ATi Catalyst 9.1 Performance Review
Conclusion
Catalyst 9.1 is quite a mixed bag, and there are some very large performance gains that could be pertinent depending on your particular ATi configuration, and the settings that you use.
On a 4850 however, the performance gains that are relevant are usually quite small, but the performance loss in Crysis with 0xAA and Bioshock (due to the 4xAA bug) is severe enough to affect gameplay.
In the specific case of a single 4850, I’d personally skip these drivers unless there are specific bug fixes you need and/or you’re only concerned with the games that showed improvements.
Really appreciate the driver comparisons you do. It makes me wonder where the vendors get their evidence concerning the % increases they claim under various titles.
Hey man, glad to see you join us.
The vendors probably get their figures from very specific scenarios (e.g. 1680×1050 with 4xAA), but it’s sometimes still possible to see lesser performance gains in other situations.