I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use for
gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding games.
CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an oldish
9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to update
the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are Catalyst
3.8 -- pretty old.
What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst version
for this card?
"Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:GLidnatnh6nis2TbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use for
> gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding games.
> CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an oldish
> 9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to update
> the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are Catalyst
> 3.8 -- pretty old.
>
> What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst version
> for this card?
>
> All information and opinions much appreciated.
Using a 9600 XT on W2K myself. I've upgraded util Ati capped even the
unofficial support. Last possible drivers are the 7.5, or the Omegas based
on them, which I run. I'm fairly happy with that set.
"Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:fdbiaj$g1l$03$1@news.t-online.com...
> "Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:GLidnatnh6nis2TbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> > I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use for
> > gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding
games.
> > CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an oldish
> > 9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to
update
> > the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are
Catalyst
> > 3.8 -- pretty old.
> >
> > What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst
version
> > for this card?
> >
> > All information and opinions much appreciated.
>
> Using a 9600 XT on W2K myself. I've upgraded util Ati capped even the
> unofficial support. Last possible drivers are the 7.5, or the Omegas based
> on them, which I run. I'm fairly happy with that set.
Correction: It's the 7.4 drivers. 7.5 and later can not be installed on W2K.
"Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:fdbido$gbt$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>
> "Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:fdbiaj$g1l$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>> "Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>> news:GLidnatnh6nis2TbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>> > I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use for
>> > gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding
> games.
>> > CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an oldish
>> > 9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to
> update
>> > the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are
> Catalyst
>> > 3.8 -- pretty old.
>> >
>> > What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst
> version
>> > for this card?
>> >
>> > All information and opinions much appreciated.
>>
>> Using a 9600 XT on W2K myself. I've upgraded util Ati capped even the
>> unofficial support. Last possible drivers are the 7.5, or the Omegas
>> based
>> on them, which I run. I'm fairly happy with that set.
>
> Correction: It's the 7.4 drivers. 7.5 and later can not be installed on
> W2K.
Thanks, Dirk. The AMD/ATI site seems to imply that Catalyst 6.2 is the last
that supports the 9600XT on Win2000, and I've installed that just a little
while ago. It does give a small but definite increase in benchmarks
(3DMark03 and AquaMark3) and seems fine, but now I'll try the 7.4 also.
Not that this is a big deal, but do you know if there's a way to keep the
4:3 aspect ratio for games on a 1280x1024 (5:4) LCD flat panel? That would
mean a small amount of letterboxing, of course, which is OK with me. In the
Catalyst Control Center I have "Match the source video" selected under
Theater Mode Settings / "Set the video aspect ratio to:", but apparently
this only applies to playing movies on DVD. Even when Video Standard
Settings are set to Theater, running a 4:3 benchmark fills the screen, which
means of course I'm getting a small amount of vertical stretching. As it's
only about 6% it's unnoticeable except when there's a full circle on the
screen, but I was just wondering if it can be corrected.
"Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:u4OdnScui54x62TbnZ2dnUVZ_tKinZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>
> "Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> wrote in message
> news:fdbido$gbt$03$1@news.t-online.com...
> >
> > "Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> > news:fdbiaj$g1l$03$1@news.t-online.com...
> >> "Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> >> news:GLidnatnh6nis2TbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> >> > I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use
for
> >> > gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding
> > games.
> >> > CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an
oldish
> >> > 9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to
> > update
> >> > the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are
> > Catalyst
> >> > 3.8 -- pretty old.
> >> >
> >> > What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst
> > version
> >> > for this card?
> >> >
> >> > All information and opinions much appreciated.
> >>
> >> Using a 9600 XT on W2K myself. I've upgraded util Ati capped even the
> >> unofficial support. Last possible drivers are the 7.5, or the Omegas
> >> based
> >> on them, which I run. I'm fairly happy with that set.
> >
> > Correction: It's the 7.4 drivers. 7.5 and later can not be installed on
> > W2K.
