AMD Catalyst Software

[Patre]

I have an HIS IceQ 2GB HD 7870 GPU and because of that, I've installed the AMD Catalyst software.
Is this software actually useful for games/movies or anything else? (my monitor is setup at 1080p).

So far, it's been more annoying than useful when playing on Steam...........little pop up message (F2 to save image (something like that)) continuously stays on the screen.
After exiting Steam, I noticed about a dozen AMD Catalyst webpages had been opened in my browser.

Anyway, I don't really know too much about this Catalyst software and wanted your thoughts on it?
Keep it or uninstall?

 

[Oyeve]

I have had to disable most of that stuff on my system. I couldnt run wolfenstein the old blood until most of that crap was turned off.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I've generally found the Catalyst software to be bloat that doesn't add any value. There is a button to opt out when you install new drivers.

 

[Patre]

I've generally found the Catalyst software to be bloat that doesn't add any value. There is a button to opt out when you install new drivers.

That's about my take on it too....bloatware.
Unless I find some compelling reasons to keep it, I'll uninstall tonight.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The overwolf feature(?) has potential to be cool, allows in game recording with a button push but it either doesn't work or it slows the game to a crawl, like 5 fps.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Uh, the Catalyst software is what let's you set your video card to do the things you have the video card for. Are you guys talking about that Raptr/Gaming Evolved trash that gets bundled in with it for some inexplicable reason?

 

[lupi]

Sounds like it.

 

[chimaxi83]

This thread is a prime example of how crap misinformation gets spread and gobbled up. Raptr isn't Catalyst.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

It comes in the package so that's close enough for me.
I don't see any value in the Catalyst suite. I upgraded to windows 10 its default drivers work fine. I feel AMD & NVIDIA are more concerned about their driver suits looking real cool. For the few percent of people that need to over clocking features and stuff have a separate package.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

You get the Catalyst software with the default Win10 drivers. If you like anything other than default driver settings for games, videos, and a whole host of other things, well, there's the value in it. So far they're not bundling Raptr in with the W10 drivers and if AMD has an ounce of sense they won't start.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Thanks for the heads up. I've been postponing a driver update because of it.

 

[Patre]

You get the Catalyst software with the default Win10 drivers. If you like anything other than default driver settings for games, videos, and a whole host of other things, well, there's the value in it. So far they're not bundling Raptr in with the W10 drivers and if AMD has an ounce of sense they won't start.

My HIS 7870 card does come with iTurbo software for overclocking and monitoring my gpu (which I installed from day one) and it's left on default setting (I'm a noob at OC'ing and generally do take the safest road).

What I'm not sure about is are the features of Catalyst of any value over what I already have and are there some must have items in this package for gaming, movies, etc....?

 

[balloonshark]

Catalyst shouldn't be bothering you. Open it up and at the top right go to preferences and untick Enable system tray menu. Under AMD home untick Allow web content. If you need those features leave them ticked. I think the only thing I use in Catalyst is Frame rate control.

 

[Red Hawk]

Yeah it sounds like the source of annoyance here is the Raptr game client, or "Gaming Evolved App". It's not the same thing as the Catalyst Control Center. Both are installed by the Catalyst Install Manager, though. You can uninstall Raptr through Programs and Features in the Windows Control Panel. When installing AMD drivers in the future, be sure to pick "custom", rather than "express"; express automatically installs Raptr.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Catalyst is necessary.

Raptr is horrible, useless, and terrible. It is especially bad on every computer, because it slows boot time and nags you. In addition, it eats memory that games could use, which is an issue if your playing on an older machine with only 4gb of ram.

All in All, my biggest complaint about AMD is not that their hardware or drivers suck, but its that they install shitty bloatware on unsuspecting victims computers when you try to install your drivers/CCC suite.

 

[Patre]

Thanks Ballonshark & Red Hawk!! I'll take a closer look at your tips and adjust them accordingly.......(yeah, it's more of an annoyance factor than anything else).

 

[clamum]

I have a 7870 as well and actually was wondering the same thing about the Catalyst software as I just installed Windows 10 and downloaded the latest drivers. There's a bunch of options for tweaking the video quality, color, adding filters (I think?) and whatnot but I've never played with any of the settings.

 

[Elcs]

I cannot believe that the dev of RadeonPro, the greatest tool for AMD/ATI tweaking, is working on that pile of Raptr nonsense too

Ratpr ended up annoying me with ceaseless popups and 'optimising' my games ie. making them look worse and lowering in-game performance.

 

[phantom404]

Yea I always uninstall Raptr right after I install the drivers but for me CCC is a must because it enables me to crossfire my 290s, allows me to use free-sync and the Frame rate control option.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I really want AMD to be successful again however I have grown tired of them completely F'ing up the details like Raptr.

 

[Elcs]

I really want AMD to be successful again however I have grown tired of them completely F'ing up the details like Raptr.

Raptr wasn't really a detail though. It's a flopped bloatware addon with no use.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I meant like have this great gaming card now lets load it with useless crap. Its obviously they either didn't test it out or accept feedback that it sucks or more disturbingly they thought it was good.
Same with an Asus AMD motherboard I picked up 18 months ago, onboard video (its a web only machine) only had analog out. No DVI or HDMI. Who uses analog out today and why does AMD allow its partners to cut corners on something that's pretty important?
I'll admit I should have read the box better but when you see video output up to 1440P or similar you'd assume its not VGA.

 

[SPBHM]

Yea I always uninstall Raptr right after I install the drivers but for me CCC is a must because it enables me to crossfire my 290s, allows me to use free-sync and the Frame rate control option.

just select custom install, you can chose not to install it.

 

[Chaotic0ne]

I always select custom install when installing anything, and its important you do that with freeware, or you'll end up with some junkware like a stupid toolbar on your browser you don't want, etc.