x1800xt not performing as it should

ugly ferret · 3 May 2006 at 12:42

My new x1800xt 256mb gets 7100 in 3dmark 2005 which is exactly what my 7800gt was getting. From what I've read, the x1800xt should be getting at least 8500. It's not just in 3d mark, some games are running noticeably slower than my old 7800gt, so somethings not right.

I'm guessing it's a driver problem, I don't really understand how ati drivers work. When I click on catalyst control center nothing happens. What do I need to install and how do I access all the AA/AF options.

I've uninstalled all the old drivers with driver cleaner, and have tried both catalyst 6.4 and the one on the cd (don't know which one), and get the same problem with both.

I have a 2.6ghz opty 146 and 2gb g skil hz @260mhz, so I don't think the rest of my system is holding it back.

What could the problem be?

Cheers.

Darkwave · 3 May 2006 at 12:45

I'd uninstall all ATi drivers and Catalyst Control Centre, then run DriverCleaner Pro (easily found on Google) in safe mode to remove any trace elements of Nvidia and ATi software.

Reboot, then you have two choices; Either install Catalyst Control Centre, which to be honest is a horrendous piece of software, or install ATi Tray Tools by Ray Adams (easily found at Guru3d.com) which will give you much better control over your graphics, but unfortunately doesn't yet support overclocking on the X1*00 series cards.

Give that a try, and let us know what happens. Unfortunately, the ideal thing to do would be a clean install of Windows, as it'll not only sort out any driver issues but it'll also ensure your PC is running optimally for benchmarking.

ugly ferret · 3 May 2006 at 12:53

Exsomnis said:
I'd uninstall all ATi drivers and Catalyst Control Centre, then run DriverCleaner Pro (easily found on Google) in safe mode to remove any trace elements of Nvidia and ATi software.

Yeah, I did exactly that, safe mode and all.

But I'll try out the ati tray tools. One thing I'm confused about is, are the drivers and CCC completely separate? I'm sure that when I install the catalyst drivers, it installs CCC as well. So if I don't want to install CCC, do I not need to install the catalyst drivers.

And also, what should happen when I click on catalyst control center, cus when I do, nothing happens.

And finally, in a clean install, do I lose all my saved stuff like a reformat, or does it keep it like a repair install.

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for the help.

LoadsaMoney · 3 May 2006 at 12:54

Have you got the .NET installed, as you need that for the Catalyst Control Centre to work, .NET has to be installed first, then when you get into the CCC (hopefully you will) then set every slider to the left for performance, and tick the let the Application decide for your AA/AF, and also make sure V-Sync is off, then run 05.

Id agree that it is a bit low, ive got an A64 3500+ with an x1800 XT 512mb here all at stock, and i get just under 8.6k in 05.

If you want to try ATi Tray Tools, then when you go to the ATI site to download the drivers, just go for the 56k users set, as they have them all seperated out to make it easier, so you can just download the display drivers on their own from there, then get ATi Tray Tools from Guru.

Vegeta · 3 May 2006 at 12:58

Yeah I wet from nvidia to ati recently also, and CCC is bloody horendous dont bother with it, I just installed the display driver, ati tray tools, ati tool and riva tuner for overclocking.

zytok · 3 May 2006 at 12:59

ugly ferret said:
Yeah, I did exactly that, safe mode and all.

But I'll try out the ati tray tools. One thing I'm confused about is, are the drivers and CCC completely separate? I'm sure that when I install the catalyst drivers, it installs CCC as well. So if I don't want to install CCC, do I not need to install the catalyst drivers.

And also, what should happen when I click on catalyst control center, cus when I do, nothing happens.

And finally, in a clean install, do I lose all my saved stuff like a reformat, or does it keep it like a repair install.

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for the help.

there are different downloads available on ATI's website for the drivers. The standard download has the drivers and CCC in one package so you don't get the choice whether to install CCC or not. If you look at the low speed downloads options, you can download the drivers on their own without the CCC.
Agreed that CCC is a bit poo and that tray tools is much better.
By a reinstall, I'm guessing he's suggesting a full reinstall from scratch which would be my recommendation also though you would lose your data so would need to back it up somewhere first. When did you last install Windows? If you've never done it since buying your pc, your system is very likely to be running far slower than it should be as your 3D Mark score suggests. I get around 8.5K as well with a 256MB card and a 3200.

ugly ferret · 3 May 2006 at 13:19

Yeah I did install the .net thingy. So I still don't understand why ccc ain't working.

