Anyone having any issues with the 12.1 drivers?

[BlackOmega]

So I recently installed my 2 flashed 6950's (fully unlocked and 6970 speeds). However, in crossfire mode, the second card was not registering it's temp in MSI's Afterburner on-screen display. However, all of the temps for both cards would register in GPUz. I even ran a sensor log and everything was hunky dory. However, I'm pretty particular about the temps my GPUs' run at so I like to monitor them while gaming. I haven't let any GPU I've ever had go over 75C.

Anyway, so I decided to update my driver from 11.12 to 12.1. It seemed to work fine at first, but then I got a hard lock.
Restarted, got into windows, hard lock again. Switched the cards back to the original 6950 BIOS, no change. Pulled out lower card no change. So I put my 560Ti back in and haven't had any issues.

NOTE: I have used each card individually for extended periods of time with no issues.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with the 12.1 drivers?

 

[TheMailMan78]

So I recently installed my 2 flashed 6950's (fully unlocked and 6970 speeds). However, in crossfire mode, the second card was not registering it's temp in MSI's Afterburner on-screen display. However, all of the temps for both cards would register in GPUz. I even ran a sensor log and everything was hunky dory. However, I'm pretty particular about the temps my GPUs' run at so I like to monitor them while gaming. I haven't let any GPU I've ever had go over 75C.

Anyway, so I decided to update my driver from 11.12 to 12.1. It seemed to work fine at first, but then I got a hard lock.
Restarted, got into windows, hard lock again. Switched the cards back to the original 6950 BIOS, no change. Pulled out lower card no change. So I put my 560Ti back in and haven't had any issues.

NOTE: I have used each card individually for extended periods of time with no issues.

Has anyone else had any similar issues with the 12.1 drivers?

My issues were so bad I went Nvidia. Honestly. 12.1 drivers were the straw that broke the camels back.

 

[BlackOmega]

My issues were so bad I went Nvidia. Honestly. 12.1 drivers were the straw that broke the camels back.

Thanks man, quite honestly, this is the first time I've EVER had an issue with Ati drivers and I've been running Ati since 12/08.
I'm going to try some older drivers and see if that corrects the issue. Don't get me wrong I like my 560Ti, but my ATi cards simply stomp this thing into the dirt.
Before I updated my drivers, I just wanted to see how Crysis would play totally maxed out. Everything maxed 100FPS without any hiccups. Never seen it look so pretty and play so well at the same time.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Thanks man, quite honestly, this is the first time I've EVER had an issue with Ati drivers and I've been running Ati since 12/08.
I'm going to try some older drivers and see if that corrects the issue. Don't get me wrong I like my 560Ti, but my ATi cards simply stomp this thing into the dirt.
Before I updated my drivers, I just wanted to see how Crysis would play totally maxed out. Everything maxed 100FPS without any hiccups. Never seen it look so pretty and play so well at the same time.

Go to 11.9 drivers.

That was before they started screwing around with the OpenGL and they are by the old driver team. I started to have issues with the drivers ever since they changed driver teams at ATI. Since then they have been shit.

Edit: I meant to say 11.9 drivers. Not 10.9.

 

[BlackOmega]

I was just about to ask that.

I didn't have any issues with most of the 11.xx series drivers, although, even with the 11.12 driver, I got flickering in BFBC2 with CFX enabled. Disabled, no flickering.

Although, I don't typically update my drivers unless I absolutely HAVE to.

Man, why don't most companies just stick to one team that's good at creating drivers, give them more resources to do their job well. Although, there seems to be a lot of ATi driver hate; could be a reason why they dissolved the previous driver team.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I was just about to ask that.

I didn't have any issues with most of the 11.xx series drivers, although, even with the 11.12 driver, I got flickering in BFBC2 with CFX enabled. Disabled, no flickering.

Although, I don't typically update my drivers unless I absolutely HAVE to.

Man, why don't most companies just stick to one team that's good at creating drivers, give them more resources to do their job well. Although, there seems to be a lot of ATi driver hate; could be a reason why they dissolved the previous driver team.

Yeah the 11.9 drivers will be good. Just make sure you have the latest profile AND be sure to update your South Bridge.

 

[BlackOmega]

Yeah the 11.9 drivers will be good. Just make sure you have the latest profile AND be sure to update your South Bridge.

I'll be sure to update my SB driver. I haven't had to do that since my old Nforce 4 boards.

 

[Melvis]

Nope best drivers ive ever had, there awesome

Working like a charm here even with MSI afterburner running also, YAY

 

[Steevo]

12.1 high res and a few other mods on skyrim and Im hiitting great numbers, just wish i had more vmem.

 

[FierceRed]

I was just about to ask that.

I didn't have any issues with most of the 11.xx series drivers, although, even with the 11.12 driver, I got flickering in BFBC2 with CFX enabled. Disabled, no flickering.

Although, I don't typically update my drivers unless I absolutely HAVE to.

