AMD to Now Only Update Drivers 'When It Makes Sense'

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Calm down. No one is going to take you seriously with the way you're calling others names and making grammatical mistakes akin to a 4th grader. It sounds to me that you are bashing AMD, not for their improving business strategies,(and if you can't understand that moving away from the monthly schedule is an improvement, then I would suggest learning a little bit more about economics, supply/demand, and how the real world works) but because their new business strategies don't accommodate YOU.

There's a reason that AMD is as successful as they are. And they will continue to be successful as long as they keep trying to make better CPUs and video cards and offer them at a competitive price to Nvidia. There's a reason why AMD isn't falling hand over feet at your (or my) front door asking for consulting services, "so face it."

IF you do decide to respond, I ask that you do so in a respectful and grammatically correct tone, as new people every day read these forums looking for insightful and informative information. Thanks.
 
[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]Yes, I must be blinded by my perfectly working 7850 while you're stuck with stuttering with whatever card you claim to have. When things work right, I suppose they can be blinding. Just because something is notorious for some reason does not mean that the reason is true, or at least true anymore. As of right now, AMD has fixed the problem caused by dual GPU Radeon 7000 setups with their latest driver (among other fixes) and if you count the current severe problems that each company has, AMD is actually winning because Nvidia has more than AMD does right now.Nvidia is the one with stuttering and V-sync issues right now, not AMD. Oh but sure, I must be a fanboy when I use logic against you. Every real tech savvy knows that the vast majority of problems are either user error or the user blames them on the wrong thing. My modded 7850 @ almost 1.4GHz GPU and over 6GHz memory that has had few severe driver issues so long as I keep drivers updated and if I see a problem, solve it myself real quick and fairly painlessly is quite a sight to behold for a sub $300 graphics card. Oh but sure, I must be a fanboy for pointing out what should be obvious. Care to name any driver related bugs that haven't been fixed rather promptly and couldn't be fixed by rolling back a driver update and/or some quick little fix? I don't know of any, despite having a 7850 and having worked with several others.[/citation]

Thats not the point. Most of the time Nvidia drivers are great and stable right out of the box. When Nvidia updates thier drivers it's usually for peroformance increase in certain games. AMD has to keep updating their drivers just to make them stable.

Nvidia- Better drivers and more support for improving game performance

AMD- Unstable drivers, no direct support for improving game performance
 
[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]Thats not the point. Most of the time Nvidia drivers are great and stable right out of the box. When Nvidia updates thier drivers it's usually for peroformance increase in certain games. AMD has to keep updating their drivers just to make them stable. Nvidia- Better drivers and more support for improving game performanceAMD- Unstable drivers, no direct support for improving game performance[/citation]

AMD had to "keep updating" because they updated often, so each update was a smaller update than Nvidia's and it also had less testing time. You could at least try to rationalize about this before posting. Besides, Nvidia is having numerous driver issues right now. Nvidia has it worse than AMD right now! Also, AMD improves performance with at least every few releases. Each release gets gradually more stable and every few releases improves performance a little. Don't pretend that Nvidia doesn't have to fix problems of their own. The very latest Nvidia driver (or almost latest, I don't remember exactly) forces many of Nvidia's card to underclock down to 2D frequencies, making any serious gaming almost impossible. Then we have what has been mentioned many times, Nvidia's stuttering and V-Sync issues. Nvidia says that those will be solved this month, so maybe that latest driver fixed them. I'm not sure, but even if it did, the new problem is even worse. Both companies have high times and lows when it comes to drivers.
 
