ATI Radeon Drivers--No more individual downloads?

[earwicker7]

I normally download the individual driver file for my HD5970s, bypassing Catalyst Control Center. For the newest drivers (12.1), there is no such option, so it looks like I would have to download the whole thing. Does anyone know if the individual files are done for good, or is this temporary?

If I'm using MSI Afterburner and I'm forced to download the entire thing, is it best to disable CCC somehow, or can they run without conflict?

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

You should always update the CCC when updating your drivers, as the CCC is the interface to your drivers.

 

[earwicker7]

You should always update the CCC when updating your drivers, as the CCC is the interface to your drivers.

I haven't used CCC for two years, and haven't had a single problem yet.

EDIT--Unless I'm misunderstanding things, the only thing it is necessary for is if you want to override a program's graphical settings (force anti-aliasing, etc.). I was able to achieve a stable overclock that has lasted a long time with no problems.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Dunno what to tell ya, but CCC seems to be required to run the newer drivers, when I close CCC via task manager (no option to disable/quit it that I am finding) I get a driver failure error. That is probably why you can't get more recent driver packages without CCC, they seem tightly integrated together. But you are stuck if they are not listing just the driver on the individual downloads page. It isn't that big of a package, 140MB... The bright side is, once installed, when it checks for updates, it will only download the parts that had been updated, meaning you won't have to download a full package.


EDIT: I am reading the release notes, you can install just the driver alone, but it is strongly suggested that you install both the latest driver and control center for stability reasons. The 12.1 driver was only released a few days ago, this is most likely why you can't find the driver by it self yet.

The AMD display driver and the AMD Catalystâ„¢ Control Center / AMD Visionâ„¢ Engine Control Center can be downloaded independently of each other. However, for better stability and performance AMD recommends that both components be updated from the same AMD Catalystâ„¢ release.

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalystSoftwareSuiteVersion121.aspx

 

[earwicker7]

That's weird... this is the first time that the individual file wasn't available right from the beginning. Thanks for finding that!

Does anyone have any info on why things would be more stable because of CCC? Maybe I am totally misunderstanding what it is... I always thought it was basically bloatware that was useful only if you needed to override graphics settings, and that it was mostly there to subtly encourage people not to use "aftermarket" overclocking software ("See, look, we have all the overclocking tools you need right here... no reason to go anywhere else!") so that less fried videocards would be sent in by people who didn't take precautions with unofficial overclocking.

 

[-RockMan-]

After 2 years I have started using CCC for my ATI 6530 inside my cpuu.
Honestly I would not bother with it and just try to find a solo driver and use it.
The interface is much more bettter since I last used my hd 5450, but there are some settings that will stick itself automatically when starting your pc and cause some problems.

Just go for that gut feeling and just do what you need to do.

 

[nosurrender]

I have one of thouse ATI Radeon 5800. Is it worth overclocking?

 

[-RockMan-]

Depends on whatr you need it for, if your working with alot intense of graphics and art based work apps, I would say so.
Anything else would just leave it be, not unless you have a game that won't work with current stock settings.