ATi X300 Driver for Windows 8.1

I had to dig out my old ATi X300 card when the graphics card cooling fan on one of my desktop failed.  X300 is very old.  It was released in 2004.  It is always a challenge to get graphics this age to work in modem Windows.  To my surprise, it is actually easy.  Windows 8.1 seems to accept and use its dated Vista 64bit driver happily (http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=Legacy1&os=Windows%20Vista%20-%2064).

Instead of using the installer to install the driver, you run the installer to extract the files, but stop run after the extraction.  You then install the driver manually by asking Windows to look for drivers in the folder when you extract your drivers files.  Windows should pick up the driver, and install it.

Further details can be found at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?s=f5175aaa350a453115ae1aef89d529f1&t=1536711

Update 2016-08-25: It works on Windows 10 too.  However, it needs to be install under safe mode!

Acer XC115

Just received my Acer Aspire XC115 today.  If you are going for the Windows 8.1, it is relatively easy to set it up as Windows is able to find most of its drivers during the installation.  The only exception is the AmdAS4 Device.  However, it is not hard to fixed.  All you need to do is to install the latest AMD chipset drivers for this platform.

If you are installing Windows 7, you may need few more drivers but again shouldn't be difficult (I have not tried it myself), as you should be able to find them from the manufacturer site (if not from Acer itself)

• Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller 
• http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
• AMD PSP 1.0 Device
• http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%208.1%20-%2064
• USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller
• http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%208.1%20-%2064
• Realtek High Definition Audio
• http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

As for performance, it would be daft to think this is lightening fast for a machine costs less than USD 160 and has a 15W TDP APU.  However, it is certainly not painfully slow neither.  I have run Cinebench R15 on it, and it is very comparable to my i5 laptop which costs significant more.

Just for further references, I have also included result from my other machines.

Update 2015-03-19: Cinebench result from a Core2Duo E4600 machine with nVidia GeForce 8400 has been added.  It seems the R2 iGPU is much faster than GeForce 8400, and the E2 6110 CPU is more than comparable with a Core2Duo, especially if you take the operating frequency into account, i.e. 1.5GHz vs 2.4GHz

Update 2015-04-12: Cinebench result from a Lenovo S20-30 is added.