The ATI Driver Upgrade Debate

[DeaconFrost]

This is a topic hotly debated on other forums, so I figured I'd ask here. For those of you with ATI graphics cards, what is your process for upgrading the drivers?

Option A: Remove through Control Panel, reboot, then install new Catalyst version

Option B: Install new Catalyst drivers overtop the old version

Option C: Remove drivers, reboot to Safe Mode, Run Driver Sweeper, then reboot and install new Catalyst drivers.

 

[stormy13]

A isn't needed as B does that automatically (that is why the screen flashes 3 times and drops to a lower resolution during the install when using B). C is only neededwhen troubleshooting or going back to an older driver version, or if you have a bad case of OCD.

P.S. regardless of which method is used, always select Custom when you get to it and unselect any parts you don't want or need (the LOTR shortcut for starters).

 

[sygnus21]

I chose A... Never ever had a problem doing it that way

Good question BTW.

 

[pparks1]

I would modify slighty.

Step 1: Run my imaging tool of choice and image my box
Step 2: Install new GFX driver over top of old one.

I haven't had an ATI card in awhile, but it seems like there is quite a bit more effort with their drivers compared to Nvidia.

 

[Wishmaster]

I just do a inplace upgrade. Ive never had a issue with it personally and all has been flawless.

Normally I update every month when released, but on occasion I do not.

If Im going to upgrade the GPU, I uninstall, reboot Safe mode, Driver Sweeper .
Install new card and re-install latest CCC.

if I decide to roll back to a previous version because it performed better or whatever reason, I just re-image the drive with Acronis.

Having said that, I choose B for this poll. As that would be normal for my practices unless changing hardware.

Im on my 4th generation of ATI cards and really havent had any issues with drivers or the CCC.
Perhaps Im just lucky, or maybe just because I run single cards. I don't know.

 

[mickey megabyte]

i'm lazy - i just install over the top, and it seems to work ok.

just downloading 10.7 now, and plan to do the same.

i never bother with CCC, just the plain old driver.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I didn't add my choice in my OP, but I normally just uninstall, reboot, run CCleaner, and then install the latest version. No safe mode, and no other apps.

 

[Wallonn7]

"Option B: Install new Catalyst drivers overtop the old version"...

 

[Mellon Head]

I do option B, but not for a while. Since my bad experience with 10.6, I'm going to stay at 10.5 and let everyone be the lab rats this time.

 

[joseph10444]

I do option B, but not for a while. Since my bad experience with 10.6, I'm going to stay at 10.5 and let everyone be the lab rats this time.

What happened with you in 10.6? i also had a problem but it was a sleep mode/brightness problem

 

[Solarstarshines]

well i pick option A based on when i did it the Option B way my system died and it was the 4650 vid card that did it i installed over the previous driver and then everything went blank and even with a restart the system was done


so I do it the a way then go take out the folder from the c drive then reinstall i think you have a better chance of not toasting your pc like i did

Considering i was trying to upgrade from a 7300gt 512 mb which gave me no issues vs the 4650 1gb which killed my system and even though that card set me back to build this new rig i still went with AMD but infact i decided to get everything AMD just in case it fails last board i had was asrock p4 agp slot

Alot of people don't like hearing this but that ati card was not compatible to my intel board sorry but that was my experience

ps by the way forgot to mention i did get rid of all nvidia drivers i used the new drivers from the cd after install then updated from the ati site then bam it died

 

[joseph10444]

the mobility version of 10.7 wont install it's stuck at the "enumerating source media for installable packages" so i just installed the driver only.

any way to solve this?

 

[stormy13]

so I do it the a way then go take out the folder from the c drive

Should mention that you can delete that folder at any time after the driver install, as all it contains is the extracted install files; once installed nothing in it is used anymore.

 

[Mellon Head]

I do option B, but not for a while. Since my bad experience with 10.6, I'm going to stay at 10.5 and let everyone be the lab rats this time.

What happened with you in 10.6? i also had a problem but it was a sleep mode/brightness problem

It completely messed up my Crossfire. One card would run at full speed (750 MHz) and the other at it's normal resting speed (165 MHz) with no changes under load. I also had bad artifacts when playing some games.

Everything is fine since rolling back to 10.5, so I think I'll take a wait and see attitude this time.

 

[Mark Phelps]

Everything is fine since rolling back to 10.5, so I think I'll take a wait and see attitude this time.

Just saw today to 10.7a is out. Have you tride that to see if it's any better?

 

[Mellon Head]

Everything is fine since rolling back to 10.5, so I think I'll take a wait and see attitude this time.

Just saw today to 10.7a is out. Have you tride that to see if it's any better?

Ha ha. 10.7-a? Hilarious.

No, I'm going to wait until the revisions settle down. I'll wait for x or y.

 

[smarteyeball]

Ha ha. 10.7-a? Hilarious.

No, I'm going to wait until the revisions settle down. I'll wait for x or y. [/QUOTE]

They've been releasing a & b versions for a little while now - it's not really that hilarious because they are newer 3D drivers that can either be the difference between smiling and screaming

Improved performance for Quad ATI CrossFireX™ for Eyefinity™ supported configurations

This could be one of those examples. Hopefully their definition of 'improved performance' means they don't crash the PC on virtually every title.


I went straight from 10.4a to 10.6 - but I didn't really play any games apart from one during that period of time. It wasn't until I tried playing a few others and got nothing blue screens left right and centre that I realised how bad 10.6 actually were. I didn't even bother with 10.7.

 

[profdlp]

ATI Catalyst 10.7a beta drivers bring AA to Starcraft II - Neoseeker News Article

The cynic in me wonders if they didn't just tweak a little something to take advantage of all the publicity surrounding Starcraft II. The again, AA is a pretty big deal for most people.

 

[mickey megabyte]

it seems that everyone's experience with card and driver combinations are different.

i've just unistalled 10.7 as it was causing one of my games (hearts of iron semper fi) to display strange things and eventually crash. :huh:

gone back to 10.6 for now...no problems with them.

 

[Airbot]

I would do it option A when I was using ATI.