Drivers and format

[Randell Floyd]

Need to install a new hdd and will be having a fresh installation of xp at the same time.
Problem being my RMA 9800pro hasnt arrived back and was going to hold out untill it arrived to do the fresh install.

Now how 'bad' is it if I install using a radeon 7200 and then install the 9800pro when it arrives early next week? Can I totally erase the previous drivers and then install the card?

Needs to be tip top as it's going to be HL2!

[jonathan_phang]

Personally, I'd wait, but then afaik (and someone correct me if im wrong) its not bad. You just have to make sure that you uninstall the previous drivers properly. This is what i do:

Download a utility called drivercleaner, i think its on driverhaven.net or just google it. Also an official util from atis site called catalyst uninstaller

Run this, itll prompt you if you want to etc and then after clicking yes, continue. When you restart, then press F8 (and hold) F8 to go into safe mode. then run driver cleaner and select ATI from the drop menu. Run it and everything ati related should be gone. Then run cab cleaner if you want (which i think rebuilds the driver.cab file).

When done, shutdown, add in your 9800 pro (its ace, i have one!!!) and startup and itll be like installing from scratch, I recommend the catalyst 4.12 betas. By far the best driver imo. D3 frame rates got a little increase, but when i played it, it was waaaay smoother. And it is also optimised for half life. I can play at 1280-960 with quite a bit aa/af and it runs ok, though i havent really played much.

[Akumu]

It's a unified driver, so it'll work for both the 7200 and 9800... I think...

I suppose it might just install the files it needs for the specific card, but I don't think it does... Anyway, I'm sure someone will correct me if not

[mike_w]

As Jonathan said, you should uninstall the drivers first, then run a driver cleaning utility such as Driver Cleaner, shut the PC down, stick the new card in and install the new drivers. Hey presto, a much faster and happier computer!