Catalyst 8.1 final released!

[RedBull78]

Doesn't that pretty much rule out a motherboard incompatibility though?

I guess I'm kinda grasping at straws here, but I'm trying to convince myself that it's a driver issue not hardware. Seeing that 8.1 didn't fix anything for me however, has led to a great deal of doubt on my end...

Alright I just checked your mobo is P35 based. Here is a review from one of the customers that left based on your mobo. It sure sounds very problematic.

"Cons: I have tried this board with four different kinds of RAM from two different manufacturers. I have tried two different motherboards, power supplies, video cards, processors... you name it. I have been in this business and working with systems for some 15 years and never have I had more issues with a board than I have had with this. I have tried DDR2 AND DDR3. I have purchased RAM from the RAM mfg website listed as viable and tested for the specific board. NO GOOD. Sure, some people have had success (I assume mostly luck) with this, but the simple fact is that the board is flaky at best. Recent BIOS updates have been no help. My recommendation at this point would be to avoid ASUS for a while and stick with a DDR2 only motherboard until ASUS and the rest of the MFGs get the kinks out. Not happy with ASUS at all. Long time customer of their products."

[RedBull78]

So my guess is your mobo is the culprit.

X series chipsets are very well designed for Xfire. Hence the name

In case you didnt know the mobo you are using doesnt even offer you 8x 8x lanes but it has only one 16x and the black slot is only 4x or 1x mode


"Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 2 x PCI-E x16 (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode)
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 3 "

[Sly Fox]

I definitely knew when I got it that it has a lot of problems with memory.

It's a DDR3/DDR2 combo board so in that regard it's very buggy.

However, with DDR2-800 Ballistix I've had no problems at all regarding CPU/memory stability.

I'm certainly not trying to claim that I know for sure it's not a motherboard issue, but I just find it very odd that it works in 3dMark06 and not in any games I've tried. If it was hardware related, wouldn't you think it would affect EVERYTHING, not just games, while sparing benchmarks?

[RedBull78]

If you want a great mobo go for the new Foxconn X38. Very good mobo for the price. I will be purchasing it very soon when dual core wolfdales come out. It will retire my DFI 939 expert and dual core opty. I feel sad already. But its bottlenecking my 8800gtx's ....Goodluck.

[mascaras]

I'm certainly not trying to claim that I know for sure it's not a motherboard issue, but I just find it very odd that it works in 3dMark06 and not in any games I've tried. If it was hardware related, wouldn't you think it would affect EVERYTHING, not just games, while sparing benchmarks?

thats normal , 3dmark always run in Crossfire but that doesnt mean its running in games


but CF not working in COD4 & Crysis its not HD3870s problem , because me and also my friend can run OK (Vista & XP) , however in Crysis with Vista i have A LOT more Breaks than in XP (but CF works)


regards

[RedBull78]

I definitely knew when I got it that it has a lot of problems with memory.

It's a DDR3/DDR2 combo board so in that regard it's very buggy.

However, with DDR2-800 Ballistix I've had no problems at all regarding CPU/memory stability.

I'm certainly not trying to claim that I know for sure it's not a motherboard issue, but I just find it very odd that it works in 3dMark06 and not in any games I've tried. If it was hardware related, wouldn't you think it would affect EVERYTHING, not just games, while sparing benchmarks?

That is a good question and a very tricky question. I'm not sure but like someone said earlier , syntetic benchmarks are not the same as real world applications and the drivers play a different role to it.

Before retiring the mobo I would try another thing, i see u r using 64 bit vista? So is there any chance u can load up xp if u still have it available?

Try that, if the problem is still there then my guess is the mobo.

[RedBull78]

thats normal , 3dmark always run in Crossfire but that dont mean its running in games


but CF not working in COD4 & Crysis its not HD3870s problem , because me and also my friend can run OK (Vista & XP)


regards

I think this is the problem ; what do you think?

ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 2 x PCI-E x16 (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode)
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 3

Dual 16x PCE lanes is a must for all new high end cards...

[Sly Fox]

Sadly I don't have any copies of XP anymore, sold it away when I sold my old computer to a friend a while back.

I suppose I could "obtain" a copy solely for testing purposes and give that a shot, are there any good Windows programs that can make a small partition without wiping the data off a drive?

[Repoman]

Looks like nothing for XP single card users

[mascaras]

I think this is the problem ; what do you think?

ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 2 x PCI-E x16 (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode)
PCI Express x1 1
PCI Slots 3

Dual 16x PCE lanes is a must for all new high end cards...

Could be the mobo , i realy dont know (probably yes)

only thing im sure its not the HD3870s , because me , my friend and also a lot other ppl (here in XS too) can run Crossfire in Crysis and COD4


SLy Fox do you have the Crysis Patch V1.1 installed??


regards

[Sly Fox]

Yes I do.

I've also got the latest patch for CoD4 and UT3 installed.

[WrigleyVillain]

Looks like nothing for XP single card users

Well hopefully they fixed the stupid Firefox color bug.

[Sly Fox]

Honestly, I think I'm about ready to just give up totally and put back in my G80 8800 GTS. I mean, sure it's not that amazing anymore, but at least it works...

