Performance drop with Cat. 5.4 drivers?

[CCityInstaller]

I just installed the new Cat 5.4 drivers from ATI's website after using driver and cab cleaner to remove the 5.2's that I was using to see if they made any difference in CS Source (the only game I really play). With the 5.2's I was averaging 73.~ FPS @1280x1024 with 2xAA with my 9800 AIW o/c'ed to XT speeds. In game performance averaged from 73~100+fps depending on the enviroment. I reran the benchmark with the new 5.4 drivers and saw almost a 10 fps drop in performance. In game performance was even worse, sometime over 20-30 fps slower. Has anyone else ran into this problem? I did a search and didn't come up with much.

Specs of my system:

Abit AV8 MB
Athlon 3200 @ 2.5ghz
1 gig of Supertalent PC3200 ( 210mhz 2-3-3-10)
Maxtor ATA 160 gb HD
Nec 3520a 16X DVD writer
Antec NeoPower 480 PS

 

[shortylickens]

I didnt notice a hit moving to 5.4, but I must be doing something wrong.

I have an X800 Pro and A64 3400+.
At 1280x1024 with no AA or AF I only get 70fps in CS:S.
As this is close to my refresh rate I never worried about it.
Maybe that SMARTGART crap is screwing up my system.

 

[CCityInstaller]

Shorty, What are you using to veiw your fps? I base mine from the data from the Stress Test along with the CL_showfps 2 option. I am using a Samsung LCD with the refresh rate set @ 60hz.

 

[shortylickens]

Am using the built in test for CS:S with a CRT running at 85 HZ and no VSysnc.

But after going through a few games I did notice some drops. I shall install 5.3 tonight (after work) and see what I can see.

 

[Noid]

I think all the older cards lost performance.
My 9700pro has lost performance on all the releases for 2005.

so, I'm still using 4.12's.

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

Yes, there is a performance drop.

I have a:

P4 2.8ghz Prescott
9800pro 128mb
1024mb pc3200


I know, I have a 9000 series, and It may only be that series that loses performance. I promise you that the 5.4 will make many 9000 series cards have big problems in CSS.

I myself has so much video card lag with the 9800pro, that I could not aim a shotty for my life, yet, fraps read my FPS in the 50's. It almost seemed like I was dropping packets in the game, and my char took 2 steps forward and 1 step back, all the time.

Also, another system I have with a 9600pro could no longer render textures in High quality settings with the 5.4's in CSS, they had to be bumped down to medium to play.

I put the 4.12 drivers on these two systems and they run great.

I dont know about the X series, but the 5.4 are def not a good choice for the 9 series.

The 5.4's are a mess!

 

[shortylickens]

4.12 is great and 5.3 is still a little better than 5.4.

In CS:S I ran:
1280x1024, High detail everything
4xAA and 8xAF.
I got 74 FPS.
Without AA and AF I got around 113 FPS.

I think I'll roll it all they way back to 4.12.

 

[NEVERwinter]

so... basically what's the "best" driver for Radeon cards now? Especially for the 9xxx series
we know that the "old" best drivers were 3.6 and 4.2, what is it now? 5.2? 4.12?

 

[Zenoth]

The best drivers for the 9xxx series is without a doubt Catalyst / Omega / DNA 4.12 and / or 5.1.

Performance drop is noticeable starting from 5.2, according to the tests / benchmarks I've done, and what others had to say.

But drivers starting from 5.2 are supposed to be good and "optimized" for the X8xx series (5.2 was, that is).

 

[Tweakin]

Having just come from a 9600XT that was trying to run HL2 @ 12x10...use the Omega drivers. They really do add some fps to the 9xxx series of cards.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't play Counter-Strike: Source, but upgrading to the 5.4's gave me an extra six or so frames per second in Hitman 3, and also reduced crashing to desktop.