ok i've read the Asus ATI-series manual, but i still have a few questions, i posted on the Asus forum and no one answered me. i hope i will get some help here.

as you all can see, i have a MSI Radeon X1300Pro 256mb right now, and soon i'll switch to an Asus X1600Pro Silent 512mb, for better performances along with a fanless card

what i wanted to know is, can i keep my official ATI drivers installed and just switch card?

since i'm only upgrading from X1300Pro to X1600Pro, i think there won't be any problem. But i never switched video card on new-generation computers yet, on Windows XP, so i don't know how it will act on swapping video card (switched from Voodoo3 3000agp 16mb to Asus GeForce2 MX agp 32mb at the time on my old Pentium 3, in Win98SE)

thanks

Some people always install the newest drivers, some don't.
Make sure the current driver you're using supports the new card, or simply download and install the latest one.

Switching the card for the new one won't be a problem then.

i always keep up to date with the video drivers.

so the official ATI drivers for X1300 and X1600 are the same?

I would probably say so. But just to be sure, I would uninstall the current ones, and get the ones for the X1600. (Can't hurt and it only takes like five minutes.)

And have you considered the X1650Pro? They are faster than the X1600 series and are still passive.

well i wanted the X1600Pro Silent for a few reasons:

1- it's Asus (a company i like very much)
2- it's better than my actual card
3- it's fanless
4- the card is cheaper on Newegg than buying it in stores here, even when including shipping fee!

i don't have much to spend on a video card, so that's why i took this one.

a friend will send it to me soon (he bought it from Newegg, since he live nearby US borders, long story short, he got a way to buy on Newegg with a relative's US address).

ok, you told me "just to be safe", when uninstalling the display drivers, instead of rebooting i shut down the computer?

Not that safe! It doesn't matter if you restart or shut down. They both do the same thing in effect.

The first two cards I linked to are just as cheap.... I still would recommend a X1650....

it's too late anyway, it's ordered.

which one i have to uninstall?

-ATI - Software Uninstall Utility
-ATI Catalyst Control Center
-ATI Display Driver

i will have to shut down the computer if i want to install the new card inside after uninstalling the video drivers

I have no clue what ATI Software uninstall utility is, but start with that one. If it uninstalls the other two, great!, If not, then manually uninstall the other two. (So uninstall all three)

in the ATI guide, it says, at the step 2.3 Removing Display Driver:

If you want to replace your display driver or if you no longer need the display driver for your card, follow the procedures in this section to completely remove the display driver from the system....

to resume the remaining of the steps, it says to use "ATI-Software Uninstall Utility" then click "change/remove"

but what i don't get is "the application prompts you to restart your computer to complete the process. Click YES".

so after the reboot (in 16-colors or 256-colors i believe), i just shut down the computer, and put in my new card, and then boot-up the computer, and install the ATI drivers again?

at a few places in the Asus manual, they says to install ATI driver and ASUS enhanced driver. Can i just install ATI display driver and then install SmartDoctor for GPU voltage and temperature monitoring?

For some years you usually even don't need uninstall previous ATI drivers anymore - ATI installer is relatively good and doesn't mess your system up.

What I'd do: download new driver package, turn PC off, disconnect mains, replace videocard, connect mains, turn PC on.

If newer card is fully supported, windows will start normally, maybe ATI autodetector will tell you something and/or change resolution temporarily. Once windows is running, just install latest driver package.

If newer card is not supported, then windows will start in VGA mode and asking for drivers. Hit cancel and install new drivers.

I lately upgraded two Windows instances this way - one from X200 integrated video to X1650Pro (passive ), another from 9800Pro to same X1650Pro. No problems so far.

ok, i'll probably do it this way.

but tell me, what are the temperatures of your passive X1650Pro?

i want to know if the passive cooling system is doing its job well.

i might replace my exhaust Tri-cool fan for a Noctua "fast" 120mm too, and maybe add the same one as intake, to keep a good airflow in my computer, that would maybe cool things more in my computer too

I switched vga cards from nvidia, no uninstalling or whatever, just shutdown the pc, insert the other card and power up again, no problems at all.
As long as the newer card is supported by the driver there shouldn't be a problem.

I have no data - Gigabyte X1650Pro doesn't have temperature sensor. But I've had no problems with 3DMark testing (no serious gaming yet) in my old Nexus rig, I think that passive cooling is good enough. According to google (cannot find article ATM) Gigabytes X1650Pro reached maximum temperature about 90C, what is not much for GPU.

wow....and Asus says that when you use SmartDoctor and the ard have a fan, when it reach 60degrees, the fan starts/spin faster.

90degrees is not much for a GPU? then what would be the critical temp. for it?

You probably don't need to--but I would uninstall and then reinstall the ATI drivers.

Basically you should download the new ones--and what I usually do is download only the drivers, not the whole Catalyst suite.

Then you uninstall, following their directions...shut down. Swap cards. Boot. Follow directions for installation (like WDM driver first, reboot, driver, reboot).

Get some good beer or coffee while working on this.

Enjoy your new silent card--glad you managed to get it ordered from Newegg for you.

i think the card is supported on ATI drivers, since it was released months ago.

WDM? maybe that will sound newbie, but why installing that? i think i only need to install the ATI drivers for the video card

the past 2 drivers are useless for anything besides vista, which is, in and of itself, a useless program.

I would use sketched drivers and no catalyst net framework retard crap. it is the worst thing to happen to ati in years. besides the creation of the 9000-9200 series which was a lot slower than the 8500 series. Omega drivers i think they are called. fantastic interface, no resource abuse, doesnt crash. try them first.


wheres my r600 all in wonder

i never had problem with official ATI drivers

so the steps for me to take(tell me if i'm wrong somewhere):

1- uninstall drivers (Asus says to use "ATI-Software Uninstall Utility" in "Add/Remove programs")
2- Reboot
3- Once in Windows, shut down the computer
4- Remove old video card
5- Install new video card
6- Boot the computer
7- While in Windows, install ATI drivers (Catalyst 7.2 right now)
8- Reboot
9- Put the colors and resolution back like before (32-bits colors, 1280x1024, 60Hz (i have LCD monitor))

am i right?

lol sorry...i just want to be REALLY sure, i don't want to screw-up anything while doing the steps.

If you do all that, it will work.

I will add to that:

format C drive, insert windows disk, install windows xp pro, then continue.

My x1900 allinwonder has problems with xp pro and .Net framework. i have to repair it constantly and once I had to wipe and reinstall to get it to work even. asrock 939 dualsata board. not like it isnt a famous/well known/popular board either

the Asrock Dual SATA2? for me it's famous anyway, it's got PCIe and AGP slots, and you can even buy a Socket 939 to AM2 converter made for that board! (for unknown reason, the converter is more expensive than the board, lol!)

woohhooo I have the 939Dual-VSTA....basically the followup. yuuummmy

and RaptorZX3, the WDM is...urm...some sort of media drivers...errr...like...for VIVO or something...

*shrugs*

I just install em anyway. Heres the X1600 individual download packs:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonxip-xp.html

the WDM is included with the whole Catalyst package (3-in-1), so no big deal...