Wednesday, September 15th 2010

Valve, AMD Team Up to Provide Gamers with Easy ATI Catalyst Driver Updates on Steam

Press Release by
btarunr
 Discuss (68 Comments)
AMD today announced its collaboration with Valve to deliver ATI Catalyst graphics driver updates via its Steam platform, a leading platform for PC games and digital entertainment. Steam users can now detect and install the latest ATI Catalyst driver for their ATI Radeon graphics card directly from within Steam. Valve's most recent Steam Hardware Survey shows that fully 87 percent of DirectX 11 gamers are enjoying ATI Radeon or ATI Mobility Radeon hardware.

"Steam represents an evolution for PC and online gaming, and the availability of ATI Catalyst graphics driver updates directly on the Steam platform can help further enhance the PC gaming experience for users of ATI Radeon products," said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president of software for AMD. "AMD Gaming Evolved and Valve share the belief that 'Gamers Come First' - we now have the opportunity to work together to help ensure the best possible experience for PC gamers."

"Valve is extremely pleased to be working with AMD to provide automatic driver updates for AMD's leading edge products on Steam," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "PC gamers demand the most of their gaming hardware and providing these updates automatically will help ensure those playing via Steam are playing at optimal performance."

This announcement is another example of the AMD Gaming Evolved initiative in action. The program, which represents AMD's deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game development and the PC gaming industry, is dedicated to creating the best possible gaming experience on the PC. With auto-notification of driver updates delivered via Steam to users with ATI Radeon graphics hardware, this relationship will provide gamers the opportunity to optimize their PC gaming experience.

Designed to enable high performance, industry-leading stability and an intuitive gaming experience for ATI Radeon graphics customers, regular ATI Catalyst driver updates represent AMD's ongoing commitment to stability, performance and innovation.

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68 Comments on Valve, AMD Team Up to Provide Gamers with Easy ATI Catalyst Driver Updates on Steam

#26
1Kurgan1
The Knife in your Back
Very cool to see something like this, if it works properly for removing the old drivers, people without all the technical know how will love this, heck even I will, would save on hassle.
Posted on Reply
#27
Imsochobo
BreathlessGood point, but this is still really cool if it works properly.
Valve will most likely do as ubuntu team.
Test/wait for feedback.
OK ?
Rollout.
Not okey, wait for hotfix one.

This is most likely why there isnt a auto updater too.. amd will have more resources and get it through most likely.
Posted on Reply
#28
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
Maybe next we can get Afterburner built in! lol Steam will be the Wal-mart of software! Next Steam will offer OpenOffice direct through Steam! Among other apps! Built in Anti-Spyware! But will it stop steams spyware... :confused: :roll:
Posted on Reply
#29
crow1001
MindweaverThis just sealed the deal on my next card being an AMD Radeon! I like it!
lool sarcasm??

You're basing the next GFX purchase on steam and the fact it will now notify you when new drivers are available..:laugh:
Posted on Reply
#30
Mindweaver
Moderato®™
crow1001lool sarcasm??

You're basing the next GFX purchase on steam and the fact it will now notify you when new drivers are available..:laugh:
lol I was wondering if anyone would catch that.. :roll: But you know there's going to be a lot of people that are going to say that!..lol :roll:
Posted on Reply
#31
W1zzard
1Kurgan1Very cool to see something like this, if it works properly for removing the old drivers, people without all the technical know how will love this, heck even I will, would save on hassle.
i doubt it will do anything more than what the existing drivers do, which is install over which works fine. nvidia even said something like "we put the clean install option into the new drivers to make users happy even though it makes no difference"

also people would blame steam for: start steam .. steam has installed an update to steam and needs to restart .. steam has detected a driver update and needs to restart your computer ... steam has installed a driver update and needs to restart your computer .. please while updating mafia II
wtf i just wanted to play for a few minutes
Posted on Reply
#32
theubersmurf
I got a tweet (Yes I sort of use twitter) that 10.9 is due out later today. Terry Makedon via Legit reviews. link Somehow I doubt that it will appear on steam today, but I'm wondering when they'll implement it.
Posted on Reply
#33
Easo
Interesting idea, wonder whats else is in the minds of Valve?
Posted on Reply
#34
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
EasoInteresting idea, wonder whats else is in the minds of Valve?
Cheeseburgers.