Just an FYI BlackOmega, ground texture flickering has been a problem in BFBC2 DX11 (I'm assuming you're not forcing it to DX9) since forever, and its been confirmed a problem with how the game handles the geometry in the presence of water, not so much AMD hardware. While I understand nVidia hardware encounters this problem far less (though it DOES encounter it), and that I haven't mentioned my source for the above (I can't find it), I assure you I'm not just pulling this out of my ass.

As for the more important part of the FYI, if you only update drivers when you have to, you may miss out on hotfix updates that may contain underlying enhancements that you'd never see in action since you skipped over 11.Xb or 12.Xa.

Case in point: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst122Previewdriver.aspx

And a quick pull from the Release Notes:

Resolved issues under the Windows® 7 operating system
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview software suite for Windows 7. These include:

• Texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 in DirectX 11 mode.

Be warned however, the release notes also say:

Known issues under the Windows® 7 operating system
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

• Battlefield – Bad Company 2 may experience random flickering when run in DirectX 11 mode.

Now I've uninstalled BFBC2 since BF3 came out, so I can't test this out with you, but to me this sounds like they've fixed the ground textures itself from flickering, but not solved flickering in general. I don't imagine they ever will though, personally, since at least a part of the problem is outside their control.

Try them and good luck.

 

[DRDNA]

I love the 12.1 drivers! They cleared up a couple of flickering issue with two games but they don't fold so I rolled back to the 11.10 drivers but I just found out the 12.2 previews do fold so I will upgrade to them when I get out of work!

 

[Yo_Wattup]

Just came from 11.5 to 12.1, both do exactly the same thing, haven't noticed any difference in any game or anything. Never had troubles with either.

 

[_ALB_R3D X]

12.1 solved a crash occuring in BF3 mostly when I flied choppers.11.12 were garbage at least for BF3

 

[BlackOmega]

Just an FYI BlackOmega, ground texture flickering has been a problem in BFBC2 DX11 (I'm assuming you're not forcing it to DX9) since forever, and its been confirmed a problem with how the game handles the geometry in the presence of water, not so much AMD hardware. While I understand nVidia hardware encounters this problem far less (though it DOES encounter it), and that I haven't mentioned my source for the above (I can't find it), I assure you I'm not just pulling this out of my ass.

As for the more important part of the FYI, if you only update drivers when you have to, you may miss out on hotfix updates that may contain underlying enhancements that you'd never see in action since you skipped over 11.Xb or 12.Xa.

Case in point: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst122Previewdriver.aspx

And a quick pull from the Release Notes:

Resolved issues under the Windows® 7 operating system
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview software suite for Windows 7. These include:

• Texture flickering is no longer experienced when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 in DirectX 11 mode.

Be warned however, the release notes also say:

Known issues under the Windows® 7 operating system
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

• Battlefield – Bad Company 2 may experience random flickering when run in DirectX 11 mode.

Now I've uninstalled BFBC2 since BF3 came out, so I can't test this out with you, but to me this sounds like they've fixed the ground textures itself from flickering, but not solved flickering in general. I don't imagine they ever will though, personally, since at least a part of the problem is outside their control.

Try them and good luck.

Thanks Red,
I know about the texture flickering issue, it's most prevalent on the map Heavy Metal. Every video card has texture issues on that map.
The issue I was having was not a texture issue, it was actually the whole screen flickering.
Well half of it, then the other half. (Only with CFX enabled)

FWIW, it's was WAY worse on my 58xx series cards than on my 69xx series.

However, I don't think the drivers were the culprit. It turns out the board that I was using was flaking out. It started BSODing and hard locking on me. It has now failed to POST at all. Did all sorts of things to test, swapped CPUs, RAM (tested each stick individually), video cards (both ATi and Nvidia), etc. No go. I eventually threw my old MSI 790FX-GD70 board back in and all is well now. I'm going to try them again and see how they do.

 

[MT Alex]

12.1 drivers have been my favorite in the last several months. They cleared up many BF3 issues, smoothed crossfire, and seem to have helped overall visual quality. MailMan is just trying to convince himself that he chose a good card.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Stuck with 11.9's as well for a long while. Had stuttering issues in BF3 with 11.11 and 11.12's. Tried out the 12.1's and do like them but I cannot play FreeSpace Open. It just hangs on the loading screen. They did improve BF3 for me and clear up the stuttering so I have decided to stick with them. I keep 11.9's on my external just because they worked so well for me and I must be able to play FSO!

So yeah, +1 to Mailman, give the 11.9's a try.

Edit: Come to think, I did get a BSOD during the restart process right after installing the 12.1's I was gonna reinstall but have not had issues aside from the FSO problem.

 

[BlackOmega]

Well I just went through and installed 12.1 again, and wouldn't ya know it, still get the stupid screen flickering.
Uninstalled 12.1, installed 11.9 - no flicker. Hmmmm.........

 

[Melvis]

Well I just went through and installed 12.1 again, and wouldn't ya know it, still get the stupid screen flickering.
Uninstalled 12.1, installed 11.9 - no flicker. Hmmmm.........

Different hardware different issues i guess, use whats best for you

 

[BlackOmega]

Even though the hardware is different (the motherboard) its identical chipsets. Regardless, it did the exact same thing on both boards.

