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Catalyst 8.8 released

There seem to be improvements across the board with these drivers and the 3870.

Crysis performance seems slightly better, TF2 Seems slightly better and there is an improvement in GRID (I Think).

No Issues with the install either.
 
These issues are getting beyond a joke. We're now well over a month after a release, and there is still no significant improvement.

It won't happen, but it would send a signal if users made a point and just refused to buy this new graphics hardware until the drivers actually made it work. I'm as bad as anyone else for this, but the service both Nvidia and ATI deliver is terrible.
 
The_Abyss said:
These issues are getting beyond a joke. We're now well over a month after a release, and there is still no significant improvement.

It won't happen, but it would send a signal if users made a point and just refused to buy this new graphics hardware until the drivers actually made it work. I'm as bad as anyone else for this, but the service both Nvidia and ATI deliver is terrible.
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No issues here ;). Not even had one :confused:. Not one of the games tested yesterday went crazy on me. Very stable and a good improvement over the 8800GTX.

Successfully ran the Crysis benchmark @ 850Mhz Core, 1050Mhz memory @ 42% percent fan speed. Call of Duty 4, Pro Evolution 2008, Crysis, Timeshift and Grid all ran superbly. Surpassing my 8800GTX by a great margin. World in Conflict and Assassins Creed however felt a little choppier than on the 8800GTX. I'm going to try the 8.6 hotfix drivers to see if that helps these two titles.

I'm using the 8.8 display driver only and ATI Tray Tools (version v1.5.8.1260). Not had one crash or anything at all. This card is as stable as my 8800GTX but most importantly, a lot faster :).
 
I have been reading through some of the posts, I'm in no way trying to defend ATI but some of the people here who are experiencing issues are running fair overclocks on their CPU's etc. Quick question have you tested stability at stock?

Edit : It's something I just can't understand as I haven't had an issues with Nvidia or Ati since I was an early adopter of the 9700pro. I had an Asus A7V333 mobo with a VIA chipset where there were compatability issues.

Not to mention problems with the Geforce3 ti on the same platform in conjunction with a soundblaster Extigy.

Those were the days.
 
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Any one know if the 8.8 drivers have made any changes to PowerPlay, are there any reductions in idle temps and power consumption?
 
I may go back to 8.7's and see what happens in GRID. I have dropped my overclock on the CPU from 3.4 -> 3.3Ghz (left the voltages the same) and it still bombs out. Wonder if we all got a list of the problems could we email ATi with them???
 
Firegod said:
I may go back to 8.7's and see what happens in GRID. I have dropped my overclock on the CPU from 3.4 -> 3.3Ghz (left the voltages the same) and it still bombs out. Wonder if we all got a list of the problems could we email ATi with them???
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Have you tried at stock?. I think this has something to do with Vista as I've not had one black screen, blue screen, PC reset and I've had this card up to 850Mhz core and 1050Mhz memory speeds with only 42% fan speed although I only tested Crysis via the benchmarking tool at this speed.
 
I think any testing of driver stability should always be done at stock and then once stability tested, ramp that baby back up to obscene speeds. :D
 
VinceB1 said:
I think any testing of driver stability should always be done at stock and then once stability tested, ramp that baby back up to obscene speeds. :D
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I agree but only if you have problems. I never touched my overclock and it ran fine at the settings I always use. In fact I put my RAM to DDR1000 from DDR800 after loosening the timings and my CPU to 3.4Ghz but something wasn't stable and I got the BSOD in the first loop of the Crysis benchmark :). It was just a quick test to see what else I could get from the 4870. I'm confident I can get my CPU to 3.5Ghz as 3.2Ghz worked straight from the box on day one (few days later BSOD so upped the volts a lil) and I've been too lazy to tinker further since, same with my RAM.

I did have this problem on my X2 3800 @ 2.8Ghz though when playing Gears of War. I had to play at stock or the game would crash :(.
 
Confusion said:
crysis shadow glitter bug remains :(

that is with aa turned on, not tried it without

damn this good performing card, if it wasnt for that it would have got sold ages ago due to the poor ati drivers :mad:
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If you play Crysis in DX9 mode you won't get the glitter bug, only happens in DX10 mode.
 
Must admit my Q6600 with do 3.4 at stock volts with no issues but I generally keep it clocked down unless I am benchmarking. The system that I talked about earlier was just inherently unstable regardless of clock speed or amount of time I spent tinkering (until I changed the motherboard).

Sometimes we blame specific components but experience has taught me that it's normally a combination of components (not a single component) that causes instabilities.
 
Well Cat 8.8 and turning Cat A.I to advanced rather than basic, seems to have improved gameplay in Age of Conan a decent bit, it seems smoother, with less graphical hitches and I can now turn around quickly with my mouse, without several second freeze spikes, just occasional split second ones which are a big improvement. Havent had any issues with anything else with these drivers yet either, so have to report that so far Im happy with these drivers, as they're a little more stable performance-wise in a game I play, and havent negatively affected anything I play.
 
zo1d said:
Any one know if the 8.8 drivers have made any changes to PowerPlay, are there any reductions in idle temps and power consumption?
Click to expand...

Only on the 4850 apparently. Due to the design of the 4870, or the GDDR5 RAM, or both, it doesn't seem like it drops the voltage when idle. If I could be bothered I'd measure myself with a multimeter, but from the info I've found and the tools I use to monitor the card it doesn't seem like it does.

It still drops the clocks but idle temps barely change.
 
I understand why people say try testing from stock, so I will do that. But it's strange that it's just one game I have problems with. And so do lots of others over at the Codemasters forums. Nevertheless I'll go back to 2.4Ghz and see what happens. :)
 
firegod what psu do you have?

i tested grid a bit more last night and in single player im getting major slowdowns regardless of settings, its locked at 60fps for a while (vsync on) and then it just bombs down to about 8 fps and stays like it till i restart the game. multi player is fine and can play for some time but i will eventually get a grid.exe stopped responding error :(

i checked with my multimeter and when the fps drop the voltages are going back up, when my fps are good the voltage on the pci-e plug is around 11.96v and the cards core voltage is around 1.16v but when the fps drop the voltages go up to 12.3v on the pci-e plug and 1.21 on the cards core.

only this game gives me problems :(
 
Right with the 8.8's on GRID i get a good FPS in game apart from the start, however the menu's seem to be choppy for some reason. Will post some overclocked benchies in a sec.
 
VinceB1 said:
Must admit my Q6600 with do 3.4 at stock volts with no issues but I generally keep it clocked down unless I am benchmarking. The system that I talked about earlier was just inherently unstable regardless of clock speed or amount of time I spent tinkering (until I changed the motherboard).

Sometimes we blame specific components but experience has taught me that it's normally a combination of components (not a single component) that causes instabilities.
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:D One super stable PC and one that is all over the shot :D.

You are right though. Usually it will be down to a combination and not just one thing.

Firegod said:
I understand why people say try testing from stock, so I will do that. But it's strange that it's just one game I have problems with. And so do lots of others over at the Codemasters forums. Nevertheless I'll go back to 2.4Ghz and see what happens. :)
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It sucks when you have problems and some don't. I really hope you get it all sorted and can enjoy your gaming ;).
 
ok i have recently installed 8.8 drivers for my hd4870 x2 card as i was getting the odd glitch as in flickering on menus and in cod4 when someone flashed me but i sorted the problem.

All i did was set the fan speed fixed to 50% to reduce temps as this card runs hot and al glitches went so no probs at all now :)
 
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