AMD - ATI Catalyst 10.10 question

I was wondering if we should only be using the display drivers provided on the ASUS website. I had a pc tech tell me that these are the only "safe" ones to use on my laptop as the ones provided from AMD/ATI are for the hardware if I was to purchase it from them directly or through a reseller.

I was told that ASUS may have modified or configured the GPU to work with their laptop in a specific way. That being said, the ATI catalyst drivers downloaded from their site may not function properly. Does anyone know if this is true?

I am also interested in the fact that ASUS changed from ATI to Nvidia in the latest version of the G73. Was this done because of the higher amount of memory provided, or because of the past issues users seem to be having with the ATI Radeon 5870?

 

Your PC Tech is amazingly misinformed, doesn't seem he has the knowledge or up to date information to be in a position to give anyone advice about AMD's mobile drivers. Asus did not change from AMD to Nvidia. There were plans to create both laptops from the very beginning. There was no change or leaving behind AMD. They never stopped making them, so by that alone, there was no switch. The G73jh continues to be sold and made coinciding with 460M. The only apparent reason to get 460M is for the 3D Vision gimmick.

AMD has been making graphics solutions from both AMD and Nvidia for DECADES...

 

@ryan.c: Asus intended from the beginning for their users to use the driver releases from AMD, and not rely on custom driver packs from them. So go ahead and use the AMD drivers, assuming you updated your vBIOS if you have a 5870M.

 

@All,

One of the reasons I decided to get my G73JH was because I had found out that ASUS didn't restrict driver updates to being provdided solely by them (ASUS) - I work for another notebook manufacturer and even with their high-end "gamer" laptop the only way to get driver updates is through their support services -

Your tech advisor wasn't necessarily wrong - just not quite informed with the ASUS brand - I do know for a fact that there are at least 2 other notebook manufacturers including the company I work for that maintains strict controls on their device driver updates.

Welcome to the G73JH -

In Peace and Agape,
Trav...

 

Yes we know. It's been well publicized that Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic, Fujitsu enjoy screwing over their customers with old drivers.

 

You can Dell to that list.

It's the one feature that drives me nuts about owning an Alienware M11x.

That and the horrible Optimus/Punkbuster bug. But Nvidia is supposed to have that fixed next month. So excited

 

@ Chastity - If I haven't flashed my vBIOS should I stay away from the AMD drivers? I do have a 5870M and haven't experienced the GSOD or PSOD that others have (knock on wood!!!)

@ everyone - If everything is working fine should I just leave well alone, or is there any benefit for me to flash the vBIOS (to be safe) and install the latest Catalyst drivers? I don't do much gaming, but I do a lot of graphic design work and constantly watch videos.

 

I have yet to acquire a G73JH. And when I do, updating the BIOS and vBIOS will be my priority. IMO, you should update your G73JH even if you haven't experienced any problems. Two reasons: to make it more stable and increase performance. Reading from the stickies, I think it's fairly easy to update the BIOS and vBIOS.

 

If you update your Catalyst without updating your vBios then you are going to have a incompatibility problems. You need to update your Bios, vBios, then Catalyst. vBios update is needed for you to update your ATI drivers without any problems (in general).