The AMD ATI Radeon Experience

[arc@css]

Very minor issues for me having used six ATI cards and five nvidia cards over a ten year plus period. Only recently between 10.5 - 10.10 ATI driver releases did I have issues with getting the idle clocks to remain low, as set in my profile. This though was a very minor problem. Games always have run well.

 

[Jakus]

The purpose of the thread was to see if others had the same experience and whether I was missing a trick.

I never overclock as I want my machine to work reliably and don't need the hassle.

The comment that you can "uninstall catalyst and then reinstall" is totally wrong.

It is common knowledge Catalyst uninstaller does not uninstall correctly, and the files it leaves behind cause issues. That is why Driver Sweeper exists ...

It is impossible to rollback from Catalyst 10.12 to 10.9 by using the Catalyst uninstaller.
The end result will be a mess -with CCC not working correctly.

There was also one (or two) Catalyst versions that BSOD on uninstall (when they first brought out the Installer Manager)

For me Catalyst 10.12 results in windows screen freezing - no BSOD - I believe it is VPU recover stuck in a loop - as if I turn off VPU recover I will get BSOD.

Catalyst 10.10 has a vsync problem - in full screen vsync is always disabled, regardless of any changes made to gpu or game settings.

Makes it kind of hard to test software in vsync mode.

Anyway I have settled on the bugs I get with 10.9 a the least disruptive.

As for the NV card problem - that is a mystery - the card worked perfectly until I replaced my motherboard. Then with a fresh install of windows it BSODs on the nv driver.

Common sense would suggest that AMD chipset mobo + NV GPU are not happy.
As previously I had problems with NV chipset + AMD GPU ...

Anyway in future it is Intel chipsets + NVidia gpus and then maybe I can get some work done.

I run 10.1's so I can play My older Quake 3 based openGL multiplayer games, the newer driver releases generally address newer card and game issues but for Me I don't update anything unless there is a need..(first and foremost that's windows) I've had more trouble with windows updates than any little glitches/niggles from GFX drivers

 

[kylew]

Same here. The main problem on these forums is that people overclock their cards and use beta drivers. Stick to official driver release and don't fiddle and you will have few to no problems. To be fair, I have never had any problems with Nvidia drivers - just don't get me started on the 7900GTX though

Don't forget to add the fact that some people even go as far as to flash their card with a modded bios, then kick off when something doesn't work. PEBKAC is such a destructive ailment.

 

[jigger]

OP,

Are you looking to just have a moan ? If yes please ignore questions 2 and 3 and whine away.

You have never had a single instance of a working ATI card ?

What Nvidia cards have blue screened on you ?

Edit:

Problems I see,

Your running 4x1Gb sticks of RAM-

Your system sounds flaky-

Your PSU is very suspect-

Stress test your rig for errors.

MemTest, Prime95.

Try a clean install.

 

[Mr Paul]

Ok here's my review of ATI/AMD drivers

----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
Version Notes
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
Version     Bugs        Notes                       Warnings
----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------
All previous version from 9800 pro onwards fine ;)
9.1            Fine       
9.2            Fine               
9.3            Fine                             
9.4            Fine                   
9.5            Fine
9.6            Fine
9.7            Fine
9.8            Fine
9.9            Fine
9.10           Fine
9.11            "
9.12            "
10.1            "
10.2            "
10.3            "
10.4            "
10.5            "
10.6            "
10.7            "
10.8            "
10.9            "
10.10           "
10.11           "
10.12           "

----------- ----------- --------------------------- ---------

----------------------- ---------------------------
History
----------------------- ---------------------------
Date                    Note
----------------------- ---------------------------
All fine
----------------------- ---------------------------

Me thinks the problem is you or your rig.

PS Don't use driver cleaner, I never do. I only uninstall using the uninstaller or just install over the top

 

[MoRT489]

u dont think maybe it's ATI's job to make sure their drivers work properly with all hardware configurations rather than my job to buy the exact same equipment as you?

