ATI Driver Question

[WintersFury]

Just a quick question about ATI drivers. Been using an NV card for the past 6 months or so. But I've been a long time ATI guy and I just got a Dell 22" widescreen and my GS just can't push the pixels fast enough at 1680x1050 in my main game (Vanguard:SoH).

 

So I was looking at ATI stuff, when I took a look at the drivers section on the website, it no longer says anything about having to have .net installed... Do I really not need it anymore? Having to have .net was a bit part of the reason I decided to try an NV card, well that and the OCing beast the 7900GS is.

 

So just want to hear from you ATI guys if I still need it and if they've improved things like the CCC load time and such?

 

Thanks all

[suedenim]

It still requires .Net 2 which is part of XP SP2.

If you don't have .Net 2 get it before you install CCC or it won't work (drivers should be OK though if you don't mind using ATI Tray Tools.)

 

CCC load time still sucks!

 

.Net is a pretty good program base - it gets rid of DllHell, and most pure .Net apps shouldn't even touch the registry except for maybe config settings.

[Angry_Games]

you do NOT need .NET if you do not plan to install the CCC

 

If you have a single ATI gpu, you probably should avoid the CCC and use something like ATI Tool

 

I tend to use Omega latest drivers + ATI Tool with single ATI gpu's to avoid that stupid .NET crap as well as stupid CCC bloatware.

[suedenim]

Hard to avoid that stupid .Net crap as more devs start using it and DX moves completely into the 'managed code' arena too (which might not be such a bad thing depending on how the Unix mono project works out). Shame CCC is a piece of crud though.

[WintersFury]

.net 2? That isn't part of SP2, only 1.0 is part of it.

 

Now that you mention it, I had forgotten that ATI tool let me set AA and AF and all with it. I don't remember if it lets you set HQ AF there though?

 

Changing AA and AF settings is about the only reason I've used CCC. But if I can get the same features elsewhere that works for me too as I don't think I'll need crossfire. The game is pretty graphically demanding but running on balanced looks great, just pushes me card a bit too hard.

 

I just don't remember being able to set the card to HQ AF or the AA type in ATI Tool... And are the Omega drivers really that much better? In all the years I used ATI cards I always used the official drivers and CCC... Always thought about it, but never had enough trouble with them to bother looking elsewhere besides ATI Tool for my OCing.

[suedenim]

Could have sworn .Net 2 was in SP2.

 

I believe the man that makes the Omega drivers used to work on their driver team and the general impression is that they give better performance.

[RubberDuck]

I believe the man that makes the Omega drivers used to work on their driver team and the general impression is that they give better performance.

 

Really :confused: I'll have to try them then. I have always used the Drivers off the ATI site.

 

 

And are the Omega drivers really that much better?

 

I have always use the Official ATI Drivers also. So are the Omega drives really that much better ?

 

 

Thx

RD~