'driver only' from ati and use tray tools to configure everything.

.net 2.0 is ridiculously slow and sucks down ram

 

[Wigwam]

s'wat I've already done elfenix - as i said above

what kind of things to do i need to consider though?
There are LOTS of options and I daren't change much without some help/understanding!

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Wigwam
s'wat I've already done elfenix - as i said above

what kind of things to do i need to consider though?
There are LOTS of options and I daren't change much without some help/understanding!

auto overclocking isn't like CCC's overclocking. ATT's renders an image and compares the output coming from the video chip to how it is supposed to be. while doing that, it slowly raises the clockspeed of either ram or core. if it finds an error it determines that it has gone too far.


most of the options for tweaking hardware shouldn't be played with much, except maybe the fan control.

other options, such as filtering and aliasing, are image quality related.

 

[Wigwam]

aaah okay. Thanks
If it self-correlated then I might give the auto-overclock a chance [when i'm feeling braver!]