The new Cat 7.10 drivers----WOW! Fantastic performance.

[littlejim 0]

Thanks Mitch I will just leave is at the moment and see what Omega drivers will do. Regards,L.Jim

[Guest Grahame Myers]

Hi LittleJimI experienced the same problem as you last night as I tried to install the 7.10's. After removing the Omega Drivers (I had the 38330's), and rebooting, I got the same message! Very strange...So I installed the drivers from the CD that came with my video card (in safe mode), booted again, and after everything had settled down, I installed the 7.10's over the other drivers (7.6's I believe). I said yes to all the "do you want to overwrite this file" prompts, rebooted again, and now Driver Version Check identifies the drivers on my system as the 7.10's. It was certainly worth the effort, I've never seen FSX look so good and run so smoothly. Try this: Set a restore point (always a good idea with new driver installs anyway), in case it all goes belly up, and then use safe mode (Press F8 during the boot to get into safe mode, and then follow the screen prompts), to do the change.If it all goes wrong, just restore back to the old sys.config. that you had before you started, using the restore point you set.Hope this helps.BestGrahameEdited twice due to speling mistakes :-)

[brucets 94]

Mitcher -Thanks. I was using those axact settings and I don't see much/any difference compared to the 7.1 drivers. Then I returned the 7.10 settings to *Factory Default* which are *let the application decide* on both AA and AF (plus the other defaults) and the results really were no different again!!??I just can't see any difference between the X850XT and the X1950XT Pro cards, and again no difference in the 7.10 drivers and the earlier 7.1 we've been using!?? Also MEMSTATUS reports that under the most demanding circumstances (big iron at KLGA with 15% commercial AI) for taxi and takeoff @ 9-15 FPS, the highest usage of the 512mb GPU memory was 44%!! So I guess the 256mb card, like you have, is perfectly adequate. I just don't understand this stuff!! Is it just marketing hype/bs?? I've tried most every tweak or combination thereof and nothing has made a difference. I now am using a clean/stock config file as well. Graphics are truly great, but the stuttering and blurries (at major airports) drive me mad!Btw, Mike Campbell (cruachan)says HI! He and wife Lexie are in the U.S. visiting his son's family in ABQ, and they drove up to DEN for a day or two. We are going to Estes Park/Rocky Mt. Nat. Park today, but hopefully the wives will let us have a few hours at the *flying computer* when we get back this evening. We spent about 2 hours last night playing FSX(don't have FS9 loaded anymore), and Mike thinks I've got a very strong setup for a single core rig. Says my graphics are better and smoother than his on FSX (he flies FS9 only as you know).Regards!!Bruce

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

Hi Bruce!I guess, then that each specific system will give, or respond to swapping out cards and drivers differently. I must say that over the last 18 months, the greatest and most productive differences that I have now with my system over that time span was in swapping out the X800XT (256 MB) for the X1950 Pro (256) and then applying the 7.10's three days ago. The new monitor to catch all the action made for the trinity.Bruce, I got much better visuals (clouds, more ethereal, more vaporous, etc)/ground textures and aircraft that had more resilience, chrome surfaces that TRULY mimicked the real thing, etc..All this came with no driver upgrade from 7.1Then after installing the 7.10's a few days ago, I can say that everything for the good;--- textures, now graphic representations like a new prop-tip BITE sheen came to the fore, not to mention a total INCREASE of texture sharpness and crispness of detail.In using B.E.V.'s Autumn textures and flying out over rural fields yesterday at 7,000 feet and climbing, I could swear that I could see the specific leaves of the trees! Simply amazing detail. Again, not to mention the killer clouds that not only look weightless in the sky, but makes me now actually feel as though I am penetrating their layers as I observe in the real world when flying on business.All in all, The X1950 Pro, the simply FABULOUS 7.10's (blows the 7.1's right out of the water!!!) and the Samsung 24 inch 245B monitor has increased my enjoyment of this hobby and totally revitalized my hobby enthusiasm.Bruce, all I can say, is become a detective, and look perhaps for the subtleties between the two cards you mention rather than for the big bang in-the-face that you might be looking for. What you have are both great cards, but the X1950 Pro absolutely does bring new elements to the table. For one thing, you and I both now have AVIVO and HD capabilities where we did not before. You did pick up features and improvements that do go beyond just using the new card for FS9 and FSX.The worst for you, will be that you now have a capable graphics card for when and if, the one in your computer goes South at one in the morning... ;)Say hello to Mike for me. Glad that you two are enjoying yourselves so much.Cheers!Mitch

[littlejim 0]

Hi Grahame,I will give it a go and will let you know later on........Thanks for the tip :)L.Jim-------------------------------------------------------------------Ok

[Guest Grahame Myers]

Jeez, that's a shame, it should've worked...Back to the drawingboard, Carruthers :-)BestGrahame

[Guest GeorgeDorkofikis]

Unfortunately they didn't work for me.The drivers installed fine, but I got a lot of stutters in many games that run smoothly with 7.1. So I reverted back to 7.1Maybe it's my card (X1600Pro AGP), I don't know.However, compared to other intermediate releases (7.2...7.6 which I've tried), the 7.10 are more stable and don't stutter when watching videos.Yes, 7.2 up to 7.6 that I had tried were stuttering even with media player watching divx video!!!George DorkofikisAthens, Hellashttp://online.vatsimindicators.net/811520/1704.pngPC Specs: MSI K8Neo2 Platinum, AMD64 3200+, 1GB DDR3200, ATI X1600Pro AGP, SB Audigy, WinXP Pro SP2.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

