Trouble with AMD Drivers for Radeon HD 5750 - Battlefield 3

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Level 1

8 points

Trouble with AMD Drivers for Radeon HD 5750 - Battlefield 3

I'm attempting to run Battlefield 3 in Windows 7, but it tells me that my driver is out of date. I get the following error message:

"Detected AMD Radeon driver version 10.4. The recommended driver version is 11.7 or later. Please update your drivers at http://www.amd.com/ before playing the game."

So, first I went to AMD's website and downloaded their Boot Camp Windows 7 driver, but this didn't seem to work. I then uninstalled it and attempted to download the AMD Catalyst 11.12 driver (their latest driver on the PC side for my card). Turns out, this driver won't even install. Looking at the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, it says the version is 8.723.3.0 (strange, since I'm being told by BF3 that the version is 10.4) and that it's from 7/16/2010.

Other information about my computer:

Mid 2010 iMac i7 @ 2.93 GHz

AMD Radeon 5750 1GB VRAM

4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM

So, any idea how I can get this to work? Either by a workaround, or somehow getting my computer to install Catalyst 11.12? I haven't heard back from AMD support, and EA support was absolutely no help (they told me to reinstall the driver four times after I already told them it wasn't working... -_- )

Thanks in advance!

Posted on Jan 6, 2012 10:18 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

SmackMasterson

Level 1

30 points

Jan 7, 2012 2:10 AM in response to admdelta

Difficulty installing the lastest graphics drivers in Boot Camp is a "known issue;" that is, known by the users, ignored by the manufacturer 🙂. The Boot Camp developers prefer we only use the driver version vetted by them, which leaves us with perpetually outdated drivers and poor system performance.

A simple procedure for installing the latest drivers can be found on Bioware's SWOTR forums at www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=11234&page=16. You want the 6th post down by author Ineidzcode (sorry, I don't know how to link the individual post). The gist of the process is to remove every trace of your existing graphics driver, then install the latest solid beta driver, version 12.1. It installs more easily because the preview/beta version doesn't do the same sort of checks for manufacturer approval that release drivers do.

FWIW, I have successfully used this procedure on my Macbook Pro 17" (late 2011, Radeaon HD 6770m). Not only did it install easily, the 12.1 drivers solved my FPS and stuttering issues in SWTOR.

Not sure how well 12.1 works for BF3. I've read that some Boot Camp players of BF3 reverted to catalyst version 11.11 when 11.12 caused an FPS drop; I don't know how well the 12.1 preview drivers have been received.

There is an existing discussion about this installation process, on these forums, at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3604048.

BTW, the 8.723.3.0 version number being reported by the DirectX tool is probably the "Driver Packaging Version," which for some reason is different than the Catalyst Driver version number. Windows' Device Manager does the same thing. You can confirm this by opening Catalyst Control Center, clicking the "information" button on the lower left, and selecting "software."

HTH, and GL.

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Jan 7, 2012 3:55 AM in response to SmackMasterson

I put this in my public bookmark profile for others and easy reference as this is VERY FAQ issue!

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Answer 3

admdelta Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 7, 2012 2:45 PM in response to SmackMasterson

Thanks a bunch Smack, that worked! It was tricky because it looks like the express install wasn't wanting to do it (I tried a few times and every time I restarted it still hadn't applied and my resolution was a hideous 4x5 or something stupid), but then I did the custom and checked everything and now it's working fine. Thanks again!

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Answer 4

YHLien

Level 1

25 points

Jan 10, 2012 4:30 AM in response to SmackMasterson

I am wondering whether you got the benchmark drop in window experience index with the 12.1 preview driver? I tried to install the preview driver in macbook pro 15" 2011 early and found the gaming and graphic index dropped from 6.9 and 6.3 to 4.9 and 5.4, respectively.

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Jan 10, 2012 8:11 AM in response to YHLien

you can always use the device manager to rollback, and yes, some people (one?) said their score dropped and they went back to Nov driver.

and some people have used Driver Sweeper 3.x to do clean driver install and clean out old drivers, which in older days use to help esp. when using beta and changing drivers. Windows 7 drivers are much improved and some even have custom driver install.

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Answer 6

Jan 10, 2012 12:05 PM in response to YHLien

I hadn't examined the Windows Experience Score previously; with the 12.1 beta drivers, the base score is 5.9 and the graphics score is 6.8.