So if anyones looking for a couple perfect condition Sapphire 3870's

[eXa]

oooh... if i just had the money.

[mascaras]

Well hopefully they fixed the stupid Firefox color bug.

with Crossfire the Firefox color Bug = CF disable In games

example:

here in extremesystems forum

users nicks BLUE = CF enable in games

Users nicks Brown = CF disable in games


CF enable (nicks = Blue)




CF Disable (nicks = Brown)







with Cat 7.12 sometimes nicks are brown even with CF enable in CCC (that also means CF in games are disable)



reagrds

[Apoc@]

I have a little shivering in 3D mode when i run CrossFire, looks like they will need a fix for it.

If you disable Catalyst AI the image is perfect in CrossFire...

[ThatGuy16]

In my opinion, these are the best drivers so far.

For me, its fixed all of the problems were the card was staying in 2D mode when launching a few games. Also, in riva tuner.. it seems that i have a little more control over the fan. Im about to do a 3dmark run and a few crysis benchmarks to see if there is and performance increase/decrease

[mascaras]

In my opinion, these are the best drivers so far.

yep no doubt!!

WIC and UT3 also better performance


btw:

Tests from techPowerUp User using HD2900 + AMD X2 3800

I got a MACHO boost in UT3! After running a few time-demos with both the 7.12 and 8.1 drivers, here are the results:

mapname changelist datestamp avg FPS % over 30 FPS
WAR-Floodgate 206281 2007.01.16-17.08.05 50.32 87.69 (8.1 @ 820/960)
WAR-Floodgate 206281 2007.01.16-16.36.27 32.28 67.30 (7.12 @ 820/960)

mapname changelist datestamp avg FPS % over 30 FPS
WAR-Torlan 206281 2007.01.16-17.05.51 49.23 91.09 (8.1 @ 820/960)
WAR-Torlan 206281 2007.01.16-16.38.45 47.03 87.21 (7.12 @ 820/960)


While I obviously didn't do quite as well in Torlan the 2nd time around, I think that this is more due to the limitations of my cpu and the fact that I ran that test at stock speeds. I got a boost of 14 fps in Floodgate though! :nutkick:

Edit: I updated my benchmarks with overclocked results on 8.1. Wow! This performance boost is simply amazing. Note that these benchmarks were all taken at max details.

Edit2: I got 8870 3dmarks with the 7.12 drivers, now I get 8999 with the 8.1 drivers!



http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpo...0&postcount=20

i also got better 3dmark06 performance with HD3870 Crossfire + Cat 8.1 than with Cat 7.12 (around + 150 marks)




regards

[Sly Fox]

I don't mean to whore myself out here, but I put up a post in the For Sale forum (you need 100+ posts to see it).

Just don't want to deal with it anymore frankly, I'll wait for G100.

[Papu]

installed fine here , il bench 3d06 now.

[G.Foyle]

I installed that hotfix, it's basically a newer version of display driver (8.451.4 vs 8.451.0). Crysis runs a little smoother, but that's all.

[003]

I installed that hotfix, it's basically a newer version of display driver (8.451.4 vs 8.451.0). Crysis runs a little smoother, but that's all.

I am confused. Are you referring to this hotfix:
http://support.ati.com/ics/support/d...estionID=31625

And if so, are you saying that it is newer than the official 8.1 release? Because now there are reports saying it is older, and ones saying it is newer.

What's the real scoop here? What are the latest ATI drivers?

[mascaras]

I installed that hotfix, it's basically a newer version of display driver (8.451.4 vs 8.451.0). Crysis runs a little smoother, but that's all.

Hotfix its not for HD3000 series

An 8.1 hotfix has also been released:


http://support.ati.com/ics/support/d...estionID=31625

This hotfix resolves the following issues:

* Fix for problems with DirectX and Radeon AGP Graphics cards.
* Crysis: DirectX 10 Performance optimizations using Crossfire



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

* Radeon™ HD2900 series
* Radeon™ HD2600 series
* Radeon™ HD2400 series
* Radeon™ X1950 series
* Radeon™ X1900 series
* Radeon™ X1800 series
* Radeon™ X1650 series
* Radeon™ X1600 series
* Radeon™ X1550 series
* Radeon™ X1300 series
* Radeon™ X1050 series
* Radeon™ X850 series
* Radeon™ X800 series
* Radeon™ X700 series
* Radeon™ X600 series
* Radeon™ X550 series
* Radeon™ X300 series

And its also a older version than cat 8.1 for HD38x0 series , windows also warning when instaling hotfix that its a older version than the one you already have instaled @ Cat 8.1 ( anyway Hotfix its not for HD3000 series )






btw: one thing i noticed with cat 8.1 its a litle square in the top left corner of the monitor ( 2 friends also have that)










regards

[003]

So I still don't understand. Is the hotfix newer or older than the official 8.1 release? I have a 2900pro. Are you going by the fact that windows says the version you already have is newer, or are you actually looking at the version of the driver and CCC in CCC?

[ThatGuy16]

I have that square too...