How to install the AMD X2 drivers, hotfix, the correct way.

[Aramdin]

What do you mean? I never saw an Dual Core Optimizer icon in my systray...Does it even exist? You prolly mean something else

[Kimball]

What do you mean? I never saw an Dual Core Optimizer icon in my systray...Does it even exist? You prolly mean something else

oooh, crap. Read "On 4x4 Systems, right click on the AMD logo system tray icon and select “Gaming Mode” in order to turn “Gaming Mode” on/off." but didnt notice the "4x4", nvm ^^

[Brother Esau]

Ok...heres what I can add about applying the hot fix deal. The process is completely unecessary from my experimentations with this after numerous reformat installs, I find that if you install the AMD CPU driver after the chipset drivers and then let windows download all of the current updates and then install the Nov release of the Dual core optimizer and reboot and check the Boot ini it reads exactly the same as the reg edit method listed in the thread here! I suppose the new dual core optimizer does the config for you and I will also be one of those who say that it does run 2-4c hotter when doing the rededit process!

[swaaye]

http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?p=5570#5570

To make one thing perfectly clear: /pmtimer is no magic bullet!

A little background: some time back, in the days when the Pentium processor was created, some schmuck at Intel decided that it would be a good thing to use a CPU register that was incremented with each clock cycle as a timing source. Game and multimedia applications were quick to use this (look up "RDTSC" if you want to know more).

For those who can't see why this is bad:

For one, this is by no means an easy source for "walltime". With CPUs running at different speeds, each CPU has a different number of "ticks" per unit of real time, so the TSC's speed has to be determined in relation to a physical clock.

In recent times, this has become even worse. Today's processors can change their core frequency prett ymuch arbitrarily, without warning. Intel Core (2) Duos can even run at different speeds per core. Enter the Windows process scheduler. That beast usually shuffles processes between CPUs at a high rate (explaining the nice ca. 50% load per core in the task manager you see on single-threaded applications, and some minor performance losses). So if an applications does two TSC reads to get a time difference, it has multiple sources of inaccuracy: CPU speed changing and CPUs running at different speeds. Scheduling between CPUs may even cause the second measurement to give a value "before" the first one. And yes, this is bad.

This, among other things, is why Microsoft introduced a call "QueryPerformanceCounter" in the API. It implements compensation logic for some effects. With the hotfix, it is also possible to use the aforementioned "/pmtimer" boot option to make QPC use the power management timer instead of the TSC.

Some games, e.g. early versions of Serious Sam 2 and all versions of Battlefield 2 use(d) RDTSC directly and thus screwed up because there was/is no proper compensation for that timer behaviour. AMD released a driver that makes the RDTSC option friendly. And now for the kicker: Intel has a synchronised per-chip TSC, so no compensation beyond the lock speed should be necessary. (In other news, most modern Intel-Chipsets should by now implement a so-called HPET, that is lightyears ahead of any other timer found on PC hardware. If you care, you might want to look for a way to use that one instead of the PM timer.)

Using that option does in no way enable some previously unused processing power, nor should it have any objective influence on the behaviour of Windows itself. All it does is make a single API call use a different time source.

[nullface]

Just a quick, the hotfix, does it support AM2? (/Brisbane cores)

[uberkoozy]

I'm wondering about how necessary it is to install the KB896256 Hotfix in the OP.

The issue is that a recent update from MS windowsupdate, KB929338 includes even newer versions of these 4 files:

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time	Platform	SP requirement
Ntkrnlmp.exe	5.1.2600.3051	2,136,064	19-Dec-2006	14:15	x86	SP2
Ntkrnlpa.exe	5.1.2600.3051	2,057,600	19-Dec-2006	12:55	x86	SP2
Ntkrpamp.exe	5.1.2600.3051	2,015,744	19-Dec-2006	12:55	x86	SP2
Ntoskrnl.exe	5.1.2600.3051	2,180,352	19-Dec-2006	14:17	x86	SP2

Does this not render 896256 redundant in this case?