This is a recent Macbook Pro 17" with the Radeon HD 6770m, a 750 GB 7200 RPM HDD, a 2.5 GHz i5 proc, and 8 gigs of RAM.

I can also report that Skyrim is running well under the 12.1 drivers. My play has been casual so far and my testing not rigorous, but frame rates seem good to the naked eye and settings are high with AAx8 and Anisotropic Filtering at 8.

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Answer 7

admdelta Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 10, 2012 2:25 PM in response to SmackMasterson

I found that after installing 12.1, Skyrim's performance took a major hit. With my old Boot Camp driver that was installed before, I was able to run it on all ultra settings without any problems... now when I play with graphics anywhere between high and ultra, I get a lousy 20 fps - or even fewer if I'm in a city. Think it would help if I reverted back to 11.12?

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Answer 8

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Jan 11, 2012 6:59 AM in response to admdelta

Rollback or do a custom clean install if AMD allows, or uninstall program and drivers, it is always odd and interesting when a driver gives such different results.

In the past, cleaning beta drivers one would turn to use Driver Sweeper so you might want to download and take a look at using it also.

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Answer 9

Jan 12, 2012 4:42 PM in response to admdelta

Were you ever running 11.12, amddelta? I can't speak to a rollback procedure specifically. But the Bioware forum post I linked has additional instructions, quoted lower in the same post, on installing the non-beta 11.12.

I've spent some more time in Skyrim, with FRAPS running, and yeah, the frame rate is bad. I'm getting less than 30fps most of the time, often around 15fps. My 8xAA setting is pretty high, though, so I could proably reduce that for more performance while keeping otherwise "high" settings. I'll experiment with that this week.

Still, if you were getting good frame rates with "Ultra" settings from an older driver... there must have been some trade off on a 5750. Maybe low shadows or low/no AA? Could there be one or two high-impact settings like that which are now enabled or turned up?

I'm just thinking aloud though. I don't have a clear idea how the performance would differ between your desktop 5750 and my mobile 6770 (Which Apple further underclocks to be like a 6740). I do beleive that the 6700 series is a larger step forward; the 5770, by comparsion, performs the same as a previous-generation 4870 but with DX11 support.

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Answer 10

admdelta Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 12, 2012 7:12 PM in response to SmackMasterson

I was originally just running whatever driver it was that came with my Snow Leopard Disk when I installed Windows back in late 2010. The other day I uninstalled 12.1 and I'm now running 11.12, and it's not any better than 12.1 was. I'm currently getting about 27 fps average (I haven't actually recorded it, this is just based on memory from looking at the reading from FRAPS down in the corner), and that's after turning the settings down even further (medium shadows are a terrible thing to behold in Skyrim).

Also, with the old driver it was literally all ultra - nothing held back. High quality shadows, AA was at 8, AF was at 16, maximum distance settings... makes me sad that I have to trade all that off just to be able to play BF3. 😟 (and I suck at it too, lol)

I've pondered the possibility of perhaps overclocking the graphics card, but I have reservations... gotta be really careful doing that with an iMac apparently.

@The hatter - what does Driver Sweeper do exactly?

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Answer 11

The hatter

Level 9

60,980 points

Jan 13, 2012 4:58 AM in response to admdelta

Listen to this: GOOGLE and when you find DRIVER SWEEPER (Guru3d) then, read and look at the "how to use" notes.

Use the internet. It is like a dictionary/encyclopedia!

You don't need me to read or hand-feed.

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Answer 12

Jan 13, 2012 1:52 PM in response to admdelta

Sorry to hear 11.12 isn't working, admdelta. Might be worth digging up the 11.11 drivers since some folks say it improves fps in BF3.

Did you have any trouble installing 11.12? How did you do it, btw?

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Answer 13

admdelta Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 14, 2012 1:46 AM in response to The hatter

Yes hatter, but a simple "it does x" would suffice, because I'm not sure what I need it for.

I think I'll do that, Smack. I didn't have any more trouble installing 11.12 than I did with 12.1, though I had to try installing a couple times because it's easy to miss a step and accidentally forget to remove something and what not. I basically just followed the instructions on the page you linked - downloaded CCCleaner, used it to uninstall the AMD stuff, deleted the AMD/ATI folders from System 32, uninstalled the driver from the device manager, and then uninstalled everything using the Catalyst installer. Once you get that all cleared it seems to run smoothly. But yeah, I'll try 11.11, hopefully that'll do it! And thanks again for all the help!

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