**Video Card Drivers**

[McArra]

Farcry performance with lots and lots of drivers, with screenshots for them:

Here

71.80 perform best

 

[THUGSROOK]

OOOooo i see im not the only one doing this anymore
thats good cause im sure AMD results have nothing in common with Intel results.
(especially on NF moboards)
welp ~ concider me the Doom3 tester since i dont play FC or HL2.

BTW: screenshots prove absolutely nothing.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Wow!! You 2 are huge contributers to this thread an i cant thank you enough.

I would like to post those benches at the top of the thread in addition to THUGS.

All drivers updated!

-Kevin

 

[qulAKle]

Thank you all guys a lot for all your hard work. This thread is very helpfull to me and to many others. :beer:

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
I would like to post those benches at the top of the thread in addition to THUGS.

thats a great idea.
make sure youre specific about whos testing what tho

i do Intel and Doom3, etc.

:beer::beer:

 

[McArra]

I'm back again, I have just updated PSU, CPU and MOBo (new RAM is on the way). Those benchmarks aren't mine, I just found 'em, and you can post anything I post wherever you want, you don't need to ask me

 

[VIAN]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1535724

 

[coolred]

Need some help choosing drivers for my 6600GT. It shipped with 66.93, which to my knowledge is the latests offical drivers for it. I am having some stability issues, not 100% sur eif its video card related or not. But I would like to try a differant set of drivers anyway. I know throwing beta drivers into an already unstable system doesn't seem like a great idea, but I am running out of options, so what is the next best set of drivers to choose?

 

[vanvock]

Hi, Does anyone know where to get NV 66.75 drivers?

 

[gobucks]

i am using the 71.80, and they seem pretty good. They are the only 71.xx drivers that have the "yellow water" HL2 bug fixed. Performance seems pretty good. Performance is pretty even around the board on all the drivers, but i think that newer drivers have gotten some decent gains in games like Doom3 and HL2. Since HL2 is the most demanding game I have, i chose to use the 71.80s. Currently, playability is good at 1280x1024 4xAA/8xAF on my 6600GT (545/1090) and A64 3000+ (2.25GHz), so that should give you an idea.

 

[vanvock]

Thanks, but I'm looking for those because of the Ultra-D update.

 

[Gamingphreek]

The 66.74's are linked at the top of this thread. THose should work fine with the Ultra to SLI mod as they are an earlier release than the .75s.

As for the 6600GT i would highly recommend the Valance Studios Extreme G 71.20 drivers. They are very nice.

-Kevin

 

[McArra]

yep VXG 71.20 are great, and don't have the yellow water issue.

 

[vanvock]

Thanks Gamingphreek I'll give those a whirl.

 

[rbV5]

Catalyst 5.2 Drivers

Release Notes

New Features
This section provides information on new features introduced in the latest release of the CATALYST? Software Suite.

The CATALYST? Software Suite 5.2 introduces 3D setting options to the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER system tray. The shortcut allows the user to easily adjust their 3D settings without having to load the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER.

The 3D setting submenu will be found in the Adapter menu of the system tray. When a user selects the 3D submenu option, the following options will be made available:

Anti-Aliasing. Application managed options include, 2X, 4X, 6X, and Enable Temporal Anti-Aliasing
Anisotropic filtering. Application managed options include, 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X.
CATALYST? A.I. (For RADEON? 9700 and above). Options include:
Disabled
Standard
Advanced
Mipmap detail level. Options include; High performance, Performance, Quality, and High quality.
TRUFORM?. Options include; Application pref, or Always Off.
Wait for vertical refresh. Options include; Always off, Off unless application specifies, On unless application specifies, and Always on
Direct3D Setting. Options include; Enable geometry instancing, Support DXT texture formats, and Alternate pixel center
OpenGL Settings. Options include; Triple buffering, and Force 24-bit Z-buffer depth
This feature is supported on ATI RADEON? 9500 series or higher product line.