[woodlouse]

Hi folks, I'm new here but having just upgraded from single core Athlon64 4000+ to dual-core Opteron 180 I need a bit of help with a couple of issues.
I'm running a dual boot with XP and Vista on seperate drives and changed the cpu without reinstalling either.
The Vista installation went smoothly enough - detected new cpu , installed drivers etc . No problem.
The XP installation booted up fine, detected dual core and shows two windows in task manager. However I cant seem to install the AMD drivers (amdcpusetup.exe). I uninstalled the old drivers in device manager but when I tried to run amdcpusetup.exe I get message box saying that I need to uninstall old drivers in CONTROL PANEL. I dont have any AMD items in control panel??
Yes I did reboot several times but was only able to reinstall the old drivers via the windows new hardware detected thingy.
Is there somewhere I can get the opteron drivers that arent locked up in an .exe file that I cant access, so that I can update drivers manually in device manager?
Or any other suggestions please.

System
Asus A8N SLI deluxe
Dual core Opteron 180
2gb RAM DDR
nvidia 7800gt
250gb and 300gb SATA drives

[woodlouse]

Its Ok I found my old athlon 64 driver has appeared in Control panel - I'm sure it wasn't there before.

[Pnr]

thanks for nice guide i really do see improvements after installing those drivers and hotfixes . 120 more marks in 3dmark05 and 5k more in aquamark . Only problem was ms hotfix which is linked in guide , it gave me bsods after installing optimizer . i updated to hotfix v4 and all runs perfect now . So i suggest you do the same in your guide ...

[GAR]

thanks for nice guide i really do see improvements after installing those drivers and hotfixes . 120 more marks in 3dmark05 and 5k more in aquamark . Only problem was ms hotfix which is linked in guide , it gave me bsods after installing optimizer . i updated to hotfix v4 and all runs perfect now . So i suggest you do the same in your guide ...

Thanks bro, can anyone send me a link to the hotfix v4, a stable link....if not please email it to me so i can update my guide, thanks email is gar1983@gmail.com

[TEDY]

Just a quick, the hotfix, does it support AM2? (/Brisbane cores)

i would like to know that too

[Pnr]

Thanks bro, can anyone send me a link to the hotfix v4, a stable link....if not please email it to me so i can update my guide, thanks email is gar1983@gmail.com

Stablest link, posted on previous page ...

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...v4-x86-ENU.exe

[TEDY]

again:

do we owners of X2 BRISBANE also do this ??????

[GAR]

again:

do we owners of X2 BRISBANE also do this ??????

Yes, this is for any AMD X2, only if you are using windows XP SP2.

[TEDY]

yep i installed march version of xp sp2....hehe

[Kpeters]

First of all Gar i want to thank you for retrieving and posting this info.

I installed the drivers from AMD and the Hotfix. then I started noticing an incredible decrease in frame rates about 20-25 fps less than It usually gave me. Later I changed my vid card an everything started working as it should. I just assembled my computer but do you guys thinnk it would be wise to formatt? I have uninstalled and isntalled the dirvers again a milllion times.


3D benchmark said my score was 1637.

System:
AMD X2 4200+
1.5 GB memory 533 DDR2 Kingston
PNY 7300GT Geforce
MSI motherboard with 550 Nvidia chipset

Thanks!

[Donster]

Hi guys

Ive just bought an FX60 and wanted to make sure im doing this right.

1\ Download and install the AMD driver for windows XP from the link below.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

AMD Athlon™ 64/FX Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (x86 and x64 exe) 1.3.2.16

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...mdcpusetup.exe

2\ Download and install the MS hotfix, WindowsXP-KB896256-v4-x86-ENU.exe - is this the correct version ? or do i have to install multiple patches ? ....

3\ Edit my registry to enable the patch.

4\ Edit my boot.ini and add the command /usepmtimer

5\ Download and install the AMD Dual core optimizer from

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...ties/Setup.exe

That sound like the correct way ? any help appreciated.

