Share your experience!
Dear All,
Just lately there have been many questions re. graphics drivers on the A-series laptops. I thought I would try all of the main driver options on my VGN-A115Z, one after the other, using the following games:
Half-Life 2
DOOM3
Command and Conquer Generals
Simcity 4
Quake III Arena
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
The drivers tested were:
Standard Sony Driver (factory installed)
Modded Catalyst Driver (4.11 latest from ATi web site)
Tech Magazine Half-Life 2 modded Ati driver (suggestion of TygerType)
OmegaDriver 2.5.90 (Catalyst 4.10 Beta) - NOTE: this will be updated next week with the drivers based on Catalyst 4.11!
These are my findings:
Standard Sony - CRAP, DOOM3 and Half-Life 2 only work for a limited time and then stall! They also run relatively slowly!
Modded Catalyst - Would still not install correctly even after running the mod tool! I have succesfully installed the modded 4.10 driver, but the perfomance boost over the above is negligable (it's does'nt hang as much though!)
TechMagazine - Installed OK... ..but made absolutely no difference compared to the standard Sony Drivers! DOOM3 and Half-Life 2 still hang in the same places (which seems to coincide with large amonts of HDD data retreival).
Omega Drivers- Installed OK, and all games run flawlessley! The games also run faster! The only issue I have noticed is that if I start the laptop and then do nothing for an extended period of time (several hours) the graphics do break up and then correct... ...but then the screen update is slowed. However, that is the only issue I have seen and when do you usually start the computer up only to do nothing with it?
Winner (on my system) the Omega Drivers! :smileygrin:
It will be interesting to see how the new ones perform after their release next week! http://www.omegadrivers.net
Hope this helps!
CW
PS buy the way, I have had no graphics driver problems on my PS2... ....ha ha!
oops sorry Woody. I assumed incorrectly that all A-series had the 9700. I guess that only came later - after all mine was still advertised as 9200 when it came with the 9700.
I will post my results for the benefit of 9700 users.
I wouldn't
Doubt it will even install. I wish Sony would wake up and listen to all this.
Doubt it will even install. I wish Sony would wake up and listen to all this.
Just out of interest Woody, did you use a driver cleaner in between tests?
Just out of interest Woody, did you use a driver cleaner in between tests?
I wouldn't
PLEASE NOTE:
I am not suggesting that all users of Radeon Mobility 9200 based VAIOs update the graphics drivers of their machines using the updated 9700 based drivers....
....you do this at your own discretion and risk!
I am only reporting what I have found to work best on my system!
If your are unsure what you are doing and are unfamiliar with the use of regedit to delete all previous Windows driver entries my suggestion is... ...stay well alone!
But if you feel competant... ...try AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Doing so is no worse than installing the unofficial graphics drivers (Omega etc.)!
CW
Nice one Woody, glad they worked.
You know me, like to be cautious!
I bet the rest of the Club are happy you tried!
Hm.....it just occurred to me it would actually be more helpful if we told people where to get the drivers [:">].
Omega Drivers
Tech Magazine Half Life 2 Optimised Driver
Sony OEM Drivers
ATi Catalyst Drivers which must be modified for Mobility Graphics Cards using Patjes Catalyst Mod