New Catalyst 8.3 hotfix

[Sylvanas]

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ATI Radeon HD2xxx/HD3xxx: Intermittent stuttering issues seen when running various 3D applications

The information in this article applies to the following configuration(s):

* Radeon? HD3870 series
* Radeon? HD3850 series
* Radeon? HD2900 series
* Radeon? HD2600 series
* Radeon? HD2400 series
* Windows Vista 32-bit Edition
* Windows Vista 64-bit Edition
* Windows XP Professional
* Windows XP Home Edition
* Windows XP Media Center Edition
* Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

From what I heard at Rage3d, this seems to fix the Powerplay issues of slipping into 2D clocks when in 3D apps and thus causing 'stuttering' and a reduced framerate for a split second. For me this problem was fixed in the official 8.3's but hey here it is.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

damn there hasn't been an nVidia driver update for the 8 series for 3 months (or possibly more, its been so long i forgot)

its good to see ATI constantly improving their cards with driver updates, it looks like nvidia stopped supporting the last-gen 8 series cards

 

[shinobiobi]

there are the 'beta' nvidia drivers, but evga even has them on their website as at latest drivers for the 8 series.

 

[BFG10K]

its good to see ATI constantly improving their cards with driver updates,

I totally agree. As long you have a card in ATi's currently supported list, you can expect monthly official drivers with improvements for even old cards.

 

[batmang]

I notice stuttering in CoD 4, maybe this will fix it? BTW, this is exactly why I love ATi. Look how often updates/drivers/patches are released from them. Always improving performance. Good job ATi. Thanks for the link and info OP.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Originally posted by: shinobiobi
there are the 'beta' nvidia drivers, but evga even has them on their website as at latest drivers for the 8 series.

nah i dont beta this beta that. nvidia ALWAYS does that; they release some random beta drivers that supposedly improve stuff but when it doesn't they say u can't blame them when things go wrong because its a beta. we want official drivers!

 

[sliderule]

I think it's kind of odd how things work out. I remember back in the day getting a new hercules 9800 pro, and loving the power of that card, but being disappointed by the crappy drivers. Seemed like every game I played back then had a graphics bug of some sort with ati drivers...bf1942 comes to mind right away.

After my 9800 pro I started buying nothing but nvidia cards, because nvidia in my experience had better drivers. Last year after hearing complaints from some of my friends with 8800gtx's about drivers, I decided to skip the 8 series and picked up a 3870. I'm actually kinda shocked by how much I like this card, because I had pretty much written ati off a few years ago. You can tell AMD/ATI has put some extra effort into improving their drivers, at least in windows...linux drivers still blow, lol.

Now if only my 3870 could play crysis cranked up at 1680x1050 I'd be happy, heh.

 

[quattro1]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: shinobiobi
there are the 'beta' nvidia drivers, but evga even has them on their website as at latest drivers for the 8 series.

nah i dont beta this beta that. nvidia ALWAYS does that; they release some random beta drivers that supposedly improve stuff but when it doesn't they say u can't blame them when things go wrong because its a beta. we want official drivers!

lol, you think these "hotfix" drivers are official and better than a beta? What makes a "hotfix" driver different than a beta one?

What makes an "official" driver different from a "beta" driver? Do you really need it to go through whql?

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: quattro1

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: shinobiobi
there are the 'beta' nvidia drivers, but evga even has them on their website as at latest drivers for the 8 series.

nah i dont beta this beta that. nvidia ALWAYS does that; they release some random beta drivers that supposedly improve stuff but when it doesn't they say u can't blame them when things go wrong because its a beta. we want official drivers!

lol, you think these "hotfix" drivers are official and better than a beta? What makes a "hotfix" driver different than a beta one?

What makes an "official" driver different from a "beta" driver? Do you really need it to go through whql?

First off, hotfixes are rare. They do it, because there is a problem that they would like their customers to have fixed, before the next set of drivers are released. Secondly, NV slips out beta drivers several times a month, a lot of the time. And rarely anything official. You're not even comparing the same things. Trying to make the claim that AMD and NV operate in regards to drivers is completely unfounded.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

its good to see ATI constantly improving their cards with driver updates,

I totally agree. As long you have a card in ATi's currently supported list, you can expect monthly official drivers with improvements for even old cards.