Issues Resolved in CATALYST? Display Driver Version 5.2
The following section provides a summary of the issues that have been resolved in the latest version of CATALYST?. These include:

4x4 Evolution2: Attempting to play the game under Windows XP with an ATI RADEON? X300/X600 series installed no longer results in the operating system failing to respond when the screen is set to 1600x1200 32bpp and OpenGL Renderer is enabled
4x4 Evolution 2: Display corruption is no longer noticed when having the display set to 1600x1200 32bpp along with the texture detail set to high and split screen rendering enabled
Serious Sam: Playing the game under Windows XP results in the display flashing when TRUFORM is enabled
Sims 2: Playing the game Veronaville under Windows XP while having the desktop set to 1024x768 32bpp along with AA set to 6X no longer results in corruption being noticed in the fields
Selecting the option; Enable Video Mode, results in the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER not being able to return to the default setting for the Enable Video Mode option
Switching language support for the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER no longer results in the slider bar for the engine clock being enabled when the option found in OVERDRIVE? is locked
Navigating to View->Define a Custom View and deselecting all options found in the 3D option of the Edit Custom View tab, no longer results in the Standard Settings option remaining selected
Intermittent failure of the VPU Recover report not being sent is now resolved
Double-clicking the slider bar found in CATALYST? A.I. no longer results in the Disable CATALYST? A.I. option becoming de-selected
Disabling 3D preview no longer results in the preview continuing to run on a secondary display device
Having the 3D preview running on the secondary display adapter and attempting change display modes, no longer results in the primary display device displaying a black screen and error messages appearing
English is no longer the default language when installing the CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER under Windows XP Japanese version
The CATALYST? CONTROL CENTER Version number is now displayed correctly in all localized languages
The Display Manager Notification dialog box is now displayed in the correct localized language
The OpenGL driver is no longer disabled after boot up when both AGP Read and PCI Read are disabled


Edit: Fixed link

 

[Gamingphreek]

All drivers updated. However something went wrong in the update and it simply sent all the code in the modded drivers section flying around as well as explanations. I will fix ASAP but it will take a while as i have to rewrite by hand.

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Update: Looks like i cleaned it up. If anyone sees any problems please post.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Any benchies on those new 5.20 yet?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Yes, i will provide various links later but so far everything i have seen shows 0-1% difference. Additionally i heard rumors that the Digital Vibrance control is gone. I dont own an ATI card to test with so unfortunately i cant test these (unless my dad will let me use his 9600XT )

-Kevin

 

[rbV5]

Additionally i heard rumors that the Digital Vibrance control is gone. I dont own an ATI card to test with so unfortunately i cant test these (unless my dad will let me use his 9600XT

Catalyst drivers have no Digital Vibrance Control.

 

[McArra]

71.81 are out! WHQL signed They seem to be pretty good, but let's wait a little bit.

 

[ayman]

Okay, so far i'm confused wether to use the 71.20b, XtremeG 67.66b, or the latest 71.81 WHQL that McArra just posted! Is there a proven fact that one of these performs better than the other?

Thanks,

Ayman

 

[McArra]

I'm using VXG71.20 right now, as the WHQL 71.81 from guru3d are faulty(the files are faulty not drivers, is guru3d related). I'm very happy with them. Read guru3d forums and decide which ones are for you zero0point also seems like a good choice...

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well the 71.81 just came out so you have to give us time to get benches done

Right now i would recommend the VXG71.20 drivers. But ill have to wait and see what the 71.81 holds.

-Kevin

 

[ayman]

When i used those 71.81's it was reporting my VC temp at 62-63C idle.... i knew that wasn't right. I just ended up going with the 71.20's and i scored a whole 15 FPS higher in the Source Stress Test! Love the drivers! Plus they reported my normal 51C idle temp ^_^

Thanks for the hard work guys,

Ayman