Well it is time once again to take a look at video card tweaking. This time instead of tweaking an NVidia card, we are switching camps and putting an Ati card through the ringer. The first thing we are going to do is a proper driver install. I am going to walk you through the process so you don't have to go through the hassle that I went through. So to do this we are going to grab the latest Catalyst Drivers version 3.7 (I have tested the 3.2, 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7 series to see which was best for Unreal Engine games). Next we are going to download these two tweaking programs: Rad Clocker and Artifact Tester. Now finally I want you to go into Start>Control Panel>Add Remove Programs. Remove the Ati Display Driver and reboot.

After you have rebooted Windows will find new hardware. Don't worry about using the Hardware Wizard. Just go to the folder you downloaded the new drivers to and run the .exe. You will have to reboot one last time.

Once Windows is back up I want you to install Rad Clocker and then go into your Display Properties. You can do this by right-clicking anywhere on your desktop that doesn't have an icon and selecting Properties. Go to the Settings tab and click Advanced.

Now you will see all of the standard tabs as well as eight Ati labeled ones. I want you to select the on that says Direct3D. Here make sure that you have the Custom Settings box checked. Now look in the Custom Settings area and it is broken up into Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering. I want you to make sure both are set to Application Preference.

Next we are going to set the Texture Preference to the third notch which says Quality. The same goes for Mipmap Detail Level. The third option is Wait for Vertical Sync and we want this to be set to Always Off. The final option is Ati's own TRUFORM which is also set to off.

Why do we have the settings set to these preferences? Well this is the best blend between nice frames while maintaining very nice looks. Go ahead and click OK. Now we are going to move on to the overclocking part of the article. As with all overclocking remember that Unreal Ops is not responsible for your actions. As always though I don't recommend tweaks or speeds that I feel will put your hardware in danger. Rad Clock is very similar to the Coolbits Registery Hack for NVidia cards.

We are going to use the Artifact Tester to test the 'bumping up' of core and memory speeds. You will need to check the card's hardware manufacturer's website to see what default speeds your Radeon is.

If you take a look at the picture to the right you will see the Clock Rate tab. It is important to click the Advance button first and set your increments to 1.5. This is the safest way to slowly bump up your speeds and not harming the hardware. Adjust your sliders accordingly to the minimum after you adjust the increments. For example my Radeon 9700 Pro's default speeds are 324/310.

Each time you do a bump up you will want to run Artifact Tester on the Intense Level to see if your card shows signs of stress. Repeat this process until you have acheived the most comfortable speed for your card and system. Once this is finished you will want to make sure you set the Boot option to Use Current.

Now we are almost finished and ready to play some UT2003. The final thing you will want to do once the card is stable is to check out the Tweaking Your Video Card for Unreal Engine Games part of this article. The settings found in that article work across the board with both Ati and NVidia cards.

Finally it is time to put the new setup through it's paces. In the Unreal Engine area of the above article you will see the picture of Magma. At a resolution of 1024x768 I am able to set a new Frames Per Second record here on the old rig. I was able to achieve 67 fps which now places the speed crown for UE games on Ati's head. Feel free to try and best my score using those UT2003 and Direct3D settings. Once you try please stop by the forums and post your scores!

Tycho