128MB Ati FireGL T2 Driver Suggestions

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itzmheck · #1 Post by **itzmheck** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 2:38 pm

Which drivers do you suggest for optimal performance and stability? I'm trying to figure out which ones I should load onto my new laptop if I some games, etc. I want to keep stability though at the same time.

Conmee · #2 Post by **Conmee** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:13 pm

Unless you are obsessed with games, the few additional fps won't matter much to you by using modded/alternate drivers. The IBM drivers work very well and are stable. They also work well with overclocking utilities like RadLinker/RadClocker, so if you want to kick in a few more fps for the occasional game, you can do it on the fly.

Check my signature for my benchmark scores using the latest IBM supplied ATI drivers.

Daniel.

itzmheck · #3 Post by **itzmheck** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:18 pm

what games have you played with your ibm drivers and hows do they fair?

Torque · #4 Post by **Torque** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 5:45 am

itzmheck wrote:what games have you played with your ibm drivers and hows do they fair?

I play Battle for Middle-earth. 1400x1050 at high detail. No problems.

Thats with the newest IBM drivers.

fbrdphreak · #5 Post by **fbrdphreak** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:08 pm

There's another thread open about playing games on the T42, check that out. But I do personally recommend using third party drivers. I'd been using the IBM drivers until a couple nights ago. No problems as I'd been mostly playing older games, but when I was getting back into Need For Speed Underground, there would be pretty consistent slowdowns when playing @ 1280x1024 with all settings maxed (Which is sad considering my GF4 Ti4200 in my desktop would thrash it

), I had to drop it down to 1024x768 as well as loweing quality settings. I switched to the Omega drivers and it runs @ 1280x1024 everything maxed BEAUTIFULLY. I honestly have to say there is also a noticeable IQ difference. Highly recommended, just make sure to use Driver Cleaner per the instructions included with it (Safe Mode). GL

itzmheck · #6 Post by **itzmheck** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:45 pm

Where can I find driver cleaner?

itzmheck · #7 Post by **itzmheck** » Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:05 pm

Already completed driver installation with assistance of driver cleaner. Thanks anyway.

zzyss · #8 Post by **zzyss** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 12:13 am

Hi sorry for the thread hijack, but may I ask which is the faster out of the FireGL T2 and the RADEON 9600?

Conmee · #9 Post by **Conmee** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:43 am

zzyss wrote:Hi sorry for the thread hijack, but may I ask which is the faster out of the FireGL T2 and the RADEON 9600?

zzyss,

I answered this in the gaming thread here... http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=6409&start=0

The short answer is they are the same. Both use the same 9600 core, clocked at the same speed on ThinkPads (317.25). The FireGL simply has a different chip bios identifying it as a FireGL, so that you can install FireGL ISV-certified drivers. The other obvious difference is that the FireGL has twice (128MB) the video RAM of the MR9600 (64MB), and that the MR9600 has a slightly faster memory speed (202.5 for the FireGL / 209.25 for the MR9600).

End result is that if you are using the IBM supplied ATI drivers on ThinkPads with FireGL or MR9600, you won't see much of a difference in performance (1%-3% depending on benchmark/game). The only time one chip will outperform the other is if you happen to use a modded driver set with performance enhancements (like Omegas), or drivers being equal, you run a game like Doom3 or HL2 that uses the larger FireGL memory for textures. In that case, you will see some improvement over a GPU with 64MB. In fact, some games simply won't allow you to run the highest quality settings without at least 128MB of video RAM. So your question should really be, which of the two GPUs (FireGL 128MB or MR9600 64MB) will have a longer useful life. And the answer would be the FireGL, because the larger amount of video memory will give you more flexibility in the future to handle games/apps that require more and more video memory.

Daniel.

Ghostrider · #10 Post by **Ghostrider** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 12:19 pm

I tried the original IBM drivers at first but... well... they were stable and more than good enough for office tasks and everything you would do ever do for business.

But for "Joint Operations" - "Escalation" they were not able to satisfy my needs. I turned to the Omega drivers and the game performed much better. The Notebook is also stable (no crash or what-ever) but the graphics performs much better now.
I did not like Omega drivers in the past, but for since I own an X800Pro in my desktop and the FireGL-T2 in my T42P I (have to) like them because they just perform better than the original driver sets.

KillaByte · #11 Post by **KillaByte** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 3:11 pm

In the past people experienced nasty side-effects like not being able to send the laptop to hibernation when not using the original drivers. Does anyone know if such problems still exist?

Ghostrider · #12 Post by **Ghostrider** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:08 pm

Suspend & Hibernation work perfect.

EDIT: Standby & Hibernation....

zzyss · #13 Post by **zzyss** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:07 pm

Conmee wrote:I answered this in the gaming thread here...

Thanks. Much more comprehensive answer than I had hoped or expected.

128MB Ati FireGL T2 Driver Suggestions

128MB Ati FireGL T2 Driver Suggestions

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