Still waiting on those offical beta drivers amd!!!!

[Valagard]

Really, this is fricken pathetic.

"Guys, we arn't doing official drivers every month anymore. It just ends up costing us money, money that could be going towards developing new drivers!

So instead, we are only going to issue driver updates when we have something to show for it! Because we are saving money doing this, it translates into more money for driver research, so now you should see lots of beta drivers being released!"

-AND I BELIEVED YOU AMD!!!-

So -ONE- official driver and -NO- official beta's 4 months later, don't I feel like a fricken sucker.

The only thing I see is Asder is busy as always, still kept his job of releasing unofficial beta drivers.

Come on AMD, this is bullcrap and you god damn well know it. WHERE ARE THE BETA'S?! If not, yes, I -WANT- you to bring back the official drivers every month, cause at least we -KNEW- some issues might be fixed by then!

[sykozis]

12.7 betas were released in July. WHQL drivers were released in June and August. That's 3 drivers over a 3 month period. They only made the announcement 4 months ago.....and released 3 drivers since the announcement.

[Mikedogg]

Stop complaining and be grateful you're not limited to the pre-5xxx generation.

I do wish they would hurry up with the next legacy release though.

[S_IV]

Well apart from betas, there is still no official answer from AMD for black screen and crash with vertical lines.. There is a topic here, in AMD/ATI cards section, starting with "Sapphire 7870 OC crash with Black screen..." and nearly 30000 views! Let alone the other forums. Though some say the problem only occurs with HD 7xxx series I can confirm that the issue is far more serious than that. My 6790 and my friends' 7850, 6850,6870, 7770, and 5850 all suffer from this issue. My next card will be a GTX660 that's for sure. HD 7870 is an amazing card, performance/price wise but there is only one thought in my mind these days. Playing a game with 60+ fps, all smooth, then, black screen..

[Valagard]

Originally Posted by sykozis

12.7 betas were released in July. WHQL drivers were released in June and August. That's 3 drivers over a 3 month period. They only made the announcement 4 months ago.....and released 3 drivers since the announcement.

What part of "We promise to release more beta's" are you misreading?

One beta is not -MORE- beta's. Its actually -LESS- beta's then we used to get out of AMD, hell they had a 4-5 month period in the last year where every driver was getting 3-4 hotfix beta drivers a month.

3 drivers in 4 months is still bullcrap, since we were -PROMISED- more beta's. All I see is AMD saved themselves $80,000 and we actually got less beta's then before.

Again, what part of "We promise to release more beta's" are you misreading?

[perosmct]

you do not need any betas any time soon..sorry but AMD knows better...period

[sykozis]

Originally Posted by Valagard

What part of "We promise to release more beta's" are you misreading?

One beta is not -MORE- beta's. Its actually -LESS- beta's then we used to get out of AMD, hell they had a 4-5 month period in the last year where every driver was getting 3-4 hotfix beta drivers a month.

3 drivers in 4 months is still bullcrap, since we were -PROMISED- more beta's. All I see is AMD saved themselves $80,000 and we actually got less beta's then before.

Again, what part of "We promise to release more beta's" are you misreading?

AMD said there would be more betas than WHQL.....I've never seen where they claimed they'd increase the number of actual beta drivers released. They also stated that drivers would be released as needed instead of monthly so they could focus more on performance and stability.....the 2 things people on this forum complain about most.....

[Rich_Guy]

Originally Posted by S_IV

Well apart from betas, there is still no official answer from AMD for black screen and crash with vertical lines..

They have responded to that, they said its a motherboard problem, you have to update your boards BIOS.

[defcoms]

Originally Posted by Rich_Guy

They have responded to that, they said its a motherboard problem, you have to update your boards BIOS.

No they didn't some how you keep saying that yet have never showed where they stated it. Only mention of updating a bios that I am aware of was for cards hanging when going to sleep in 12.6 beta release notes.

Here is what they stated;

AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 cards hang when system goes to sleep.
Please ensure that your System BIOS is up to date – some occurrences of this issue may be related to outdated System BIOS

Please show me if I am incorrect.

[nhlkoho]

Originally Posted by sykozis

AMD said there would be more betas than WHQL.....I've never seen where they claimed they'd increase the number of actual beta drivers released. They also stated that drivers would be released as needed instead of monthly so they could focus more on performance and stability.....the 2 things people on this forum complain about most.....

This.

I've never seen so many complaints about wanting new drivers before. This goes for Nvidia users too.

[Rich_Guy]

Originally Posted by defcoms

No they didn't some how you keep saying that yet have never showed where they stated it. Only mention of updating a bios that I am aware of was for cards hanging when going to sleep in 12.6 beta release notes.

Here is what they stated;

AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 cards hang when system goes to sleep.
Please ensure that your System BIOS is up to date – some occurrences of this issue may be related to outdated System BIOS

Please show me if I am incorrect.

