ATI cards

"Smith" <fake.DeleteThis@none.com> wrote in message
news:41c3c203$0$4485$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
 >I have a Radeon 9600XT (256MB) from ATI... by that I mean it is actually an
 >ATI one, not a Sapphire, Leadtek or whatever.
 >
 > Is it possible to pretend that I have a Radeon from one of the third party
 > manufacturers, and use their software instead? I wonder if there is any
 > actual difference between an ATI ATI card and a Saphire ATI card (or other
 > manufacturer).
 >
 > It's just that I found the Catalyst software to be slow and annoying. Now
 > that I have everything set up I probably won't bother to change it... but
 > I am still interested to know if it is possible to use other manufacturers
 > software.
 >

What drivers are you running now? If you are running the drivers that have
the Control Center, this could be your biggest problem. If you go to ATI
site, right on their front page is the links to the newest 4.12 drivers. Get
the ones without the Control Center. To answer your question all
manufacturers base their drivers on the reference ATI drivers. The only
other alternative is the Omega drivers that are tweaked ATI drivers done by
a guy that does a great job of making the drivers perform better (This is
only what I've read, I've never used them myself) But I believe your
problems are with the Control Center, not the drivers themselves. When you
say "slow and annoying" it sounds like your using the CC. The standard
control panel works great and there's nothing "slow and annoying" about how
it works. Just remove what you have using Add/Remove and install the new
drivers. I think you'll be happy with them. JLC<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: ATI cards 

Smith wrote:
 >
 > I have a Radeon 9600XT (256MB) from ATI... by that I mean it is actually
 > an ATI one, not a Sapphire, Leadtek or whatever.
 >
 > Is it possible to pretend that I have a Radeon from one of the third
 > party manufacturers, and use their software instead? I wonder if there
 > is any actual difference between an ATI ATI card and a Saphire ATI card
 > (or other manufacturer).
 >
 > It's just that I found the Catalyst software to be slow and annoying.
 > Now that I have everything set up I probably won't bother to change
 > it... but I am still interested to know if it is possible to use other
 > manufacturers software.

If its gaming your intersted in then the omega drivers are the way to go.
Omega is an ATI beta tester, he is the ONLY 3rd party driver provider
officially endorsed by ATI.
His drivers are great and always have been.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.omegadrivers.net" target="_blank">www.omegadrivers.net</a>

Gordon<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: ATI cards 

Smith wrote:

 > I have a Radeon 9600XT (256MB) from ATI... by that I mean it is actually
 > an ATI one, not a Sapphire, Leadtek or whatever.
 >
 > Is it possible to pretend that I have a Radeon from one of the third
 > party manufacturers, and use their software instead? I wonder if there
 > is any actual difference between an ATI ATI card and a Saphire ATI card
 > (or other manufacturer).
 >
 > It's just that I found the Catalyst software to be slow and annoying.
 > Now that I have everything set up I probably won't bother to change
 > it... but I am still interested to know if it is possible to use other
 > manufacturers software.

The "other manufacturers software" is the ATI Catalysts, possibly with some
tweaks to implement special features that the "other manufacturer" added.
Nobody writes drivers for ATI boards but ATI and maybe x.org.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: ATI cards 

I had some installation problems... but now everything seems to working
well.
 >> Stay informed about: ATI cards