catalyst 8.12's officially out

[Mekks]

never did i see ATI clame this was a "bigbang" driver. all they said was stream was being added for free.

ati has 12 driver releases a year... that improve perf everytime. nvidia has 2-3 offical driver releases a year? hence it seems they get bigger boosts. while ati gets the same, just small and more often.

 

[furstin]

I didnt say anything about bigbang either,i mean the performance improvements they claim on games...

 

[watchthisspace]

Drivers are working fine here

 

[Pntgrd]

I just wish I could get them to install correctly. Every time I try I lose one of my 4870's. Been playing with this for over an hour now. I am going back to the 8.11's

 

[Cluster]

Not sure what some of you are having problems with, installed these drivers on both my 32-bit xp/vista benching OSes and my 64-bit vista main install without a hitch. Can't really say anything about stability as i've never had a stability problem with drivers. All i can say is learn to install drivers properly. I've seen far to many people download new drivers, hit the install button, and when it screws up they curse the drivers calling them junk. Learn to install drivers!

1) Unintstall the old ones <- THIS IS THE MOST IMPORANT STEP
2) Clean the old drivers <- THIS IS THE 2ND MOST IMPORANT STEP
3) Reboot
4) Install new drivers
5) Reboot
6) Enjoy

Its not hard, and over half of driver install problems are from not doing the above. For step 2, google driver cleaning apps, there's plenty available, some free, some not.

 

[Pntgrd]

Not sure what some of you are having problems with, installed these drivers on both my 32-bit xp/vista benching OSes and my 64-bit vista main install without a hitch. Can't really say anything about stability as i've never had a stability problem with drivers. All i can say is learn to install drivers properly. I've seen far to many people download new drivers, hit the install button, and when it screws up they curse the drivers calling them junk. Learn to install drivers!

1) Unintstall the old ones <- THIS IS THE MOST IMPORANT STEP
2) Clean the old drivers <- THIS IS THE 2ND MOST IMPORANT STEP
3) Reboot
4) Install new drivers
5) Reboot
6) Enjoy

Its not hard, and over half of driver install problems are from not doing the above. For step 2, google driver cleaning apps, there's plenty available, some free, some not.

Been there, done that. And even cleaned the registry in between. I have never had a problem with ATI installs before this and now I get the same thing with the 8.11's. So don't be so quick to make judgements.

 

[freakdiablo]

Been there, done that. And even cleaned the registry in between. I have never had a problem with ATI installs before this and now I get the same thing with the 8.11's. So don't be so quick to make judgements.

Same here. Tried with and without DCP, had to roll roll windows back on bouth counts.

 

[Cluster]

I must have the best timing in the world. That wasnt in response to your post, your post wasnt up when i was writing that. I meant that more for the numbskulls who came in saying waa waa waa i get bsods, junk crap drivers waa waa waa.

Most intelligent people already do what i pointed out, and sometimes there's still problems. It happens.

Im gonna take a shot in the dark here though, you using 64-bit vista? I've seen no end to driver issues with vista64, not sure why 32 works fine, and xp64 works fine. For me, i've simply gotten into the habit of disabling vista64s special driver signing bull crap, and ive had fewer issues ever since.

 

[Pntgrd]

I was probably a bit harsh but this has pi**ed me off to know end. I am on Vista32 so it is not a x64 issue. Finally on the 3rd run through with 8.11's I now have X-fire back. This is not an isolated problem with me and the 8.12's though. I have seen a bunch of posts regarding this issue with not only 2 cards and X-Fire but also 4870x2's. Sorry again for snapping at you. :BEER:

 

[bda1967]

Been there, done that. And even cleaned the registry in between. I have never had a problem with ATI installs before this and now I get the same thing with the 8.11's. So don't be so quick to make judgements.

Same here. I always uninstall, clean in safe mode, clean registry, wait for vga drivers, then install new drivers and for some reason it's not working this time on 8.12. I'm wondering how many people here that are having problems with these drivers are using Vista 64?

 

[vixro]

Driver install worked great here, Vista 64bit. Changed from 8.10's.

 

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

Went from 8.11 to these on VIsta 32 with my 512 4870. Seems good so far. Only problem is my Catalyst Control Center isn't loading with windows automatically anymore for some reason.

 

[Cluster]

Seems like most of the problems tend to be around xfire or the x2s then. Those with single card/single gpus seem to be having the least problems. Thing is, with multi-gpu/multi-card setups, there could be any point of failure, and they're probably alot more picky. I know i've seen enough to know that multi-gpu setups have issues updating drivers. If your not on an x2, try popping a card out and installing drivers with 1 card in, then put the other card in once the drivers are installed. Pain in the rear, but it might solve some issues. As for the x2s... not sure what to say there.

Went from 8.11 to these on VIsta 32 with my 512 4870. Seems good so far. Only problem is my Catalyst Control Center isn't loading with windows automatically anymore for some reason.

Get RivaTuner

 

[Standingcow]

Working fine here. No issues. XP Pro 32-bit

 

[Mekks]

i was very pro 8.12 but today i started getting driver stoped responding errors right and left. it could be this is a very old vista install and ive ran just about every driver since 8.6 with 3 diffrent ati cards.

going to do a clean install tomarrow and see if that helps.

 

[maxxoverclocker]

8.12's are working fine here, (Vista64 and Xfire 4850's) Didn't notice a performance increase or decrease since I have only played source games.

Steps I used with no issues (don't flame):
1) Uninstall Old Drivers Via Programs/Features
2) Reboot
3) Install New Drivers
4) Reboot
5) Check CCC for driver version of 8.12.

Everything is working fine, Xfire, Settings, everything.

 

[ziggo0]

Vista x64 (Untweaked), single 4850 @ 800/1200, CPU @ 4.4ghz

8.10 & 8.11 = 14.5 ~ 14.7k in 06
8.12 = 15.2k in 06

With 8.10 and 8.11 it took 4.5ghz to break 15k, now it doesn't, this seems hopeful.

 

[Firestrider]

Works fine for me in Vista Business x64. What is missing is the Avivo video converter though, is that released for 64-bit yet?

 

[mattgmann]

I also noticed the avivo converter was missing. It didn't work worth a crap though in the beta; maybe they yanked it. Too bad; I was actually looking forward to it.

Although a few oddities with these drivers, I have to say that I've gotten some pretty BIG improvements. Namely in FC2, Crysis, and Warhead. Also a big bump in 3dmark06.

I've had to lower the OC's on my cards considerably though. They are absolutely unstable at the settings I was using before. The highest stable settings that works for all of my games are now 800/1090. I was able to run as high as 850/1130 before.

On the plus side, the 3dmark06 score went up a ton. Now at 800/1090 with my q6600 at my daily 3.6ghz, it pumped out a respectable 20005 marks. Not too shabby.

 

[SynGamer]

Reformatted my computer so no problems with installing the drivers. Vista HP 32, everything has been smooth so far.