AMD 7970m Drivers? New?

I was checking up on AMD's website for new drivers and I stumbled upon this.

AMD Catalyst™ Mobility Display Driver

It says that this driver was released on 6/28/12.. so just last week. Is this an update to what Dell supplied? Or is it the same old thing, that AMD finally decided to post online?

 

Those are the final 12.6 drivers, i believe they have 12.7 beta drivers out already

 

I am aware of the 12.7 beta drivers. I was just curious if these official drivers are updated at all compared to what Dell provides.

 

Yup, they are. Supposedly they give you a fps boost in games but a decrease scores in benchmarks (not a bad thing id you ask me).

When updating make sure you are only running your 7970m (fn+f7)

 

I'd still recommend anyone to use this driver.

 

Does anybody have any recommended downloads to improve the 7970 card? Are there any updates from AMD for the card yet?

 

The drivers from AMD for the 7970 are notoriously bad. If there are any good 3rd party drivers out there, they haven't been found yet.

 

Curious to know why you recommend this driver? I'll give it a shot and see if it helps any of my Crysis 2 issues. I think most people are now looking for a driver that is more stable in gaming and OCing for gaming, not just for benching numbers.

 

Your question. My answer.

 

There's already a huge thread on this here.

So far it seems like the 12.7 Beta for desktops is doing good for both desktops and laptops.

You have to download the AMD catalyst application profiles as well.

You'll get a lot more information on that thread

 

Is there anything we should do after installing this beta?

 

You can install CAP from here. But that's about it..

 

1. Should I run driver sweeper or just let it install over the stock dell driver?
2. Should I install the driver in switchable GPU mode or only 7970 mode?

 

Is there any procedure to uninstall and install a driver?

Do I have to do a clean install?

 

These are the steps for a clean driver install (literally step by step xD):


1. Open the Start Menu, type “device manager” in the searchbox and press <Enter>.

2. Click the arrow next to “Display adapters” to expand the filter.

3. Right-click the AMD Graphics Card and select “Uninstall”.

4. Check the “Delete the driver software for this device” box and click OK to proceed.

5. Once the driver is uninstalled, restart your computer and repeat the process until Standard VGA adapter shows up instead of the AMD Graphics Card (this is done in order to avoid any traces from past drivers).

6. Open the Start Menu, type “programs and features” in the searchbox and press <Enter>.

7. Search the list of installed programs for any AMD Software and uninstall it. Restart and repeat this step until no AMD software shows up in the list.

8. Restart your computer, at the Alienware Logo screen press <F8>.

9. At the Advanced Boot Options, press the <Down> arrow key to highlight “Safe Mode with networking”, press <Enter>.

10. Run driver sweeper, check the box for “AMD display”, click Clean, then restart your computer.

11. Open the Start Menu, type “regedit” in the searchbox and press <Enter>.

12. In the “Registry Editor” go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE

13. Look for a folder named “AMD” or “ATI”, right-click to delete it.

14. Restart your computer.

15. Download the driver and install it and you’re good to go .

Also in case you need the link to the 12.7 beta driver and the AMD CAP =P

 

would this still work even if we had stock dell drivers, because there is an issue where the system does not recognize AMD drivers (I think it is something like "Driver Signature Enforcement"), or would this make it an issue?

 

what is "AMD CAP"? and why we need it in conjunction with 12.7 beta?
thank you.

and great walkthrough.

 

Thanks for the instructions Luis! Rep+

The Caps are the temp fixes before the next official driver. You can or not install them...thats up to you. But they will eventually be rolled into the next driver anyways

 

CAP - Catalyst Application Profile.

 

So technically CAPS profiles can you get by if a game isn't working well without having to install the new drivers? Only reason I ask is I am still on 12.1 drivers. Historically, I would without fail every month update the AMD drivers but with so many regular updates found the process tiresome (and then testing virtually everything afterwards). Although I never had problems installing new ones over the top I didn't really like playing Russian Roulette with the laptop. At the moment the laptop works fine with the GPU doing all I ask of it. I wouldn't necessarily want to risk upsetting things for the sake of 1 or 2 newer games - so just installing a caps profile if needed is a good option?

It's just that I read so many horror stories with regards things like new drivers and windows updates (my pet hate!) that often think newer isn't necessarily better.

 

exactly same concerns as yours scottyboy.

 

Exactly, here's what the current one includes 12.7 CAP1

btw, thanks for the rep!

- Edit:

Honestly I haven't tried that, but judging by the 0.5mb size of the 12.7 CAP1 it's most likely not a stand alone, probably just some minor modifications to the 12.7 driver, which would mean that you need to install the 12.7 driver first.

 

is it safe to install the 12.7 drivers over other AMD drivers already installed? Or is a clean install every time there are new drivers a must.

 

It's pretty much like washing your car, you can drive through an auto washing machine and your car will look nice in a few minutes, but the interior will stay the same.

On the other hand you can deep clean it at home, and it will even have a fresh smell inside

 

do we need to disable "Driver Signature Enforcement" for installing drivers from AMD (I currently have stock m17xr3 drivers for my 6990m)? Also some of the download drivers are 100+ mb but on the amd site it is only a few MB, why is that?

 

Only if it won't let you install it without disabling the option

 

thanks but would this nullify/void the warranty?

 

It won't. You can do any software change in your computer as long as it doesn't damage the internal components. If it corrupts the OS, the warranty will be "frozen" until the OS is fixed correctly, which can be easily done with a clean windows installation.

 

I'm confused lol .Yes? er..

 

You can but it's better to do a clean install to avoid any further conflicts that may or may not show up

 

ah okay that sounds like a good idea. Would you recommend to do this for every driver that comes out?

 

I would definitely do it.