Problems with new ATI Catalyst (9.3) driver?

I just upgraded my machine to the latest ATI Catalyst driver (version 9.3), and noticed that my normally 40-60 FPS was running at ~7 FPS or less when running around, though it would pick up some if I stood still. Has anyone else experienced this with the latest Catalyst drivers?

This problem may be specific to my card & OS combination. I'm running XP x64 with an ATI Radeon x1950 Pro. I also run GW with Texmod, but it didn't seem to make a difference even if I started GW normally, without Texmod. After downgrading to the previous Catalyst driver (9.2), my speed picked back up to what it normally is. If you're running the same card and OS, I'm especially curious if you've had the same issue, but this could very well affect the same card on 32-bit XP, or even other cards.

Also, if you plan to update, don't worry, AMD is very thoughtful and DOES let you download old versions of the Catalyst drivers from their site in case you have this problem too.

Thanks.

I dont have any problems with the 9.3 software and im running a HD4850

Maybe try to reinstall 9.3?

No problem with me either, my server machine runs a X1650XT on XP-32bit and it works fine as ever.

After redownloading and reinstalling, the FPS dropped back again when moving. If no one else has these issues with other cards, my hunch is this is something very specific to my card or my card & OS. Would be very interested to know if someone has a x1950 Pro and can test with the 9.3 drivers.

amd is dropping monthly driver support for "legacy" cards. unfortunately, the X1950PRO (the entire X1000 series, in fact) are considered legacy cards. from now on, driver updates for anything lower than the HD2000 series will come every six months. i'm not sure if they've already started or not with 9.3 however.

either way, i'd just run on driver version 9.2. there's nothing in 9.3 that will benefit you anyway.

Just a shot in the dark here but try the brand driver for the card.

I was using an X1950 Pro from Sapphire Tech (up until last August) and loaded an AMD driver one weekend thinking it would be better - how wrong!! I installed the Sapphire driver and all was normal again - whilst the chipsets are AMD, I can only surmise that Sapphire must use slightly different ways of calling hardware features and their driver takes account of that.

I would like to add that I've become a convert to Driver Cleaner - it might be worth trying that too before you revert, you'll be surprised how much it cleans out of your Registry and Windows folders!!

Okay, it appears this isn't as simple as I thought. Reverting to the 9.2 drivers didn't fix the problem, actually, it was closing and reopening Guild Wars. When I first load into GW, everything is fine, the framerate is fast and smooth. However, after playing a few rounds of Jade Quarry, the framerate slows down again.

To see what I'm talking about, look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUDOsYHvcjY

First 5 seconds are right after loading into Jade Quarry. The last 5 are after playing 2 matches there. Any idea what's causing this? I updated only graphics drivers (since downgraded back to the original drivers) and my BIOS, and while I seriously doubt the BIOS upgrade is causing problems, I'm going to revert to the previous version just to make sure.

Edit: To avoid any confusion, I want to assure people this is NOT specific to Jade Quarry, it's after I load any number of areas in the game, anywhere, that performance degrades.

Problem solved: Okay, I finally figured out what was going on. The BIOS update itself wasn't the problem, but how I did it was. My motherboard's BIOS has in it an option to protect the BIOS from being flashed. I had enabled this protection immediately after updating the BIOS but before the DMI pool had updated for the new BIOS (the DMI update takes place after you are able to enter the setup screen, just before windows starts). Thus, unprotecting my BIOS allowed it to update the DMI pool with the correct information, and GW runs just fine on the newer drivers. Also, I can reprotect the BIOS now that its DMI pool is current.