Best drivers for GB 9600XT 128?

[bill1971]

Finishing up a mid-range (priced) gaming box for a friend. The system is:

P4 2.4B/533 MHz
2 x 256 MB PC2700 sticks running in Dual Channel mode
Intel D865PERL board (for stability - I don't want no trouble!)
NEC 4x Dual Burner
Lite-on 52x Burner
7-in-1 internal Card Reader
NIC
Antec SoHo1040 case w/ 400 watt PSU
WinXP Pro w/ SP1a

Gigabyte 9600XT 128MB graphics card

I believe the current display driver is version 6.14.00.xxxx. Not sure what Catalyst no. this correlates to.

I have dwnlded,(but not installed yet), the Catalyst 4.1(?) drivers.

Current 3DMark2001SE score is 12190

Is this score any good for this card??

Which is the best driver for this series card? I might experiment with OC'g this card, just a little. I want a happy friend, but no phone calls, if you get my drift!

I've read here in the forums that sometimes those latest ATI drivers can do more harm than good. And I'm a little reluctant to uninstall and re-install too many sets of display drivers.

Also using on-board sound right now. What kind of performance hit am I experiencing? My friend is basically a Quake III on-line gaming guy. His current system is an HP PIII 850/100MHz 128MB system w/prolly on-board graphics, so I'm certain the new box, as is, will blow him away!

Any input / suggestions regarding this 9600XT would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

- Bill

[brian0555]

I just got this same exact card on Friday. The supplied drivers seem really bad, a lot of jerkiness in 3dmark03.

Since I've had the card a whole day, I haven't really had time to scope out the best drivers, but the 6.14.00.... really helped smooth everything out.

It also has Overdrive, a feature that supposedly monitors the temperature and overclocks safely automatically.

IMO, go for the 6.14.00. set; unless someone can show both of us something better!


My score was 13,089 for 3dmark'01
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7584808

[bill1971]

Thanks, Brian:

Haven't run 3Dmark03. I think the 3DMark01SE had been sitting on my hard drive for well over a year or year and a half, at least.
I'm sure FutureMark has prolly updated it since then. But everything looked smooth running 01SE.

Seems that in the manual, the V-Tuner is only for AMD chips(?)
I'll look again, and see if I can't OC a little. As I said, I sacrificed performance for stability, in choosing this Intel board, based on reviews.

Thanks.

- Bill

[tony_j15]

4.2 Catalysts are the latest, go get them (fully stable). Futuremark has updated to 3D Mark 2003. It tests your cards DX9 performance. You will score in the 4000-5000 range. OC using a program like Powerstrip or Rage3D tweak. They are n00b friendly. BTW, the XT automatically OC's to 426mhz (core) when temps are good.

When using onboard sound, you will expierince a loss in fps at most of 10%. Of course, getting a soundcard will remove that burden and allow you to do 5.1.

[bill1971]

Thanks, tony:

I've got the 4.2 on a disk, in the box now, ready to be installed.
I'm tempted to do the Windoze "Update Driver" thing, but I won't, 'cause removing the 7.95 driver first, is the recommended procedure.

OK- I didn't realize the XT OC'd itself. That would explain why the V-Tuner is reading right at 500 MHz core clock, and just under 600 MHz memory. (I forgot what the 9600XT is supposed to run "stock").

3DMark03 score was just under 4000. Some of the fps's really took a dive, causing the slightly lower score.

I think I will put in a soundcard - just to see the difference, even though the tests do not use sound.

- Bill