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New 4870 1G install Question

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Ric2L

Ric2L

Member
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Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Location
Mechanicsburg PA
I just ordered a Diamond 4870 1G (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103067) from Newegg, should be here By tuesday. I currently have a 3870 with 8.11 drivers installed.

Qusetion: when putting the 4870 in will it be just plug & play, or will I have to reinstall drivers again, if so what are the best drivers for the 4870 1gig card?

I never had or noticed any problems with the 8.11, or 8.10 drivers in the past with the 3870. I previously had 2 3870's crossfired with no issues, but I recently put one of them in a Dell I gave to my son.

Also, what is the best way to do the driver update/change if needed? I normally just download over the previous version, been doing this since 8.4?
 
I would always uninstall older versions of drivers and then boot into the safe mode to do a driver sweep with a driver cleaner just to make sure that you have all of them uninstalled. Since you are just switching ATI cards you could try to just plug and play but if you have problems, just uninstall and reinstall 8.11.
 
Don't bother with a driver cleaner. Doing it through Device Manager does the same.
 
Hmmmm! I down loaded the latest version of driver sweeper, but after reading this, I afraid to use it!!! Card won't be here until wednesday, so that at least gives me a little more time for some research.

If anyone else has used Driver Sweeper, I'd love to here there experience with it good or bad. If I use it, it will be on 32bit vista home premium.

As of right now I'm leaning toward device manager to remove old drivers for the 3870.
 
I just use the ATI catalyst uninstall software, reboot in safe mode, sweep ATI with driversweeper, and then reboot again, and install the new drivers within windows. Should be great.

But still, you do need to remove the old drivers for when you install the 4870 if you want the best performance.
 
As vixro said above, uninstall the driver through catalyst uninstall tool. I personally have only used 8.10 since my vista reinstall, but a article i read a month ago or so stated that uninstall the driver with the same driver file version u used to install it (ie. when installing the driver, u first get two options, install or the uninstall tool) This website tried with the new driver file to perform the task and ultimately ran into problems down the road. At the moment i do not remember the url, if i relocate it, ill edit this post and put the link in.

I dont mean to nab this thread but while we're on the topic of 4870 1gig, does crossfireing a 4870 1gig downscale in a sense with a 4870 512mb?

Hope my advice above helps, and ill try to find that article and post the link.
 
I use Driver Sweeper with my Vista 64 and I've never had a problem with it. I also use ccleaner with no problems too.
 
I dont know why to complicate this with driver cleaner / uninstall...
Just pull out the power cord, pull the old card, put in the new and done...
 
No. You MUST uninstall the old drivers in order for the new card to work. When you run the installation, it only installs drivers for the card it sees.

Use the ATI Uninstall selection in Add/Remove Programs. Switch cards, then reinstall the drivers.

You don't need a driver cleaner unless you're paranoid.
 
dogbert_2001 said:
No. You MUST uninstall the old drivers in order for the new card to work. When you run the installation, it only installs drivers for the card it sees.

Use the ATI Uninstall selection in Add/Remove Programs. Switch cards, then reinstall the drivers.

You don't need a driver cleaner unless you're paranoid.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking about doing, and after doing more research, it is the way I will go. (Uninstall driver through add/remove programs, shut down, remove 3870, install 4870, boot up, go to ati, download & install Cat 8.10)
 
Ric2L said:
That is what I was thinking about doing, and after doing more research, it is the way I will go. (Uninstall driver through add/remove programs, shut down, remove 3870, install 4870, boot up, go to ati, download & install Cat 8.10)
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I only find sweeping or cleaning to be useful when downgrading drivers or after using betas. You should be good! :thup:
 
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