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The AMD ATI Radeon Experience

FireShadow

FireShadow

FireShadow

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2008
Posts
117
Maybe Radeon GPUs are good, but the driver software is NOT

There is no such thing as a WORKING Radeon driver.

Each version has its own bugs ... you have to decide which set of bugs you can live with.

This means the advice "don't upgrade your GPU driver unless you need to" doesn't really work ...

... because there is ALWAYS something wrong - you are forced into trying each driver version (and hotfix) as it is released - just in case you get lucky.

My computers always have a small Boot volume so I can Ghost my boot partition in 5 minutes.

This means I can jump forwards and backwards between Catalyst versions without too much bother:

- Use Catalyst uninstaller (except for the versions which give bsod)
- Restart into Safe Mode
- Use Phyxion.net DriverSweeper to clean up the mess left by the uninstaller
- Restart Windows
- Cancel any prompts to install new hardware
- Install (yet another) version of Catalyst

make sure to maintain a spreadsheet as follows:

Code: 
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
Version Notes
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
Version     Bugs        Notes                       Warnings
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
10.09       moan moan   Do not use uninstaller      
10.10       winge winge Installs OK                 
10.11       ...                                     
10.12       Freezes Windows                         DO NOT USE
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------

----------------------- ---------------------------
History
----------------------- ---------------------------
Date                    Note
----------------------- ---------------------------
09:31 11/12/2010        Using 10.09
09:31 12/12/2010        Tried 10.10
09:31 13/12/2010        Rolled back to 10.09
09:31 14/12/2010        Tried 10.11
09:32 15/12/2010        Rolled Back to 10.09
09:32 16/12/2010        Tried 10.12
09:32 17/12/2010        Rolled Back to 10.09
----------------------- ---------------------------

Naturally after dealing with this bullsh*t for 3 years I won't be buying another Radeon.

So far I have had no problems with NVidia drivers. None.

(The reason I use a Radeon now is because the AMD chipset mobo blue screens with an NVidia card ...)
 
I rarely have issues, and have only had 1 Nvidia card over the past 7 years.

I still think a person's overall system plays a part.

10.9s are absolutely perfect for everything I do.
 
So sorry, but I'm still fairly newbie with these programs.
May I ask; What is the best way to clear old Catalyst/drivers? I must still have all the ones on there as I've always simply 'overwritten' with the new one...

Must I use the uninstaller (which ones bsod?) then Phyxion.net DriverSweeper? Isn't there a single program I can use?

I asume I should D/L but not install the one I want to use before clearing the old one(s) so that I can install it imediately after a restart?

Cheers for any advice :)
 
- Use Phyxion.net DriverSweeper to clean up the mess left by the uninstaller

there is your problem lmfao, learn how to uninstall and reinstall before you complain.
 
This thread will not end well.

f3s4rn.jpg
 
Apart from the 4870x2 which had flickering textures in an older version of the driver in BFBC2, I had no issues with drivers... ever, that I have been aware of, and I've used a lot of drivers). Additionally, I've had no real issues with Nvidia drivers either.

This has been across at least 4 different systems I've owned, each with their own varying configurations.
 
Had a few issues with flickering textures, but never any crippling issues here. Been through the HD3870, HD4870X2, HD4890, HD5850 and HD5870 (as well as a load of Nvidia cards in between).
 
Ive owned a 9700, x1900xt, 4870, 5870 and the only driver problem I had was once the drivers wouldnt install until I cleared out the old ATI folder, apart from that no issues with the drivers working. I guess you're doing something wrong ;)
 
The nature of software programming means everything will have bugs. No such thing as perfect software.

And to be honest, it sounds like there is more to this than just your GFx card and drivers. Shouldn't be failling like that.
 
Having owned both an equal number of both Ati and Nvidia , I would agree

Imagine an ideal world .....

Imagine the Ati hardware team getting drivers written by Nvidia driver team , would be the dream team company :)
 
So your current problems are caused by the Radeon card, even though you've said your Nvidia card BSOD'd previously? Could not the common element here be any other part of your system?
 
FireShadow said:
(The reason I use a Radeon now is because the AMD chipset mobo blue screens with an NVidia card ...)
Click to expand...

This doesn't fill me with confidence, this isn't a problem with the AMD chipset and Nvidia cards on this motherboard as there is plenty of evidence to show people who have gone from Ati to Nvidia with this motherboard without problems (and also the other way around)

Something is definitely not right somewhere in your system but I doubt its the gfx card. Like most here I've owned both over the years and had equal experiences of good and bad driver revisions from both camp. The past couple of years I've pretty much stuck to Nvidia but not for any driver issues on AMD's part.
 
Uninstall the amd drivers, delete all the amd/ati/catalyst folders on your hard drive, reset screen to standard vga mode, reboot.

Install new drivers, reboot.

Only ever had a problem with 10.10 and that was resolved as above. I would use the same procedure for any driver update incl Nvidia. Overwriting drivers is never a good idea.

andy.
 
I agree with this wholeheartedly:

Originally Posted by FireShadow
'PEBKAC'

Been with ATI for over 4 years now, only had one driver issue which was the 10.6 drivers, giving me black screen in BFBC2.
 
I can see you're overclocking your system, as a test I would chuck your CPU back to its stock speeds & voltage and run that for a week on the latest Catalyst drivers (with uninstall of old, driver sweep, etc as suggested above) .... sometimes weird memory bus speeds, etc can produce BSODs
 
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