I honestly thought that I screwed up getting the 3870 over the 8800gt back in november, but as AMD continues to offer support/improvement I become happier and happier with my purchase. Nvidia's current trick of keeping 9xxx supplied with the latest drivers and making 8xxx owners lounge around with older ones just reinforces this feeling. I wonder what is giong to happen when gt200 comes out? Will they abandon 9800gx2 like they did 7950gx2?

 

[quattro1]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

First off, hotfixes are rare. They do it, because there is a problem that they would like their customers to have fixed, before the next set of drivers are released. Secondly, NV slips out beta drivers several times a month, a lot of the time. And rarely anything official. You're not even comparing the same things. Trying to make the claim that AMD and NV operate in regards to drivers is completely unfounded.

Ok...so what does official mean to you?
And why is it not OK for nvidia to release "beta" drivers to fix things or add compatability for new hardware but OK for ATI to release hotfixes?

Remember, there was an 8.2 hotfix driver, and an 8.3 hotfix...oh and I also believe there was an 8.1 hotfix driver as well.

 

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: quattro1

Originally posted by: Ackmed

First off, hotfixes are rare. They do it, because there is a problem that they would like their customers to have fixed, before the next set of drivers are released. Secondly, NV slips out beta drivers several times a month, a lot of the time. And rarely anything official. You're not even comparing the same things. Trying to make the claim that AMD and NV operate in regards to drivers is completely unfounded.

Ok...so what does official mean to you?
And why is it not OK for nvidia to release "beta" drivers to fix things or add compatability for new hardware but OK for ATI to release hotfixes?

Remember, there was an 8.2 hotfix driver, and an 8.3 hotfix...oh and I also believe there was an 8.1 hotfix driver as well.

There is also one WHQL certified driver each month for every card from the 9500- X3870X2....IN ADDITION to hotfixes (which are incorporated into the next WHQL release). Nv produce shoddy betas all the time- for instance the latest 17xxx series which don't even have support for the 'top of the line' 8 series....but that's another debate :/.

 

[Rubycon]

Well sometimes everyone needs a little hot stuff. Sometimes it fixes things, sometimes it does not.

Got this downloaded today and installed. Hotfix? Was like a whole new driver! :Q

We'll see what happens...

 

[dadach]

Originally posted by: quattro1

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS

Originally posted by: shinobiobi
there are the 'beta' nvidia drivers, but evga even has them on their website as at latest drivers for the 8 series.

nah i dont beta this beta that. nvidia ALWAYS does that; they release some random beta drivers that supposedly improve stuff but when it doesn't they say u can't blame them when things go wrong because its a beta. we want official drivers!

lol, you think these "hotfix" drivers are official and better than a beta? What makes a "hotfix" driver different than a beta one?

What makes an "official" driver different from a "beta" driver? Do you really need it to go through whql?

well they did fix an issue on my dual x2 setup where in COD4 only 2 cores would work, and the core frequency would not rise to 825, but would rather stay at 300

now everything works smoothly, and i can now fully overclock in overdrive, as previously it would lock up past 850

 

[imported_Section8]

Does anyone know if this fixed the fan speed bug?

 

[lopri]

To be honest I don't like AMD's practice with drivers. These monthly hotfixes have bee on-going for quite some time, and they are not really a hotfix at all. They are full-blown drivers without WHQL tag. So basically AMD pumps out two sets of drivers every month. (one WHQL and another in disguise of hotfix) Monthly WHQL isn't too bad, I guess, but another in between is too much. I am not complainin though because it's not like you're forced to download every driver. I just hope that it won't make AMD think that it's OK to release a lacking driver due to their frequent updates.

 

[Majic 7]

Originally posted by: Section8
Does anyone know if this fixed the fan speed bug?

There is an official ATI bios at the VisionTek forums for the BBA reference 3870 cards. It is in a self installer format and very easy to use. It completely fixes the fan issue on my VisionTek and GeCube cards. Works like it is supposed to. Load 68c and my cards are nearly touching each other.

 

[Pelu]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
damn there hasn't been an nVidia driver update for the 8 series for 3 months (or possibly more, its been so long i forgot)

its good to see ATI constantly improving their cards with driver updates, it looks like nvidia stopped supporting the last-gen 8 series cards

nvidia ones i think the last one was in .... december of the past year... after that.. a bunch of betas.... lol