Expreview conducted a comprehensive comparison between the performance of ATI graphics hardware using the older Catalyst 8.6 + Hotfix driver versus that of the newest Catalyst 8.7 driver. The testbed comprised of:
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 overclocked at 4.05 GHz
- ASUS Maximus II Formula motherboard
- G.Skill 4GB (2×2GB) DDR2 1100
- ASUS Radeon HD 4870 TOP
Tests included a majority of games, real-world performance tests along with synthetic benchmarks such as 3DMark. The performance gains of the hardware using the 8.7 Catalyst driver never crossed 2.33%, in fact in some tests there was a performance loss of up to 1.08% against the older 8.6 Catalyst driver plus the hotfix. It shows that on a Radeon HD4870, the newer driver did not bring about significant improvements, at least not on par with what the release notes suggested. Expreview also suggests that if users aren't experiencing other issues which the Catalyst 8.7 fixed such as video output corruption in rare cases, the older driver is worthwhile. Test results are provided below.
33 Comments on Comparison of Catalyst 8.6+Hotfix versus Catalyst 8.7 Reveals Insignificant Gains
I got it from the fact that nVidia is still churning out newer hardware and ATi isn't. ATi has the HD4870x2, which isn't actually an improvement on any hardware out there, and that is it. Nvidia has 55nm GT200b and G92b with ramped up clocks on the way(G92b just arriving this week).
So I get that idea from the fact that nVidia is still pushing out performance through hardware improvements, and ATi's only option is to fall back on performance through driver improvements.
Pushing the performance??
The 280gtx,nvidias flagship,is not the fastest card availabe now.
The 4870 beats the 280gtx in a lot of games.Check at techreport.com or tomshardware.com
There are somesites,like anandtech,hexus etc... those sites get paid by nvidia to post fake benchmarks.
I trust techreport.they are probably the only clean site available these days.
check the numbers at techreport pal.
The 4870 beats the 280gtx in cod4,assassins creed,quake4,HL2,grid....
The 4870 with 2.5x smaller die size beats the 280gtx.(234mm vs 578mm)
What kind of improvements nvidia can bring now??
They need to abandon the old g80 architechture.
AWhat nvidia is doing now is a big propoganda.
Cuda,physix on gpu,bla bla bla.why should i use a gpu to process physix?
There are sub 200$ quad cores available now that can handle the job pretty well.
Remember the law suites going on because they were working together and fixing prices and competition... You think its really ended?
As far as core technology is concerned ATI is massively ahead of Nvidia, speed wise they are yet neck and neck with the top cards.
As for the drivers... They will shoot off whatever number they can get in one system in one program in one situation to make them sound good, did anyone really think you were going to see a 30% performance gain with a driver? Possible sure, probable not really.. As for the speeds lets get real .5-2% performance can vary that much at random, so the tests are basically completely inconclusive.
As for stability and jitters, I am VERY pleased, I was having issues in Guild Wars with my 4850 until these last drivers, was running a nice good 200fps, and then turn and boom drop to 70, that doesn't look too pretty when it happens.
Stability first, then tweak, then more stability and then more tweaking, you don't put together a new computer and just bang your overclock to 500fsb do ya? No you step it slowly until you get the best you can and staying stable, run into a wall, you slowly find your way around it and find out how to make it stable at the same time.
Give it some time, few months yet these drivers will be rock hard and give some actual performance boosts.
I can DEFINATELY see a difference between the 2 drivers. Anyone who read this tread will agree- forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=64691
With older versions of CCC ,running in crossfire,I would have to disable crossfire to view youtube vids in fullscreen.Pain in the rump.
With the new 8.7's, i no longer have to disable crossfire to view fullscreen.