Who makes the best graphics drivers?

[Tartaros]

I have owned about 5 ati cards and 9 nvidias. Until my last ati, I didn't had any preference about drivers, but after that experience and seeing how are things now, I much prefer nvidia: less pain overall, not bluescreens out of nowhere, no search for the best fitting driver for your card, built in graphic parameters control panel per game (ati really need something like this) and things like that.

 

[Aquinus]

built in graphic parameters control panel per game (ati really need something like this)

AMD does have something like this. It's called Application Profiles. It's also AMD now, they gobbled up ATi quite a few years ago.

 

[Tartaros]

Never saw that option, I had to use another program to do it. Thx anyway xD

 

[Fluffmeister]

So how many of you die-hards have voted multiple times?

 

[radrok]

So how many of you die-hards have voted multiple times?

I clearly voted Intel 264 times

 

[Random Murderer]

Oi, where to start without sounding like a fanboy?
This seems like a good start: All three are terrible with drivers.

Intel can write a damn good driver... and then not update it for years and actually build hardware around that driver rather than vice-versa.:shadedshu Pisses me off to no end.

Nvidia can write a pretty good driver most of the time. Their control panel is a bit better, but the underlying driver itself has given me major problems in the past, at least when it comes to registry. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but for three driver releases, each new release reversed my hard work and again locked the card in 3d clocks, requiring me to tinker to get the same results three times. Also, in multiple driver suites, the control panel refused/refuses to save my 3D settings, no matter what I do. Keep in mind my experiences with Nvidia's more modern cards(6000 series and on) has only been a few cards: a 6600, 7600, two 9800GTX(one was a vanilla GTX, the other a GTX+), and a GTS250.

ATi/AMD is another that can write a good driver, but they are few and far between. I've found with their drivers that sometimes you have to load and unload multiple drivers or driver suites to find the one that works best for your configuration, especially in multi-card setups. This has gotten better in the last six months or so, but it's still pretty bad when you're installing the latest driver and hoping it will run better than a driver from nearly a year ago while keeping that year-old driver ready to reinstall in case the newer driver is crud. This isn't just a problem I have to deal with as I'm sure most of you have dealt with this even if you've only run one AMD card, and my experiences aren't just recent. This is stretching my entire history of ATi/AMD cards starting with my 9250. From there, the list goes like this: 9250, 9600, x800xt All-In-Wonder(worst driver experience EVER, but that was because it was an AIW. with just graphics drivers installed it ran perfect), x1600xt, two x1800xt(two separate computers), single then Crossfired x1950PROs, single then Crossfired HD3870s, single then Crossfired 4870s, single then Crossfired HD6850s, and finally my current setup, single then Crossfired HD7970s. Most of the issues experienced with these cards were in Crossfire, but that's not to say there weren't issues with single-card setups, either. Bottom line, ATi/AMD has their share of crappy driver releases with a few great drivers sprinkled in.


I had many graphics cards before my 6600/9250 days, but either never had a driver issue or it's been so long that I can't remember. There were a couple of RIVA cards, a couple of VooDoo cards, a couple of RAGE cards, even a Radeon 32m(the first graphics card with built-in TV tuner), and probably others as well. Of course there are plenty of instances of integrated graphics peppered in there as well, but those are memories I'd like to forget


To sum up my feeling on graphics drivers in the last five years(maybe more):
And that's why I'm not voting, lol.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Wiz trollin' us with a flame bait inducing survey XD. Anyways, reading some bits of opinion is kind of nice.. Been a while since I've seen an nvidia vs ati thread (oh yeah.. intel as well) without closing up in a blink of an eye

 

[wolf]

I voted Nvidia;

I find the control panel a lot less cluttered, and thus user friendly and less confusing. the per game settings have not only been there much longer than AMD but in my opinion outstrip the AMD equivalent for ease of use and sheer amount of control you get.

I've switched between AMD and Nvidia many times in the past and I do find Nvidia's drivers to be superior for consistency and I rarely get issues from driver to driver. AMD appear to commit to a driver per month but the wait kills me.. every day on the edge of your seat for it, it's literally stressful. Nvidia release a beta whenever it's relevant, and it's never usually too long till it goes WHQL. your not biting your fingers waiting for next months performance increase so it's more of a pleasant surprise when them bam a new one out there that has extra perf or features.

also I prefer green to red, if I think of more I'll add it later haha

 

[Horrux]

I have owned about 5 ati cards and 9 nvidias. Until my last ati, I didn't had any preference about drivers, but after that experience and seeing how are things now, I much prefer nvidia: less pain overall, not bluescreens out of nowhere, no search for the best fitting driver for your card, built in graphic parameters control panel per game (ati really need something like this) and things like that.

My experience is the reverse of yours: GTX 460s and 570s gave me pain, radeon 4870s and 7970s didn't. Just install and go.

 

[johnspack]

Good lord.. I fear ati drivers.... love nvidia ones. Of course I've been using nvidia since tnt.... but no seriously, I hate ati drivers...

 

[lyndonguitar]

I picked AMD, for years I never had any problem with AMD drivers, but I had one irritating BSOD problem with Nvidia, and It was on the drivers. so AMD wins for me, for now.

 

[mediasorcerer]

How come i never have all these problems everyone keeps going on about, it's not fair!!!

 

[newtekie1]

AMD does have something like this. It's called Application Profiles. It's also AMD now, they gobbled up ATi quite a few years ago.

Application Profiles are completely different from what he is talking about.

He is talking about the ability to for the user to customize the settings for each individual game in the nVidia control panel and save different settings for every game. AFAIK, the AMD Catalyst Control Panel still only allows you to customize global settings. So forcing AA would effect every game played, while with nVidia you have the option to only force AA in games you want(or you can set it globally).

