So I run an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card. Things have been running fine, but I figured that I'd try upgrading my drivers to see if I could pump out a better FPS (my FPS improved when I upgraded my other machine with a Rage card). Now I should know better than to upgrade drivers ever, but I did anyway.

I tried going to the most recent Catalyst 5.4 drivers first, and while I got more FPS every texture was all blocky and blobby and just messed up. Also the text on anything in my HUD (money, ammo, kills, enemy name, etc.) was distorted and illegible. So I tried going to 5.3, and it cleared the texture issues but I still had text problems.

Next I went to 5.2, and all seemed well until I got on de_dust2. There I would randomly just sorta freeze up and chop out. Now I'm down to 5.1, and so far it seems playable but feels a little "sticky" to me. Sad thing is that I don't remember what the hell version drivers I was using before this adventure, so I can't quite just roll back.

Basically, I'm wondering if anyone has the same card, and what version of drivers they use. I attempted this whole mess because I wanted to get my FPS up above 40 (drops to 15 or less in heavy combat). It's a good card, so I should be able to handle all the bells and whistles of CS:S, but apparently not.

hmmm

Are you sure you uninstalled everything correctly? I'm running Omegadrivers based on the Cat5.2 and they're find. My card is 9500pro, P4 2.4c, and 1GB of RAM.

Go to to either www.driverheaven.net or www.omegadrivers.net and get the lastest drivers from them. They also have utitlities for uninstalling previous versions of drivers that sometimes leave behind dll files that mess things up. Make sure that your previous drivers are properly and completely uninstalled before installing new drivers.

From what I hear the Cat 5.2's and Cat 5.4's are less buggy than the Cat 5.3's. So use either the Omega drivers, based on the Cat 5.2's, or the official 5.4's. Good Luck

My cards a 9200 Pro, and I have the 5.4 Catalyst, and everything is running smoothly, but since my rigs a piece of shite, it goes down to 20-30 even walking around!

I've got the 9500pro...overclocked to 9700 pro. It has the same core as your 9700 pro...and I don't have any problems with the latest cat 5.4 from ATI in Source or any other game. I update my drivers every time they come out with a new version.

When you updated your drivers, did you COMPLETELY unistall the previous version BEFORE you installed the new version? You HAVE to do that to avoid trouble. There should be an uninstall utility on the ATI website if you don't already have one.

Also...make sure you have the latest version of Direct X. (9.0c). Just to make sure that everything is "current".

BIO

I'll have to grab their uninstall utility then and see what happens. For the time being I just went back down to the 4.12 drivers that I was using before.

ive been having a hell of a time with my vid card ( which is why i havent been on cs in a while) i get these lines all over my screen after just like 2 rounds. i have the ati 9800 pro and its just so goofy. i know nothing about all these drivers and such. does anyone have any info that would help ( besides get a brain). thanks alot-

ummm....try resitting your card for one. Also make sure your case isn't overheating.

Reinstall (install) the latest catalyst drivers without the "Catalyst Control Center".

Are you doing anything to overclock this card?

BIO