# New ATI Hotfix Patches Various 3D Problems with Radeon HD Series



## malware (Mar 26, 2008)

Owners of ATI's Radeon HD2xxx/HD3xxx series cards who are experiencing intermittent stuttering when running various 3D applications can now make use of the new Catalyst hotfix which is said to fix the problem. Available now for Windows XP (32/64-bit) and Windows Vista (32/64-bit), the 737-33033 hotfix can be downloaded here.

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## DanishDevil (Mar 26, 2008)

Is this only recommended for those experiencing the problems, or for everyone?  I assume the first?


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## Xolair (Mar 26, 2008)

Can you install these over older *Catalyst* drivers (like 7.12's for example), or must you use the newest ones?


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## BumbRush (Mar 26, 2008)

if your using an HD card why the hell would u be using the 7.12 drivers.....thats insain.....


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## InnocentCriminal (Mar 26, 2008)

Anyone experiencing any of the benefits when using these hotfixes?


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## DanishDevil (Mar 26, 2008)

I'd be willing to do a comparison test to see if they up performance.  I won't have time this weekend, though.  New parts, dates with two women, and a lacrosse game


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## Pinchy (Mar 26, 2008)

I will tell you if this works in around 20 minutes.

In counter strike source, I get random moments where it just LAGS out. Like its not really random because it only happens on a certain map and in like 2-3 areas on that map....But ALWAYS happens!


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## alexp999 (Mar 26, 2008)

This looks like the Catalyst 8.4 Beta


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## j3tstream (Mar 26, 2008)

BumbRush said:


> if your using an HD card why the hell would u be using the 7.12 drivers.....thats insain.....



 that is because u wouldn't believe the performance increase above above the8.3 drivers, anyway i should tell that 8.2 already work great 

I am trying this with my 3870+3850 setup and 8.2 drivers. lets see... if I now can play coh: of without lag and no intermitent lag in css.


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## antzen (Mar 26, 2008)

with 8.3 i had stuttering and fps-drops in various games & 3dmark06 (cpu-score-drop). 

same problems with this hotfix   

back to 8.2 ....


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## TechnicalFreak (Mar 26, 2008)

I can't recall that I've had any problems at all with my X2 card.. Is this patch for them aswell??


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## antzen (Mar 26, 2008)

TechnicalFreak said:


> I can't recall that I've had any problems at all with my X2 card.. Is this patch for them aswell??



"Radeon™ HD3870 series"  .... i think so ....


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## Xolair (Mar 26, 2008)

BumbRush said:


> if your using an HD card why the hell would u be using the 7.12 drivers.....thats insain.....



I remember having weird problems in Crysis with any younger drivers than the 7.12's, so ''been stuck'' with them ever since, or just too lazy to try out the newer ones. 

Guess I could try 8.3 and install these hotfix ones sometime when I have more time.


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## CY:G (Mar 26, 2008)

I only have issues with my X2, when someone throws a Flash granade in Counter Strike Source or COD 4, I thought i damaged it while overclocking, hopefully this fixes that issue...


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## Nitro-Max (Mar 26, 2008)

Well i wasnt having problems but i installed it anyway just incase it showed any improvement and it was horribble i actually got micro stuttering.

8.2 his alot better than 8.3 but i use the Extreme G optimized 8.2 driver its awsome.


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## Dr. Spankenstein (Mar 26, 2008)

BumbRush]if your using an HD card why the hell would u be using the 7.12 drivers.....thats insain.....[/quote]

[QUOTE=j3tstream said:


> *that is because u wouldn't believe the performance increase above above the8.3 drivers*, anyway i should tell that 8.2 already work great



Well, at least you listened to SOMETHING I said in your thread!


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## Steevo (Mar 26, 2008)

I wondered why my HL2:EP2 was stuttering and acting shitty. Using the flashlight made the game unplayable. Same for COD2 and other games.


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## Megasty (Mar 26, 2008)

Wow, just wow. Just actually listened about how powerplay is randomly dropping the power usage of the cards during loading & strenuous playing. GJ ATI, well sort of...


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## j3tstream (Mar 26, 2008)

Dr. Spankenstein said:


> Well, at least you listened to SOMETHING I said in your thread!



actually I listened to everything but i didn't posted every word, I spent the most time checking if it actually works. So i rather listen then be heard.
Btw got a zerotherm btf90 for my cpu. Ill post some pics later...

i'm testing 8.2+this hotfix today, I'll let u ppl know some until tomorrow.


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## Morgoth (Mar 26, 2008)

lol i allready have this driver for 2 days


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## Urbklr (Mar 26, 2008)

I feel special....i have had no problems with my 8.3, everything seems fine


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## ShadowFold (Mar 26, 2008)

Urbklr911 said:


> I feel special....i have had no problems with my 8.3, everything seems fine



Yea same here. The only game not working well is crysis but either than that I dont think I need the hotfix.


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## AphexDreamer (Mar 26, 2008)

Urbklr911 said:


> I feel special....i have had no problems with my 8.3, everything seems fine



Yeah you have an XT thats why. I as well have had no problams at all even with the lastest Hot Fix.


