Waco Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 It shouldn't matter how old the game is...it's either stable or it's not. Granted, AMD may have just removed workarounds that make those older games work...but why would they do that? It's not like any of them required huge changes or additions to the binary AFAIK... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 Are any of the other ones (for single card setups, which is what ComputerEd asked about) newer than 2002? I'm not trying to be an ass Bosco, but you have to admit it is not completely fair to demand drivers for modern GPU architectures and engines have to work perfectly with games from 1998, 2002, 1998, 1999, 1999, 1995, and 1999 (the release years of each of those you listed in order, except for GTA, as you didn't give exact titles). (GTA games have been released in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009.) Losing compatibility for older technology happens because sometimes it is just going to be a bad decision to keep it. Of course it would be nice if all of these games worked correctly, but it isn't like we're talking about a bunch of DX9+ games, which was released December 2002. We're talking about games that at best were DX6-DX8 (with the possible exception of some GTA titles). I'd love it if I could get some really old games like Castle of the Winds to run on Windows 7, but that won't happen without a workaround because compatibility for 16-bit was removed, and I'm fine with that. At least, for the current list you have given, we're looking mostly at games 10+ years old. Apple is worse than that. Of course now the question is why is nVidia keeping compatibility with such old games? Is this natural to their driver architecture or are they actually diverting resources to that instead of fixing bugs and optimizing for modern games. If one company does it why can't the other? I can run every game with Nvidia with no issues, big selling point for me. As soon as a game is no longer relevent AMD drops support and imo thats Bullshit. There is a bunch more games that are newer that I have had issues with I just don't have them in front of me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 I dunno in my opinon it just seems like users are getting cheated. Some people don't care and others might, in the end I can make the games work with NVIDIA so thats all that matters I can get them to work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVIYTH0S Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 I had enough of AMD's drivers to the point I do not use them in any every day rigs. They sit in testbeds now and thats the only time they get used. I find the biggest issue with AMD is their game support sucks, there is a lot of games I own that work on Nvidia cards but blue screen or crash to desktop with AMD cards. you've never used a 9800GX2 then LOL, but honestly other then that card I haven't had any issues with either party I guess since that was the only multi-GPU card from nvidia, I've never had good experience with them but I know if I tried either a 295, 590, or 690 it'd work find. Just like my 4870x2 and 5970 have served me well (and the 6990 would have if I ever owned one) My new 7950 has been SWEET though, and I'm glad to be back on a single core again. The fact that multi GPU cards mirror memory usage pisses me off, my 5970 had so much raw GPU performance that was held back by the face that it had 1GB of wasted graphics memory. I have the original DOS based Dune to try and Dune 2000 from a friend that used to run my old 9800GT when he ran them on his computer but I want to see if I can get them to work to see what you're talking about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Capitan Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) Out of my many systems, I have no trouble with single or dual graphics cards from either Nvidia or AMD. However, AMD drivers are always a pain in the butt to install. Most Nvidia driver updates I don't have to go through the process of uninstalling everything and re-installing everything, I can just run the update and it will work fine. That said, the latest 301.42 WHQL drivers don't work with dual GTX 680's in SLI very well. Also, since I usually use Lucidlogix Virtu, Nvidia's been ruining that with their drivers, lately. Only the latest BIOS update on non-GEN3 ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboards with 301.42 WHQL drivers will allow that to work. However, only if I use a single card will the drivers work flawlessly. AMD I've had no issues with Lucidlogix Virtu. I don't know why Bosco has such a hard time with AMD cards. Probably too much time driving around his Mustang, and not enough time learning how to uninstall and install drivers properly. Edited July 13, 2012 by El_Capitan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest_Jim_* Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 I don't know why Bosco has such a hard time with AMD cards. Probably too much time driving around his Mustang, and not enough time learning how to uninstall and install drivers properly. Correct me if I'm wrong Bosco, but it sounds like it is not so much the drivers are bad as it is they will not do what he specifically wants them to do, which is play some older games. While that is an appropriate reason to not purchase them when you're shopping for a new GPU, I feel it is in no way a reason to hate the brand. Really the primary reason I defend AMD as much as I do is because I feel there are no good and major/important reasons to hate the brand that you cannot also find to be true for nVidia. Sorry, but not supporting some older titles is not what I would consider major. I hope they do add/improve the compatibility for older games, so there is one less reason to not choose them, but may I ask, have you contacted AMD either for assistance with getting them to work or to just say, "I own a hardware review site and can't get these games to play on your drivers. Do you think we could see some support in future drivers? Thanks." Nothing to lose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Ya the response is they don't put the effort into old games. I can understand that and I totally get where they are coming from. It doesn't make sense to spend money on older titles as new ones come out, I get that too a degree, as I said before it just feels cheated. As for new games and current issues well thats a whole different issue altogether. My biggest problem is there is no quality control on AMD's side. This crap about use this driver but don't use CAP 4 use Cap 3 but if you want to play this game use Cap 2 like seriously You see this stuff on twitter its flippin confusing and not really needed. We seem to run into issues with different benchmarks from time to do that cause us to have to change things, that becomes frustrating after a while. Both camps have issues, it just seems in the last year its more on the Red team then the Green team. Due to delays and what not, if either camp can't run a benchmark after a driver change after three tries, the benchmark is 0. Batman and Skyrim are prime examples, months went by before crossfire even worked, and talk about buggy good lord. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 I don't know why Bosco has such a hard time with AMD cards. Probably too much time driving around his Mustang, and not enough time learning how to uninstall and install drivers properly. I'll take that as a joke but I fail to find the humor in the reviewers and I wasting our time trying to get benchmarks to run and having to bounce from driver to driver to find something that actually works. I am not the only one, I hear it from staff all the time believe me it gets frustating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El_Capitan Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 I'll take that as a joke but I fail to find the humor in the reviewers and I wasting our time trying to get benchmarks to run and having to bounce from driver to driver to find something that actually works. I am not the only one, I hear it from staff all the time believe me it gets frustating. Yeah, it's a joke, humor is wasted in online forums. Don't get me wrong, I know what it's like. Once I get more time, I thought I'd do a lot more articles on driver updates and how they fare, but it just feels like a lot of work, lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bosco Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 Don't mind me I am grumpy, lots going on and I am completely exhausted. One other thing I am really worried about that I forgot to mention is thing about AMD cutting monthly driver updates. Thankfully we have not had any more big game releases as of late, but I am curious to see how this plays out over the rest of the year as big titles start to come out. I dunno about you guys, but I would be very frustrated if I spent $50+ dollars on a game and have to wait weeks for a driver. I would expect them to have something ready a month or two before launch but as a consumer it still worries me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 I still have the bad taste of trying to play Skyrim with my 4870Xs...talk about a nightmare. I ended up disabling a card AND forcing a different game profile just to make it playable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyt Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 I still have the bad taste of trying to play Skyrim with my 4870Xs...talk about a nightmare. I ended up disabling a card AND forcing a different game profile just to make it playable. The problem is that AMD doesnt really focus their new drivers on support for their older cards especially older card crossfire... With Nvidia they dont forget about their previous customers so your older cards work fine - they even add new features to the older cards via drivers such as the adaptive AA and all that stuff with the 300 series drivers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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