Advice on MR9000 chip

gabenewell · Jul 28, 2006, 10:15 PM

There is an amazing number of threads on the mobility radeon 9000, so maybe this question has been answered, but I've heard that the newer catalyst drivers (and omegadrivers) actually result in lower performance than some older ones on that chip, due to lack of optimization or somesuch. I don't have any games newer than CS:Source, and I stopped playing it, so compatibility or game specific bugs are not really important. So does anyone know the optimal drivers for the MR9000 performance wise? Thanks in advance.

Randomness · Jul 29, 2006, 04:54 PM

Hello:

I'm afraid i don't have test hardware with the 9000 series to give you any benchmark fgures.

However, ATI has stopped developing driver updates for its older Graphics adapters.
Catalyst 6.5 is the newest driver that supports the older Radeon 9000.

Catalyst 6.6 and newer (includ. the newest Catalyst 6.7)
Products Supported:
Radeon® X1900 series
Radeon® X1800 series
Radeon® X1600 series
Radeon® X1300 series
Radeon® X850 series
Radeon® X800 series
Radeon® X700 series
Radeon® X600 series
Radeon® X550 series
Radeon® X300 series
Radeon® 9800 series
Radeon® 9700 series
Radeon® 9600 series
Radeon® 9650 series
Radeon® 9550 series
Radeon® 9500 series
NOTE: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also supported.

Not Supported: (Catalyst 6.5 drivers are the newest that support these products)
Radeon® 9250 series
Radeon® 9200 series
Radeon® 9000 series
Radeon® 8500 series
Radeon® 7500 series
Radeon® 7200 series
Radeon® 7000 series
NOTE: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also not supported (in catalyst 6.6 or newer)

As to determining the best performing driver for the Radeon 9000, you would have to download a graphics card benchmark program such as 3dMark, run a bench mark for different drivers. (Meaning you would have to install/unistall a lot of drivers to determine which driver is the fastest). It would probably be easier to try to find the results of suchs tests on the intenert tht may have been already done.

I have found Catalyst 5.6-5.9 provide the best 3D preformance on the Radeon IGP 320M, and related chipsets, but you may find the newer Catalyst 5.13 - Catalyst 6.5 work better for you.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

gabenewell · Jul 30, 2006, 06:03 PM

Thanks for the advice. I installed 3dmark03, and did some benchmarks for the 5.6, 5.9, 5.12, and 6.5, each immediately after a reboot. Repeated benchmarks under the same drivers give slightly differing results, so there is obviously a margin of error. All values are extremely low ranging from 381 for the 6.5 to 397 for the 5.9 to 399 for the 5.6. ( odd, since I don't really notice extremely low performance). Since I need some of the fixes in 5.9, I decided to go with it. If anyone else has some input, please speak up, since I'm just feeling my way around here.

gabenewell · Jul 30, 2006, 08:30 PM

One further question, I've been reading on these forums that omega drivers based on catalysts later than 5.6 do not work for the mobility radeon 9000. However, I've been using the latest omegas based on 6.5 without too much trouble except low performance, which I kind of expected considering how crappy this notebook is. So can someone shed some light on this?

Finally, I don't really understand what the Southbridge/IXP drivers are. Someone told me to update mine and the GART. So my question is 1) would the latest drivers (part of Cat6.7) work? and 2) If not, what are the latest and where can I get them. Thanks for any help.

Jaden · Aug 8, 2006, 10:05 AM

I am also running the newest Omega drivers (Cat 6.5). I have never heard that they slow performance, but I have noticed a HUGE degrade in performance with PixelShaders. Would an older version of the drivers result in a performance boost?

-- Jaden --

Randomness · Aug 9, 2006, 01:03 AM

Hello again:

I have found the older 5.6 - 5.13 drivers provide better preformance than the 6.x drivers.
With regards to the GART, you can get them and the ATI southbridge IXP drivers in the "motherboards with ATI" on ATI's download menu. Goto support.ati.com and navigate / expand through the left hand menu in the "Software / Drivers " Category.

I can also "slightly" confirm that people do run into problems with the Omega Drivers mobile chips. I would recommend modding it yourself or using patje's mod tool.

Good luck, and take care.