Yeah thats correct for the sleep issue, but you also need an updated VGA compatability BIOS for your board, if you get the black screens, vertical lines, 100% fan issues, that are caused by a change they've done to their drivers for the Ghz editions.

EDIT: Some people have managed to get around it by leaving their cards at stock, but even that didn't work for me, so had to switch to Nvidia.

[V1tol]

Originally Posted by S_IV

Well apart from betas, there is still no official answer from AMD for black screen and crash with vertical lines.. There is a topic here, in AMD/ATI cards section, starting with "Sapphire 7870 OC crash with Black screen..." and nearly 30000 views! Let alone the other forums. Though some say the problem only occurs with HD 7xxx series I can confirm that the issue is far more serious than that. My 6790 and my friends' 7850, 6850,6870, 7770, and 5850 all suffer from this issue. My next card will be a GTX660 that's for sure. HD 7870 is an amazing card, performance/price wise but there is only one thought in my mind these days. Playing a game with 60+ fps, all smooth, then, black screen..

You definitely have mb and videocard incompatibility, because I never expeienced any black or stripe crashes with AMD chipset.

[defcoms]

Originally Posted by Rich_Guy

Yeah thats correct for the sleep issue, but you also need an updated VGA compatability BIOS for your board, if you get the black screens, vertical lines, 100% fan issues, that are caused by a change they've done to their drivers for the Ghz editions.

EDIT: Some people have managed to get around it by leaving their cards at stock, but even that didn't work for me, so had to switch to Nvidia.

Yet again you never showed any of this info stated by AMD. If that is your opinion about why your system is crahing that is fine but don't make statements saying AMD says you have to update your motherboard bios then don't provide any info to follow it up with. A lot of web forums are filled with misinformation. If they stated that provide a link or state it is your opinion is all I am saying.

[Rich_Guy]

Originally Posted by defcoms

Yet again you never showed any of this info stated by AMD. If that is your opinion about why your system is crahing that is fine but don't make statements saying AMD says you have to update your motherboard bios then don't provide any info to follow it up with. A lot of web forums are filled with misinformation. If they stated that provide a link or state it is your opinion is all I am saying.

I know i didn't show where they stated it, as i said, i can't remember where it was now, just go back through the driver threads, as lots of people have been having to update their boards BIOS because of those issues, if it wasn't a BIOS issue, i would not have had to ditch a 6+ month working 7970 for a 670, but according to AMD (again, i can't remember where it was they stated it, so unable to show), and a lot of people on this forum, it is a motherboard BIOS issue, caused by the change they've done to their drivers for the new Ghz editions.

[-Tj-]

Originally Posted by defcoms

Yet again you never showed any of this info stated by AMD. If that is your opinion about why your system is crahing that is fine but don't make statements saying AMD says you have to update your motherboard bios then don't provide any info to follow it up with. A lot of web forums are filled with misinformation. If they stated that provide a link or state it is your opinion is all I am saying.

Well if you experience this issue why don't you update, idk what's the problem. It never hurts to have the latest bios, especially newer uefi boards.



ontopic:
nvidia is also kinda sloppy lately, we finally got a whql after 4 months... In between mostly some leaked unofficial betas or mobile drivers.

[ClockClocker]

Originally Posted by S_IV

Well apart from betas, there is still no official answer from AMD for black screen and crash with vertical lines.. There is a topic here, in AMD/ATI cards section, starting with "Sapphire 7870 OC crash with Black screen..." and nearly 30000 views!

i heard it's an Sapphire Issue only. Dunno if that is true though.

[The Goose]

no probs here,as for the betas...weve had plenty the last couple of months,asder00 is always busy giving us the betas

[peterjackoff]

I agree though.

Regardless of any and every thing, I see little reason for AMD not to release more BETAS or, at least, not FEWER as it is happening right now.

Remember, these are *betas*. They're not for the general public. They DON'T have to even work. They DO need to put HUGE warning signs everywhere discouraging people to download them and pointing to the release ones every step of the way.

But if someone has a PROBLEM they can't solve otherwise, maybe a the current build is a lifesaver for them.

Heck, I would even make available "nighly builds" as it is for the even more adventurous ...

I'm also upset at AMD for releasing LESS and not MORE betas, with emphasis in "AT YOUR OWN RISK, UNFINISHED, "UNOFFICIAL", NOT SUPPORTED IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, WARRANTY VOID" betas ...

[popeye]

You'd think in today's world they could have daily builds from a build bot like Scumm VM does but then they'd probably have to let outside coders mess with them.

Kind of ridiculous the way both Green and Red keep their drivers locked up. Paranoia I guess. Corporate secrets within drivers?

[thatguy91]

AMD have to be a little cautious releasing beta's. You can absolutely guarantee 100 percent that if AMD release a bad beta driver people will whinge and complain, and Nvidia users will use it as 'proof' that Nvidia drivers are superior (you know, superior drivers like that driver that caused cards to burn out, or that one that caused the fans not to spin leading to overheating).

