SITE POLL: Since ATI has launched Catalyst POLL

Zardon · Jan 23, 2003, 08:09 PM

I thought this would be an important poll to make at this time because, as most of you know Terry visits the board and im sure he would be interested in your feedback regarding this. I know for a fact from speaking to him that he has been working his ass off with improving the drivers.

So give your vote and post a little comment if you wish. How do you really feel, has ATI support and driver quality increased over the last 6 months? are you happy with drivers?

~~David~~ · Jan 23, 2003, 08:17 PM

I would have to say Improved greatly. At the beginning of this program it was alittle rocky, but over time the state of ATi`s drivers are IMO best in the business now.They have been more involved with the public since the cat`s were released and support has grown by leaps and bounds. Great Job ATi! I have high hopes for the future and will continue only buying ATi cards for my system.

Harboe · Jan 23, 2003, 08:20 PM

I actually dont think it has been as bad as many people say. I'v been happy eversince i got my original Radeon and i'm happy with my Hercules8500LE, now 9100

. But they have improved and that''s very very good. I'm gonna stick with ATI if they keep up the good work.

~~David~~ · Jan 23, 2003, 08:22 PM

I wonder if i can vote agian for Improved...... HEH i cant stress it enough that the drivers are great!

RIV@NVX · Jan 23, 2003, 08:22 PM

Definitly improved a lot. I still think that there is room for improvement, but comparing what it was before, it got a lot better (maybe even kind of reference). OpenGL got a lot better than before, and I like support for both ATI and OEM boards in a single set. Good job, ATI!

toddsmack2k · Jan 23, 2003, 08:25 PM

They have done a good job on driver support. Hope they keep on it

Dyre Straits · Jan 23, 2003, 08:40 PM

After using ATi cards for nearly 5 years now, I have to vote a definitive: Improved!

I'd like to also state that I've had excellent service from ATi since the gitgo. My first ATi card was the AiW Pro 8 MB PCI card. I had some artifacts in FF 6 and they authorized an RMA on the card. I sent it off and had it back within a week! AND the artifacts problem was fixed, too.

Very honestly, I've had questions about all the bad complaints I see posted, because I've had very good results when things aren't just right. This is including email response from ATi, too.

Dyre Straits

PS Do I get my free 9700 Pro now?

Xp2000 · Jan 23, 2003, 08:44 PM

Improved greatly.
I would still like to see d3d improvements but no problems with opengl at all.
Great work, When can we see that next set of drivers

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 23, 2003, 08:46 PM

Hey I realize since the President of the US is allowed to vote for himself, I want to vote in this poll myself!

Hope nobody minds!

Zardon · Jan 23, 2003, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Hey I realize since the President of the US is allowed to vote for himself, I want to vote in this poll myself!

Hope nobody minds!

LOL, voting for your own drivers, haha

EDIT: hope it wasnt the "not changed"

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 23, 2003, 08:50 PM

Sure! Why not. I honestly do think our drivers have improved vastly since we launched CATALYST!

~~David~~ · Jan 23, 2003, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Hey I realize since the President of the US is allowed to vote for himself, I want to vote in this poll myself!

Hope nobody minds!

HEH we dont mind. I think its ok with everyone and if they dont like it ohwell.......

Jan 23, 2003, 08:57 PM

ATI drivers IMO have improved dramatically in the last 6 months, I remember owning an ATI card years ago and it was a nightmare. so keep it going in this direction and things are looking good for the company.

its also pretty cool you guys post in here. hopefully we can help you make the drivers even better !

evergreen · Jan 23, 2003, 09:06 PM

My first ATI card at home. I purchase plenty of PC's at work with ATI inside, laptops as well. I'm pleased with the support since I finally made the move from 3DFX. Keep up the good work; easily accessible and updated support is where it's at when I make purchasing decisions--price is always a factor as well...