Application profiles are simply downloadable hotfixes to add some minor tweaks to the current drivers for certain games, but they aren't user controllable last I checked.

 

[Novulux]

Application Profiles are completely different from what he is talking about.

He is talking about the ability to for the user to customize the settings for each individual game in the nVidia control panel and save different settings for every game. AFAIK, the AMD Catalyst Control Panel still only allows you to customize global settings. So forcing AA would effect every game played, while with nVidia you have the option to only force AA in games you want(or you can set it globally).

Application profiles are simply downloadable hotfixes to add some minor tweaks to the current drivers for certain games, but they aren't user controllable last I checked.

I still use Radeon Pro mostly, though.

 

[Aquinus]

Application Profiles are completely different from what he is talking about.

He is talking about the ability to for the user to customize the settings for each individual game in the nVidia control panel and save different settings for every game. AFAIK, the AMD Catalyst Control Panel still only allows you to customize global settings. So forcing AA would effect every game played, while with nVidia you have the option to only force AA in games you want(or you can set it globally).

Application profiles are simply downloadable hotfixes to add some minor tweaks to the current drivers for certain games, but they aren't user controllable last I checked.

WRONG!

http://i.imgur.com/6gBWh.png

I still use Radeon Pro mostly, though.

You beat me to it.

View attachment 49425

You can customize the image quality and performance of specific applications by creating or updating application profiles. When creating or updating a profile, 3D and AMD CrossFireX mode settings for all graphics processors are saved to the profile.

Good lord.. I fear ati drivers.... love nvidia ones. Of course I've been using nvidia since tnt.... but no seriously, I hate ati drivers...

...ATi has been gone for how many years now? If the last time you used an AMD/ATi card was when the company was ATi, I don't think you have any right to say who's drivers are better considering so much has changed since then and spreading comments like this only fuels the unneeded fanboy criticism. Why do you fear their drivers because they've worked great ever since I had a Radeon 9200? You make it sound like the boogie monster and that it is going to come out of under your bed to eat you in the middle of the night.

Watch out for AMD! It's going to eat you up with its "bad drivers" that work, and a "lacking control panel" with most of the same features.

Seriously, they both have their problems but to say that nVidia is overwhelmingly better is just ridiculous and is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. Not to say nVidia makes bad hardware, I just don't think it's as good as people hype it up to be.

Also just to push back, I've yet to hear anyone mention Kepler's piss poor compute performance (relatively speaking versus cards in the same price bracket by AMD.)

 

[newtekie1]

Holy shit, when did they add that? Now I'm kind of miffed that I can't find that on the two A8-5500 systems I just built.

 

[Aquinus]

Holy shit, when did they add that? Now I'm kind of miffed that I can't find that on the two A8-5500 systems I just built.

12.1 Preview. It's been almost a year.

That's because you edit the same page, the difference is if you don't want it to be global, you have to save it to a particular application so it knows what settings to load up when the driver sees that application. In my screenshot do you see that, "New Application" drop down plus the save button? I bet you can find out what that does.

 

[Peter1986C]

I might try that out some day. Thanks.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I used ATI/AMD drivers for years and since last December they went to crap. Crappy OpenGL support and drivers that were known to BSOD you in BF3. They used to be perfectly fine but since they changed teams a year ago they went to shit. Ever since I went to NVIDIA Ive only had one issue and that had to do with the updater not connecting due to password violation and THAT was because they got hacked and reset the passwords and it was resolved in 24 hours. I blame the stupid hackers for that, not NVIDIA.

ATI/AMD makes GREAT hardware. Crappy software. If they had NVIDIA's driver team (Which is made up of old ATI driver developers) AMD would be awesome......but they don't.

 

[Steevo]

ATI/AMD makes GREAT hardware. Crappy software. If they had NVIDIA's driver team (Which is made up of old ATI driver developers) AMD would be awesome......but they don't.

This is how I feel, but I also don't feel the need to update my drivers every single month like some sort of crackhead.

No matter the company some set of drivers will provide the best experience for the games you play and the card you use, others will cause issues.


We could go on about how each is better or worse in certain games, but really the end result if you were put in front of a computer and played a game and had a good time what difference does it make?


I will only add that AMD needs to pull their head out of their ass on software side of things, the hardware has been great for many years, however their lack of support and lack of push for the software to go with hardware implementation is not even funny anymore.

 

[radrok]

I will only add that AMD needs to pull their head out of their ass on software side of things, the hardware has been great for many years, however their lack of support and lack of push for the software to go with hardware implementation is not even funny anymore.

This is soooooo bloody true.

 

[eidairaman1]

I picked AMD, for years I never had any problem with AMD drivers, but I had one irritating BSOD problem with Nvidia, and It was on the drivers. so AMD wins for me, for now.

More Issues with NV across the board despite rest of specs being right for builds ive done in pas even with recommended drivers and updated drivers for them. AMD not at all

 

[DayKnight]

Wow. AMD should swap place with Intel.

Geez. Fanboys.

 

[Horrux]

I will only add that AMD needs to pull their head out of their ass on software side of things, the hardware has been great for many years, however their lack of support and lack of push for the software to go with hardware implementation is not even funny anymore.

Do you have an example of what you state? I don't understand.

In my experience, with AMD, you update drivers once a year or so and everything is fine. In my experience again, with nV you have to update your drivers all the time "like a crackhead" to keep things going smoothly.

In my book, that's an AMD win.

 

[Drone]

Who makes the best graphics drivers?

I'm still waiting for something else. Green and red are dull.