FYI - ATI 9.2 drivers released

[GaryR]

On 2/20/09 so many may already have them but saw no post soooo...
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html

[Olham54]

Thanks, GARY
Just downloaded them. Will make a BackUp of my C partition, and install them.
This will be my first "contact" with the Catalyst center.
Do you have any recommendations for tuning an X1900 card for OFF with it?
Regards.
Olham

[GaryR]

Thanks, GARY
Just downloaded them. Will make a BackUp of my C partition, and install them.
This will be my first "contact" with the Catalyst center.
Do you have any recommendations for tuning an X1900 card for OFF with it?
Regards.
Olham

Wish I could help Olham, but I run a 4870 1Gb card (in Vista 64). In CCC I would set everything on "Performance", VSync always on, and App Controlled to start with and see how OFF performs (and looks). Add FSAA and Anistropic afterwards and watch the FPS.

[Redwolf]

VSync always on

No, no, no. You will be capping your FPS (not allowing them to go above the refresh rate) and in a sense limiting them with VSync always on. In games where your system is struggling, don't hinder your system by VSync on. In fact, I don't recommend ever using VSync on unless you are noticing graphical "tearing" (when your vid card outputs more FPS than your monitor can quickly handle) and it is bothering you. So I'd strongly suggest setting it to "always off" or "off, unless application specifies" (with this latter setting, you could run tearing problemed games with VSync on, if you wished).

Also, as an aside, regarding refresh rate - shocked to see how many actually use 60mHz as their refresh rate. This is not great on the eyes and will contribute to eyestrain. Higher refresh rates are much easier on the eyes. I'd never go below 75mHz, personally, and actually run mine at 85mHz (though I realize that people are limited to what their monitor can do).

[Giant2111]

Thanks, GARY
Just downloaded them. Will make a BackUp of my C partition, and install them.
This will be my first "contact" with the Catalyst center.
Do you have any recommendations for tuning an X1900 card for OFF with it?
Regards.
Olham

Check out the thread "for ATI-Users" http://www.overflandersfields.com/Tips.htm

That helps a lot!

[Over50]

Also, as an aside, regarding refresh rate - shocked to see how many actually use 60mHz as their refresh rate. This is not great on the eyes and will contribute to eyestrain. Higher refresh rates are much easier on the eyes. I'd never go below 75mHz, personally, and actually run mine at 85mHz (though I realize that people are limited to what their monitor can do).

LCD monitors have a native 60 Hz "refresh" rate - but not in the same sense as a CRT display where the 60 Hz flicker is noticeable. LCD displays turn each pixel off individually, they do not produce a flicker like CRT displays do. In addition, LCD displays do a better job of displaying text compared with CRT displays.

[GaryR]

I suppose if my refresh rate was under 75 it would matter but it's at 85... Who has a monitor that refreshed less than 70hz? Most here are lucky to see 40 FPS let alone over 75!

[BirdDogICT]

Olham54 et al,

I'm currently running Catalyst 9.2 and getting 35-50 FPS running at 1600X1024 (the default on my LCD monitor) at 4-3-3-4-2. I've played around with the settings quite a bit to find the best combination that looks great without stuttering. I'm running an old socket 939 machine with a dual processor Opteron 185 overclocked to 3.0 GHz and 2MB of PC4400 DDR memory overclocked to 275 Hz with XP SP3.

My Catalyst settings are as follows (game graphics appear the same with either my 512MB ATI X1950XTX or 512MB HD 4870, but the frame rates are 40% higher with the 4870):

1. SMOOTHVision HD Antialiasing set to 4X (12 samples) using the "edge detect" filter. (AA is set to off in cfs3 config). This setting is a resource hog, but it reduces objectionable "edgies" in planes and reduces "shimmering" of the landscape when flying close to the ground. 2X with a Box filter works fine, too. (Note: you can also check "Use Application Settings" and set AA to 2 or 4 samples in cfs3 config, but I found that I lose 3-5 FPS that way). IF low FPS is a problem for you, check "Use Application Settings" and set AA off in CFS3 config.

2. SMOOTHVision HD Anisotropic Filtering - check "Use Application Settings". AF doesn't appear to do anything to improve the graphics appearance, and blurred the cockpit instruments in some planes.

3. Check "Disable Catalyst A.I." Catalyst A.I. doesn't seem to improve appearance of the game.

4. Mipmap Detail Level set to "Performance"

5. Wait for Vertical Refresh set to "Off" (Note: Polovski recommends that this be "on" but IMHO that only applies to CRT dsplays. While I don't claim to be an expert on video, there is a distinct difference between the refresh rate (actually, "vertical refresh rate") of a CRT and the frame rate of an LCD. The flicker from a 60Hz refresh rate on a CRT would definitely be unacceptable, but a 60Hz frame rate with an LCD is fine.)

6. Enable Adaptive Anti-Aliasing unchecked. Just another unnecessary resource hog.

7. OpenGL Settings "Triple Buffering" is unchecked. (Triple buffering is useful when used in conjunction with "Wait for Vertical Refresh, but has no impact on my LCD Monitor).

Hope this helps. Of course, your mileage may vary.

BirdDogICT

[FenrisWlf]

I have not been able to get my x fire to work with the last 2 driver releases including these. Vista will disable the second card with an error code 43.

Anyone here know how to fix that?

My system specs

Q9300 @2.50
Asus Maximus Formula Mobo.
8 gigs of RAM.
1.5 TB of Storage Raid O
x2 HD3870 with 512 on each.
SB X-fi Pro with latest drivers.

Vista 64