LukeK · Jan 23, 2003, 09:06 PM

yeah I agree, I dont think anyone (apart from Nvidia fanboys) could say ATI havent improved. i think nvidia are running scared to be honest. I mean we have only seen one set of average benches on Maximum pc and continualy delayed release dates of the FX.

anyway not to get distracted.

good work Catalyst maker, cant wait for the R350, ive been buying ATI forever ! the drivers rock (especially the Cat 3a)

Ryoko · Jan 23, 2003, 09:12 PM

everyone i know with a radeon loves the catalysts, and support calls have dropped dramatically for the ati users i support.

definitely improved

Arikel · Jan 23, 2003, 09:21 PM

Definitely improved quite a bit. I'm really impressed with the way ATI's been more involved with communities like this one lately, also. I'm very happy with my 8500 and looking forward to upgrading to a newer Radeon in the near future.

UberLord · Jan 23, 2003, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Sure! Why not. I honestly do think our drivers have improved vastly since we launched CATALYST!

I agree.

However, they don't look "professional". Honesty, seeing that the OpenGL & DirectX tabs share so much in common, why don't the controls line up? If you tab between the two you see the controls on the tab slightly larger or slightly offset with each other

Also, you can't actually see the OK & Cancel buttons in low resolutions 640x480 which makes pressing them slightly hard

Fix those two gripes and you have vastly improved drivers (since my experience with an ATI 8500 - now using a 9700 pro) with a slick looking interface

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 23, 2003, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by UberLord
Honesty, seeing that the OpenGL & DirectX tabs share so much in common, why don't the controls line up? If you tab between the two you see the controls on the tab slightly larger or slightly offset with each other

Also, you can't actually see the OK & Cancel buttons in low resolutions 640x480 which makes pressing them slightly hard

Fix those two gripes and you have vastly improved drivers (since my experience with an ATI 8500 - now using a 9700 pro) with a slick looking interface

Thats all it's going to take to get you to admit the drivers and the support is improved in the past six months? Ok buddy consider it taken care of

Actually the problem with the size of the control panel is something we plan on fixing. It's just we keep on adding more and more features on the panels and are really pressed for room.

~~David~~ · Jan 23, 2003, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Thats all it's going to take to get you to admit the drivers and the support is improved in the past six months? Ok buddy consider it taken care of

Actually the problem with the size of the control panel is something we plan on fixing. It's just we keep on adding more and more features on the panels and are really pressed for room.

Some people are easy to please..... heh. Maybe more tabs would help?

UberLord · Jan 23, 2003, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CATALYST maker
Thats all it's going to take to get you to admit the drivers and the support is improved in the past six months? Ok buddy consider it taken care of

Quote:

Actually the problem with the size of the control panel is something we plan on fixing. It's just we keep on adding more and more features on the panels and are really pressed for room.

Subclass the tab control (programming term) and make it wider.

Or even easier ask yourself this. Do you really have to add 7 tabs? If you activate everything off one "ATI" tab then it would work as that control was designed for 1 tab row on a 640x480 screen by Microsoft.

rdyck · Jan 23, 2003, 10:22 PM

The drivers have measurably improved in the last year. However, my favorite game 'Tribes 2' performs worse on my new Radeon 9500 pro than on my old GEFORCE2 GTS card.... so I am praying for some significant FPS improvements in Tribes II!!!

Anyways, good job. Keep it up, and thanks!

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 23, 2003, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by UberLord

Subclass the tab control (programming term) and make it wider.

Or even easier ask yourself this. Do you really have to add 7 tabs? If you activate everything off one "ATI" tab then it would work as that control was designed for 1 tab row on a 640x480 screen by Microsoft.

Very challenging as we have alot of functionality we need to provide. If you have suggestions on how to streamline our control panels PM me as I would really love to hear some ideas.

PS. ease of use is something I am a big propenent of, and if you compare our panels a year ago to today hopefully you will agree that the D3D and OGL tabs are much easier right? We are working on the other tabs one by one.

