Did a little digging on the net about this problem - and apparently for a lot of folks this problem only appears if you install the ATI drivers + Catalyst. If you do a clean install with just the standalone drivers download from ATI and no CCC this doesn't happen. Apparently the drivers are fine - but the CCC is bugged and causes the atikmdag.sys crash. If you're using a multi-core cpu you could also try Microsoft's KB953186 hotfix as some folks have reported this helps too.
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Anyone with a 48xx and Vista 64?
- Thread starter MR.B
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Let us know how you get on
That is how I've ran all my ATI cards. I despise the CCC. Just the driver and ATI Tray Tools from the 9800Pro till my last ATI card the 2900Pro.
Give it a bash Talrinys
.Tried KB953186 and hasnt helped. I also tried installing just the display driver and no help either, that was with 8.7 drivers, but i'll give it one last go with the 8.8 BETA's...
The place i purchased the 4870 from accepted a return, and will also cover return costs and arrange a pickup
just phoned them and told 'em in a p*ssed off voice that i cant use the card because of crap drivers, so it's basically faulty.
First off:
Read my original post, i've tried EVERYTHING.
I'm not the only person on here having this problem by a long shot.
Read this long thread on AMD's own forums.
Or google it, it's a wide spread problem.
It IS crap ATI drivers.
Soldato
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- South Yorkshire
Have you tried installing the drivers without the CCC?
MR.B
I'm sure you have looked at all this - it seems you know your stuff however no harm in asking.
Enabling / Disabling catalyst AI?
BIOS PCIe speeds?
I would stick to testing the 8.6's + hotfix as I too get the same error if I try the 8.7's although it did take a day or so to manifest.
I played GRID, DIRT, Crysis and watched a BD-ROM al in all for about 8 hours yesterday without incident.... if theres anything I can tell you about my system that would benefit you then lemme know.
I'm sure you have looked at all this - it seems you know your stuff however no harm in asking.
Enabling / Disabling catalyst AI?
BIOS PCIe speeds?
I would stick to testing the 8.6's + hotfix as I too get the same error if I try the 8.7's although it did take a day or so to manifest.
I played GRID, DIRT, Crysis and watched a BD-ROM al in all for about 8 hours yesterday without incident.... if theres anything I can tell you about my system that would benefit you then lemme know.
That is how I've ran all my ATI cards. I despise the CCC. Just the driver and ATI Tray Tools from the 9800Pro till my last ATI card the 2900Pro.
Give it a bash Talrinys
I'll try that as soon as i can, i suppose that means losing my overclock though, but rather have a working card.
It won't be long till you'll be able to overclock without the CCC. I've overclocked every ATI card I've had without the CCC (except the first ATI Rage fury 128mb many moons ago
). All done with ATI Tool and I suspect that someone will provide similar software soon.Good luck
.To be totally sure i'd give it a few days yet and see if you get it with the 8.7's, being as it's totally random and i can sometimes play Crysis for a hour or so without it happening. Plus it's not happened today on the desktop but i've not had much open, i find it's more likely to happen on the desktop when i'm doing work and have a few windows open.
I've also found any game that uses the Unreal 3 engine seems to make it happen sooner rather than later (UT3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Gears of War).
And yeah i've tried disabling A.I, and i've had my PCI-E at 99, 100, 101, and 110MHz, aswell as disabling PCI-E Spread Spectrum, makes no difference.
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The GTX 260 come today, so i'm back to a working stable system
and the 4870 is going back on Thursday.Overclocked the card right away, but for some reason i cant go higher than 672MHz on the core, RiveTuner wont save it... and Ntune wont apply it either, but i know the card can go higher....
But anyway heres some interesting results compared to the 4870....
3Dmark 06 :
ATI 4870 @ 820MHz core, 1000MHz / 4GHz memory =
16,750
GTX 260 @ 672MHz core, 1479 Shaders, 1200MHZ / 2.4GHz memory =
18,334
3DMark Vantage :
ATI 4870 @ 820MHz core, 1000MHz / 4GHz memory) =
9,927
GTX 260 @ 672MHz core, 1479 Shaders, 1200MHZ / 2.4GHz memory =
10,164
And WITH Nvidia PhysX driver installed it jumps to 11,543
Lightmark :
ATI 4870 @ 820MHz core, 1000 / 4GHz memory =
345 @ 1280x1024 res
200 @ 2560x1600 res
GTX 260 @ 672MHz core, 1479 Shaders, 1200MHZ / 2.4GHz memory =
387 @ 1280x1024
234 @ 2560x1600
Crysis Benchmark :
settings : Very High, 1680x1050, DX10
ATI 4870 @ 820MHz core, 1000 / 4GHz memory =
25.7 FPS
GTX 260 @ 672MHz core, 1479 Shaders, 1200MHZ / 2.4GHz memory =
25.6 FPS (if i can get the OC software to save higher OC settings i'm sure the GTX 260 would also be faster here than 4870)
The 4870 was benchmarked with the 8.8 BETA drivers as i've found they have the best performance, it was also at the highest stable OC.
The GTX 260 used the latest 177.41 drivers, and these benches are NOT with the highest stable OC, the OC software is holding the card back.
Some other thing worth noting, is that games also load quicker with the GTX 260 due the the extra RAM, i noticed this with my 280 aswell.
So for £2 less than the 4870 i've ended up with:
A stable system due to working drivers,
A faster card (when OC'ed),
Faster loading times,
No more running into the 512MB limit @ 2560x1600 with AA (when this happens things become a slideshow on the 4870, happened with my 9800GX2 too, simply not enough RAM for this res with AA/AF on some games)
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I'm really getting close to selling this 4870 now as I'd end up with a GTX260 but I'm pretty sure it'll be same as when I went from a GTS640 to a 2900XT, infact.. it is, a bloody side step and I'd only end up moaning about the downgrade and all the BSOD's from NV drivers.
The ATi drivers suddenly got better...
No need for profiles for fan which never worked properly anyway, I've got an Accelero S1 now.
No 790Mhz limit anymore as I've got an diffo Bios.
I dont know why I am tempted to switch to the GTX260, its totally pointless, can someone sort my mind out please?
The ATi drivers suddenly got better...
No need for profiles for fan which never worked properly anyway, I've got an Accelero S1 now.
No 790Mhz limit anymore as I've got an diffo Bios.
I dont know why I am tempted to switch to the GTX260, its totally pointless, can someone sort my mind out please?
Stop reading the gfx card forums, problem solved. If you didnt keep on reading this stuff for the sake of it, knowing that a fix will only come in a driver revision, you'd probably just forget about it.
If it bothers you so much, then swap
If it bothers you so much, then swap
Stick with your 4870 m8. The above shows some benchmarks are up and Crysis which is known to run better on Nvidia cards which means nothing. I bet in most games the 4870 at the new overclock is faster or matches the GTX 260 (I think ATI go ahead on the majority of titles I've seen) and at your resolution you won't run into VRAM limitation, remember MR.B is running at 2560x1600
. Who really cares about benchmarks anyway?. The cards are bought for games.