Ehhh make sure you get 7.12...Its better and it works I know 7.11 didnt work on many PC's...mine didnt either...Just go to the AMDGame site and get the CCCsuite package with the driver and CCC...dont bother with the 7.11 that comes in the CD.

As for the temp...let me guess...Crysis? I never had any real problem with temp and only Crysis crashed my PC as i had slightly OC'ed my card...Now i clock it back to stock speed and use rivatuner and set fan speed at 60% and progressively higher at 70C and above....No problem anymore....Im not sure about the MSI OC'ed version...so your temp might be diff...54C is okay i guess at stock fan speed...80C is a bit high but shouldnt cause any problems

No not really, No not really, and finally no(people who say ATI cant play all games or not very good are the same idiots that say AMD CPU has a heat problem)...

EDIT : If your budget is around RM900 i still would recomend 8800GT...There will always be people having problem with ANY hardware or software for that matter...go to AMD forum also same thing

Im not saying the HD3800 series has a heat problem...55nm architecture gives it an advantage against NVIDIA in terms of power consumption and also cooling...Its just that dont base your purchase decision based on a few rants in the forums...as you will find there is always some sort of rant in ANY internet forums...

Stick to a reputable manufacturer and you will be fine...

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 8 2008, 12:19 PM

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/3870-XXX/index.php
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/15/amd_radeon_hd_3800/
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_hd_3870/
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1222/asus...ddr4/index.html

For HD3870 and 17inch i would say definetely can...

That not really a high OC then i guess Mine stock is at 669Mhz GPU memory same as your...no need to uninstall one...just install only

EDIT : Mine is Auto...I dont know if it is working though...never checked Never had a overheating problem even with Crysis with this fan setting and stock speed...My fan is set at 60% at its lowest point and increase to 70% at 70C etc incrementaly.

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 8 2008, 02:47 PM

no no no ...it runs at 300Mhz in 2D desktop mode and automatically throtles up to 700Mhz when gaming...you dont need to worry about that. The feature is called ATI powerplay...just google it...

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 8 2008, 03:01 PM

No problem at all..

If your games work without AA i doubt its an issue with the PSU. Try disabling adaptive anti aliasing in CCC. And you can download Everest and post your voltage and temps idle and load.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 9 2008, 10:31 PM

Is this the real reasons for NVIDIA's "The Way Its Meant to be Played" campaign? To brainwash the uninformed?

BTW if a GC is made dx9/dx10 games dont need to be programmed for the GC...they program it using DX9/10 as the interface...The architecture of the GC is irrelevant as long it is supported by the OS...How it does its rendering is not important as long as it does it. In other words....NO GAMES are ever made for a particular Graphic Card.

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 9 2008, 11:12 PM

HD3850...New energy efficient chipset...no point going for the older one that is nearly same performance(and in some cases lower than HD3850). Newer games will also perform better on the newer chipset and the 2900Pro will be fighting an uphill battle in the coming months.

You MUST turn on the cleartype font. Or you either turn off font smoothing.

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 16 2008, 04:18 PM

Yes it is 7.12...But going back to 7.11 in my mind is not advisable if you are a gamer.

450Watt Minimum with no crossfire...

Guys dont forget to get 8.1 Its out!

Its new CCC and drivers for XP also After 7.12 Huge jump to 8.1

Always go here for your ATI drivers:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Just tested it out...While i didnt bench it...Crysis feels smoother...However the stutering Intro movie/logo and menu background is back(for the HD3850) Got report from other user that it improved UT3 Average fps too..

This post has been edited by frags: Jan 17 2008, 02:00 PM

naah...its just a problem with crysis intro movies...only with HD3850's...I'll just delete those intro movie files to skip them...

Nothing can

Depends on your definition of full settings.

So a graphic card upgrade at last eh Im sure you will be pleased with the huge jump in performance! Enjoy

Dont worry...Its not a HD2900XT...as long as you have a reliable PSU 450Watt is minimum for single card setup