 

[erocker]

Are you installing the CAP's? The main difference between the old 11 series drivers and the newer ones is the way ULPS is incorporated. Disable ULPS if you're running CrossFire and these issues should go away.

 

[BlackOmega]

Are you installing the CAP's? The main difference between the old 11 series drivers and the newer ones is the way ULPS is incorporated. Disable ULPS if you're running CrossFire and these issues should go away.

You think it's bobbing back and froth from one power state to another and causing the flickering?
I didn't install the CAP that's available as it doesn't pertain to any game that I own.

However, I must note that the 12.1 driver also caused Brink to crash to desktop.

 

[erocker]

Well, I was getting stuttering in BF3 with my 6950's and disabling ULPS solved it. Always best to use the latest CAP profile with CrossFire.. any previous CAP's are built in to the latest one so you just need to install the latest. Easiest way to disable ULPS is to open the registry, ctrl+f, type ulps and it will take you right to it. Change the value from 1 to 0. There will be another entry in the "00001, 00002" folder(s) as well.

 

[TheMailMan78]

However, I must note that the 12.1 driver also caused Brink to crash to desktop.

No that was G-d telling you to stop playing that crap.

 

[BlackOmega]

Well, I was getting stuttering in BF3 with my 6950's and disabling ULPS solved it. Always best to use the latest CAP profile with CrossFire.. any previous CAP's are built in to the latest one so you just need to install the latest. Easiest way to disable ULPS is to open the registry, ctrl+f, type ulps and it will take you right to it. Change the value from 1 to 0. There will be another entry in the "00001, 00002" folder(s) as well.

Well I'll give them another go and try installing the caps this time.

No that was G-d telling you to stop playing that crap.

Oh come on, its not THAT bad once you figure out wth to do.

 

[FierceRed]

Stuck with 11.9's as well for a long while. Had stuttering issues in BF3 with 11.11 and 11.12's. Tried out the 12.1's and do like them but I cannot play FreeSpace Open. It just hangs on the loading screen. They did improve BF3 for me and clear up the stuttering so I have decided to stick with them. I keep 11.9's on my external just because they worked so well for me and I must be able to play FSO!

Spaceman Spiff, I too have an undying love for FreeSpace and I curse Interplay for letting it die almost as hard as I curse Fox for letting Firefly die.

Actually, that's not true. Nothing will ever top my rage over Firefly...

But reading this quote and checking your specs got me thinking. Are you using CrossFire with FSO?? My understanding is the OpenGL MediaVPs (or just OpenGL in general) doesn't play nice with CFX because whenever I launched the game or a mod I get to the Main Menu just fine, but whenever I click on the Tech Room which loads the render of the Ulysses, the game crashes even though the Microsoft Anna narration of the Ulysses description continues in the background until I End Task. I disable CFX and repeat the above however, and the game renders perfectly. I'm up to date with the 3.6.12 VPs, and it doesn't matter if I'm launching FS2 or mods like Blue Planet.

So are you saying you've found a way to play FSO with CFX and 11.9s, but not with 12.1s? Or are you saying you too have CFX disabled but even then, 12.1s crash your FSO while 11.9s don't?

I'd be very interested in either answer since I'm playing FSO fine, with CFX Off, and 12.2 previews. So either you can help me get CFX working in FSO, or I can help you get 12.Xs working.

Well I'll give them another go and try installing the caps this time.

Oh geez, yeah dude. I cringed a little when I read you hadn't installed the CAPs because it didn't list a game that you own. Definitely not the point of the CAPs at all.

If you're using CFX, you need to use the CAPs. End of line.

For all you know, it could solve or at least heavily mitigate your flickering problem, as I recall a few tweets in the past from CatalystCreator about their team working on a CFX profile that would help with BC2 flickers.

And yeah, I forgot about Heavy Metal. Definitely a flicker hell... interestingly without any water too. Go figure.

Also...

Well I just went through and installed 12.1 again, and wouldn't ya know it, still get the stupid screen flickering.
Uninstalled 12.1, installed 11.9 - no flicker. Hmmmm.........

... you know I linked you to 12.2 previews right? Those are the ones with the Release Note fixes in it, not 12.1s. So were you using them and mistakenly calling them 12.1, or did you reinstall 12.1 instead of the linked 12.2s?

Might want to make doubly sure you're installing the 12.2 previews and the 12.1 CAP#2 on your next experiment, or the attempt will be pointless.

Well, I was getting stuttering in BF3 with my 6950's and disabling ULPS solved it. Always best to use the latest CAP profile with CrossFire.. any previous CAP's are built in to the latest one so you just need to install the latest. Easiest way to disable ULPS is to open the registry, ctrl+f, type ulps and it will take you right to it. Change the value from 1 to 0. There will be another entry in the "00001, 00002" folder(s) as well.

Hey erocker, I'm not having any trouble with BF3 and stuttering... that I can tell is happening anyway... but I'm still curious. Would disabling ULPS help my CFX setup at all, even though I'm using 5000 series and you're using 6000? I'm just wondering if disabling ULPS will provide an intrinsic benefit for CFX setups beyond fixing what ain't broke, in my BF3 context.

Cheers!