[citation][nom]Klaud45[/nom]Calm down. No one is going to take you seriously with the way you're calling others names and making grammatical mistakes akin to a 4th grader. It sounds to me that you are bashing AMD, not for their improving business strategies,(and if you can't understand that moving away from the monthly schedule is an improvement, then I would suggest learning a little bit more about economics, supply/demand, and how the real world works) but because their new business strategies don't accommodate YOU. There's a reason that AMD is as successful as they are. And they will continue to be successful as long as they keep trying to make better CPUs and video cards and offer them at a competitive price to Nvidia. There's a reason why AMD isn't falling hand over feet at your (or my) front door asking for consulting services, "so face it." IF you do decide to respond, I ask that you do so in a respectful and grammatically correct tone, as new people every day read these forums looking for insightful and informative information. Thanks.[/citation]
Well, the only thing you say is that you are just an AMD fingirl. Good for you. But, successful? You should try reading a little more.
 


Try all you want, but you won't make me or anyone on this forum angry by acting like a 10 year-old.

When you type, words that are underlined in red are misspelled. If you right-click, it'll give you some suggestions on proper spelling for that word.


I am going to be building my first personal-use tower for gaming and school this summer. Right now, I have a 3-1/2 year-old laptop running an Nvidia 8600, so your "fingirl" comment makes you look ignorant and idiotic. I will be using a Sapphire HD 7850, because for my budget ($250), it seems to be the best card for the money right now, according to a good majority of reviews and benches out there. I've already built numerous systems through my internship in the MIS department of an engineering/design firm, and as an MIS major graduating in a couple of years, and a computer enthusiast since age 12, I feel comfortable in saying I know what I am doing. I will, in fact, read a little more, because there's no such thing as too much knowledge, and we all have something new to learn every day. You should probably take your own advice, by the way.
 


Trolling is not solving anything. Besides, AMD has been gradually gaining market share in the graphics market (having a several month lead in the next gen high end video cards and a still ongoing lead in mid-range next gen cards means a lot and the Radeon 5000 series proved that fairly well too), so yes, successful. AMD, despite not having the greatest CPUs anymore, has sold quite a lot of CPUs and APUs and in the mobile market, is also gaining market share. Sure, GBF is hurting the profits as of this time, but that expense is paid now and AMD has literally almost nowhere to go but up at this point.

They have almost their entire line of Radeon 7000 cards out, Trinity and Vishera (Piledriver) on the way (and both looking good too), and since Haswell won't be out until about 2013 and Ivy has the paste inhibiting its overclocking performance if you don't mod the IHS by replacing the paste and/or removing the IHS completely (leaving Ivy and Sandy on fairly equal footing in overclocking performance and Ivy a little more expensive than Sandy for its slightly higher stock performance and lower power usage for non overclockers), AMD has plenty of time to possibly release APUs with Steamroller before Haswell comes out and if they show big improvements over Trinity, then there will be people waiting for Steamroller in AMD's CPUs.

When you think about these factors, AMD's situation doesn't actually look too bad at all. All that AMD has to do is deliver decent performance with their upcoming processors without losing ground in the graphics market and then AMD is back in action, albeit maybe not in the force that they should be.
 


I have seen none of these "numerous driver issues" that you mention, what card do you use by the way?
 


I don't have these problems because I don't have a Nvidia card that I'm gaming on right now. However, I have dealt with them in the forums and read about some in Tom's articles. There was an article addressing stuttering problems seemingly related to (presumably faulty) V-Sync that Nvidia publicly stated were occurring and that they were working on a fix for it that was intended to be released this month. Nvidia's newer driver has had several people's cards underclocking down to 2D frequencies during gaming and I've already been in two forum threads here on Tom's where someone had this problem and a driver roll-back solved the issue completely. The first was with a GTX 560 TI and the second was with a GTX 670, if I remember correctly, so the problem isn't just Kepler cards like the other two seem to be. I think it was said to only affect factory overclocked models, but I can't confirm that.

These are the main three problems that I've seen so far that have been shown to be driver problems or at least related to drivers on Nvidia's cards lately. As of now, I've had fewer driver problems with my AMD cards lately (not to say that there haven't been any) and the latest driver solved what the previous AMD driver releases didn't. However, I have heard of more AMD cards needing an RMA than Nvidia cards lately (including my first Radeon 7850).
 