I keeeed because I looooove!
Posted on Reply
#35
Link108
Sweet. Finally AMD is stepping in for gamers more! Hopefully this introduces more performance and bug fixing drivers releases because of the information from Steam users.
Posted on Reply
#36
cadaveca
My name is Dave
theubersmurfSomehow I doubt that it will appear on steam today, but I'm wondering when they'll implement it.
Today?

;)
LegitReviewsThis will also be the very first ATI Catalyst driver update that will be available via Steam
Posted on Reply
#37
theubersmurf
Hmmm, If only I had the time atm to read the entire article. I just went on the tweet I got.
Posted on Reply
#39
sneekypeet
Retired Super Moderator
I see this as a nice step.

I do see an issue though. Lets say the new drivers suck or just suck on your specific setup. You revert to the older driver manually right? Then what you boot up steam only to be screwed into updating?
Posted on Reply
#40
pjladyfox
1Kurgan1Very cool to see something like this, if it works properly for removing the old drivers, people without all the technical know how will love this, heck even I will, would save on hassle.
That's really going to be the magic question since I've seen nightmares occur whenever drivers are installed over the older ones. Of course, try getting a straight answer out of anyone who does it is a nightmare all on it's own starting with the claim "yes I uninstalled them". *grits teeth in fustration*
W1zzardi doubt it will do anything more than what the existing drivers do, which is install over which works fine. nvidia even said something like "we put the clean install option into the new drivers to make users happy even though it makes no difference"

also people would blame steam for: start steam .. steam has installed an update to steam and needs to restart .. steam has detected a driver update and needs to restart your computer ... steam has installed a driver update and needs to restart your computer .. please while updating mafia II
wtf i just wanted to play for a few minutes
Installing over the top of the older ones may work okay for some but for the majority they never do. I've lost track of how many times either AMD or NVIDIA users claim that the driver installed okay but after checking the actual version number of the 3D driver it still shows as 3 or more revisions out of date while claiming that the new driver does not address their issue. If AMD is going to do this they either need to build in an automatic uninstaller or verify that installing over the top of older drivers actually works as advertised for EVERYONE and not just a few.

As far as the forced update thing as others have already pointed out these are not auto-pushed like game updates and you only receive a notification that the driver is available. The only real question is if you can turn off the auto-nag message for those who update manually already?
Posted on Reply
#41
mdm-adph
W1zzardit's possible that amd did that to save cost, but i doubt valve will give it to them for free.

bittorrent works for world of warcraft .. would have been a more interesting move
In practice, though, most of the data for WoW seem to be coming from Blizzard's server still, unfortunately (check the origin).

This will be cool for our non-techie friends who we play Steam games with.
Posted on Reply
#42
Mr McC
EasoInteresting idea, wonder whats else is in the minds of Valve?
Indeed, I think the collaboration is more interesting than the purpose of the collaboration on this occassion. Joint work on engines might be nice.
Posted on Reply
#43
DannibusX
Mr McCIndeed, I think the collaboration is more interesting than the purpose of the collaboration on this occassion. Joint work on engines might be nice.
Something profound was said here. I'll need time to decipher it.
Posted on Reply
#44
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
ATM im trying steams new driver install with the new cats, wish me luck LOL

Posted on Reply
#46
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Well it worked so far, it installed over the original driver.
Posted on Reply
#47
TheLaughingMan
I just gave it a shot. Let Steam, try to do its think, failed. Fine, no biggie. Double checked to make sure Steam itself was up to date and it wasn't so I started that update. Restarted and gave it another go......success. Now on 10.9. Getting on BFBC2 right now to see whats what.

A little heads up to others, Steam is downloading driver update files for ATI (around 90 MB) as part of its own updates.....for now. So if you have the same issue I had, open the Steam window, click File, and click "Check for Steam Client updates". You should get a message about needing to update to add the ATI feature.....an update that is around 117 MB. Hmmmm, kinda large to add 1 feature and tweak some other issues??
Posted on Reply
#48
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
let us know laughingman, although i have never had a issue with driver on ATI (THANK GOD!), i dont want it to start now or i will revert back to and earlier version. right now i have to goto work so TTYL guys
Posted on Reply
#49
chaotic_uk
btarunrAMD Gaming Evolved and Valve share the belief that ‘Gamers Come First
sorry but what a load of shIte , all they want is you £££/$$$
Posted on Reply
#50
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
i don't get why this is being done. it isn't like a buying decision will come down to whether or not they can update drivers using steam...
Posted on Reply
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