Should I install catalyst?

[Zoom123]

Hello,

I have a Radeon HD 5670 and when I installed Win 7 64bit the drivers were automatically installed and the card is recognized correctly in the Device Manager.

I noticed however that the driver date is 4/19/2011 and Windows does not find any newer drivers.

So should I install catalyst?
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

It is 148MB and I don't like to install anything unless I am sure I need it. Would installing Catalyst offer newer/better drivers for my card? And do I need to install Catalyst Control Center as well? Or I can just install the drivers?

 

[DirkGently1]

I used the Windows 7 auto installed drivers for a year with no problem. Games old and new all worked fine. My problems began when i tried the latest, full set.

If it's working ok, i'd stick with how it is now, and if you have any problems you can always try the latest ones.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

As a hardware geek myself - among the many of us here at Anandtech -, I always update to the latest (as well as pre-release) driver packages.
However, if you would prefer to have the smallest amount of hassle, you may find it easier to let updates become applied to Windows Update.

You can install the driver purely on its own if you wish to do so.
If you look at the link you posted yourself, you should see that at the top there is an 'Individual Downloads' tab.
Under there should be the option to download the graphics driver itself - without the other utilities, etc.
This allows you to have the latest drivers for optimal performance, bug-fixes, etc., without waiting for it to be added to Windows Update.

Hope that helps.

- d3fu5i0n

 

[Arkadrel]

If you look at the link you posted yourself, you should see that at the top there is an 'Individual Downloads' tab.
Under there should be the option to download the graphics driver itself - without the other utilities, etc.

^ This
If you dont want CCC, just download the newest driver on its own, and install that.
Dont use a really old windows driver..... thats not good advice, get the newest ones from AMD.com, and install those.

That said CCC does alot of usefull stuff....but its up to you weather you want it or not.

 

[d3fu5i0n]

^ This
If you dont want CCC, just download the newest driver on its own, and install that.
Dont use a really old windows driver..... thats not good advice, get the newest ones from AMD.com, and install those.

That said CCC does alot of usefull stuff....but its up to you weather you want it or not.

I didn't think that I advised using an old WU applied driver...
Unless I was just confused by the wording.

For the OP: Anyhow, yes, CCC offers a lot for the enthusiasts, but if people want to just let the bog-standard offering for graphics run without tweaking, they may as well do without the CCC anyway, and grab the latest driver individually, without the CCC, from the AMD Game website as Arkadrel and myself have both advised.

 

[Zoom123]

Thanks!!

The "individual drivers" tab seems to be empty though
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

If I download the complete 148mb package will it automatically install CCC or I can choose to install just the drivers?

What kind of tweaking can I do with CCC? I am not really a gamer, but I am using Sketchup and I noticed some momentary freezes when I navigate within my models and I want to see if newer drivers can fix this issue. Could there be some tweaking that can help my card deal with sketchup better? (Sketchup is using Open GL)

 

[djsb]

When you install AMD/ATI drivers part of the installation process is to unpack the entire installer into its own directory (edit: which is completely separate from where CCC ultimately runs from.), so even if the installer doesn't give you the option to leave out CCC you can just cancel the install and you'll still have all the drivers you need to manually install them. But I'm pretty sure you can opt out of CCC (though I never do, because you never know when you'll want to force one specific setting for a game, or do color correction for a wonky monitor, etc).

 

[d3fu5i0n]

Thanks!!

The "individual drivers" tab seems to be empty though
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

If I download the complete 148mb package will it automatically install CCC or I can choose to install just the drivers?

What kind of tweaking can I do with CCC? I am not really a gamer, but I am using Sketchup and I noticed some momentary freezes when I navigate within my models and I want to see if newer drivers can fix this issue. Could there be some tweaking that can help my card deal with sketchup better? (Sketchup is using Open GL)

Yes, you can choose what you want to install. Just make sure that when you install, that you choose 'custom'.
Anyhow, it does appear to be empty under the "individual drivers" tab. This is most likely an error on AMD's part. This is not usually the case.

 

[VirtualLarry]

On my 780G motherboard, the Win7 in-box drivers didn't handle 1080P HW acceleration of video (MPC-HC, MKV HD-DVD rips). I had to install the Catalyst drivers.