Jul 28, 2006, 10:15 PM	#1
gabenewell DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Advice on MR9000 chip There is an amazing number of threads on the mobility radeon 9000, so maybe this question has been answered, but I've heard that the newer catalyst drivers (and omegadrivers) actually result in lower performance than some older ones on that chip, due to lack of optimization or somesuch. I don't have any games newer than CS:Source, and I stopped playing it, so compatibility or game specific bugs are not really important. So does anyone know the optimal drivers for the MR9000 performance wise? Thanks in advance.

Jul 30, 2006, 08:30 PM	Thread Starter #4
gabenewell DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	One further question, I've been reading on these forums that omega drivers based on catalysts later than 5.6 do not work for the mobility radeon 9000. However, I've been using the latest omegas based on 6.5 without too much trouble except low performance, which I kind of expected considering how crappy this notebook is. So can someone shed some light on this? Finally, I don't really understand what the Southbridge/IXP drivers are. Someone told me to update mine and the GART. So my question is 1) would the latest drivers (part of Cat6.7) work? and 2) If not, what are the latest and where can I get them. Thanks for any help. Last edited by gabenewell; Jul 31, 2006 at 12:53 AM.

Jul 29, 2006, 04:54 PM	#2
Randomness in a state of flux Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 366 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Hello: I'm afraid i don't have test hardware with the 9000 series to give you any benchmark fgures. However, ATI has stopped developing driver updates for its older Graphics adapters. Catalyst 6.5 is the newest driver that supports the older Radeon 9000. Catalyst 6.6 and newer (includ. the newest Catalyst 6.7) Products Supported: Radeon® X1900 series Radeon® X1800 series Radeon® X1600 series Radeon® X1300 series Radeon® X850 series Radeon® X800 series Radeon® X700 series Radeon® X600 series Radeon® X550 series Radeon® X300 series Radeon® 9800 series Radeon® 9700 series Radeon® 9600 series Radeon® 9650 series Radeon® 9550 series Radeon® 9500 series NOTE: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also supported. Not Supported: (Catalyst 6.5 drivers are the newest that support these products) Radeon® 9250 series Radeon® 9200 series Radeon® 9000 series Radeon® 8500 series Radeon® 7500 series Radeon® 7200 series Radeon® 7000 series NOTE: ATI All-in-Wonder® variants based on the above are also not supported (in catalyst 6.6 or newer) As to determining the best performing driver for the Radeon 9000, you would have to download a graphics card benchmark program such as 3dMark, run a bench mark for different drivers. (Meaning you would have to install/unistall a lot of drivers to determine which driver is the fastest). It would probably be easier to try to find the results of suchs tests on the intenert tht may have been already done. I have found Catalyst 5.6-5.9 provide the best 3D preformance on the Radeon IGP 320M, and related chipsets, but you may find the newer Catalyst 5.13 - Catalyst 6.5 work better for you. Hope this helps a little. Good luck.

Jul 30, 2006, 06:03 PM	Thread Starter #3
gabenewell DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the advice. I installed 3dmark03, and did some benchmarks for the 5.6, 5.9, 5.12, and 6.5, each immediately after a reboot. Repeated benchmarks under the same drivers give slightly differing results, so there is obviously a margin of error. All values are extremely low ranging from 381 for the 6.5 to 397 for the 5.9 to 399 for the 5.6. ( odd, since I don't really notice extremely low performance). Since I need some of the fixes in 5.9, I decided to go with it. If anyone else has some input, please speak up, since I'm just feeling my way around here.

Aug 8, 2006, 10:05 AM	#5
Jaden DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 19 Rep Power: 0	I am also running the newest Omega drivers (Cat 6.5). I have never heard that they slow performance, but I have noticed a HUGE degrade in performance with PixelShaders. Would an older version of the drivers result in a performance boost? -- Jaden --

Aug 9, 2006, 01:03 AM	#6
Randomness in a state of flux Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 366 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Hello again: I have found the older 5.6 - 5.13 drivers provide better preformance than the 6.x drivers. With regards to the GART, you can get them and the ATI southbridge IXP drivers in the "motherboards with ATI" on ATI's download menu. Goto support.ati.com and navigate / expand through the left hand menu in the "Software / Drivers " Category. I can also "slightly" confirm that people do run into problems with the Omega Drivers mobile chips. I would recommend modding it yourself or using patje's mod tool. Good luck, and take care.