Comprehensive ATI Driver Review

Comprehensive ATI Driver Review
Posted :: May 10, 2004 by Haggs

Introduction:
We had many requests for a more comprehensive version of our first ATI driver review article, so we decided to more comprehensive testing. This time we have included nine different driver versions. We selected ATI's Catalyst versions 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 along with Omega's 2.4.60 (based on the Catalyst 3.5 driver), 2.4.78a (based on the Catalyst 3.7 driver), 2.5.22 (based on the Catalyst 4.2 Driver), 2.5.30 (based on the Catalyst 4.3 driver), and 2.5.36b (based on the Catalyst 4.4 driver). Our benchmark selection this time around was also enhanced to include 3DMark2001 SE (build 330), 3DMark03 (build 340), AquaMark3, Codecreatures Benchmark Pro, and Gun Metal Benchmark 2 (version 1.20s). After completing the benchmark set, we did some simple game play testing in the Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. We also had requests to set a restore point and revert to the restore point in between driver installs. This should clear up any concern that driver installations are affecting each other. We learned a lot from this test and have some solid information to share with you!

Update (June 7, 2004): We have posted a review of the new Catalyst 4.5, Catalyst 4.6 beta, Omega 4.5, and DNA 4.5 Drivers here.

Test System Specs (same as first ATI driver test):

Processor: AMD XP2700+ cooled with Thermaltake Volcano 11+
Memory: 512M DDR PC2700
Motherboard: MSI KT4V with onboard 10/100LAN + AC '97 Audio
Sound Card: Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS
Power Supply: Antec 400 Watts "SL400"
Primary Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 1800FP 18" LCD
Secondary Monitor: Mag Innovision 986FS 19" CRT (disabled for these tests)
Speakers: Logitech 400Watt 4.1
Video Card: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 AGP 8x by Sapphire Tech (Directx9.0b)
Hard Drive 1: Maxtor 60 GB w/2MB Cache (for Windows only)
Hard Drive 2: Seagate 160 GB w/8MB Cache (for everything else)
DVD-ROM: 16x
CD-RW: 52x24x52x
Operating System: Updated Windows XP Professional w/SP1

Method:
We did our best to select a logical, scientific approach to our benchmark test. We started by using the defrag program that is built into Windows XP Professional twice on both the C and D drive to make sure our drives were clean and in good order before continuing the experiment.

Next, we created a system restore point (visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp for more information on system restore points).

Next we installed our first driver and ran the five benchmarks: 3DMark2001 SE, 3DMark03, AquaMark3, Code Creatures, and Gun Metal Benchmark 2 respectively. Then we reverted back to our system restore point and benchmarked the next driver. The drivers were tested in the following order: ATI's Catalyst version 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, Omega's 2.4.60 (based on the Catalyst 3.5 driver), 2.4.78a (based on the Catalyst 3.7 driver), 2.5.22 (based on the Catalyst 4.2 Driver), 2.5.30 (based on the Catalyst 4.3 driver), and finally the 2.5.36b (based on the Catalyst 4.4 driver). After completing the benchmark set, we did some simple game play testing in the Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. After 12 straight hours of benchmarking and restoring, our screenshots were compiled and results were tabulated.