Best drivers for X1600XT CF?

MannieFr3sh · Aug 1, 2006, 09:39 PM

Short Version:

Which are the best drivers or driver/control panel combination to use for a fresh just-built 1600XT CF system?

Long Version:

I just recently put together my 1st build. Specs are:

Abit AW8D
P4 530 Prescott 3Ghz. Idles at 22c haven't seen it go past 28c yet.
1Gb of G.Skill Ram (can't get my other 2 256 dimms to work for some reason)
2x X1600XTs runnign in CF (Courtesy of DH and ATi! Wohooo!!!)
Zalman CNPS9500 LED
80Gb Seagate Baracuda

Just finished doing the fresh install of XP and activated. All i need to do now is install drivers for the 2 X1600XTs. But i really don't know which ones to chose. When i first got the 1600XT (I was only running 1 back then) i was using the NGO optimized 6.6 drivers with the most recent ATi Tray Tools (installed seperately) and i was really happy with them until i noticed that the AA,AF,AA, etc settings i set in ATiTT weren't being applied to most of my games (specially BF2). And the settings in the driver control panel (display properties>settings>advanced) weren't always the same as the settings i set in ATiTT. For example, i would set D3D to 4xAA with the Temporal Mulitplier at 3, HQ16xAF, Quality AAA, and advanced catalyst A.I. but when i checked the driver control panel it would say "application controlled". So since then, i've been convinced that the settings that you set in ATiTT don't always work (or they decide to do w/e they feel like doing). So then i switched to the official Cat6.7 with CCC but there are so many bugs with them and performance wasn nowhere near as good as teh NGO 6.6 drivers. And the D3D settings wouldn't apply to BF2 either thus forcing me to use the In-game settings (but this isn't good either because i want to be able to use HQAF,AAA, etc.). So now i don't know which ones to use/trust now. Doesn't matter if i can OC through drivers or not because i've been using ATiTool (ATiTray Tools doesn't support OCing for the X1000 cards anyways).

Short Version:

Which are the best drivers or driver/control panel combination to use for a fresh just-built 1600XT CF system

Thanks for all the help

MannieFr3sh · Aug 2, 2006, 04:00 AM

anyone? Oh and does the ngo drivers support CF?

X1800XTTOP · Aug 2, 2006, 09:57 AM

You have to use the latest 6.7 drivers from ATi. This way, you get proper Crossfire support but just dont forget to set Catalyst AI to 'Advanced' to make sure both cards are used! And before you install them, uninstall every driver and control panel (like ATT) first.

Now, this is what i wanted to see from crossfire.... that it "just works". Report on how games work on your system

Im thinking about buying a X1600XT CF setup for my younger brother

MannieFr3sh · Aug 2, 2006, 11:56 PM

Ok i installed ccc 6.7 and so far so good. Haven't installed any games yet though. I have a couple of questions.

Is there any way i can Overclock my cards through the CCC or will i have to use a third party program like ATi Tool? I just installed ati tool but i wanted to ask to see if i really need it.
And when i OC through ATi Tool, does it OC both of the cards or just one of it? Same thing about the fan speed, does it control the fan speed for just one card or both of them?(you can't control fan speed through CCC can you?). Also, how does temp monitoring work when you're using 2 cards? Are the temps of both cards always the same so there's no need to display 2 different sets of temps or does it just tell you temp for one card?

Thanks for the help.

Aug 1, 2006, 09:39 PM	#1
MannieFr3sh IFinallyGotSomeATiLovin!! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 6,178 Rep Power: 0	Best drivers for X1600XT CF? Short Version: Which are the best drivers or driver/control panel combination to use for a fresh just-built 1600XT CF system? Long Version: I just recently put together my 1st build. Specs are: Abit AW8D P4 530 Prescott 3Ghz. Idles at 22c haven't seen it go past 28c yet. 1Gb of G.Skill Ram (can't get my other 2 256 dimms to work for some reason) 2x X1600XTs runnign in CF (Courtesy of DH and ATi! Wohooo!!!) Zalman CNPS9500 LED 80Gb Seagate Baracuda Just finished doing the fresh install of XP and activated. All i need to do now is install drivers for the 2 X1600XTs. But i really don't know which ones to chose. When i first got the 1600XT (I was only running 1 back then) i was using the NGO optimized 6.6 drivers with the most recent ATi Tray Tools (installed seperately) and i was really happy with them until i noticed that the AA,AF,AA, etc settings i set in ATiTT weren't being applied to most of my games (specially BF2). And the settings in the driver control panel (display properties>settings>advanced) weren't always the same as the settings i set in ATiTT. For example, i would set D3D to 4xAA with the Temporal Mulitplier at 3, HQ16xAF, Quality AAA, and advanced catalyst A.I. but when i checked the driver control panel it would say "application controlled". So since then, i've been convinced that the settings that you set in ATiTT don't always work (or they decide to do w/e they feel like doing). So then i switched to the official Cat6.7 with CCC but there are so many bugs with them and performance wasn nowhere near as good as teh NGO 6.6 drivers. And the D3D settings wouldn't apply to BF2 either thus forcing me to use the In-game settings (but this isn't good either because i want to be able to use HQAF,AAA, etc.). So now i don't know which ones to use/trust now. Doesn't matter if i can OC through drivers or not because i've been using ATiTool (ATiTray Tools doesn't support OCing for the X1000 cards anyways). Short Version: Which are the best drivers or driver/control panel combination to use for a fresh just-built 1600XT CF system Thanks for all the help Last edited by MannieFr3sh; Aug 2, 2006 at 02:57 AM.

Aug 2, 2006, 04:00 AM	Thread Starter #2
MannieFr3sh IFinallyGotSomeATiLovin!! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 6,178 Rep Power: 0	anyone? Oh and does the ngo drivers support CF?

Aug 2, 2006, 09:57 AM	#3
X1800XTTOP DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 316 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	You have to use the latest 6.7 drivers from ATi. This way, you get proper Crossfire support but just dont forget to set Catalyst AI to 'Advanced' to make sure both cards are used! And before you install them, uninstall every driver and control panel (like ATT) first. Now, this is what i wanted to see from crossfire.... that it "just works". Report on how games work on your system Im thinking about buying a X1600XT CF setup for my younger brother

Aug 2, 2006, 11:56 PM	Thread Starter #4
MannieFr3sh IFinallyGotSomeATiLovin!! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 6,178 Rep Power: 0	Ok i installed ccc 6.7 and so far so good. Haven't installed any games yet though. I have a couple of questions. Is there any way i can Overclock my cards through the CCC or will i have to use a third party program like ATi Tool? I just installed ati tool but i wanted to ask to see if i really need it. And when i OC through ATi Tool, does it OC both of the cards or just one of it? Same thing about the fan speed, does it control the fan speed for just one card or both of them?(you can't control fan speed through CCC can you?). Also, how does temp monitoring work when you're using 2 cards? Are the temps of both cards always the same so there's no need to display 2 different sets of temps or does it just tell you temp for one card? Thanks for the help.