Skillz · Jan 23, 2003, 10:35 PM

ATI drivers improved dramaticly over the last year(s).
I remember the time when discussions were all over the place
about not bying an ATI card because the drivers S*cked
(And to be honest...they sure did

)

I think it's a great move by ATI to keep improving the drivers constantly,
because there are a lot of gamers out there that want the best performance
and a good set of drivers can do wonders.

I agree on the "Professional Look" subject: make the interface really slick and simple.
Maybe one big control tab and maybe a good help file included for the noobs.

One thing that could be improved is the "Mobility support", but I guess that's not
in Terry's hands. Just keep making the drivers like they are now and we'll do the .inf
editing ourselfs

(*cough* *cough* Omega...

)

Keep up the good work!

*CATALYST maker* · Jan 23, 2003, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Skillz

One thing that could be improved is the "Mobility support", but I guess that's not
in Terry's hands. Just keep making the drivers like they are now and we'll do the .inf
editing ourselfs (*cough* *cough* Omega... )

Keep up the good work!

Did you know?
1) Desktop and drivers are one and the same.
2) I wish I could post updated mobile drivers on ati.com but cant. (the reason is that these drivers are built just for the OEM's and the OEM's want to control the posting)
3) When the driver is ready for distribution we have to 'package' it and at that point we have to disable the option for the driver to work on the laptops?
4) editing .inf files is bad (*cough* *cough* go for it!)

~~David~~ · Jan 23, 2003, 11:08 PM

I haave a compaq 1505us and let me tell you they update the drivers once a year it seems lol. I just put a mobility r9000 in it which runs great but my god id love some cat3.0a goodness on it.

Renegade[CSR] · Jan 23, 2003, 11:11 PM

I don't mean to be rude, and you may well not have the answer to my question, but I am curious about something,and seeing that you are currently here Cat maker, I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask.

For the 9700 pro, I find truform is running on software. If I'm not mistaken, there is a certain area on the card dedicated to this function. At the moment, it is running quite slowly, compared to its r200 predecessor. Could you tell me if this is simply a driver optimization issue or if this is how its intended to run.

Thanks.

-Renegade

Zardon · Jan 23, 2003, 11:21 PM

from the recent interview with Ben Bar Haim

[Zardon] What type of performance increase can we expect at most from the (semi?) software driver N-patch/PN-triangles implementation on R300? (And since TRUFORM performance is poor on the R300 how will this effect Displacement Mapping).

[Ben] While we are always working on ways to increase the performance of our products through our driver software, this area is considered a relatively low priority. TRUFORM technology was designed to enhance 3D applications with low polygon counts (optimized for older graphics hardware) so they could take advantage of the massive vertex processing capabilities of newer hardware. Recent and upcoming 3D games, which are the focus of our performance optimisation efforts, are being designed with much higher polygon counts, so they tend to benefit less from TRUFORM.
Displacement mapping is a promising new technology. However, unlike standard N-Patches, it requires a significant amount of developer and art resources to implement in a game, and this will probably limit its adoption in the near term. As the first (and so far, only) available products with hardware and software support for DirectX 9 displacement mapping, the RADEON 9700 and 9500 family provide an ideal test and development platform for future games to make use of this feature.

Renegade[CSR] · Jan 23, 2003, 11:30 PM

Yes, but was truform 2 not advertised to have a 0 performance hit on any game/application it was incorporated into?

//.\\//.\\ · Jan 23, 2003, 11:39 PM

Since catalyst, your drivers have jumped on a new level of quality. But, seriously i always wondered why poeple were moaning with your drivers, i never had a single lockup with any ATi cards i owned.

Continue the good job!!!

Jan 23, 2003, 08:09 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	SITE POLL: Since ATI has launched Catalyst POLL I thought this would be an important poll to make at this time because, as most of you know Terry visits the board and im sure he would be interested in your feedback regarding this. I know for a fact from speaking to him that he has been working his ass off with improving the drivers. So give your vote and post a little comment if you wish. How do you really feel, has ATI support and driver quality increased over the last 6 months? are you happy with drivers?

