ATI Catalyst Control Center for Stuido 540

thara01:

Hi,

I recently purchased Studio 540 PC which came with HD 3450 Video Card OEM. I want to install ATI Catalyst Control Center in this PC . I want CCC to fine tune my screen resolution. Also I want to setup hot keys so that I can switch between different displays. I primarily use this desktop as my HTPC. I have a monitor connected to VGA and HDMI to my 55 inch sony TV. Sometimes I want to switch to my monitor when performing system updates. With Catalyst Control Center I can assign hot keys to switch it easily instead of righ click-> screen resolution.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks,

RT

Hi RT, You can get the latest version of CCC HERE for Vista, and HERE for Win7 . Hope this helps

Robin,

Thanks for your reply. My understanding that since it came with the system I am not allowed to use the drivers from the manufacturer website. I had a tough time installing the latest CCC from AMD website and then my desktop acted weirdly and I had to uninstall the same. Dell's drivers website did not talk anything about CCC.

I also in chat with Dell technician he said I cannot install drivers for the OEM video card from the manufacturer website. If it not availabe from dell's drivers website then don't use. Is it true?

-RT

I have not found that to be true since Dell does not make video cards.  ATI or Nvidia make the chips whether you buy it retail or get it as OEM from Dell.  Since drivers are updated almost every month from ATI or Nvidia and Dell does not stay current with the latest updates, I would pull the card out if that were the case and just buy a retail card since they are so cheap.  You can get a card like the HD 3450 or even a better card in the newer generation of 4000 series like the HD 4350 or only $35.  Even a HD 4650 which would be superior to either of these is cheap.  See HERE. 

I would follow these instructions HERE and download Option 1 which is the driver and CCC together.   If for whatever reason it does not work, you can always go back to the way it was and then think about getting a new card.

Thanks for your reply. I will try to get the new card. In the mean time can you tell me how to find the manufacturer of my OEM video card which came with Dell? I visually scanned the card but no manufacturer info. Is it  dell's way of hiding the manufacturer? When I tried to contact AMD they are asking for video card's manufacturer.

-RT

Most software like GPU-Z will only identify the ATI chip which is the HD 3450 and other specifications not the brand and normally this is all you need to know to update any drivers.  If there are any serial numbers on the card, you could try to google them to see if you come up with anything.  Dell uses different manufacturers so if the brand is not displayed on the card, it may not be possible to identify.  Most manufacturers will follow the ATI reference design so knowing the brand is usually not important unless you are buying a retail card as the warranty is covered by the manufacturer such as Sapphire, HIS, Gigabyte, Asus, etc.  In your case, Dell covers the warranty on the video card based on the warranty you received with the 540 system.