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General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: MP-Ryan on May 27, 2008, 04:13:48 pm

Title: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: MP-Ryan on May 27, 2008, 04:13:48 pm
Since I know several other people around here have ATI cards, and many of them older cards in the 9xxx series, I figured I'd post this.

There is a noticeable performance increase in the Catalyst 8.5 series of drivers from ATI under OpenGL, especially on older cards (in the 5-10 fps range during large battles).  Any users with a 9800Pro or below would be well advised to upgrade.

As always, use the driver-only installation package and download ATI Tray Tools to configure the graphics settings for the driver.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: colecampbell666 on May 27, 2008, 08:03:41 pm
Is this just with FS?
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: MP-Ryan on May 27, 2008, 11:34:21 pm
Is this just with FS?

Doesn't appear to be.  It boosted rates in D3D for HL2 as well.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: Gregster2k on May 27, 2008, 11:45:25 pm
Hmm...I'm curious how this holds up against older Catalyst drivers, especially versions 4.11, 5.11, and 6.3 (and a few between 4.11 and 5.11). I have long used the 5.11 on my PC as later Catalyst builds started slowing down the card significantly.

Radeon 9800 Pro, here.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: MP-Ryan on May 28, 2008, 12:27:42 am
Hmm...I'm curious how this holds up against older Catalyst drivers, especially versions 4.11, 5.11, and 6.3 (and a few between 4.11 and 5.11). I have long used the 5.11 on my PC as later Catalyst builds started slowing down the card significantly.

Radeon 9800 Pro, here.

Personally, I've found the series 8 Catalysts to be a significant performance booster over the 6's.  I'm running a 9500Pro in this old beastie.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: colecampbell666 on May 28, 2008, 01:09:23 pm
Hmm...I'm curious how this holds up against older Catalyst drivers, especially versions 4.11, 5.11, and 6.3 (and a few between 4.11 and 5.11). I have long used the 5.11 on my PC as later Catalyst builds started slowing down the card significantly.

Radeon 9800 Pro, here.

Personally, I've found the series 8 Catalysts to be a significant performance booster over the 6's.  I'm running a 9500Pro in this old beastie.
I win! 9550 Pro!... Oh wait...
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: Mongoose on May 29, 2008, 07:01:06 am
X300.  Phear my rendering power. :p

I'll have to give this a whirl; maybe I can eke a few more FPS out of this fossil.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: CZZ on May 29, 2008, 10:35:40 am
Hi

I got a Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Ex16  - is this ok for what I need re FS gaming. It appears to work well but any hints on tweaking for FS would be appreciated? :confused:

If this is a dumb questions - just smak me down...bouys!!

 :)Czz

Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: Polpolion on May 29, 2008, 11:41:31 am
Odd. I get a huge performance boost for stock Homeworld 2, but for BtRL, I'm now getting missing textures on some polys on asteroids, and I'm geting those textures on random planes, and on top of that, my FPS actually dropped about 10 to 20 for that game.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: colecampbell666 on May 29, 2008, 01:49:47 pm
Hi

I got a Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Ex16  - is this ok for what I need re FS gaming. It appears to work well but any hints on tweaking for FS would be appreciated? :confused:

If this is a dumb questions - just smak me down...bouys!!

 :)Czz


That is overkill by at least fivefold. My 9550, less than 1/20 of your card, runs the AdVPs fine.

TL;DR: Yes, that card is fine.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: karajorma on June 01, 2008, 04:42:05 pm
Odd. I get a huge performance boost for stock Homeworld 2, but for BtRL, I'm now getting missing textures on some polys on asteroids, and I'm geting those textures on random planes, and on top of that, my FPS actually dropped about 10 to 20 for that game.

There's a stickied thread in the tech help forum about that over on Game-Warden.
Title: Re: ATI Owners: Upgrade to catalyst 8.5 series
Post by: Polpolion on June 02, 2008, 06:41:39 pm
Odd. I get a huge performance boost for stock Homeworld 2, but for BtRL, I'm now getting missing textures on some polys on asteroids, and I'm geting those textures on random planes, and on top of that, my FPS actually dropped about 10 to 20 for that game.

There's a stickied thread in the tech help forum about that over on Game-Warden.

Awesome. Thanks. :)