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

The comment that you can "uninstall catalyst and then reinstall" is totally wrong.

It is common knowledge Catalyst uninstaller does not uninstall correctly, and the files it leaves behind cause issues. That is why Driver Sweeper exists ...

My apologies, it appears you are trapped in another time period when this was an issue.
I wouldn't say it was common knowledge, that would maybe imply that it was a genuine issue and everyone acknowledged it. It's not.

I and most others could quite easily uninstall and reinstall catalyst drivers all day without problem. There's no need though...

Common sense would suggest that AMD chipset mobo + NV GPU are not happy.

Ridiculous. Again, that's not common sense as it would suggest that there was truth in what you were saying.
You've got a problem, try a bit of troubleshooting... :|

 

[FrenchTart]

...I was missing a trick.

Yup. Missing lots of tricks.

 

[straxusii]

u dont think maybe it's ATI's job to make sure their drivers work properly with all hardware configurations rather than my job to buy the exact same equipment as you?

Of course it's frustrating when problems like this happen but it is impossible to make software work with every single combination of OS, hardware, other software installed that might conflict, other local settings that might conflict etc

 

[Mr Paul]

u dont think maybe it's ATI's job to make sure their drivers work properly with all hardware configurations rather than my job to buy the exact same equipment as you?

Well I've had various CPU's, mobo's, chipsets, drivers with the following ATI/AMD cards:-

9800np
1800XT
2900XT
4850
5870

and not once have I had any issue.

 

[FireShadow]

Your running 4x1Gb sticks of RAM-
Your system sounds flaky-
Your PSU is very suspect-
Stress test your rig for errors.
MemTest, Prime95.
Try a clean install.

I stress tested it after installing the mobo
also stress tested the gpu with the fur thing

all checks out fine

The only issues are related to GPU drivers
before this mobo I had to switch from 3870 to GTS250
due to endless VPU recovers and problems with radeon drivers

Once I had a NV GPU everything worked fine - all drivers updates just went perfect

That mobo starts to die (storage controller bsods) so I put in new mobo
Now NV GPU will never run, so back to 3870

3870 works - but each driver I have tried has different issues - some catastrophic, others just annoying

For instance in PIX I get VPU recover whenever I activate the mesh tab
Or vsync settings are ignored
Or CCC doesn't start
Or Windows freezes ...

After trying many versions I pick 10.9 as most workable

And now I think about it - everything I have bought from OC over last 3 years
has had problems .... hard disks fail too early, monitors fail too early, mobos with problems

So either the PSU is putting out dirty power or overclockers are selling dodgy components, either way it wouldn't make sense to buy anything else from here as they sold me the PSU in the first place - and if it isn't good they shouldn't sell it

 

[FrenchTart]

It's true. The thousands of fully working components the rest of us have bought from here clearly indicate that OcUK sell dodgy components and not that you seem to have some weird issues with your setup.

 

[Squakingcow]

Driver sweeper can royally screw everything up. I used it once when I first bought my 4870, big mistake. The drivers refused to install properly after using driver sweeper so I ended up having to do a system restore. After that things were still a little iffy but at least the drivers would install, the damage that driver sweeper caused was only repaired after a complete reinstall...

Never again.

 

[Jakus]

I stress tested it after installing the mobo
also stress tested the gpu with the fur thing

all checks out fine

The only issues are related to GPU drivers
before this mobo I had to switch from 3870 to GTS250
due to endless VPU recovers and problems with radeon drivers

Once I had a NV GPU everything worked fine - all drivers updates just went perfect

That mobo starts to die (storage controller bsods) so I put in new mobo
Now NV GPU will never run, so back to 3870

3870 works - but each driver I have tried has different issues - some catastrophic, others just annoying

For instance in PIX I get VPU recover whenever I activate the mesh tab
Or vsync settings are ignored
Or CCC doesn't start
Or Windows freezes ...

