So far I've been using Windows Update to download the drivers for my ATI GPU as that's the first thing that comes up after installing Windows, but now I'm thinking of using the Catalyst Install Manager (or maybe even the Catalyst suite). However, I'm unsure as to which is the best method, as I prefer to keep my system clean and free of any unnecessary stuff installed, but also want the best performance in games. When I check the driver details of the ATI GPU in the Windows 7 Device Manager it says it's 'version 8.666...', but on the AMD website it says the latest Catalyst driver is 9.1 - so which do I download? And to add to this confusion I'm also getting search results of Catalyst of 9.2,9.7, and whatever... so how could 9.1 be the latest? Can someone please make this clear to me? My system is: Windows 7 x64 ATI Powercolor HD4850
The latest ATI catalyst version from the official website is 9.10 as in 9.ten and so supersedes 9.1, 9.2, 9.7 etc. As for the Win7 update version I guess it's probably an earlier, more tested version. The driver version that you read in device manager is not the same number as you read on the catalyst download - so you can't compare the 8.666 to to the 9.10. I've personally downloaded the ATI catalyst download myself but my 4870 ran fine with the Win7 update version too. If you have a brand new model of GPU (5800 series for example) then you're probably better off with the ATI download otherwise either is probably good.
