I found this to be very interesting: AMD and Valve have partnered to bring video card drivers for ATI’s graphic cards right to Steam. This means that Steam users will be able to log in, receive notification that their drivers are out of date, and proceed to update them all through the Steam platform. Although I know how to safely update my drivers, I am still always skeptical when I go to make the actual update. I remember updating drivers years and years ago for the first time and being absolutely paranoid while reading every word of the long documented instructions. Streamlining ‘Steam’lining the process (eh? eh?) gets an A+ for the thought.
There are a few concerns.
- Does this process uninstall the old drivers and perform everything correctly? Can I trust my system to them? (I assume it’s all safe.)
- Is the partnership of hardware and software companies going to lead to anything regrettable for the consumer?
- Will these be released to coincide their availability on the ATI website or will it be like Windows Update and be 10 versions old?
Should Steam even be handling this? I don’t see why not, although I have always felt that the ATI Catalyst control center and Nvidia’s control panel should function sufficiently in this day and age to do exactly what Steam is offering: The drivers should be easily updated to the most recent version (or a cataloged version of your choice) by the click of a button in your corresponding driver’s controls.
This is definitely better for gamers. It’s also better for support. It streamlines what I’m sure accounts for a large portion of customer service issues when players’ drivers are out of date. I would like to see Nvidia join in since I think the last released numbers were something like 60% Steam users on Nvidia cards and I have been a loyal and happy Nvidia customer once again since 2004 after having made a brief jump to ATI in 2003.
you should have put “steamlining” instead. XD
It sounds like a good idea in theory, but in the real world will run into problems with the quality of drivers that are released by Nvidia and AMD. There have been plenty of cases where driver updates have broken or removed existing features or performed worse than previous versions. Such bugs are usually fixed in the next release, although this may take weeks to months to appear. In the mean time the gamer either sticks with the current drivers or attempts to revert to previous versions. If Steam starts pushing gamers into broken driver updates, they aren’t going to be happy with Valve, even though any problems they encounter won’t be strictly Valve’s fault.
All us laptop users will just have another level of headaches with this, as we have to wait for the laptop mfg to provide proprietary drivers for our video cards, and these usually run about 6 months behind current released drivers.
I assume it would be optional to update. Although this definitely doesn’t bode well for driver updates that break video cards, like the Nvidia one that destroyed 8800’s. Imagine that being proliferated by a platform like Steam.
Still, while perhaps not entirely sound, it sounds like a cool idea that could be perfected in the near future.
Don’t know what you’re talking about with Windows Update. But on Win 7 driver updates are almost on the nose with whatever Nvidia releases.
This is an interesting and good idea, if I do not take advantage of it. It offers a great vehicle for a gamers on mass to receive updates from a service they all ready use. In order of 25 million of which I am one, though I prefer and use Direct2Drive more.
I also question why you say it is not entirely sound? Just because Nvidia has toruble breaking cards with driver sets, why would AMD? I am sure it could happened, but never to me, one who has had an ATI card grace his systems since the MACH32 days, with a small stint with 3DFX.
I personally want full control of when and if I upgrade to new drivers and will still use CAT downloads, how ever for the less savy among us this is a step in the right direction. AMD has recently stated a commitment to gamers, I have heard it all before, but this actually makes me think they might be slightly serious, if they move on to improve the AMD GAME site and work closer with Dev houses it could really reap rewards for us DAAMIT owners.
Laptop owners rejoice, ATI has done an about face, even in light of OEM demands and is now offering drivers for all mobile cards. Trust me on this, I feel your pain MSI has not released a driver update for my laptop in ages (since release possibly?), yet the latest CAT will install no isssue, you may want to of course create a restore point, ATI is reference only, they cannot control meddling OEMs.
Any way companies improve deliver and support of their customers is a good thing, and if it is entirely optional its even better, not to mention how many issues gamers face from all brands with outdated drivers.
A hardy WOOT!
Ive always found it anoying that the ATI catalyst doesnt auto update drivers, or at least notify when yours is out of date. I mean it seems like every other program on my computer throws a pop up window at me telling me a new version is available, why not video drivers?
I just wanna say that I tried the ATI update today and it completely fucked up my computer
after installing it scvhost error keeps popping up and I can’t end process in task manager, decreased ingame performence ..I’m in the process of formating my windows right now..DO NOT USE IT!!
yeah, bastards, I made the grave mistake of updating through Steam and now my drivers are all screwed up…