Rather annoyed at terrible driver support

[newtekie1]

So I ordered an HD4670. It was originally going to be put in my cousin's budget build rig. I put everything together last night and boot the machine, install Windows and the motherboard drivers. Then I head off to ATi's site to download the driver for the HD4670...there isn't one. ATi has put a product on the market that they don't offically have drivers for! WTF! I have to use hacked HIS drivers to get this thing to even work, that is just ridiculous. The card has been on the market for 3 weeks now, and still no support from ATi.

Everyone talks about nVidia's poor driver support, and I agree they have had some pretty bad driver support, but at least every card they have put out has had at least some kind of driver support through them. In fact, most of the time their drivers have support for the card before the card even hits the market.

I never thought that I would buy a card, and have to hunt for hacked or Beta drivers to get the thing to work. This is the lowest of the low when it comes to driver support. I really like ATi, but damn, what they hell were they think here...

 

[Darknova]

ATi's drivers have taken a real nose-dive recently. It's the only problem with my 4870. I can't use Aero, because if I do it causes driver resets. According to ATi it's either my CPU, RAM or PSU. Funnily enough they're all fine and this problem has been around since Vista came out.

 

[Fastmix]

So I ordered an HD4670. It was originally going to be put in my cousin's budget build rig. I put everything together last night and boot the machine, install Windows and the motherboard drivers. Then I head off to ATi's site to download the driver for the HD4670...there isn't one. ATi has put a product on the market that they don't offically have drivers for! WTF! I have to use hacked HIS drivers to get this thing to even work, that is just ridiculous. The card has been on the market for 3 weeks now, and still no support from ATi.

Everyone talks about nVidia's poor driver support, and I agree they have had some pretty bad driver support, but at least every card they have put out has had at least some kind of driver support through them. In fact, most of the time their drivers have support for the card before the card even hits the market.

I never thought that I would buy a card, and have to hunt for hacked or Beta drivers to get the thing to work. This is the lowest of the low when it comes to driver support. I really like ATi, but damn, what they hell were they think here...

Try this one http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=72655&highlight=CATALYST+8.10

 

[DOM]

so you just posted this to bash on ati like you always do jk lol

but i thought the newest drivers of cat or geforce have all the latest cards cuz i just get the GTX 280 ones when getting them for my 9600 GSO cuz to lazy to click on the right ones

 

[newtekie1]

Try this one http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=72655&highlight=CATALYST+8.10

That is the one I have installed, though I found it at a different source, the issue is that I had to search for it in the first place when it should be directly available from ATi's site, especially after the card has been out for 3 weeks.

so you just posted this to bash on ati like you always do jk lol

but i thought the newest drivers of cat or geforce have all the latest cards cuz i just get the GTX 280 ones when getting them for my 9600 GSO cuz to lazy to click on the right ones

I did too, and usually that is how it works. However, it seems the latest version of ATi's drivers don't support the HD4600 series, only the HD4800 series. The movement to universal driver packages has made a great improvement, but they still have to build support for the cards into the drivers, or they won't work. I am sure the current 8.9 drivers would work with the HD4670 with a little modding, but again I shouldn't have to do that. There should be some kind of native driver available from ATi that just works.

Edit: By the way, after getting the drivers sorted and playing with the card, I love the card. It is a wonderful small, cheap, powerhouse.

 

[DOM]

yeah on the notes the HD4600 series isnt on the list


ATI: Catalyst 8.7, PCS 4870, 3870 X2 & 4870 X2: 8.52.2, HD 4670: 8.53 RC1
S3: 0156 Beta

cuz that what wiz used on his review on the HD4670 im guessing there betas for the card or something

 

[sneekypeet]

lets go for the simple answer here....where it the disc that came with the card.....it has a driver on it!

 

[newtekie1]

lets go for the simple answer here....where it the disc that came with the card.....it has a driver on it!

The card didn't come with a disc, or crossfire connector for that matter... The only thing that came in the box besides the card was the HDMI adaptor, VGA adaptor, and a HIS sticker.

 

[sneekypeet]

The card didn't come with a disc, or crossfire connector for that matter... The only thing that came in the box besides the card was the HDMI adaptor, VGA adaptor, and a HIS sticker.

well that explains that then...lol
Sorry man!

 

[KBD]

yea, i noticed some driver problems with ATI also with an HD 3450. CCC 8.9 wouldnt work at all, CCC 8.8 would work much better though. Then there are some issues with programs like ATI Tool, though thats not ATIs fault.

never had nvidia driver problem, BTW.

 

[BrooksyX]

Personally, I have never had a problem with Ati drivers. Always seemed to work out great for me.

I did have some problems with the Nvidia drivers back when I had my 8600gt.

 

[niko084]

Wow that sucks... But ya man, its pretty normal for that new of a release of a card not to have drivers available online yet, especially when its not a high end card.

Sucks it didn't come with a cd, I would be writing a lengthy email to HIS over that one...

 

[newtekie1]

Wow that sucks... But ya man, its pretty normal for that new of a release of a card not to have drivers available online yet, especially when its not a high end card.