I have factory overclocked GTX560Ti's and I haven't seen these issues so are they like the AMD one's that also don't exist? Or is it just a case of they are out there, just like the AMD/ATi issues are?
 


You're more than smart enough to know that not everyone experiences the same problems. I've helped people who were experiencing problems and after trouble-shooting, a driver rollback solved them and no matter what, using the newer driver would cause problems for some people. I know other people who don't have the problem. There was a news article right here on Tom's where Nvidia addressed the stuttering/V-Sync issues so if you think that they are fake, then just go through the site's articles and you'll see it.

Every driver issue that I used to have with my 7850 and the several other 7850s that I've used in other builds for other people has been solved by now. The last driver release, Cata 12.6a, solved the final problem that still came up with Crossfire configurations. AMD's issues aren't non-existent, they are fixed. Nvidia's drivers gave enough people severe problems that Nvidia officially addressed the situation. Besides that, I didn't say that AMD/Ati cards aren't having issues. I'm saying that none of the cards that I've used lately have anymore drier problems. I even went as far as to say that AMD/Ati cards seem to need an RMA more often than the Nvidia cards lately, yet you're psot seems to imply that you're accusing me of bias. Don't pretend that just because you aren't having issues right now that other people aren't having issues with the same and similar cards, especially with how finicky technology can be.
 

I looked for those threads, didn't find them and I never said nor pretended that other people were not having issues.

I said I was not having issues and I then asked what card you had, is it just me or are you taking this change a little badly?
 


http://www.tomshardware.com/news/GeForce-GTX690-GTX680-GTX670-V-Sync-Stuttering-Fix,15670.html

I'd have to look a lot harder to find the individual forum threads, so if I find them at all, it might take a while longer. When I first heard about this, I just thought that the people experiencing the problem had either installed the drivers incorrectly or that they had V-Sync set up incorrectly, but with Nvidia publicly acknowledging it as an unsolved driver problem at the time, that seems far less likely.
 
The article also states that they couldn't reproduce the issue.

Our editorial team played through a number of games with GeForce GTX 600-series board and was unsuccessful in reproducing the issue. As such, we're fairly confident that the issue does not apply to every configuration based on Nvidia's newest cards; some folks are experiencing it, while others aren't.
Click to expand...
 

It also states that some people are having the issue. This is technology. Many things don't work the same way even if they might seem lie they should at first glance. Maybe some motherboards or even some motherboards with certain BIOS' don't like the Kepler cards. Maybe there's some other cause. Regardless, that article also states that Nvidia not only recognized the issue, but also knows the cause of it, so it is almost definitely a real issue (unless many people and Nvidia are all lying).

We have received reports of an intermittent v-sync stuttering issue from some of our customers. We’ve root caused the issue to a driver bug and identified a fix for it. The fix requires extensive testing though, and will not be available until our next major driver release targeted for June (post-R300). For users experiencing this issue, the interim workaround is to disable v-sync via the Nvidia Control Panel or in-game graphics settings menu.
Click to expand...

Nvidia admitted that they had a driver bug, that they are fixing it, and that the fix is expected this month.

680 owner here. I get this problem when I play Diablo 3. It only happens with adaptive v-sync. 99% of the time it's OK because my frames are over 60. On the rare occasion there are 4 players, everyone casting a bunch of spells, and like 30 monsters on the screen exploding, the frames will go below 60. That's when adaptive vsync turns itself off and there will be a slight stutter.
Click to expand...

Maybe you can try testing this and see if you can reproduce the problem. This post implies that it is at least partially caused by adaptive V-Sync switching between on/off and that leads me to assume that it might simply not be switching fast enough.
 
[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]Pff no point in arguing with an AMD fangirl idiot.[/citation]

That may be true, but there aren't any fangirl idiots arguing with you, only people being reasonable. Not only have you failed to present a single proper logical argument that wasn't wrong, but you have repetitively outright insulted everyone else here. You can't win the argument because you're wrong, so you resort to insulting people who are at least trying to be civil and explain this stuff to you since you obviously have taken it wrongly.
 
