Updated AMD catalyst drivers, now I have poor graphical performance.

[pd3 25]

I was recently nagged to update the drivers for my XFX 6950, foolishly, I figured updating my drivers would at the very most have a negligible impact on the visual performance of my games.

Boy, was I wrong.

I don't know what the heck happened, but this latest update made Arma 2 CO run like absolute crap.

Where there were once crisp, smooth visuals, now the visuals seem off, especially the lighting, and it generally runs slower.

Is there anyone who has encountered this issue?

I tried rolling back my driver, and it seems to not have fixed anything.

Is there any way for me to completely eradicate the drivers and associated programs with the update?

I'm still seeing AML and hydro-somethingorother running even though I rolled back the drivers, I never had those programs prior to the update.

I hate this, this absolutely sucks, it ran so much more smoothly prior to updating.

[PuFu 4600]

download the drivers you used to have separatly, boot in safe mode, use DriverSweeper to completly remove all your ATI drivers and software, then reinstall from scratch, using the mentioned archived pack.

[pd3 25]

Well, its too late for that, and it seems that driver sweeper is no longer a standalone product, (can't download it from guru3d).

I uninstalled the catalyst drivers and though I could install drivers off the cd, but it seems that the setup program associated with that, might simply get them from a website and force me to update.

I absolutely hate that, and the skippy performance and lod issues are just awful to look at.

How does that happen? How does updating a driver actually make a game run worse!? How is that possible?

[froggyluv 2136]

Guru3d stopped carrying it but its still out there -try company site and CNET as I picked it upa few weeks ago having similar issues with the 7970 (which I returned). Also, grab ATIman Uninstaller -and use this in Normal mode after your done with Sweeper in Safe mode. Should clean it out for ya.

[sickboy 13]

Just download the driver version of choice from the AMD website or from sites like guru3d, and install it?

Also wasn't there some kind of "Revert driver to previous version" option in Windows? :)

Edited April 2, 2012 by Sickboy

[rob151515 10]

Can I ask which drivers you used to be using? I have a 6970 and would like to give them a go.

[duckmeister 10]

Driver Sweeper was never made by Guru3D.

Go here: phyxion.net

It's the actual developer's website. Any download you might find anywhere else (especially on Guru3D) is out of date.

To find old drivers: Go to the ATI website (http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx) and click the link for your operating system. After that, go down to the bottom of the information box where it has a small link for "previous drivers". Go there, and it has a list of every driver available, just click on the name to go to its download page. Just make sure you don't go too far back, some drivers might not support the 6000 series, because they were developed before the 6000 series was released.

If you installed any application profiles, uninstall those BEFORE you uninstall the actual drivers. Uninstall both the application profiles and the drivers you are currently running through the Control Panel/Add & Remove Programs panel. When asked during the driver uninstallation, choose "Express Uninstall ALL ATI SOFTWARE". After it's finished it'll ask you to reboot, do so. After it's rebooted, make sure you have the driver you want to install already downloaded. Then, reboot into safe mode (if you don't want to mess with jabbing function keys just go to start, and then in the text box type "msconfig", and the boot tab will have an option for safe mode). Once in safe mode, run driver sweeper (as administrator) and check the box next to "ATI - Display" or "AMD - Display". You only want to clean DISPLAY software, don't make the mistake of checking everything for AMD/ATI and then wondering why your chipset drivers are gone. After that, hit the button that says Clean, and wait for it to finish, it will ask you to reboot, do so. Then, reboot out of safe mode (simply go back to the msconfig tab and uncheck the safe mode option). After that, I suggest you make a restore point, then reboot again, and then install your new drivers.

[pd3 25]

Can I ask which drivers you used to be using? I have a 6970 and would like to give them a go.

Whatever was available when I bought my 6950, which was... late January or late February?

Why? Are you having problems too?

I just bought a 6970 for another quad core I'm building...

:butbut:

---------- Post added at 02:04 ---------- Previous post was at 02:02 ----------

Also, regarding driver sweeper:

Thanks, I'll look into it.

I was also unaware that you could download select versions of catalyst drivers from Guru3d or AMD's website.

It seems like most companies are obsessed with forcing updates even when they wreck your game.

Should I even bother complaining about this to AMD or XFX?

[rob151515 10]

Why? Are you having problems too?

I purchased my 6970 (I actually have 2 of them now, not that crossfire seems to work that well with Arma 2 anyway) and I wish I hadn't.

Arma 2 is the only game that I really wanted to get running well and I haven't been able to - I have an i5 2500k oc'd to 4.3 Ghz

Problems, ok where do I start...

I can't use AA in game or I get white pixels spread throughout the trees and bushes. I get significant fps drop when looking through scopes and then I get flickering of buildings/textures when looking at them through a scope. Oh yeah and then if I do manage to achieve a reasonable frame rate the lighting starts blindly flickering white util the entire screen is white and I can't see! (not being able to see kinda makes it a bit unplayable)

From what I have read people with ATI cards seem to have started getting problems when upgrading their drivers from 10.10 to anything later. Unfortunately there is no support for 6970 using 10.10's (I think support was added sometime around 10.12)

IMO there is something not quite right with the memory setttings in Arma 2 and my 6970. From what I have read, there seem to be quite a few people out there with 6000 or 7000 series ATI cards that are having similar problems.