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## BumbRush (Mar 26, 2008)

meh, its like ppl sticking with the 4.12 drivers back in the day, i moved on and had NO problems, some did.

as to the feelind special, thats how i felt back in the nf2 days when everybody else was having perf drops from using the nviia chipset drivers and i was getting a small perf boost from them.

i think its just that some systems like some drivers/settings and others dont, nothing more or less then that.


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## Urbklr (Mar 26, 2008)

AphexDreamer said:


> Yeah you have an XT thats why. I as well have had no problams at all even with the lastest Hot Fix.



I thought that people had problems with the HD2xxx and HD3xxx series on the 8.3's??

PS-I haven't had problems, even in Crysis..


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## j3tstream (Mar 26, 2008)

Urbklr911 said:


> I thought that people had problems with the HD2xxx and HD3xxx series on the 8.3's??
> 
> PS-I haven't had problems, even in Crysis..



I am not totally sure but I believe most of them are hd3000 series issues and alot 3850 have problems(crysis), why??? 
I wanted to know too... lets ask ati, I already sent some feedback to them without answer, so I hope that at least they can get it fixed on 8.4 drivers.
I love to be a pioneer but I hate the 2ndary effects of imature drivers.

That is something I have noticed.... Nvidia fixes some things really fast but not always the best way, but they do; ATI fixes everything but it takes 1to3 driver versions to fully fix it. The overall quality of ati drivers and performance is also better but I must admit that nvidia has learned somethings since the 6***series and stopped stealling quality in exchange for performance hits. Or at least they learned how to cover it. Because right now the only things I can tell that ati is in vantage are all quality enchancements, not performance. 
Of course I dont give a *** about 60 to 100 fps difference when I can have 16-24AA, and tesselation on gpu. I rather have a full featured card then a beast that can run everything at max settings and no extra features.

After all of this I still feel like ATI could be alot better, dont knw why but I still feel that there is something cooking on ATI behind this whole GPU competition.

It is kind of wierd that since x850 ati have never came back to the top again.
Something is on the works.....   at least lets pray for the gpu gods to help ati rise again1!!!11
(because if u ppl think really well the only missing think is pure performance so at least for me ATI is leading ever since the first gpu)


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## Psychoholic (Mar 27, 2008)

They havnt?  What about the 1900 Series vs the 7900 series?



j3tstream said:


> It is kind of wierd that since x850 ati have never came back to the top again.
> Something is on the works.....   at least lets pray for the gpu gods to help ati rise again1!!!11
> (because if u ppl think really well the only missing think is pure performance so at least for me ATI is leading ever since the first gpu)


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## BumbRush (Mar 27, 2008)

j3tstream said:


> I am not totally sure but I believe most of them are hd3000 series issues and alot 3850 have problems(crysis), why???
> I wanted to know too... lets ask ati, I already sent some feedback to them without answer, so I hope that at least they can get it fixed on 8.4 drivers.
> I love to be a pioneer but I hate the 2ndary effects of imature drivers.
> 
> ...



1900/1950>7800/7900/7950, so u missed a gen, it wasnt till the 8800 that ati fell behind.

as to the nvidia fix some stuff fast.

well they fix issues with the top games fast, other issues they totaly ignore because it dosnt sell cards, only reviews and benchmarks sell cards in their eyes.

some examples i have read about and then disscoved for myself.

windows x64 pro crash on anything that access hardware fetures bug, this is a KNOWN bugg and has been there with server 2003 and x64pro since they came out, nvidia hasnt bothered to fix it dispite it being a know and admited bug in their datebase, why, because they figuar if your using x64pro/server 2003 you can just reinstall as many times as it takes to get it to not crash, it took me 5 trys the 5th i found the fix on another forum, gotta slipstream an nvidia driver into the disk, then update to the current one IF it wasnt the current one after its setup and stable, nice, force me to install windows multi times to fix a problem that shouldnt ever happen!!!!!

and 2nd, one i hadnt seen but confermed myself, yv12 rendering bugg, most codecs now dissable yv12 mode on nvidia cards because it dosnt work properly, this is stupid since every other videochip maker even SiS and S3(via) have working yv12 support, and nvidia has fixed it randomly with betas or fulls over the last year and a half......but they dont care because it dosnt sell cards, all that matters to them is crysis and the like, games that are used to benchmark the card.........

again thats why i dont think we are seeing support for other cards in the latist drivers, because nvidia dosnt care to bother to test them with other cards, all they care about is selling their latist and greatist 9 seirse cards, screw anybody whos got an 8seirse, even if its a g92 8seirse just like the brand new "9" seirse......what a crock......


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## imperialreign (Mar 27, 2008)

Too bad the beta doesn't offer support for the 1900 series 

I'm hoping that 8.4 fixes the piss-poor Crossfire performance for 1950 series cards . . . I've had to roll back to 8.2 for the time being.