So, bad beta drivers are not in AMD's interest. A beta driver would have to be one that is stable enough that you could consider it a 'release candidate'.

Don't forget to use the 'Application Profiles', even for Asder's releases if the release date is earlier than the CAP file. Despite what some people claim the Application Profiles is for single cards as well.

[sykozis]

Originally Posted by nhlkoho

This.

I've never seen so many complaints about wanting new drivers before. This goes for Nvidia users too.

Thank god none of these people owned computers back in the mid-late 90's when drivers were only released "as needed" and not with any regularity....or in the 80's and early 90's when the only driver available....came with the hardware....

[peterjackoff]

sky, I feel you man.

I did own computers back then and the problem was different.

"Drivers" either worked or, if not, you dissasembled them and patched them.

You KNEW waiting for the manufacturer was usually not a feasible solution in any reasonable timeframe.

Today's systems complexity pretty much rules option 2, but manufacturers release more and more broken hardware/software (or should I rather say, "almost finished", euphemism for "unfinished-it-still-fails-some-tests-but-we-are-going-to-release-anyway-and-fix-later").

Except that the "fixing later" hardly ever comes soon enough. Sometimes, it never comes.

I, for once, wished AMD released a new set of drivers with NO NEW FEATURES and NO NEW IMPROVEMENTS other than fixing (all/most) known bugs. This includes issues with the installers/uninstallers, multiple GPU systems, etc.

I have issues that range from "selecting 1 card as primary in win7 64 works 100% for months, selecting the other makes the system unstable within hours" (both AMD, both 6xxx family, two different motherboards). And I only do 2D stuff (but with accelerated graphics and video) to bittling a bitmap sometimes produces a flash in an (empty) part of the screen (that clears up) in SOME drivers revisions (but not others).

Or overdrive settings in ccc apply to whichever adapter it chooses "randomly" And installation routines usually mess things up, upon first installation system becomes unstable within minutes (red-dots start to appear, eventually driver re-starts, eventual freeze, all this with no overclocking) but as soon as the drivers are disabled in control panel and then re-enabled, voila, working 100% for weeks. Until the next driver update ...

Etc, etc.

And no, I don't do "weird things" with registry, overclocking, etc. I do clean installs, even in windows 7 embedded often, but I do need multiple (3, 4 or 5) screen outputs for 2D applications.

I test diferent motheboards, BIOS, settings, RAM, APU's, GPU's ... it all comes down to the same. "Unfinished" ccc, not-so-great "clean" installers ... lots of complicated stuff (steady-video, really??) and some drivers working only to get the next revision acting up again.

I would stick to a driver revision "that works", except that performance is still not there for large low-energy multi-screen setups (think E-series, almost, but not there yet) and I keep trusting AMD is improving this areas (specially OpenCL/OpenGL) w/o f*cking things up.

I understand is work in progress. That's what I need, the progress. Releasing drivers every several months doesn't let me properly figure what hardware/software I need to buy to meet the performance/cost/power targets.

This is the last time I bet on a "future fix". From now on I'll buy over-spec'ed hardware that has been in the market for at least 6 months and which has very few complains on the internet about bugs-issues. No more next-generation APU's (was looking forward to desktop Trinitys, but will pass for a while) to later find out they have driver issues with such-and-such adapter and waiting months to get them fixed (or not).

[popeye]

Originally Posted by sykozis

Thank god none of these people owned computers back in the mid-late 90's when drivers were only released "as needed" and not with any regularity....or in the 80's and early 90's when the only driver available....came with the hardware....

So living in the past is great and screw progress?

Guarantee I'm older than you and still think this whole driver situation sucks. Should be better by now.

[Valagard]

Originally Posted by thatguy91

AMD have to be a little cautious releasing beta's. You can absolutely guarantee 100 percent that if AMD release a bad beta driver people will whinge and complain, and Nvidia users will use it as 'proof' that Nvidia drivers are superior (you know, superior drivers like that driver that caused cards to burn out, or that one that caused the fans not to spin leading to overheating).

So, bad beta drivers are not in AMD's interest. A beta driver would have to be one that is stable enough that you could consider it a 'release candidate'.

Don't forget to use the 'Application Profiles', even for Asder's releases if the release date is earlier than the CAP file. Despite what some people claim the Application Profiles is for single cards as well.

Then there's no damn point, if they are just going to do craploads of internal testing before releasing a beta driver, its not actually a beta driver then, its just a Release Candidate driver

[Mikedogg]

Originally Posted by Valagard

Then there's no damn point, if they are just going to do craploads of internal testing before releasing a beta driver, its not actually a beta driver then, its just a Release Candidate driver

And that's a bad thing? Wouldn't you rather a driver that worked across the board?

Can't please everyone, ya know.