Sorry for the rant but if it was me, I would return that card and buy something else.

[Sim.M 48]

I have a 6950 and updated my drivers about 3 days ago - no problems at all. Noticed a frame rate increase actually. Not sure why you are having problems but I'm not.

[rob151515 10]

I have a 6950 and updated my drivers about 3 days ago - no problems at all. Noticed a frame rate increase actually. Not sure why you are having problems but I'm not.

To be fair, the white blinding flickering light only occurs when running in crossfire I think...

Are you using AA in game?

What are your video settings?

[Sim.M 48]

lets see...

Quality - high

interface resolution - 1920x1200x32

3d resolution - 1920x1200x32

Texture - Normal

Video Memory - High

Anisotropic Filtering - Low

Antialisasing - Low

Terrain detail - Normal

Objects detail High

Shadow detail - disabled (never liked it)

HDR quality - normal

Postprocess effects - Disabled (hated the blur)

Interface size - Normal

Aspect ratio - 16:10 - Wide

Vsync - disabled

Hope this helps with your problems - maybe its one of the setting giving you issues. My game is very stable and smooth. Only running a single 6950 and not using crossfire.

[rob151515 10]

lets see...

Quality - high

interface resolution - 1920x1200x32

3d resolution - 1920x1200x32

Texture - Normal

Video Memory - High

Anisotropic Filtering - Low

Antialisasing - Low

Terrain detail - Normal

Objects detail High

Shadow detail - disabled (never liked it)

HDR quality - normal

Postprocess effects - Disabled (hated the blur)

Interface size - Normal

Aspect ratio - 16:10 - Wide

Vsync - disabled

Hope this helps with your problems - maybe its one of the setting giving you issues. My game is very stable and smooth. Only running a single 6950 and not using crossfire.

Thanks for posting these.

Was doing some testing last night and I definitely can't seem to get rid of the white pixels all over foliage when using any form of AA. Also done a bit of searching and there's already a bug posting about it here: https://dev-heaven.net/issues/15668 - doesn't look like it's going to be fixed in a hurry. :(

There's a couple of people are reporting that if they use driver controlled Anisotropic Filtering instead of Application controlled it's gets rid of the issue, but it's not doing anything for me.

From what I'm reading it seems to be isolated to Takistan which is pretty much the only map I have been playing on.

[domokun 515]

Thanks for posting these.

Was doing some testing last night and I definitely can't seem to get rid of the white pixels all over foliage when using any form of AA. Also done a bit of searching and there's already a bug posting about it here: https://dev-heaven.net/issues/15668 - doesn't look like it's going to be fixed in a hurry. :(

There's a couple of people are reporting that if they use driver controlled Anisotropic Filtering instead of Application controlled it's gets rid of the issue, but it's not doing anything for me.

From what I'm reading it seems to be isolated to Takistan which is pretty much the only map I have been playing on.

Try the settings in this post and let us know how you get on.

[orcinus 121]

From what I have read people with ATI cards seem to have started getting problems when upgrading their drivers from 10.10 to anything later. Unfortunately there is no support for 6970 using 10.10's (I think support was added sometime around 10.12)

May well be card specific - I have a 5870 & use catalyst 11.12 with no problems. Have you checked the AMD forums? - might be some helpful posts there.

Good luck, sounds a real bummer.

Orcinus

[denco 16]

Thanks for posting these.

Was doing some testing last night and I definitely can't seem to get rid of the white pixels all over foliage when using any form of AA. Also done a bit of searching and there's already a bug posting about it here: https://dev-heaven.net/issues/15668 - doesn't look like it's going to be fixed in a hurry. :(

There's a couple of people are reporting that if they use driver controlled Anisotropic Filtering instead of Application controlled it's gets rid of the issue, but it's not doing anything for me.

From what I'm reading it seems to be isolated to Takistan which is pretty much the only map I have been playing on.

Set Catalyst A.I to High Quality in CCC

[stk2008 14]

Hi all may I ask whats the best driver version to use for ATI 4890 1gb thanks

[domokun 515]

I'd say it was the 10 series of drivers, e.g. 10.9

[stk2008 14]

Ah ok I will go back to them and test again tbh I do have a lot of texture loading probs with 11 series on me ATI 4890 1gb.

I am defragging now to hope it helps any way

[dukenukem. 12]

using 11.10 version with a 6950 2GB, experiencing low gpu usage leading to low fps but otherwise works pretty ok...

[stk2008 14]

ummm ok may try 10.9 again tbh

[jungleboy1 10]

Yeah im getting this problem too with my 6950. Fixes itself when i get rid of application control settings and put Catalyst AI to high quality, but then i just have red artifacts that appear. So id rather just not mess with it and keep my white popping textures. This seems to only happen in arma 2/OA and no other games that i have played. So i dont know if its an arma problem but i remember not having this...... when i first got my GPU so it must have occurred in one of the driver updates.