Regards Ryan

[GAR]

Hi guys

Ive just bought an FX60 and wanted to make sure im doing this right.

1\ Download and install the AMD driver for windows XP from the link below.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

AMD Athlon™ 64/FX Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (x86 and x64 exe) 1.3.2.16

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...mdcpusetup.exe

2\ Download and install the MS hotfix, WindowsXP-KB896256-v4-x86-ENU.exe - is this the correct version ? or do i have to install multiple patches ? ....

3\ Edit my registry to enable the patch.

4\ Edit my boot.ini and add the command /usepmtimer

5\ Download and install the AMD Dual core optimizer from

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/cont...ties/Setup.exe

That sound like the correct way ? any help appreciated.

Regards Ryan

Hey Ryan, your doing everything right, all looks good.

[Donster]

Thanks alot GAR my system is up and running, I ran 10 loops of 3d mark 06 and left memtest on over night, got 15 passes ! just gota test some games but im sure itll be fine, once again many thanks.

Ryan

[SnipeR²]

.....3\ Edit my registry to enable the patch.....

Ok, so apparently the new hotfix adds the reg info automatically. Cuz when i went to edit the registry, there was already a throttle folder in the specified location with the "PerfEnablePackageIdle" value and the DWORD value was already set to 1 and hexadecimal was also already selected. Is this the same for anyone else who tried to edit the reg to enable the patch??

[lucky jim]

Well I became quite irritable last night trying to figure out what the hell was going on with my PC... I upgraded to a 3800+ X2 from a 3700+ and installed the drivers and dual core optimizer before shutting down and installing the new CPU.

The first time my PC came up fine, but Windows detected new hardware, installed new drivers and prompted me to reboot. Ever since then I would get a BSOD a few seconds into XP with a DEVICE_IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL message. I assumed it was just some incompatibility with my new drivers and proceeded to update my chipset drivers, BIOS, uninstall all the apps that were running, etc. Until I finally came to the dual core optimizer, which as soon as I start it up in safe mode, my PC would restart.

I don't suppose anyone is familiar with this problem? I tried installing the hotfix afterwards, but I was still getting the same problem. When I get home from work I plan to install the hotfix, add the registry value and then try re-installing the dual core optimizer. Anyone have any other suggestions?

All my drivers are now updated and virtually NO other software is running... there is no conflict, and it's some weird thing with the dual core software.

[lucky jim]

I just installed the AMD Dual Core Optimizer - it really works! (I had already done the other steps before - but I did not know about the Optimizer until I read this thread). Games now run much smoother - Thanks!!

JUST ONE THING:

There is a known compatibility issue with the Dual Core Optimizer and older versions of d-tools. When I first installed the Optimizer it put my machine into a restart loop - I noticed it restarted when it would usually load d-tools and checked on their website for info and it turns out they have recently released an update that fixes it. You can install the update from www.daemon-tools.cc/ - I believe the problem actually lies in the SPTD driver supplied with d-tools, a newer version of this driver can be found here http://www.duplexsecure.com/ (should you not want to upgrade d-tools).

If anyone else has this problem and is in the restart loop - just load windows using "the last settings that worked" (or something similar) from the boot menu (F8 at startup). Then just update d-tools and reinstall the optimizer.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, I didn't have time to read the whole thread - perhaps the issue should be noted in the guide for others that may have the problem.

Aha... I read almost every page of this thread last night... but not this one I will definately have to try this tonight.

[KoHaN69]

Thanks for the guide GAR, was your first post upated with latest links?

just curious - any one here with amd quad - 2 dualcores in a dual-socket mobo?

[ImportantAwareness89]

Do you still need the MS hotfix? Someone did say that the newer fixes by M$ should fix things right? I assume I have it because Windows Updates says I've installed everything...

[Tomatomanz]

Heyaz peeps!,juz gotten x2 3800 not long ago to replaced my 3000+.

Juz to confirm, its this correct?..



Btw, is it alrite if i install MS hotfix after AMD optimiser?..

Cheers