Sucks it didn't come with a cd, I would be writing a lengthy email to HIS over that one...

I've never experienced this problem, I would expect that the drivers be available when the card was released. Though I guess this is one of the down sides of ATi only having one driver release a month, and not providing Beta drivers on their site.

I don't think it was HIS's fault, I bought the card open box from a local store that I frequent. They build custom machines for people, and have about 10 pre-assembled computers that they keep on hand for when people come in and want a computer right away. If the customer wants an upgrade, they do it on the spot usually, and take the old part out and sell it as an open box item for a discount. So I got the card for $59. The only down side is that usually most of the accessories are missing.

 

[niko084]

Aww that was probably the case, and yes it would be nice if they made the beta drivers for the new cards available, I wont deny that.

 

[Fastmix]

Actually..if you go to the partners website like Sapphire..that card driver is listed.

 

[wolf2009]

ATi's drivers have taken a real nose-dive recently. It's the only problem with my 4870. I can't use Aero, because if I do it causes driver resets. According to ATi it's either my CPU, RAM or PSU. Funnily enough they're all fine and this problem has been around since Vista came out.

thats the strangest thing I have heard, especially after owning HD4870 and getting Aero to work with it no problem .

Something is definitley wrong with your windows installation

 

[Darknova]

thats the strangest thing I have heard, especially after owning HD4870 and getting Aero to work with it no problem .

Something is definitley wrong with your windows installation

Google the issue mate. It's a common issue and it's still not been fixed, there are shit loads of "fixes" that work for some but not others. It's still not 100% fixed, as to it's cause, no one knows.

 

[niko084]

thats the strangest thing I have heard, especially after owning HD4870 and getting Aero to work with it no problem .

Something is definitley wrong with your windows installation

Ya something is up, I have a 4870 running in a machine in front of me right now with Home Prem x64 with Aero turned on.

But a lot of people do seem to be having a lot of really off the wall random problems with ATI cards as of late... I mean the DVI not working and crap?!?!? WTH? Problem is you don't really know who to blame for what.

 

[AsRock]

lets go for the simple answer here....where it the disc that came with the card.....it has a driver on it!

Thats what i was thinking and as seen as he says he did not get them is odd as the 4670's on egg have the driver disk according to newegg. Maybe they only gave you part of what you should of got.

 

[Darknova]

Ya something is up, I have a 4870 running in a machine in front of me right now with Home Prem x64 with Aero turned on.

But a lot of people do seem to be having a lot of really off the wall random problems with ATI cards as of late... I mean the DVI not working and crap?!?!? WTH? Problem is you don't really know who to blame for what.

Everything is fine and stable without Aero on, and I'm really not fussed about transparency, my Vista Basic Black theme looks good enough, so I don't really care, it's just annoying that I don't really have the option.

 

[stanhemi]

hi i have a sapphire 4850 and i can't install ati driver at all.I am force to use sapphire driver,i try whit 8.7 - 8.8- and 8.9 . Always the same error message Can't find the driver.any solution?

 

[niko084]

Everything is fine and stable without Aero on, and I'm really not fussed about transparency, my Vista Basic Black theme looks good enough, so I don't really care, it's just annoying that I don't really have the option.

I understand that perfectly well.... Just that it would be nice to be able to narrow down what the actual problem is... Nice to know that things are working perfectly even if you don't use the parts that are not.

Speaking of which I need a darker theme for my vista, the blue bars are a big too bright for me.. Kill's my eye's in the dark and my office is always almost pitch black with a few colored ambient lights.

 

[KBD]

hi i have a sapphire 4850 and i can't install ati driver at all.I am force to use sapphire driver,i try whit 8.7 - 8.8- and 8.9 . Always the same error message Can't find the driver.any solution?

does catalyst 8.7 or 8.8 work or not? If not try the CD that came with the card or an earlier version of catalyst.

 

[Binge]

hi i have a sapphire 4850 and i can't install ati driver at all.I am force to use sapphire driver,i try whit 8.7 - 8.8- and 8.9 . Always the same error message Can't find the driver.any solution?

Is it a 4850 toxic? I don't know if there's a huge difference but sapphire might have a special driver for that specific card. Speaking of sapphire, my 4870 requires me to install the driver from the disc and then install whatever the latest driver is. That has only been the case with my sapphire 4870. Have you tried getting the 8.9s off of Sapphire's website? Cheers!

Thats what i was thinking and as seen as he says he did not get them is odd as the 4670's on egg have the driver disk according to newegg. Maybe they only gave you part of what you should of got.

He said he got open box, and that's his problem. ATI flame threads when you know you bought open box ftl. Sapphire's drivers would have probably worked.

 

[Darknova]

I understand that perfectly well.... Just that it would be nice to be able to narrow down what the actual problem is... Nice to know that things are working perfectly even if you don't use the parts that are not.

Mmm, I know, it would be nice to narrow down the issue, but short of reinstalling Vista I don't see any way to do it. It was perfectly fine before I put Vista on, it's fine without Aero and Vista, so it must be Aero that's causing it, but what, well I have no idea.