ATI drivers

[Sirius 16]

I am always told that I should constantly update my videocard drivers to get the most recent patches and so on.

 

My problem is this:

Whenever I download a new driver for my ATI Radeon HD3650 card, I ALWAYS get alot of stuff together with the driver.

ATI users probably know the ATI Catalyst program that supposedly makes your games look better and such.

 

I just formatted my harddrive and re-installed Windows 7 on it.

It never said anything about downloading a more recent driver for my card, and still my card works just fine with many new games.

So.. did it install the driver itself? Is there an ATI driver in the Windows 7 install? I'm vastly confused!

 

When I download this new driver with catalyst and all, my games actually runs SLOWER!

This forces me to uninstall the new driver and rather have the old one back.

 

I really want to download the newest update for my driver, without having all those pesky programs along with it.

 

 

 

[Stormwing 40]

Well, as far as I know, Win7 downloads the newest drivers aviable from Windows Update. If the games seem to run well with 'em, I'd say stick with 'em.

Though, on ATI's page, there should be a package containing only the drivers. I'd say it's not a nessecity to get the Catalyst. But if you want to fiddle around with your card more, then you might want to get it.

Overclocking and such.

 

For the record, I've tried some with my HD4770, and the results weren't that amusing. It went from solid rock to very unstable.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Stormwing

[stubbie 21]

Yep win7 automatically updates the latest ATI drivers as well as the CCC.

I never use the auto update function. I only manually update what and when I want to.

 

You can get just the drivers from here

 

Personally I don't use the CCC. I find it to be too resource hungry.

I recommend you try ATI Tray Tools

It allows you a lot more options to tweak your graphics.

 

And I never update my graphic drivers unless I am having a problem.

Getting the very latest graphic drivers can actually cause problems running some games.

 

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Sirius 16]

Well, thank you both for info!

 

I didn't know that windows updated the driver.

But that's just great.

From my experience, gameplay gets alot smoother and more stable when only the driver itself is updated.

Many of those programs that adds new features and such usually seems to slow things down, unless you know excactly how to handle them, ofcourse.

[rnarchlord 0]

Well, thank you both for info!

 

I didn't know that windows updated the driver.

But that's just great.

From my experience, gameplay gets alot smoother and more stable when only the driver itself is updated.

Many of those programs that adds new features and such usually seems to slow things down, unless you know exactly how to handle them, ofcourse.

 

If you want Win 7 to download but not install new updates you can change the setting to manually install so that you can choose to delete or install the new updates at your discretion. Click on Window Update in the All Programs portion of the start menu. Then choose Change Settings and use the drop down choices under Important Updates. Drivers and updates for other programs are usually listed under the recommended updates.

[PBB 0]

I really want to download the newest update for my driver, without having all those pesky programs along with it.

 

 

 

 

 

I think there is a service or program (forgot the name) which automatically downloads new driver update for hardware. It works like the automatic update in Windows, except with this program you can set which hardware/software updates you want it to look for. Will reply back with the name once I find it.