Where is the AHCI, Northbridge Filter, 3GIO etc?

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by Miken420, Mar 9, 2012.

  1. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    It seems like lately AMD's SB packages that say they contain the AHCI driver, and other drivers are only installing a 'USB Filter Driver'

    Is this driver the replacement for the 3GIO PCI-E driver that used to install (Last time I saw that one was in Catalyst 11.8 and the driver contained in 11.8 was from 2010)

    I extracted the 12-2_vista_win7_32-64_sb package and inside I found AHCI drivers for 7xx/8xx chipsets but when I run the package all it chooses to install is the USB Filter Driver and Catalyst Install Manager.

    I'm trying to get a grip on what's going on here. Do I need to use the old 11.8 installer to get my 3GIO Filter Driver? Or is it now obsolete and unnecessary?

    Are the AHCI SATA drivers etc. all contained in this USB Filter Driver now?

    I'm so confused it hurts lol!

    If anyone who knows more about these drivers can explain to me exactly what needs to be installed at this point in time I would greatly appreciate it.

    I'm using a 7xx series chipset btw (790GX)

    Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Those drivers have to be installed via Device Manager.
     
  3. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    Do you know of any tutorials on how to do that?

    I know how to manually install a driver via the .inf file. However, most of the files are compressed inside of an executable that won't even run without catalyst install manager.

    Also things like the 3GIO driver don't even show up in device manager until the driver is installed. Do you know the name of the devices when they don't have a driver installed, or how to detect them?

    :EDIT: I've managed to fix my problem and I learned a thing or two along the way.

    For anyone who's curious, Catalyst has quite a quirk in it's installation and this article was a godsend for me.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/catalyst-northbridge-driver-install-problem,2677.html
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2012
  4. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Extract the Catalyst.exe file with 7-Zip, then go into Device Manager and look for..Oh, nvm I just noticed you got it sorted... Nice.


    EDIT-
    Hey mate that TH guide is incomplete, it doesn't tell you how to install the NB or AHCI drivers, only the USB filter.

    Let me know, if you want I'll instruct you how to install them...:)
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2012

  5. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    I managed to get the AHCI drivers and USB filters to go through and stick. If you could help me with getting the northbridge filter to update manually I'd appreciate it! Right now I'm using the March 2010 one that was in 11.8 SB installer, I heard they don't update the 3GIO driver that much so I might be on the newest one.
     
  6. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Yeah that's the latest NB driver. :)
     
  7. IcE

    IcE Don Snow

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    AMD platforms don't have any chipset drivers for a single card user. The 3GIO Filter driver is purely for a crossfire system. The reason you don't get the option to install it anymore is AMD fixed it automatically installing for everyone. You need crossfire for it to install. USB Filter is unnecessary unless you're using 1.1 audio devices over USB, and the AHCI driver isn't necessary either unless you're using an 8 or 9 series chipset with a SATA 3 SSD.
     
  8. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    No idea where you got that info from but it's completely inaccurate.

    The 3GIO file is a DTM compliance driver which has nothing to do with Crossfire....

    And the AHCI driver is required by the SATA controller to enable AHCI, makes no difference whether a HDD or SSD is attached - same as how a RAID controller needs RAID drivers.

    The USB filter driver disables prefetching on all OHCI ports when the I/Ostream is inactive.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2012
  9. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    Thanks for all of the help Pill Monster!
     
  10. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    No problem...didn't seem like I helped a whole lot though. :) lol
     

  11. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    You helped me understand the drivers and what they do a little better. I found my solution while looking for instructions on how to manually install the AHCI and whatnot, which was brought on by your first comment.

    I couldn't have ever figured out a solution without it.

    IMHO That's a big help!
     
  12. Clouseau

    Clouseau Ancient Guru

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    Also, look at installing the SMBus null driver. It increased the performance a smidge. The readme file basically stated that windows thinks the smbus is a device and therefore needs a driver to work. It replaces the stock MS supplied driver.
     
  13. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    Which device does that come up as when it's just the windows driver installed?

    Is it the ATI I/O Communications Processor SMBus Controller?

    I extracted the 12.2 SB and managed to find an AMD SMBus driver in the W764 folder. Is this the right driver, and do I install it on the ATI I/O Communications Processor SMbus Controller device? The driver it's currently using is Microsoft from like 2006 so I'm guessing this is it. I just don't wanna screw anything up LOL!

    Also I have an ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller, is there any driver that I should install on that, or is it fine with the 2006 driver from Microsoft?
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2012
  14. Clouseau

    Clouseau Ancient Guru

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    If you are using a 64-bit version of windows 7, then that is the correct driver. Yes the ATI I/O Communications Processor SMBus Controller is the correct "device." All that need be done is update the driver and then that's it. If there is an update for the ATI I/O Communications Processor PCI Bus Controller, I do not know. I had not seen this SMBus driver until 12.1.
     
  15. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    Awesome man, I installed it and everything is working great.

    Just to give you guys an idea of how helpful and awesome you are, (I know Windows Experience Index is a joke), but my Disk score went up from 5.9 to 6.7 since doing all of this! That's with windows installed on a 30GB Kingston SSDNow, and all programs etc installed on a WD500 HDD.

    Thanks a bunch!
     

  16. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Nah you're fine there is no update....

    And yeah you're welcome....:)
     
  17. IcE

    IcE Don Snow

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    Nope, 3GIO isn't needed at all. It will only automatically install if either A: your motherboard has integrated graphics, or B: You have crossfire set up. The AHCI driver isn't needed either. I know for a fact you don't need it to use AHCI mode. The microsoft driver works perfectly and is installed automatically when you install Windows with your BIOS set to AHCI.
     
  18. Pill Monster

    Pill Monster Banned

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    Don't try and weasel your way out by twisting words. Do I really have to point out the obvious here..? :rolleyes:

    Your post hardly warrants a response.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2012
  19. Miken420

    Miken420 Guest

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    I use Crossfire 5770's, and I use my Integrated graphics HD3300 for SurroundView.

    You really don't think that the AMD AHCI driver is better than a generic MS AHCI driver for AMD chipsets? I mean they designed the chipset, why use a MS driver?

    :edit: just noticed you're using an Intel machine with nvidia cards.

    Anyway thanks for the assistance guys!
     
  20. IcE

    IcE Don Snow

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    In your case it's needed then, I was just putting it out there as I did a lot of research into this back when I had my AMD system as my primary.

    Don't worry about having the AHCI and USB Filter drivers installed, they aren't going to cause any problems. It's just that they aren't really necessary considering the default Microsoft drivers (at least in regards to hard drive I/O) are equivalent. For a long time they were actually better than AMD's offering, because AMD's driver didn't pass TRIM commands and slowed down most hard drives considerably. Now, when you add a Sata 6Gb/Sec SSD into the mix, then you should for sure use the AMD driver.
     

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