Windows 7 New AMD RAID/AHCI Driver

[kemical]

With the release of the 9.10 Catalysts, the RAID/AHCI driver has been updated from 1540.127 to 1540.151. I've already updated my system (SB600 S/B) and they seem ok. Whether they'll be seen when I next do a fresh install is unclear but if not I'll revert to my former method of using an old driver to get me started and then change to the latest version once the os has installed..

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[kemical]

Forgot to include this bench piccie...

 

[computerfarmer]

A fresh install is not working with the file you linked to. your link does list a raid driver, yet these are not available through their main site link to drivers.
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AMD main link Link Removed

I am using Asus M3A78-T with SB750

There are no signed drivers for Windows 7 from AMD. Why?

These drivers are NOT built into windows 7.

There is a way to use the "refresh" putton during install to get past the. This means an unacceptable driver is being used.

 

[kemical]

They are available from the same site, it's just that you aren't clicking on the correct link (see screenshot).

As for using the 1540.151 drivers for a clean install. Nope I can't do it. I still have to use the 1540.35 versions and then update to the drivers above. I should imagine that you would have to do similar?
I've been in touch with AMD concerning the state of their RAID drivers and 7 but as of yet nothing. You only have to visit the AMD Game forums and look under chipsets to see how many users are suffering the same problem (something I pointed out to AMD, who then promptly lost my query meaning I had to start the process all over again... At times words just fail me...)

Anyway as I've said.. The drivers are there, just use the links I showed you...

 

[computerfarmer]

Thank you for your side of the story. I wonder, if it does not take(1540.151) at install is it helpfull to install it at all?

I have Windows 7 installed as RAID 1. (1540.127)

Now I need to network the printer from windows 7(64) pc to my laptop (Vista x86). I have gone into properties of the printer for sharing to add the required drivers. Although I have clicked the x86 box and then it asks for drivers, none of drivers work. Canon ip4300. I have tried every driver from Canon's site for this model.

Thank you for your input

 

[kemical]

Definitely.. The 1540.35s are slow to boot whilst the 1540.151s are a lot faster. I did try the drivers your currently using but have since upgraded to the above.. I'm pretty sure the reason why they won't install initially is to do with the 'inf' and I've tried re-writing it so the os would 'believe' that this driver does actually work but as of yet... nothing..

As for the printer problem. I'm unsure how you would proceed and suggest you create a thread in the support section specifically for this issue.

 

[felix]

kemical, i think the problem is that the .151 drivers are for SB7xx (if you browse the driver folders you will locate the .151 driver in a folder named SB7xx). So , when installing OS, probably there is a mismatch of the PID of your SB600 and the driver's internal hw PID list.

I also have the 790X-DS4 and faced the sam problem in both Vista & 7 raid setup.

I think, though, that the real performance gain will be from RAID Option ROM update , via a BIOS update.

 

[kemical]

Hi Felix,
yup I noticed that too.. I even tried to change the 'inf' to see if it that change anything but no... It's ok, I just use one set of drivers when I re-install and then update them after installation.
I'm currently on the latest bios f9 and I'm pretty happy with the performance but more is always handy..

 

[felix]

I think that the next thing that AMD should do, is to update the driver part / Raid rom part for flawless use with SSD's.

Although SB600 is old i think it has some juice to give.


Tomorrow, if i'm lucky and have some free time, i'll be installing W7 on my fresh Raid setup on ssd's. I'll try to benchmark before/after driver update to list improvements, if any.

 

[kemical]

Just in answer to your pm..
I have the CPU voltage plus 0.050 which is tiny but just makes the cpu prime95 stable. I'm running the Northbridge at 2GHz for more bandwith and thats about it apart from the card of course.. Thats just clocked as far as the CCC will go and seems to love it to be honest.. Same as the chip, very happy.. Your doing well at 4GHz,(especially @ 1.47) is it stable? what are you cooling it with?

The RAID bench was done with the 1540.151 version.

 

[felix]

The Spi1m @ 4G was done by overclocking only one core for this bench, by using K10Stat 0.91 utility. I don't know about stability at these high clocks, but gonna investigate it soon. Cooling at these conditions was done by Scythe Ninja 2 with Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fan and ambient temp @ 16C, i think.

I have also used the Raid mode of the SB600, actually mixed raid mode, i used two WD6400AAKS for two volumes, one Raid-0 with 40GB of each disc (Total 80GB) and the rest ~596GB as a Raid-1 volume. Works flawless, here are results from the Raid-0 volume and Raid drivers of Catalyst 9.4 (if i remember correct) and 3 months from OS install :

 

[felix]

Kemical,

How can you update to 1540.151 version, since it does not include anywhere the 438x PID for SB600 device ? After the update, does AMD AHCI Compatible Raid Controller in Device manager show the updated driver version, or the initial ?

I now use drivers 2.501.1540.48 for RAID volume recognition at beginning of Win7 installation. These are from DFI website, for DK 790FX-M2RS board, also having SB600.

I also concluded after extensive trials, that RaidXpert 2.4.1540.26 dated 22/5/09 from game.amd causes instabilities in my Raid-0 SSD setup. "Task 30 timeout" error was very common for small file size Read/Write in ATTO benchmark and after that event, NCQ was disabled in one or both SSD's. For reference, NCQ should be enabled for SSD's to get nominal performance.
I yesterday installed RaidXpert 2.4.1540.27 from ASUS Download site (under model M4A785G-HTPC/RC). So far seems to not have the same issues.

I'll update with ATTO benchmark for the SSD Raid-0 OS volume when i get home.

 

[kemical]

It works fine and gives me better performance than the old driver.. Like I said before I install the os using 1540.35 and then upgrade via the device manager. (see screenshot)

 

[felix]

I'll try this when i get back...Hope it gives a little boost to my small file size Reads/Writes...Thanx

 

[kemical]

I install it with the 'have disk' method, also ignore the warning about incompatible hardware as this is just given out by default..

 

[felix]

ok, here is full benchmark set with 3.1.1540.151 driver from AMD (9.12 Raid for SB7xx) with SBVoltage=1.25V and RaidXpert 2.4.1540.27 from ASUS site :

And here is for comparison an ATTO bench with my previous drivers 2.501.1540.48, SBVoltage=1.15V, no RaidXpert :

Small file size Reads has decreased a bit... but gained in big files about 50MB/s...

 

[kemical]

You got some fine results there Felix.. Glad the new driver worked out for you...

 

[felix]

As a matter of fact, i would like to see a later version of driver, combining both drivers abilities, to have better small-file-size performance of the 2.501.1540.48 driver and preserve the xtra 50MB/s at big-file-size from the 3.1.1540.151 driver...

But for the tasks i do in my system, the change from HDD's to Vertex's Raid-0 gave a lot more efficiency...