ATI 7.12 install problem / ATI dissapointment from an ATI poweruser

Hi guys,

You may know me from my past articles, reviews, ATI overclocking guides etc... I am also a member of NBR ATI OC team (not so active anymore, but anyway...). I was trying and doing many advanced things with my past and current ATI notebook cards, and liked many things that they could do. Overclocking, underclocking, memory latencies etc... I wrote a few guides, done lots of tests, measuring and proving many things that people were talking about (like GPU temps while overclocking etc...)

And now I am disappointed.

Ati is obviously going down along with AMD since their recent issues ranging from AGP support to Phenom bug, and drivers being worse every time they release speak in support of this assumption.

I liked ATI cards since good old radeon 9800 that was far more advanced than anything nvidia had at that time, but nvidia learned their lesson fast, and ATI didn't. (BTW I was a nvidia fan beforehand since their TNT and TNT2 GPUs - do you remember them? I have learned a lot on latencies back then - overclocking my old TNT that easily beat TNT 2 in my brother's comp )

So far Ati was better in Vista support and I was happy since all drivers were at least installing like they should. CCC was faster than in XP and all seemed well. Crysis came out, it worked well, and even better with the hotfix (not on my x1600 though). 7.11 were so so. I skipped them.

Then 7.12 came out, and splash, all hopes were lost. It cannot install anymore on many ATI platforms. Try game.amd.com and see the forum. I thought it was something with my system. I checked the currently installed 7.10 drivers, uninstalled, cleaned, done everything that I know (and I believe I know a lot), and 7.12 simply doesn't show driver or CCC in its list when it is ready for install. The same happens with the driver only installer and the whole wdm package with CCC and "free stuff".

Ati has a bad driver team issue, and in my opinion that is directly connected to their AMD takeover and it will make many people do the worst thing for ATI/AMD. They will go and buy Intel/Nvidia. Double damage (ATI loses a customer, and Nvidia gains one) times two (Amd loses a customer and Intel gains one).

So I guess my new notebook will have some good nvidia card in it. I only wish that there are at least two strong GPU makers in the world. One is bad.

Heh, I hope my disappointment goes away,

Cheers,

Ivan

 

I installed 7.12 just last night without any problems. Same x1600

 

That is my problem! I cannot do it on Vista 32 bit. Good for you, any improvement? Have you been using DH modder tool? I also have Vista SP1 RC. That doesn't seem to bother 7.10 drivers!

 

I agree that ATI's driver team is horrible. I can't believe they can get away with all the stuff they do and how many customers they lose because they just stop supporting cards. IE the whole AMD/AGP fiasco.

But as far as the newest Catalyst 7.12 I installed them fine and they work fine.

 

ahhhhh i know how you feel mate. i miss the days of the 9800. at the mo im using both the X1800 and x1900. both work great. the X1800 is OC'd quite well and still copes brilliantly with latest games. on latest ATI drivers.

but.

all i hear these days are complaints about ATI and only high praises about what Nvidia is doing. low heat, high power. sounds perfect...i just wish ATi could do something soon that would elevate is status.

time will tell.

 

Same here, I installed Mobility 7.12 (been waiting for them) yesterday and they installed just fine. No problems whatsoever here, performance is the same as the 7.10's I was using and I can OC the card fine.

btw I have an X1600 256mb.

However I do agree that AMD/ATI is going downhill, maybe it will be a wake up call for them, maybe not. I expect performance improvements with newer driver versions for newer games but it just stays the same with each release basically containing only bug fixes.

 

I installed 7.12 Vista 64bit on my laptop seen in my sig without any issues. Actually I see no difference in performace between 7.11 and 7.12 as of yet.

 

Thanks guys - it must be something with my Vista then. I appreciate the info. Ok I will wait for the next release.

Cheers,

Ivan