[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]Look around complaints about AMD drivers are all ove the place. Where are all these problems with Nvidia drivers that you're crying about. I have yet to see you with any proof.[/citation]

Complaints? They are almost all either old and have since been fixed or were caused by people not knowing how to install drivers properly. I don't know of any major driver problem for gaming right now on AMD Radeon 7000 cards. I asked you to name any that you knew to still be on-going problems, yet you have yet to give any.

The posts RIGHT ABOVE YOURS clearly speak of the V-Sync/stuttering issue that Nvidia is having and that Nvidia has admitted to having and it being a driver problem and in fact, there is a link to the article that Tom's did on this. There are tons of complaints about Nvidia's latest drivers and there is proof right above your post and if you failed to see it, well... I'm worried for you.
 
[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]I already told you go back to page two.[/citation]


[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]Please AMD drivers are notorious for being buggy they have been that way for a long time. Drivers that cause stuttering, drivers that just won't work when trying to install them with dual video cards. The only way to download drivers with dual video cards is one at a time. That has nothing to do with user error that has to do with trash drivers. You're obviously an AMD fanboy to blinded to see the truth.[/citation]

Do you mean this? Guess what. Nvidia is having stuttering problems from a driver bug right now, not AMD. Also, what's this about needing to install drivers multiple times for Crossfire? I don't need to install multiple drivers for Crossfire when I build computers with CF for customers, so I don't know what you're talking about there.

Or were you referring to another post (or posts)? As of yet, no one here has mentioned a driver problem with the Radeon 7000 cards that is still on-going.
 
Of course you never heard of it, fanboys never want to admit that their beloved company has faults. Look around here, go onto other forums you'll see plenty of problems with AMD drivers. Just because you didn't have any problems must mean that there are no problems out there right? Like I said AMD drivers tend to be garbage to Nvidia's drivers. They might be have some problems now but most of the time they have the better drivers and they still have better support for games.
 
[citation][nom]Rds1220[/nom]Of course you never heard of it, fanboys never want to admit that their beloved company has faults. Look around here, go onto other forums you'll see plenty of problems with AMD drivers. Just because you didn't have any problems must mean that there are no problems out there right? Like I said AMD drivers tend to be garbage to Nvidia's drivers. They might be have some problems now but most of the time they have the better drivers and they still have better support for games.[/citation]

I'll admit that there are faults if you can prove to me that there are. You have yet to do so and I have yet to find any since updating my driver to 12.6a. People having trouble are using older drivers and/or didn't install them properly and in fact, I've also yet to hear of a legitimate case of the Catalyst 12.6a driver causing a problem. However, I am hearing a lot about Nvidia driver problems. Why, just a few minutes ago, this thread popped up and it seems to be a sterling example of the Nvidia throttling driver bug:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/356574-33-gigabyte-670gtx-windforce-performance#t2675347

We also have the ever-present:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/GeForce-GTX690-GTX680-GTX670-V-Sync-Stuttering-Fix,15670.html

I offer proof of Nvidia's bugs. You offer nothing but speculation and past problems. I'm not saying that AMD's drivers are perfect, only that not only have I not had any problems with the 12.6a driver at all, but that I've also not heard of anyone else having a problem caused by a bug in the 12.6a driver. It seems that AMD has fixed their final serious issues and I'm still waiting to find more, but as of yet, I've been waiting in vain. Then here you are saying that there are problems, but you still haven't given any evidence against the 12.6a driver. I'm not a fanboy for not believing you when you have absolutely nothing backing your claims about AMD still having problems and I have everything backing mine so far.
 
Nice move.
I wasn't paying attention to the game advertisement banners shown during the installation of every update, anyways.
Since the problem with the HDMI device disappearing randomly still exist after so many updates, there is no use to update so frequently. I feel like those were just ad banner updates as if they launch an update when they want to show us new ad banners.
 
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