ATI Interview coming up: ask Terry Makedon your questions !

***Zardon*** · Apr 28, 2003, 02:31 PM

We all know how much ATI support has improved over the last 6 months or more, and Terry Makedon in ATI is willing to answer a selection of your questions again, so id like all our members to post their responses in this forum thread on the site, and ill take a selection to ask him.

Have you a question about your ATI drivers? a question about support, future support or something related to Catalyst on any level? Then drop by our forum and make sure you get your voice heard. Click the view article comments

Ill be leaving this forum thread open for a week or so.

Apr 28, 2003, 02:43 PM

Is it strictly about ATI drivers only?

***Zardon*** · Apr 28, 2003, 02:45 PM

Terry is in charge of Catalyst, so anything like hydravision, the software, drivers, game issues, support etc.

~~Crash Override~~ · Apr 28, 2003, 02:47 PM

One question I have for Terry is regarding the R300 series of cards.

They support both Super Sampling and Multi Sampling anti-aliasing in hardware, so far there has not been an option to use the SSAA version in any drivers thus far.

Is there any plans for it to be enabled for those of us who much prefer it to MSAA?

~~Hundredswords~~ · Apr 28, 2003, 03:02 PM

First question for Terry is that could ATI release new Catalyst driver per month? (12 in a year) It is only 2 more releases than what we have now.

Second question is I hear that Divx Fullstream acceleration does not support Radeon 9000 and 9200 series? Is that true?

Thanks!

Erroneus · Apr 28, 2003, 03:34 PM

1. Will it be possible to read the temp at the GPU through the drivers, that would be a nice feature, which many other cards holds.

2. I would like to hear what Terry Makedon thinks about creating games for specific hardware, eg. there has been some rumors about halflife 2 will be produced for nvidia cards and if so, what can ATI do about it?

3. The geforce FX are using the flowFX system to keep'm cool and has a smart feature, when in 2d mode the cooler runs slower, has ATI though off doing the same, so when idling ATI cards will become very silent.

4. And last what about bios updates, this has been a very requested feature for many years. When a motherboard at 100$ has bios updates, a gfx card at 400$ defiently should also have it! Will we see it soon?

Oh yeah thanks for some great drivers and software.

MidnightWatcher · Apr 28, 2003, 03:44 PM

When will ATI implement support for 3D stereo glasses in their Catalyst drivers? Or will this be a separate download package?

Uriel_is_UndaC · Apr 28, 2003, 03:49 PM

When will the promised Open GL refresh rate fix get included. It's been half a year or something since you promised this. :/

Any update on your views of Super Sampling on the R3X0 series?

Will there be a boost of TRUFORM performance in Open GL for the R3X0 series? (As in more than just general performance boosts, ie do you have specific optimizations for OGL TRUFORM on the way?)

"Back in the days" you used to released game specific fixes for your drivers. (SOF2 fog bug for an example.) Is this a thing of the past. The CS issue sure could use such a fix, especially since Cat 3.3 is delayed.

Any chance of granting users control over game specific settings? As in profiles. It's pretty annoying if you play a handfull of games to change the settings over and over again between each game.

Any chance of including control over Side Band Addressing in SMARTGART?

When using TV-out even as a secondary output Vsync will still sync to the second output instead of the frist (ie the monitor). Pretty annoying sice you have to turn off TV-out any time you'll want to use Vsync in a game on your monitor.

[crappy Arnold impression]
I'll be back
[/crappy Arnold impression]

boby · Apr 28, 2003, 03:56 PM

1.QUESTION:i recently bought 9500pro from connect3d.And because the card is very similar to BBA 9500pro i began searching if my card is powerd by ati or BBA.So went to this site and enter the BIOS part number and this came out:
Product Description----------------------------BIOS Part Number---102 Part Number
RADEON 9500 128MB VGA DVI-I TVOUT---113A05602102--------102A0560202

102 Part Number is the same on my 9500pro.
So my question is :can i declare it as BBA product or not.
My card has the same heatsink and fan as the BBA 9500pro and also has 3.0ns rams.
Can someone post his BBA 9500pro picture.

2.QUESTION:after 9600pro is out,is ATI gonna stop producing 9500pro?

x0ph3r · Apr 28, 2003, 04:07 PM

Could it be possible to "rip" that "no-tabs-system" that N*IDIA has ? It's a lot faster and clearer, and I really hate Tabs

Well

hf

irasnyd · Apr 28, 2003, 04:14 PM

Does ATi have any plans to start working on improving linux drivers? Right now ATi's drivers don't support XFree86 4.3.0. I'd really like to see some sort of program similar to Catalyst for linux.

