8. ATI HD-5xxx cards in desktop AW machines

7) Do NOT install the last option for the transcoder (you can also uncheck the Lord of the Rings option and the Communication Opt-In option)

 Why is it that we choose to NOT install the Transcoder?

To answer my own question ... I found this in the CCC 10.7 Release Notes:

Note:

The Drag and Drop Transcoding feature is a beta level feature

provided only for evaluation purposes. The Drag and Drop

Transcoding feature is only supported on single and dual core CPUs,

and supported on devices that support Media Transfer Protocol

(MTP).

Actually it's at 10.8 now.

Me personally I have had nothing but trouble with official ATI drivers after 10.5..anything higher would give me a BSOD on reboot. ( This is  known occurence for CrossFire and the 5970set ups ) I have a 5970.( You can check the official AMD driver forums to see I wasn't alone)

So I was stuck at 10.5 for the longest time...

Recently I installed the Dell beta drivers ( 10.7 ) and all my problems went away and I got a 20% fps increase across the board. Games that were unplayable due to artifacting, skybox flickering etc..run just fine now.

So...if you want to use the " official " AMD/ATI drivers..knock yourself out. But if you have Crossfire or a 5970 I would recommend the Dell beta drivers ( 10.7 )

Actually, it's at 10.9 now (they have been doing point releases every month for a while now).

If you find that 10.7 runs on your 5970 better than 10.8, that's an ATI-AMD problem (but not that uncommon) ... the 5970 is a different animal (being a dual GPU card). It should be fixed soon (10.9 package or higher). Nothing wrong with staying on 10.7 either ... My wife's XPS-410 with 5770 is running 10.6 and they are super stable and fast. No reason to mess with a good thing.

If you would have gone to ATI.com back in July, and downloaded CCC 10.7, you would have the same Beta Drivers file that Dell just released. Although, I don't think the 5970 firmware upgrade was released back then. It's likely the combination of the 2 that provides the solution.

Sounds like the 5xxx drivers have matured (dependability and performance) to an acceptable level now ... just in time for the 6xxx cards to be released.

Everything seems to be working fine except i can't open CCC ... Any ideas?

Do you have .Net v1.1 installed (original release) and it's SP1 ? CCC needs it.

You can get it from Windows Update, Optional Software. I don't think it comes pre-installed on Windows 7.

.Net 2, 3, and 4 are different and do not satisfy the requirement for .Net 1.1 to be installed for programs that use it.

---

You might also try turning off CrossFire while uninstalling old and Clean-Installing new.

Thanks for quick reply  , .Net is not something i am familiar with...so , stupid question , how do i verify what i have exactly?

Ok just checked it out and it seems i have  1.1 , 2 , 3 , 3.5  and 4.  Is anything other than v 1.1 giving problems then?

The easiest way is to go to Windows Update, check for Updates, Optional Updates ...

If you don't have it, it will be offered. It's SP1 Update might appear in the other Important/ Recommended Area.

Since Windows doesn't really provide an easy way, you can use this:

http://webtrickz.com/checking-net-framework-version-installed-on-your-windows/

You only need the v 1.1 Framework (not the SDK) ... and the v1.1 SP1 (because the recent CCC Release Notes say so).

If the Tool says " Microsoft .Net v1.1 - SERVICE PACK 1 " you must have some other problem if CCC still doesn't run.

You need to uninstall all ATI products and reinstall the new drivers. I have this exact issue on my PC. It is very annoying, but it solves the issue.

I wish someone could tell me how to do this, so I don't have to uninstall with each new driver release.

Yes it does say that i have  Microsoft .Net v1.1 service pack 1 is installed along with a couple other versions. Well thanks for the help too bad it didnt work out. I guess i'll try uninstalling everything again run the driver sweeper and reinstal again. Did that time and time again but i really don't know what else to do.

I have successfully upgraded my ATI/AMD drivers, from the 10.8, to the current AMD.com reference driver (currently CCC 10.11 - core driver v8.791).

They are working fine. Here are the exact steps I used.

Alienware Aurora X-58, single ATI 5870 (Dell OEM)
Windows-7 Ultimate (64bit) Dell/AW

Disabled Microsoft Security Essentials or other Anti-Virus "Real-Time Scanning"
Exit ATI taskbar icon (if present)
Uninstall CCC (Dell drivers) from "Programs and Features"
- Run ATI CCC Install Manager
- Express uninstall ALL ATI to include ATI Mgr.
Reboot
The Microsoft bundled (or old Dell) Win-7 ATI driver will likely load (1-13-2010 v8.700.0.0)
Be sure all old CCC Start-Menu Icons are removed or deleted
Be sure this folder is deleted: "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies
Run Driver Sweeper 2.1.0 (NoInstaller)
- Select "ATI Display" and click Clean button
Reboot
- When it comes up this time:
  Aero might be off
  Main Monitor drivers or profile might be missing
  Resolution is mis-set (make due for now)
Run Driver Sweeper again to check (ATI Display - Analyze, should list nothing)
Reboot (so install starts on fresh boot)
Be sure Microsoft Security Essentials or other Anti-Virus
- "Real-Time Scanning" should still be disabled
Installed 10-11_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_enu.exe
- From amd.com (non-APP/OCL)
Custom Install
- Unchecked LotR, Comm email
- Left AMD Transcoder enabled this time (didn't say beta this time and is now v2)
- Left the new WMV9/VC-1 Playback checked
Reboot
- Monitors and proper resolution should be detectable now.
CCC Advanced
- Check orientation and resolution for both monitors

Recently I installed the Dell beta drivers ( 10.7 ) and all my problems went away and I got a 20% fps increase across the board. Games that were unplayable due to artifacting, skybox flickering etc..run just fine now.   So...if you want to use the " official " AMD/ATI drivers..knock yourself out. But if you have Crossfire or a 5970 I would recommend the Dell beta drivers ( 10.7 )

Because of your post, I have been recommending to users with 5970's to stick with 10.7 (and apply the Dell VideoBios firmware update if they haven't already).

Are you still on 10.7, or have you successfully moved forward?

Here is a recent (now working) dual 5970 setup:

Re: Graphics card power cable issue

My old thread has been quiet, but it seems like it should have this info. I won't double-post, so just follow this link:

Troubleshooting Dual Video Cards in X-58 based AW Desktops

Just thought I would post that I had to revert back to the Dell CCC 10.7 due to poor DVD playback problems. CCC v10.11 plays games fine, but the DVD playback  (and/or general decode processing) is not right (a washed out, poorly defined, noisy picture).

Sure, the built-in Win-7 DVD decoder is not the best, (and I'm up-scaling pretty far) but I didn't remember my DVDs looking this poorly. They were also poor in window-ed mode (DVD native size). On CCC 10.7, all is back to normal (in Media Player and Media Center). Even my AVIs look better now. And yes, I first tried the Advanced Video playback options in CCC (among other things).

I even removed the Dell supplied PowerDVD DX 8.3, to make sure I only had one DVD Decoder installed. No big loss, because the Dell supplied PowerDVD DX 8.3 has no option to load complete VIDEO_TS DVD rips directly from the HDD, which I require. This DX version is strange and nothing like the other (retail) versions of PowerDVD 8.x I have seen. However, this was not the problem. In fact, it played physical DVDs pretty good (it was all the Windows players that were broken).