9600XT - Display driver only

[jb]

Besides tweaking, what else is lost if Catalyst is not installed?

 

[Augustus]

Besides tweaking, what else is lost if Catalyst is not installed?

You mean just using the MS supplied ATI driver? Or just the plain vanilla
VGA driver?
With using the MS supplied ATI driver, you lose huge amounts of speed, a
number of refresh/resolution rates, and application/game compatibility and
stability. With the plain VGA driver you lose everything except the ability
to boot into the GUI at a fixed low refresh resolution.

 

[jb]

You mean just using the MS supplied ATI driver? Or just the plain vanilla

VGA driver?
With using the MS supplied ATI driver, you lose huge amounts of speed, a
number of refresh/resolution rates, and application/game compatibility and
stability. With the plain VGA driver you lose everything except the ability
to boot into the GUI at a fixed low refresh resolution.

No, after a complete reinstall of Windows, I ran the Catalyst installer,
freshly downloaded from ATI, and chose to only add the display driver.
All the video modes are selectable via
Settings->Advanced->Adapter->List Modes.

Catalyst seems drag down my system performance and it definitely slows
down bootup times.

 

[Augustus]

No, after a complete reinstall of Windows, I ran the Catalyst installer,

freshly downloaded from ATI, and chose to only add the display driver. All
the video modes are selectable via Settings->Advanced->Adapter->List
Modes.

You do have the Catalyst 5.11 drivers installed, just not all the other
bells and whistles in the CCC. Catalyst is the name ATI uses for it's whole
driver package, much like Detonator is used by Nvidia. Anyway, you get full
driver functionality and compatibility, but lose all the various tweaks and
settings under advanced display properties, and lose the CCC applet.

 

[jb]

You do have the Catalyst 5.11 drivers installed, just not all the other
bells and whistles in the CCC. Catalyst is the name ATI uses for it's whole
driver package, much like Detonator is used by Nvidia. Anyway, you get full
driver functionality and compatibility, but lose all the various tweaks and
settings under advanced display properties, and lose the CCC applet.

Thanks. That's what I suspected.

 

[The Outsider]

Thanks. That's what I suspected.

You can get all those functions back, and more, by installing Ray
Adam's ATI Tray Tools. Get the file here.

www.guru3d.com