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[sfried]

I have an ATi graphics card on my laptop currently using Catalyst 10.6. I was thinking about upgrading to 10.7 but low and behold, apparently the most recent one has worse performance than the previous version:

After installing 10.7, i ran a performance test on Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising and the result were making me mad! Previously on 10.5, it doesn't lag or stutter at all in the same settings but now it lags and stutters a lot!!! And the average framerate dropped from 43 to 39(and the minimum fps dropped to 5!) It's terrible... And then i ran some benchmark test on Crysis Warhead and only can conclude that 10.7 actually decreases performance!!!

Now I know they are talking about this from a person who has one of the higher end/Crossfrie cards (I only have a Mobility Radeon HD 4200), but I'm worried about the current stability of the version I have after I got a BSOD just trying to watch some Starcraft 2 videos on TeamLiquid.net (they mentioned it had something to do with the player). I'm more conscious than ever about updating my driver to the newer version ever since I've heard stuff like this can actually wreck your card/chip (the SC2 overheating issue). Granted I don't play any of the mentioned games (and the most I have tasted of Borderlands was via OnLive demo), but do you think its worth updating for stability issues alone.

tl;dr - Stability (?) or Performance?

Edit: And yes, I know how to uninstall previous drivers.

 

[MaritalWheat]

Usually I just wait until I hear reports on it first, specifically because of problems like those you bring up that often pop up with new drivers when first put out. The only time I'd bother really getting on it is if I want to play a game that the driver was specifically targeting to improve performance for.

 

[Stallion Free]

Just make sure you uninstall, restart in safe mode and run driver sweeper and the install the new ones.

 

[Daigoro]

yes you should. easy enough to roll back if youre having issues.

the new ATI drivers work well for me. just updated last week.

 

[sfried]

yes you should. easy enough to roll back if youre having issues.

the new ATI drivers work well for me. just updated last week.

No problems with games like Borderlands and the reported memory leaks?

Usually I just wait until I hear reports on it first, specifically because of problems like those you bring up that often pop up with new drivers when first put out. The only time I'd bother really getting on it is if I want to play a game that the driver was specifically targeting to improve performance for.

I would agree with you, too. But I do usually just want to have overall stability. The blip.tv scenario was a rare case, but now maybe I'm just feeling paranoid because I hear my fan blowing harder than usual. Of course, that could just be my subconscious playing tricks on me by becoming "hyperalert" after the whole crash issue ("oh no my vid chip is ruined!").

Part of me also says "Just wait for 10.8" since hopefully by then they'll fix all the issues with the current driver.

 

[Daigoro]

havent played Borderlands, but perfomance on games i have tried seems very good (Dawn of War and L4D).

but if things are working ok and youve heard about problems with this driver, might as well wait.

i switched before the weekend and things have been working well. ill post back if i notice any issues though.

 

[sfried]

havent played Borderlands, but perfomance on games i have tried seems very good (Dawn of War and L4D).

but if things are working ok and youve heard about problems with this driver, might as well wait.

i switched before the weekend and things have been working well. ill post back if i notice any issues though.

Thanks. I'll stick with 10.6 for now as the whole situation with that video seems to be an isolated scenario. Also based on the leak, 10.8 seems to have improved features for youtube videos.

 

[Daigoro]

thought id update since i said id post back with any issues.

looks like the 10.7 drivers broke certain Popcap games. i was trying to get PvZ and Peggle working earlier today but both were freaking out. turns out there is some sort of conflict with the latests drivers and "3d Acceleration" enabled in the menu in these games.

turning off 3d acceleration fixes the problem. unfortunately i was unable to access this screen in Peggle (screen goes black when you try to access it on my PC. one of the conflicts). only got it work with PvZ as of now. didnt have time to check for a driver update or a fix yet.

this is obviously one of the issues with updating drivers as soon as they come out. but luckily they are always easy enough to rollback. ive never had new drivers ruin any hardware like the OP posted, but i assume its theoretically possible.

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

Noticed decreased performance in Bad Company 2, and Borderlands crashed after 5 minutes for the first time in my history with the game (60+ hours). 10.7 can suck my dick, so i personally recommend against installing them (especially if you play those games). Straight back to 10.6 and all was peachy again.