After trying many versions I pick 10.9 as most workable

And now I think about it - everything I have bought from OC over last 3 years
has had problems .... hard disks fail too early, monitors fail too early, mobos with problems

So either the PSU is putting out dirty power or overclockers are selling dodgy components, either way it wouldn't make sense to buy anything else from here as they sold me the PSU in the first place - and if it isn't good they shouldn't sell it

Mate, You really are on a downer today aren't You !

I'll give You a little tip, Hundreds, probable thousands of new PC components have gone through My hands and it's so rare for new components (that arrive undamaged) to be faulty.....actually on reflection I'd like to thank You for having all the duff stuff and sparing us from the grief

 

[^Andy^]

I stress tested it after installing the mobo
also stress tested the gpu with the fur thing

all checks out fine

The only issues are related to GPU drivers
before this mobo I had to switch from 3870 to GTS250
due to endless VPU recovers and problems with radeon drivers

Once I had a NV GPU everything worked fine - all drivers updates just went perfect

That mobo starts to die (storage controller bsods) so I put in new mobo
Now NV GPU will never run, so back to 3870

3870 works - but each driver I have tried has different issues - some catastrophic, others just annoying

For instance in PIX I get VPU recover whenever I activate the mesh tab
Or vsync settings are ignored
Or CCC doesn't start
Or Windows freezes ...

After trying many versions I pick 10.9 as most workable

And now I think about it - everything I have bought from OC over last 3 years
has had problems .... hard disks fail too early, monitors fail too early, mobos with problems

So either the PSU is putting out dirty power or overclockers are selling dodgy components, either way it wouldn't make sense to buy anything else from here as they sold me the PSU in the first place - and if it isn't good they shouldn't sell it

Several possibilities here..

1 - You are reckless with static discharges and cooked something when installing the new motherboard
2 - Your psu isnt up to the job
3 - You didnt perform a clean install after changing motherboards and still have the older motherboards chipset drivers installed
4 - You did a clean install but didnt install the chipset drivers
5 - You didnt do a clean install but used the same motherboard however did not fully remove the nvidia drivers before installing the ATI card
6 - One or more of your ram sticks are suspect
7 - Your motherboard bios needs an update or at the least a cmos reset followed by loading the optimised defaults
8 - etc etc etc

 

[Weazle]

4x1GB sticks of RAM .... I think there's your problem TBH ... Lots of DDR2 motherboards don't play ball with full RAM banks ...... scale it to 2x1GB ..... your motherboard will be happier and if this works then consider buying 2x2GB sticks of DDR2.

 

[Scougar]

Since your ghosting your setup.. have you considered that your ghosts maybe inherently faulty? When was the last time you actually tried a full install rather than a ghost?

I don't see you blaming the NV card for bluescreening. I'd be more peeved my previously working gfx card wouldn't work. I'd suggest it's more to do with either the motherboards you are using, or something else.

ALL SOFTWARE has bugs of some kind. I'm not trying to vindicate AMD, but you should not be seeing that much variance in drivers (i.e. VSync not working) for single card setups. Something else is going on.

And yeah.. don't use driver cleaner/sweeper.

BTW.. just for the record.. I've had old drivers being picked up continually after I thought I'd removed every trace of them. Don't expect these tools to do the jobs, sometimes a full install is the only way (It sucks, but windows degrades over time anyway, so not a bad thing).

 

[Final8y]

Driver sweeper can royally screw everything up. I used it once when I first bought my 4870, big mistake. The drivers refused to install properly after using driver sweeper so I ended up having to do a system restore. After that things were still a little iffy but at least the drivers would install, the damage that driver sweeper caused was only repaired after a complete reinstall...

Never again.

+1

 

[Andric]

I'd hazard that it's the infamous PEBKAC

 

[Jakus]

I'd hazard that it's the infamous PEBKAC