Hi all you Omega devotees,These latest modified drivers based on Ati's 4.2 driver set are, without doubt, the best yet in the series. This is my opinion based on rigorous testing over the past 24 hours. However, nothing is perfect and, I have found, the 2.5.22 version, as supplied, is no exception.Anyone who has visited the DriverHeaven forum:http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?threadid=37850....will be aware of the controversy surrounding Omega's decision to disable Fast Writes in this set (with the exception of the Radeon 9600) to resolve any stability issues. Many have supported this decision whereas a significant number are jumping up and down in protest.The issues surrounding stability may be Main Board specific and all I can say is that I have experienced no problems whatsoever since acquiring my Saphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB in mid 2002. I do not overclock, but those that do are finding that stability has been improved with Fast Writes disabled. My Main Board is the venerable Gigabyte GA-8IRXP MoBo (FSB 400Mhz) - Intel 845 (Brookdale) Chipset and has proved to be 100% reliable.Now, I should state that Omega, and many who support his position on this matter, remain adamant that this is for the best. However, he has been persuaded to release information which allows those who wish to to re-enable fast Writes to do so. I have, and will now explain why.I had no views on the matter either way until, that is, I fired up the sim using Ken's excellent FSAutoStart to my usual default flight situation (KSEA). I use this situation as a benchmark simply because good performance here ensures I'll get reasonable performance elsewhere +/- 3rd party addons. I noted with disappointment that my FPS had dropped from the usual 19-20 (locked at 20) to 14-15 fps.My settings are irrelevant and will likely differ from yours, dear reader. I contend that in this situation settings are unimportant. What is important is that if you are to draw valid comparisons you should ensure that the situation, settings and choice of aircraft are the same in each and every case.I started the engine and rolled down the runway to takeoff and was again disappointed to note that the sense of fluidity in screen update was distinctly lacking until I was at 2-3000ft altitude. This was not good :(I came out of the sim , rebooted, ran EnditAll and Benchmarked my system with 3DMark2001 SE (Pre DirectX 9). The only changes necessary in the driver control panel is to ensure Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering in Direct3D are set to 'Application Preference'. Same goes for 'Wait for Vertical Sync'. Average score: 11,862TO RE-ENABLE FAST WRITES:Then, I ran Regedit and deleted all references to the key 'DisableAGPFW' (14 in all)I rebooted, ran EnditAll and Benchmarked again. Average score: 11,876Looks like Omega is correct in that there are no significant performance gains to be had by enabling Fast Writes. But, hang on, what about the sim? Could there be any differences noted there? Chances are that the unique nature of the Flight Simulator engine with its intensive use of CPU resources and texture handling techniques could have a bearing on influencing the outcome. Also, it is quite possible that Omega is not an FS enthusiast, so may not be aware of any performance related problems should they prove to exist.I rebooted my system, fired up the sim using FSAutoStart to my usual default flight situation and, BINGO, frame rates were back to around the 20fps mark. Ditto that essential sense of fluidity.I removed the frame rate lock temporarily:Without AI and Scenery and Autogen set to Dense, Av.FPS=22.5AI at 20% (UT) and Scenery and Autogen unchanged Av.FPS=20So, in conclusion, I can state with absolute certainty that on my system enabling Fast Writes for a Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB has performance benefits in Flight Simulator. This may not be so obvious in other software, but I submit that FS may prove to be a special case. And that is why I propose to e-mail Omega and suggest that it might be helpful if the option to control Fast Writes be made available again in future versions of his drivers.Mike :-waveP4 2.4GHz (400FSB), 1Gig PC2100 DDR Crucial, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (Omega 2.5.22), Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" Monitor (1280x1024x32), Gigabyte GA-8IRXP MoBo, Ultra-Quiet PSU 400W, WinXP Home (SP1), DirectX 9.0b, AGP Aperture = 256MBDisplay entries in my FS9.cfg :{DISPLAY.Device.RADEON 9800 PRO (Omega 2.5.22).0}Mode=1280x1024x32TriLinear=1//RenderToTexture=0//TextureAGP=0PanelAsTexture=0

I've read many a thread over at rage3d that ATI doesn't take advantage of fastwrites. Never has, probably never will. I turned mine off a while ago. Never had any stability problems either way. No difference in FS9 with it on or off. Omega recommends it "off". So do the vast majority of the ATI fanATIcs. Neither here nor there; if you don't have any problems and indications are that the sim is running better, leave it on. May be something else in your system causing the difference you noticed. I run the omega drivers. Currently running the Omega version of the Cat 3.10. Love em'.

I get nothing but crashes on my 9700 with Fast Writes off- not sure why.

Maybe that's an idiot's question ;-) , but where do I enable/disbale fastwrite if not having Omegas installed (I currently have the catalyst 4.1 running)?Wolfgang

Look under the smartgart tab in the ATI control panel.

I don't agree with omega's decision to eliminate the FastWrites option in his latest drivers.Any performance increase from enabling FastWrites will be minimal at best. But I find that on my system the simming experience is smoother... fewer stutters. This applies to all the games I enjoy (admittedly, not many).Hopefully in the future Omega will reintroduce the option. It should be left to the discretion of the end user. Some systems like having FW enabled, some don't. But that choice should belong to the folks who have to live their own individual computers.

"May be something else in your system causing the difference you noticed.".......that's as may be. But, the fact remains I noted a difference after enabling Fast Writes, and that was the only variable that had changed between the 'before' and 'after' situation. You may be correct in stating that ATI has never taken advantage of Fast Writes. Nevertheless, my results appear to speak for themselves so something has happened, quite clearly.Mike

I've read threads at rage3d where folks have said performance actually increased when they turned fastwrites off; so, who knows what's going on. Kinda like the AGP Aperture setting discussions. Different results for different systems. Now you got me wondering again. Maybe I'll go in and turn mine back on just to check. I do agree that Omega should not have eliminated that option. Folks should have a choice. I guess they do. They don't have to use Omega drivers. I'm happy with the 3.10 version. They run FS9 great and IL2FB in OpenGL is awesome with em'.

Thanks for your hint, Bigshot. I think I found it. The funny thing is, that there is no SmartGart tab in my ATI panel. But in the ATI folder I found a file SmartGart.exe. When I run this, a single Smart.Gart tab will pop up. But unfortunately I run the german version of Win XP Pro. And those "idiots" at MS have translated avery single international (= english) computer term in a very "artificial" kinda german. Which can really be a pain in the #### sometimes as most PC literature, internet forums etc. use the english terms. Since this it can be very difficult to figure out, what, in the international computer terminology well known english expressions, thosee german phantasy translations mean.To make it short: in the german SmartGart tab "Fast Writes" does not exist but you have the opportunity to change "PCI settings" (wordly translated from german) and "AGP settings" (also wordly translated. And in the AGP settings you can either enable or disable "AGP write" and "AGP read" (both terms wordly translated from german). I assume, that with "AGP write" MS Germany means, what is internationally better known as "Fast Writes"!? Or is AGP wite something different?Wolfgang