>
> Thanks, Dirk. The AMD/ATI site seems to imply that Catalyst 6.2 is the
last
> that supports the 9600XT on Win2000, and I've installed that just a little
> while ago. It does give a small but definite increase in benchmarks
> (3DMark03 and AquaMark3) and seems fine, but now I'll try the 7.4 also.
>
> Not that this is a big deal, but do you know if there's a way to keep the
> 4:3 aspect ratio for games on a 1280x1024 (5:4) LCD flat panel? That would
> mean a small amount of letterboxing, of course, which is OK with me. In
the
> Catalyst Control Center I have "Match the source video" selected under
> Theater Mode Settings / "Set the video aspect ratio to:", but apparently
> this only applies to playing movies on DVD. Even when Video Standard
> Settings are set to Theater, running a 4:3 benchmark fills the screen,
which
> means of course I'm getting a small amount of vertical stretching. As it's
> only about 6% it's unnoticeable except when there's a full circle on the
> screen, but I was just wondering if it can be corrected.
>
I have no widescreen, so I don't know about that. Cat 6.2 were indeed the
last officially supported driver, but they left the inf setting for W2K in
up to 7.4.
"Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:fdcrvs$nui$00$1@news.t-online.com...
> "Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:u4OdnScui54x62TbnZ2dnUVZ_tKinZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>>
>> "Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> wrote in message
>> news:fdbido$gbt$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>> >
>> > "Dirk Dreidoppel" <dirk.dreidoppel@deadspam.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>> > news:fdbiaj$g1l$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>> >> "Neil Harrington" <not@home.today> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
>> >> news:GLidnatnh6nis2TbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>> >> > I've just built an inexpensive little Win2000 system I want to use
> for
>> >> > gaming, but not necessarily the latest and most hardware-demanding
>> > games.
>> >> > CPU is a Sempron 2800+ socket 754, 1 GB of system memory and an
> oldish
>> >> > 9600XT 128MB 4x/8x AGP. I've very happy with the system but want to
>> > update
>> >> > the drivers for the 9600XT, as those on the installation disk are
>> > Catalyst
>> >> > 3.8 -- pretty old.
>> >> >
>> >> > What's the best (in stability, performance and features) Catalyst
>> > version
>> >> > for this card?
>> >> >
>> >> > All information and opinions much appreciated.
>> >>
>> >> Using a 9600 XT on W2K myself. I've upgraded util Ati capped even the
>> >> unofficial support. Last possible drivers are the 7.5, or the Omegas
>> >> based
>> >> on them, which I run. I'm fairly happy with that set.
>> >
>> > Correction: It's the 7.4 drivers. 7.5 and later can not be installed on
>> > W2K.
>>
>> Thanks, Dirk. The AMD/ATI site seems to imply that Catalyst 6.2 is the
> last
>> that supports the 9600XT on Win2000, and I've installed that just a
>> little
>> while ago. It does give a small but definite increase in benchmarks
>> (3DMark03 and AquaMark3) and seems fine, but now I'll try the 7.4 also.
>>
>> Not that this is a big deal, but do you know if there's a way to keep the
>> 4:3 aspect ratio for games on a 1280x1024 (5:4) LCD flat panel? That
>> would
>> mean a small amount of letterboxing, of course, which is OK with me. In
> the
>> Catalyst Control Center I have "Match the source video" selected under
>> Theater Mode Settings / "Set the video aspect ratio to:", but apparently
>> this only applies to playing movies on DVD. Even when Video Standard
>> Settings are set to Theater, running a 4:3 benchmark fills the screen,
> which
>> means of course I'm getting a small amount of vertical stretching. As
>> it's
>> only about 6% it's unnoticeable except when there's a full circle on the
>> screen, but I was just wondering if it can be corrected.
>>
>
> I have no widescreen, so I don't know about that. Cat 6.2 were indeed the
> last officially supported driver, but they left the inf setting for W2K in
> up to 7.4.
Best drivers for 9600XT? 
Linear Mode
