Catalyst 7.8 (WHQL) Available

Best to be patient. It took Nvidia about 2 months to fix their driver-related increased heat issues back on the 6 series cards... Let's see if ATi can best that

 

Are there any patches for it? I haven't seen any released to be honest.

 

There's one...Steam should've automatically gotten it for you. Version 1.2 or something-it doesn't say it does anything but enable offline mode, but, who knows?Another(major) one is supposed to be released today, with DX10 improvements and additions.

 

Really? Any linkage? Couldn't find anything on a quick browse.

 

Well first it would be good for them to actually acknowledge that there is an issue.

 

Linkage to?The old 1.2 patch is only available for the cracked versions or whatever, outside of steam...a torrent search should yield the desired results. As to the incoming patch, i read about it on Rage3D, where there were links to an article in japanese thich showed the improvements and talked about a 10% performance increase through DX10. If you want I could try to dig up that R3D thread.

 

meh, not that important, was just curious as to the DX10 changes. Does a source engine game really need any increases on DX10 hardware anyway? I guess if your running a 2400 or 8300 or something like that....

 

Lost Planet isn't Source based, it's simply distributed through Steam. The improvements were to the extent of an improved fur-rendering algorithm, better motion-blur....oh crap, here's the link:http://pc.ign.com/articles/811/811837p1.html.

 

ooooh nevermind, I'm on drugs. I was thinking HL2, not Lost Planet. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

After submitting ticket to ATI and supplying details, here is their generic response:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Since this is affecting just a single driver version, this may be a driver specific issue. Please continue using Catalyst 7.7 for now and in the mean time, please provide our Catalyst driver team with direct feedback.

You can inform them of the situation by filling in the Catalyst Crew Feedback form which can be found here;

http://support.ati.com/ics/survey/survey.asp?deptID=894&surveyID=486&type=web

Make sure your system is also properly ventilated and all cables should be neatly tucked to the side so that the airflow is not disrupted in your case.

 

2Malo, I do have the same problem with my Sapphire 1GB 2900xt under Vistax86 using cat7.8, so I had to use 7.7. However I didn't check the temp, but the gpu fan starts to work at its 100% load, it gets very noisy right in Vista without even starting any 3D application. Since you've already let ATI know about this issue, do you mind posting the answer you'd get from them. Thanks.

 

That was the final answer from them.

 

I'd like to weigh in on this, too. I'm running an x1950 Pro AGP with Vista32 (at the moment--haven't worked much with x64, although I have it installed as well), and the latest driver I have been able to get to work is 7.7.

Neither 7.8 nor the BioShock Hotfix driver (why'd they call it a hotfix, I wonder? It's an entire driver package) will run on my system. Both hang permanently at the "detecting hardware" portion of the install (or uninstall--take your pick.) I have to use task manager to terminate the hanging install manager program to regain control of the system.

Normally, this would lead me to believe that somebody at ATi goofed really badly, and as has been suggested earlier in this thread, just managed to somehow "leave out" the supporting driver config for AGP 3d cards/buses in the 7.8's & in the Bioshock "hotfix." However, I note that at least one poster here has successfully installed the 7.8's on a system similar to mine except he's running Vista x64, and is reporting positive results, so I'm really scratching my head. When running the 7.8 install manager in safe mode the driver reports "detection driver failed to load." No such error message is generated for me outside of safe mode. I can't determine if the 7.8 install is hanging because the detection driver just won't load, or if it's hanging because the detection driver cannot identify my AGP x1950 Pro and as a result fails to load.

I'm disappointed that ATi could have let this slip through their fingers for the official 7.8 release, especially. This is the first Vista Catalyst driver I've had a problem with.

 

OK, so....I guess no one has any clue as to the resolution of the 7.8 Vista Cat install problem?

 

I had that problem when I was trying to install the 7.8 drivers for the bioshock hotfix initially. I had initially tried the update, then I uninstalled 7.7 completely, and then accidently installed 7.6 instead. Uninstalled that and then 7.8 seemed to install fine.

 

OK, finally got them installed... Had to manually install the "hotfix" driver--which is, I presume, the 7.8's "hotfixed" for Bioshock. All is well...

 

Yup, the hotfix is based on the 7.8 set. Glad to hear ya got it working buddy, now go play!

 

what is WHQL ???

so, what exactly is WHQL? and what is the difference between it and the wxp drivers?
I have an ASUS EAX1300 PRO PCI Express w 256mb - what driver should I be using?

 

WHQL is "Windows Hardware Quality Labs" or something. It's Microsoft's test suite to make sure that HW and drivers meet a minumum quality standard. In order to get to use the Windows logo on your product, it must pass the WHQL tests. There are different tests for different types of products.

When you install a beta or non-WHQL driver, Windows gives you a warning.

In regards to what driver to use, I'd use whatever driver works best for your apps. If you aren't having troubles, there's no need to update.