Jan 23, 2003, 08:22 PM	#5
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Improved Definitly improved a lot. I still think that there is room for improvement, but comparing what it was before, it got a lot better (maybe even kind of reference). OpenGL got a lot better than before, and I like support for both ATI and OEM boards in a single set. Good job, ATI! __________________ -- Vedran

Jan 23, 2003, 08:25 PM	#6
toddsmack2k It Never..... Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,173 Rep Power: 0	They have done a good job on driver support. Hope they keep on it __________________ [color=blue]*Bleeding From the Inside Pouring Out, The* *DriverHeaven* Spiral, We Shall Never Let Go Of.[/color]

Jan 23, 2003, 08:46 PM	#9
CATALYST maker ATI driver guru Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: ATI, Canada Posts: 678 Rep Power: 63	I want to vote! Hey I realize since the President of the US is allowed to vote for himself, I want to vote in this poll myself! Hope nobody minds!

Jan 23, 2003, 08:57 PM	#13
Billy Guest Posts: n/a	ATI driver support ATI drivers IMO have improved dramatically in the last 6 months, I remember owning an ATI card years ago and it was a nightmare. so keep it going in this direction and things are looking good for the company. its also pretty cool you guys post in here. hopefully we can help you make the drivers even better !

Jan 23, 2003, 08:17 PM	#2
~~David~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Location: Atlanta Posts: 959 Rep Power: 0	I would have to say Improved greatly. At the beginning of this program it was alittle rocky, but over time the state of ATi`s drivers are IMO best in the business now.They have been more involved with the public since the cat`s were released and support has grown by leaps and bounds. Great Job ATi! I have high hopes for the future and will continue only buying ATi cards for my system.

Jan 23, 2003, 08:20 PM	#3
Harboe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 116 Rep Power: 0	I actually dont think it has been as bad as many people say. I'v been happy eversince i got my original Radeon and i'm happy with my Hercules8500LE, now 9100 . But they have improved and that''s very very good. I'm gonna stick with ATI if they keep up the good work.

Jan 23, 2003, 08:44 PM	#8
Xp2000 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 51 Rep Power: 0	Improved greatly. I would still like to see d3d improvements but no problems with opengl at all. Great work, When can we see that next set of drivers

Jan 23, 2003, 08:50 PM	#11
CATALYST maker ATI driver guru Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: ATI, Canada Posts: 678 Rep Power: 63	Sure! Why not. I honestly do think our drivers have improved vastly since we launched CATALYST!

Jan 23, 2003, 09:06 PM	#14
evergreen DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: West Virginia Posts: 148 Rep Power: 0	My first ATI card at home. I purchase plenty of PC's at work with ATI inside, laptops as well. I'm pleased with the support since I finally made the move from 3DFX. Keep up the good work; easily accessible and updated support is where it's at when I make purchasing decisions--price is always a factor as well...

Jan 23, 2003, 09:06 PM	#15
LukeK DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 158 Rep Power: 61	yeah I agree, I dont think anyone (apart from Nvidia fanboys) could say ATI havent improved. i think nvidia are running scared to be honest. I mean we have only seen one set of average benches on Maximum pc and continualy delayed release dates of the FX. anyway not to get distracted. good work Catalyst maker, cant wait for the R350, ive been buying ATI forever ! the drivers rock (especially the Cat 3a)

Jan 23, 2003, 09:12 PM	#16
Ryoko American Soldier Join Date: May 2002 Location: Williamsburg, VA Posts: 1,725 Rep Power: 0	everyone i know with a radeon loves the catalysts, and support calls have dropped dramatically for the ati users i support. definitely improved

Jan 23, 2003, 09:21 PM	#17
Arikel DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 225 Rep Power: 0	Definitely improved quite a bit. I'm really impressed with the way ATI's been more involved with communities like this one lately, also. I'm very happy with my 8500 and looking forward to upgrading to a newer Radeon in the near future.