Thanks!

C}{$ · Apr 28, 2003, 04:20 PM

I'm sorry if this is a repeated question, but it really bugs me.

On the issue of only releasing WHQL "certified" drivers. As far as I see it, because no one has given me a reason to think WHQL is worth it, but there are only disadvantages in WHQL'ing drivers and having a closed beta program.

It costs to WHQL (Correct me if I am wrong).
Even if they do get certified, they will still have bugs in, so what's the point?
You have to sign a legal contract to enter the closed beta program, this must cost money to administrate etc.
Users must wait 1 or 2 weeks extra for their game bug fixes, on top of youe 6-8 week release cycle, when a small change would have done and then been released as a BETA. You potentially have the best user testing base EVER, and we don't cost anything, in fact, we are paying for your cards

The list could go on, but my hands are tired.

My question is, What are the advantages of WHQL'ing drivers before releasing them?! And, have you been considering an open BETA program?!

Thanks

demalion · Apr 28, 2003, 04:23 PM

Hmm...another set of interview questions? Coolness.

Any plans for revamped color controls? I.e., in game gamma controls explained and working, new and easier to understand standard gamma adjustments with mouseover or "What's This?" explanations on how they are best used, maybe some preset sliders or functions like "Boost saturation", "Smooth Bright Gradients", "Smooth Dark Gradients" that users could use more intuitively. (This suggestion has been proposed before in several forms by me, including through Catalyst feedback).
I think it would be feasible to place a "positive spin" on beta driver release. I came up with an example approach of a special emphasis in a web page and the install readme on "bleeding edge, fresh from the labs and untested" description for them, adding something with positive tone but clearly reinforcing the idea that problems might be introduced (like "Trailblazer BETA drivers"), and concentration on facilitating ease of installation/uninstallation for users who have problems. Namely, an avenue for handling emergent issues.
My question is: how likely is something like this to be implemented? Or, perhaps, is something already in place but just not enacted recently for whatever reason?
Hey, with the "mod" craze going around, ever consider facilitating the ability of people to make custom control panels by documenting and maintaining registry key behavior? Only real requirement is documenting changes to registry key behavior already exposed by your own control panel and maybe some documentation on the best way to prevent causing conflict with the ATI control panel so that "guaranteed" functionality can always easily be restored. Of course, as much beyond that as possible would be helpful as well.
This is already possible, it is just a matter of facilitating opportunities to reinforce and channel enthusiasm (something that seems to make sense with being the current performance leader). Also might allow someone to address my first point , heh, as well as other issues people have

That's all that occurs to me for now.

crxess · Apr 28, 2003, 04:33 PM

I would like to know if you relate the weak performance of the 9000 series cards in Nascar 2003 to the Game, Drivers or Available power of corrent generation home pc's. While most games see a great improvement, this one seems to suck the power to perform well right of the 9700 card I use, even without the graphice maxed. What steps would you recommend fo better(graphic) game play?

bhw752k · Apr 28, 2003, 04:33 PM

Well, I'd like to start by thanking Terry and the rest of ATI for their continued work on the ATI driver set. I've owned a Rage IIc, a Radeon 64MB, and now a Radeon 9700. The drivers have improved tremendously. Keep up the great work!

QUESTION ONE
ATI, with their Catalyst program, have redefined their commitment (not to mention reputation) regarding VGA drivers. However, this does not apply to their TV-Wonder series. TV-Wonder users continue to be plagued with problems, relating to the WDM driver, the MMC Applications, and in particular problems with Windows XP (which is supposedly supported). These problems are well documented at the Rage3D forums. When (if at all) will ATI's driver reforms reach the PCI TV Tuner products? Will the upcoming TV Wonder Pro rectify these problems, and will the TV Wonder Pro ship with software which allows it the full capability of an AIW 9800?