But I'll uninstall ccc and try out tray tools.

Don't really want to do a clean install yet, only as a last resort.

Cheers.

Darkwave · 3 May 2006 at 13:22

As has been said Catalyst Control Centre is really bloody awful, I'm being forced to use it myself at the moment because I can't get ATi Tool to overclock my card and ATi Tray Tools doesn't support overclocking these.

Ditching Catalyst Control Centre might just save you a ton of headaches, and might get your 3DMark score up a bit. Install the "display driver only" in the dial-up section of the ATi downloads page and then install ATi Tray Tools to control antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, texture quality, vsync etc.

LoadsaMoney · 3 May 2006 at 13:25

I think the CCC is fine, i never use it, all i do when i first install it is set it up how i like it, AA/AF settings etc... then i never touch it again, i use it for about 1 minute if that.

zytok · 3 May 2006 at 13:39

LoadsaMoney said:
I think the CCC is fine, i never use it, all i do when i first install it is set it up how i like it, AA/AF settings etc... then i never touch it again, i use it for about 1 minute if that.

yeah but surely you don't/can't use the same AA/AF settings for all your games? I feel that profiles are a must and the CCC seems completely backward when trying to create one....

Vegeta · 3 May 2006 at 13:46

Exsomnis said:
As has been said Catalyst Control Centre is really bloody awful, I'm being forced to use it myself at the moment because I can't get ATi Tool to overclock my card and ATi Tray Tools doesn't support overclocking these.

Hi, ATI Tool worked with overclocking before, after installing ATI Tray tools it doesnt work :/ , I think its a chocie of one or the other.

Darkwave · 3 May 2006 at 13:49

Vegeta said:
Hi, ATI Tool worked with overclocking before, after installing ATI Tray tools it doesnt work :/ , I think its a chocie of one or the other.

Blah.

I wish Ray Adams would get X1*00 support for Tray Tools, it would save all our lives.

megatron · 3 May 2006 at 13:58

Exsomnis said:
Blah. I wish Ray Adams would get X1*00 support for Tray Tools, it would save all our lives.

He asked for someone to send him a card so he would have the hardware to test with. If he's running a 7900gt atm, you cant expect him to buy a x1800xt too just so he cant improve his free tool.

Darkwave · 3 May 2006 at 13:59

megatron said:
He asked for someone to send him a card so he would have the hardware to test with. If he's running a 7900gt atm, you cant expect him to buy a x1800xt too just so he cant improve his free tool.

Well, I dunno about anyone else, but I have personally donated £25 for his work. If people weren't such scrooges he might be able to get more done.

Vegeta · 3 May 2006 at 14:01

I donated a thank you note.

LoadsaMoney · 3 May 2006 at 17:48

zytok said:
yeah but surely you don't/can't use the same AA/AF settings for all your games? I feel that profiles are a must and the CCC seems completely backward when trying to create one....

Forgot about that, but i don't game that often on it, so its very rare i do need to change the AA/AF settings.

BS Dave · 4 May 2006 at 00:38

i just change aa/af settings in game - so much easier

690/800 on stock cooler gives me 10050 in 05

Darkwave · 4 May 2006 at 00:40

BS Dave said:
i just change aa/af settings in game - so much easier

Not all games support them, or I'd be using the display driver only option.

Even Oblivion doesn't have an in-game option for aisotropic filtering.

Hlebio · 4 May 2006 at 01:09

Exsomnis, not disagreeing or anything, but just wondering what exactly you don't like about CCC?

Darkwave · 4 May 2006 at 10:41

Hlebio said:
Exsomnis, not disagreeing or anything, but just wondering what exactly you don't like about CCC?

I just think it's too slow and uses way too much system resources, and I wish that it didn't limit how far you could overclock too.

Many people have no problems with the CCC, and I'm glad for them, but I also envy them because it's never worked smoothly for me.

I much prefer to use ATi Tray Tools, just can't at the moment because of no X1*00 overclocking support.