George, try using Multi-Sampling instead of Super Sampling. That might have caused your stutters.There is a lot more happening with these drivers than with any previous release. You might also want to play with the different 3D components and see any other 'recipe' that might work for you.They are worth a little time, as the output from them is razor sharp!:)Mitch

[littlejim 0]

Just came back from work and thought let's give the company a call where I bought my Laptop and it's correct I can't install the ATI drivers as I need to look it up on the Intel site that's the chipset on my videocard.So does this mean that there is no hope for the new ATI 7.10 drivers for my laptop???Regards,Little Jim

[Vulcan 14]

Having seen all the excitment about the 7.10 drivers I installed them Tuesday for my X1650 AGP Radeon. When I started FS9 it crashed with an error in panels.dll. Because I had installed some other software it has taken me until today to find that the culprit was in fact the 7.10 drivers.I have visited the Ati forums and a couple of people have had problems with AGP cards and looks as if ATi are looking at a fix.So, if you have an AGP card be careful, you may have trouble.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

Hey George, Vulcan said that AGP cards are choking on the 7.10's at present. ATI is looking for a fix according to his post below...(Edit) PCI-E cards seem to have no trouble feasting on them to date.Mitch

[B7X7-900 10]

I posted this over at the main FSX forum and am posting it here in case anyone can benefit:I have also had good results from the new drivers. I use ATI Tray Tools instead of CCC. The most interesting thing is that with all previous drivers, I could never get my memory clocks above the stock 702 without a freeze up. Now I have the memory set to 740 no problem. Go figure. My temps are also down. Enermax Noisetaker 2 600WAbit AV8 Bios 27Opteron 185 @2.9GhzZalman CNPS9500 LEDDiamond X1950Pro Agp @621/740 w/Arctic Cooling NV 5 Rev.32Gb OCZ Gold PC40002 WD Raptors, Raid 0Plextor PX-750ACreative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZSLogitech THX Z-5300e 5.1 speakersHauppauge WinTV-Pvr_150MCENEC Multisync FE950+Logitech Extreme 3D ProTrackIR 4XP Pro SP2FSX SP1

[Nfus 0]

I'll have a look too...Nick

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Mitch,This thread is killing me with frustration...lol!Some time back I swore that the 7.1's would be my last driver change for the forseeable. Fat chance! There's this Mitch character who just won't leave well alone and his infectious enthusiasm for experimentation drives us all nuts ;) What's worse is that all this is happening while I am umpteen thousand miles distant from my cherished X1950 Pro 512MB GPU and I can't do a darn thing about it :-mad Joking aside. Joking? It is, of course, great to hear that ATI are providing worthwhile optimizations for the X1950 Pro and that the 7.1's can no longer be regarded as being the end of the line for XP users like myself.My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the very generous hospitality provided by Bruce and his wife during our two day sojourn in Denver. As luck would have it, we quickly discovered that our respective better halves shared a common burden ;), and consequently bonded very rapidly, while Bruce and I were permitted to retreat to the basement to admire and play with his setup which included that 24" Samsung (Mitch again..sigh!).This experience, for me, turned out to be a salutory lesson in humility. Bruce was anxious that I should apply my 'great skills' and hard-won knowledge of the arcane corners of our beloved sims with the laudable objective of banishing his FSX blurries. Sadly, it was not to be, for after spending some considerable time tweaking and adjusting and confidently anticipating the perfect result, in the end the resultant image turned out to be worse than ever!!!? In all fairness to myself, I would have liked to have wrestled with the problem for a while longer but time was not on our side. It was very clear to me that Bruce was very well-versed in all matters tweaking and had tried literally everything posted here at Avsim. As I quietly drank my coffee I watched him quickly undo all my changes as he reverted back to his own driver and sim settings and, yes, you've guessed, the scene was transformed and his blurries had all but disappeared! Go figure! The logic escapes me completely.I do fly both sims and, very selectively, have been slowly adding to FSX. These new drivers may well encourage me to dip into FSX rather more than I do currently. Time will tell.Meantime, all I can say, Mitch, is keep it up! I have always found your approach very considered, refreshing and never discouraging. We could do with a few more folk like you.Best regards,Mikehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/179297.jpg

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

Hey Mike!Glad to see that you had a great time, and the two FS widows could certainly commiserate together! :)))))What a great hunk of scenery you had there. Whew!Colorado is one state that I have not (most sad to say) visited. I hope to soon change that this Summer or next. I own a Honda Goldwing SE motorcycle and thoroughly enjoy mountain tours.One of my favorite haunts is the Blue Ridge Parkway that meanders through North and South Carolina and Virginia. That is one that you and your wife will have to tour. March and April (near about Easter) is the best time as the mountain wild-flowers bloom---and oh lordy...what a sight! I take that all the time, when going down to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for some R and R.Back to FS'ing. Yes..sometimes it is truly weird, that you can mess around with your system...and by absolute mistake...'screw it up' to total perfection and bliss, and not even if your life was on the line, could you repeat what you did, or to tell someone else how to 'get there' themselves, ROTFLMBO!Cheers,Mitch