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## j3tstream (Mar 27, 2008)

u r forgeting the gx2 that one was fastest than an x1950xt, witch means that ati never really got a vantage in performance, but only in tech. 
Still I am very happy for their choice. Quality over performance


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## Pinchy (Mar 27, 2008)

Nope no changes for me.


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## MrMilli (Mar 27, 2008)

In Control Center these say 'Catalyst 8.4'.
Must be pre-8.4.


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## alexp999 (Mar 27, 2008)

MrMilli said:


> In Control Center these say 'Catalyst 8.4'.
> Must be pre-8.4.



I mentioned that earlier. Put up a screenie too. No-one seemed to notice


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## j3tstream (Mar 27, 2008)

must be alpha or beta drivers or even prealpha,
no change, still got gigantic breaks in some places in source games.


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## alexp999 (Mar 27, 2008)

I'm still getting the odd atimkdag has stopped responding when im surfing the net. Never does it in games, even under full load


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## Psychoholic (Mar 27, 2008)

Actually i wasnt forgetting about the gx2..  I was talking about single cards and single gpus.  Im pretty sure crossfired 1900's would have ate it for lunch.



j3tstream said:


> u r forgeting the gx2 that one was fastest than an x1950xt, witch means that ati never really got a vantage in performance, but only in tech.
> Still I am very happy for their choice. Quality over performance


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## j3tstream (Mar 27, 2008)

Psychoholic said:


> Actually i wasnt forgetting about the gx2..  I was talking about single cards and single gpus.  Im pretty sure crossfired 1900's would have ate it for lunch.



please dont force me to say it.... 
you know for sure that 2 gx2 should be better thant 2 1950


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## rhythmeister (Mar 27, 2008)

BumbRush said:


> if your using an HD card why the hell would u be using the 7.12 drivers.....thats insain.....



Have you attempted to install HD 2600 drivers for an AGP card? BAD move on ATI's part by not supporting that card  At least the Omega drivers work


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## BumbRush (Mar 27, 2008)

all i can say about the agp cards is complain dirrrectly to amd/ati, they fix it then break it, ofcorse at least they are offering agp cards that are better then the bottem of the barel chips


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## Sapientwolf (Mar 27, 2008)

I was getting strange glitching in Supreme Commander Forged Alliance with my X1900XT, flickering trees warping fog of war, lingering effects etc...

I'll post again once I get them installed to see if it is alleviated.


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## Urbklr (Mar 27, 2008)

j3tstream said:


> please dont force me to say it....
> you know for sure that 2 gx2 should be better thant 2 1950



Um, the 2 GX2's aren't, they got owned by even 2 7900GTX's.....QuadSLi just didn't work, sooo...


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## j3tstream (Mar 27, 2008)

Urbklr911 said:


> Um, the 2 GX2's aren't, they got owned by even 2 7900GTX's.....QuadSLi just didn't work, sooo...



then maybe I was wrong and only since 8000series nvidia is leading, but even so... I want ati on top again  I will not stop whining until ATI (completely)kicks nvidia's ass again like we were used to.


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## Urbklr (Mar 27, 2008)

j3tstream said:


> then maybe I was wrong and only since 8000series nvidia is leading, but even so... I want ati on top again  I will not stop whining until ATI (completely)kicks nvidia's ass again like we were used to.



+1....ATi FTW


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## Xolair (Mar 28, 2008)

Well, the question still lies:

CAN YOU INSTALL THESE OVER OLDER DRIVERS LIKE THE 7.12's?!

Oops, my Capslock got stuck.


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## Wile E (Mar 28, 2008)

BumbRush said:


> and 2nd, one i hadnt seen but confermed myself, yv12 rendering bugg, most codecs now dissable yv12 mode on nvidia cards because it dosnt work properly


That bug doesn't exist in 169.21.


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## j3tstream (Mar 28, 2008)

Xolair said:


> Well, the question still lies:
> 
> CAN YOU INSTALL THESE OVER OLDER DRIVERS LIKE THE 7.12's?!
> 
> Oops, my Capslock got stuck.



from what Ive heard you should uninstall all ati software even for the hotfixes.


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## twicksisted (Mar 28, 2008)

j3tstream said:


> from what Ive heard you should uninstall all ati software even for the hotfixes.



I just installed the driver (not the catalyst suite) last night over the older driver... works fine... and notice no difference (HD2900pro playing COD4)
Diddnt use the software uninstall utility atall and it diddnt seem to make a hint of difference this time round.


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## j3tstream (Mar 28, 2008)

I noticed that too


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## piebobs71 (Apr 8, 2008)

so i should uninstall all ati drivers and stuff before installing this fix or just install over exisiting 8.3's ? once again ati reign supreme with little or no info


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## j3tstream (Apr 8, 2008)

Yes you shoul clear all driver vestiges before this...


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## BumbRush (Apr 8, 2008)

Wile E said:


> That bug doesn't exist in 169.21.



they dissabled yv12 in the 169.21's i did some tests and the driver just dosnt support it, the 174's seem to have it back, and its "ok" the quilitys not perfect tho, still better to force another mode if the movie uses yv12 by default.


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