Jan 23, 2003, 10:22 PM	#22
rdyck DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Better, drivers still have room for improvement The drivers have measurably improved in the last year. However, my favorite game 'Tribes 2' performs worse on my new Radeon 9500 pro than on my old GEFORCE2 GTS card.... so I am praying for some significant FPS improvements in Tribes II!!! Anyways, good job. Keep it up, and thanks!

Jan 23, 2003, 10:35 PM	#24
Skillz DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 78 Rep Power: 0	Improved! ATI drivers improved dramaticly over the last year(s). I remember the time when discussions were all over the place about not bying an ATI card because the drivers Scked (And to be honest...they sure did ) I think it's a great move by ATI to keep improving the drivers constantly, because there are a lot of gamers out there that want the best performance and a good set of drivers can do wonders. I agree on the "Professional Look" subject: make the interface really slick and simple. Maybe one big control tab and maybe a good help file included for the noobs. One thing that could be improved is the "Mobility support", but I guess that's not in Terry's hands. Just keep making the drivers like they are now and we'll do the .inf editing ourselfs (cough* cough Omega... ) Keep up the good work!

Jan 23, 2003, 11:08 PM	#26
~~David~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Location: Atlanta Posts: 959 Rep Power: 0	I haave a compaq 1505us and let me tell you they update the drivers once a year it seems lol. I just put a mobility r9000 in it which runs great but my god id love some cat3.0a goodness on it.

Jan 23, 2003, 11:11 PM	#27
Renegade[CSR] DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Undisclosed Renegade Location Posts: 396 Rep Power: 0	I don't mean to be rude, and you may well not have the answer to my question, but I am curious about something,and seeing that you are currently here Cat maker, I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask. For the 9700 pro, I find truform is running on software. If I'm not mistaken, there is a certain area on the card dedicated to this function. At the moment, it is running quite slowly, compared to its r200 predecessor. Could you tell me if this is simply a driver optimization issue or if this is how its intended to run. Thanks. -Renegade

Jan 23, 2003, 11:21 PM	Thread Starter #28
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	perhaps not a direct answer, but ...... from the recent interview with Ben Bar Haim [Zardon] What type of performance increase can we expect at most from the (semi?) software driver N-patch/PN-triangles implementation on R300? (And since TRUFORM performance is poor on the R300 how will this effect Displacement Mapping). [Ben] While we are always working on ways to increase the performance of our products through our driver software, this area is considered a relatively low priority. TRUFORM technology was designed to enhance 3D applications with low polygon counts (optimized for older graphics hardware) so they could take advantage of the massive vertex processing capabilities of newer hardware. Recent and upcoming 3D games, which are the focus of our performance optimisation efforts, are being designed with much higher polygon counts, so they tend to benefit less from TRUFORM. Displacement mapping is a promising new technology. However, unlike standard N-Patches, it requires a significant amount of developer and art resources to implement in a game, and this will probably limit its adoption in the near term. As the first (and so far, only) available products with hardware and software support for DirectX 9 displacement mapping, the RADEON 9700 and 9500 family provide an ideal test and development platform for future games to make use of this feature.

Jan 23, 2003, 11:30 PM	#29
Renegade[CSR] DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Undisclosed Renegade Location Posts: 396 Rep Power: 0	Yes, but was truform 2 not advertised to have a 0 performance hit on any game/application it was incorporated into?

Jan 23, 2003, 11:39 PM	#30
//.\\//.\\ A.K.A sCoTcH Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Around the oldest trees of region 13th, laval. Posts: 89 Rep Power: 0 $//.\\//.\\ is on a distinguished road$	Since catalyst, your drivers have jumped on a new level of quality. But, seriously i always wondered why poeple were moaning with your drivers, i never had a single lockup with any ATi cards i owned. Continue the good job!!!
$//.\\//.\\ is offline$