QUESTION TWO
There has been a recent trend in which #1 graphics chip producer nVidia releases driver updates which dramatically increase performance in both games and benchmarks. ATI's driver releases also increase speed, but they tend to be less drastic. Examples include the Detonator 3 (for GeForce 2 series), Detonator 4 (for GF3) and the recent updates which have helped the struggling GeForce FX. There may seem to be a simple explanation: ATI ships products with a high quality driver right from launch, and that users are expected to enjoy great performance immediately when the product is purchased. However, this puts pressure on ATI's hardware designers, to ensure that their product will hold a performance lead, even after nVidia releases improved drivers. This was demonstrated when the original Radeon (which impressively matched the GeForce 2 and added unique features) was trounced with the release of Detonator 3. nVidia products seem to "improve" throughout their life cycle more than ATI products do. To regain market leadership, does ATI need to ship tremendously fast hardware (to offset Detonator speedups), or does it need to find ways to produce driver speedups of its own?

skilled2k1 · Apr 28, 2003, 04:39 PM

My Uqestion is what cards will eb supported in the Cat. 3.3 release for fullstream support in DIVX. Mainly Iask with the intent on finding out wether or not the 9100 will be included aglon with the 9200, 9500,9700, etc. As up until this point they have seemed to leave the 9100 out

*CATALYST maker* · Apr 28, 2003, 04:41 PM

1) How did you get so handsome and fun to be with?
2) ATI should give you a big raise, do you want us all to start a "give Terry a raise" petition?

*sireric* · Apr 28, 2003, 04:43 PM

More questions for Terry:

1) You're my idol. How can I become more like you?
2) So many talents. Do you sing well too?

patje · Apr 28, 2003, 04:48 PM

Hey Zardon,

First of all, I've just been shocked with your new avatar. I hope you look better in real life, still nice tough

Q's for Terry:
- Ask Terry what he thinks of your avatar

-Why did I not make it in the Beta Program ?

and now serious:
- Ask him what he thinks of my program? I'm curious (or any driver-tweaking related apps and sets)
Maybe its a question Chris Hook would give a better answer to if you would interview him once.

I'm looking forward to the interview!

Patje

threedaysdwn · Apr 28, 2003, 04:50 PM

I have one question, that I ask a lot, and never get an answer to...

Have you looked at the problems in Asheron's Call 2 caused by your drivers?
The first issue affects pixel shader-enabled Radeon cards, and when Pixel Shaders are enabled in the game, causes graphical degradation over time.
Secondly, there are general performance problems, some probably caused by the game code, but perhaps there's some improvement in the drivers that can be made?
Finally, enabling shadows of any kind has a drastic effect on performance... this does not happen on Nvidia cards, and so I'm forced to conclude that it is again a driver issue.

I'd also like to say that I second the above proposal that non-WHQL drivers be released as a "public beta." Much like what happens with Nvidias drivers. Every now and then they have an "official" build that is WHQL certified and slapped up on their homepage.

But it seems like every week they have a new beta drivers, often with performance improvements and bug fixes. Nvidia's team is obviously a driver-writing machine!

Any chance you guys will adopt a system like theirs?

Thanks and keep up the good work.

Angelus84 · Apr 28, 2003, 04:59 PM

Will the 42k Capture Bug on the AIW Radeons (7200) be fixed or have ATi looked into it and not been able to recreate the bug or fix it? Thanks for the huge increase in driver stability over the last year or so.

Vampyromaniac · Apr 28, 2003, 05:58 PM

A question regarding the newest AIW cards' new picture-in-picture ability:
Can you add the ability to use picture-in-picture without buying a second TV card?
(to use 2 of the 3 inputs present on just a single AIW: CATV and/or S-video and/or Composite)

digitalwanderer · Apr 28, 2003, 06:05 PM

Does Zardon's new avatar scare the living crap out of you too? And are all the rumors about your enormous penis size true?

megatron · Apr 28, 2003, 06:41 PM

The beta driver releases/leaks have been drying up lately.

I agree WHQL sucks, its the reason these drivers have been delayed. M$ is a puttz.

megatron · Apr 28, 2003, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Uriel_is_UndaC
Any chance of granting users control over game specific settings? As in profiles. It's pretty annoying if you play a handfull of games to change the settings over and over again between each game.

Yes, I have trouble getting in game settings to work. Things like enabling AA or AF in the game ini. Obviously all games don't have the same framerate so its no good having d3d and openGL settings for all games.

Quote:

Originally posted by Uriel_is_UndaC
Any chance of including control over Side Band Addressing in SMARTGART?

Yes, this is not enabled by smart gart but is supported by my hardware.

Quote:

Originally posted by Erroneus
what about bios updates, this has been a very requested feature for many years. When a motherboard at 100$ has bios updates, a gfx card at 400$ defiently should also have it! Will we see it soon?

I agree. I recently read a guide to help flash back from a bad flash whilst running blind, using the autoexec.bat which is a hidden file on a boot-up disk produced by "creating a boot up floppy" in winXP.