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anyen · Dec 7, 2006, 08:59 PM

there is official driver from ati for notebooks...has anyone tried it??? the link is http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/mobility-xp.html .its for win xp... please tell me your exprience...is it working on bootcamp/xp ??

ghporter · Dec 8, 2006, 07:55 AM

I would think that if they intended this to be a good Boot Camp driver, they'd have mentioned Apple as a "system integrator" for this video chip.

It can't hurt that much to try it, but I don't think ATI intended this update for MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

LeChuck · Dec 8, 2006, 10:25 AM

The ATI driver will refuse to install, but I installed the latest Omega drivers for WinXP and they installed like a charm.

ghporter · Dec 8, 2006, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by LeChuck

The ATI driver will refuse to install, but I installed the latest Omega drivers for WinXP and they installed like a charm.

So where did you get the Omega drivers? It would be helpful for everyone if you posted a link...

LeChuck · Dec 8, 2006, 06:20 PM

As Google or Yahoo would tell you: OmegaDrivers.net (disclaimer: use at the risk of your Windows installation...)

ghporter · Dec 8, 2006, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by LeChuck

As Google or Yahoo would tell you: OmegaDrivers.net (disclaimer: use at the risk of your Windows installation...)

Typically people who vouch for something provide a link... Thanks for THE Omega driver; I can imagine a ton of "wrong" hits for "omega driver" searches.

anyen · Dec 8, 2006, 09:05 PM

havent tried the omega driver....is it faster than the original mac driver?...are there any issue using the omega driver?...

LeChuck · Dec 8, 2006, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Typically people who vouch for something provide a link... Thanks for THE Omega driver; I can imagine a ton of "wrong" hits for "omega driver" searches.

I am not vouching for anything. If I go to Yahoo and type "omega driver", the site is the first search result that comes up. It takes 10 seconds and there's no need to "imagine" anything.

LeChuck · Dec 8, 2006, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by anyen

havent tried the omega driver....is it faster than the original mac driver?...are there any issue using the omega driver?...

I have no idea if it's faster but I felt more comfortable installing it knowing it's one of the latest "optimized" drivers. It also lets you install a tool that does overclocking, among other things, and that tool told me my card was running at 472/490, which seems right. At least that way I know the card is not underclock and is being used as it should. The ATITool couldn't report any values that made snese, although I haven't tried to see if it was related to the driver at all.

lj1960 · Dec 9, 2006, 12:37 AM

Can you please check to see what resolutions this new driver supports? I want to use a 30 inch Cinema Display which is 2560 x 1600. Right now, my XP driver only allows 1680 x 1050 max.

LeChuck · Dec 9, 2006, 11:57 AM

On my config the max resolution is 1680x1050 but that is probably because it detects that it is the max resolution of my 20" screen. I do not see why the driver would not support your screen resolution if the card does but I don't know more.

lj1960 · Dec 10, 2006, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by LeChuck

On my config the max resolution is 1680x1050 but that is probably because it detects that it is the max resolution of my 20" screen. I do not see why the driver would not support your screen resolution if the card does but I don't know more.

In WinXP you can open the Display Control Panel and poke around to look for the button that will show you all the resolutions your graphics card will support. That's how I first noticed this issue. Then I actually connected a 30" to confirm it.

ghporter · Dec 10, 2006, 03:52 PM

The button lj1960 is talking about is on the Settings tab for display properties. With different adapters it can be in slightly different places there, but it's going to be somewhere on there.

Here's a nice explanation from Microsoft about how it works. Note that some drivers offer a "Test" or "Check Settings" button that gives you a short preview of the new display resolution while others don't. This is not a big deal, because the basic behavior is to change the resolution and ask the user if he wants to keep it, so if the chosen resolution doesn't work (at all some times), then doing nothing for about 15 seconds gives you back your original resolution.

lj1960 · Dec 12, 2006, 06:21 PM

Turns out I was wrong. I wanted to drive the 30" Apple Cinema Display via my new 17" MacBook Pro while in WinXP via Boot Camp.

In WinXP you need to turn off the laptop display (aka: lid closed) and then go back to the resolution settings. Now, the full native resolution is available. Set that and save the configuration and Viola! You're done!

Now I've got a bitchen 30" Cinema Display powered via my 17" MacBook Pro.