Using ATI site display drivers - dangerous for hardware?

I would follow their advice to protect your warranty. If I'm not mistaken though Catalyst automatically updates the driver. Maybe Chris can answer with some authority, because a lot of us use Catalyst. I use it in gaming to bump up the fans in GPU to prevent overheating. Some others probably use MSI afterburner, ect. If the waranty goes void in using Catalyst then I guess I'm going to un install it and roll back the driver. I think their main fear which is understandable is that an untested or beta driver might ruin the video card . Other than the A/W Command Center beta I've  never used beta drivers because you run a risk.

For laptops, you should only use the Dell driver.

For Dell Alienware desktops, since our ATI-AMD cards seem to be of generic "Reference Design", there doesn't seem to be any problem using the drivers from AMD.com. In fact, Dell gives directions to do so:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/p/19275703/19489216.aspx#19489216

Also, see this whole thread ( but especially the first message on the second page):

Re: ATI HD-5xxx cards in desktop AW machines

Since the ATI-AMD and nVidia drivers are updated monthly, it's impossible for Dell to validate them all (on all the different machines) and keep the downloads at support.dell.com completely current.

Thanx Tesla I was worried about my warranty- since my sig says "CATALYST"

Sorry in advance if this is some kind of uber noob question but I don't want to void my computer warranty by you know...blowing it up.

All the current CPU and GPU processors from Intel, AMD, and nVidia now have some very low level thermal controls built into the chips themselves to protect them (to prevent them from "blowing-up"). However, excessive Over-Clocking and heat can weaken them over time.