RivaTuner v2.11 in on the way!

[Unwinder]

Dear forum visitors!

I'm glad to inform you that I've finished adding complete fan control for AMD RADEON 4870 X2 systems. New AMD RV730 chips are coming soon and I've also added support for RADEON 46x0 series based on these GPUs. I suppose that these changes deserve releasing new version, so v2.11 is entering closed beta testing stage now, public release is expected within 1-2 weeks as usual. New version will also give some additional bonuses to SLI/Crossfire owners, now RT provides independent low-level fan control for SLI/CF systems and experimental CF overclocking. Full changes list includes:


Version 2.11:


Minor bugfixes:


- Low-level hardware access interfaces are now re-initialized properly before restarting the plugins when changing display adapter selection in the main tab.


What's new:


- Updated databases for Detonator and ForceWare drivers. Added database for ForceWare 177.98.
- Added experimental AMD RV710 and RV730 graphics processors families support. Thanks to Andrey Vorobiev for testing RivaTuner with AMD RADEON HD 4670.
- Display adapter enumeration routine has been modified to provide proper fan control on AMD RADEON HD 4870 X2 series. New enumeration routine also gives additional advantages to the rest systems:
- Now RivaTuner is able to detect physical display adapters attached to logical Windows display devices as well as unattached physical display adapters. Low-level access to unattached display adapters gives you the following abilities:
- Ability to use RivaTuner for low-level diagnostics, hardware monitoring and fan control even when Windows is booted in VGA mode (e.g. in safe mode or with no display driver installed).
- Ability to use RivaTuner for low-level diagnostics, hardware monitoring and fan control for slave display devices in SLI / Crossfire mode invisible for OS.
- Attached display adapters detection time has been reduced due to optimized PCI bus scanning routine. Furthermore, both attached and unattached display devices detection are optional and can be forcibly disabled via DetectAttachedDevices and DetectUnattachedDevices registry entries for startup time optimization.
- Improved secondary display adapter heads enumeration. Now RivaTuner mirrors primary head specific settings (e.g. overclocking and fan control) into the secondaty head UI.
- Added experimental overclocking support for the secondary display adapters in Crossfire systems (only for Windows Vista).
- Added experimental low-level fan control and overclocking settings cloning modes. When cloning mode is enabled RivaTuner clones and automatically applies the same low-level fan control or overclocking settings to all identical devices (i.e. the same display adapter models, different brands are allowed) installed in the system. Please take a note that currently these modes are available to power users only and can be enabled via EnableFanControlCloning and EnableClockControlCloning registry entries.
- Updated exceptions list for bundled D3DOverrider utility.
- Improved hardware monitoring module:
- Improved ADT7473.dll plugin:
- Added Vcc and Vccp voltages monitoring support. Now The the plugin can monitor state of +3.3V supply voltage of ADT7473 chip (Vcc) and additinal optional voltage input (Vccp), which can be used to monitor different display adapter related voltages depending on the PCB design.
- Improved fan speed monitoring for fans with non-standard pulses per revolution count. Now the plugin no longer uses hardcoded calculations for standard fans with 2 pulses per revolution and can provide correct RPM monitoring for such systems (e.g. fans with 4 pulses per revolution on NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 / 280 series).
- Improved VT1103.dll plugin:
- Now the plugin is able to monitor independent temperatures of VT1105/VT1165 voltage regulator phases (slave chips).
- Improved temperature monitoring for RV710 / RV730 / RV770 graphics processors family. Now RivaTuner is able to monitor independent temperatures of display controller, memory controller and shader core on RV7xx graphics processors. Please take a note that unlike many other diagnostic tools reading these temperatures via GPU's internal sensor switching and calibration logic, RivaTuner reads these temperatures via direct access to thermal sensor's ADC outputs and calibrates ADC readings at software level. Such approach drastically reduces CPU load and doesn't have side effects like fan speed fluctuations caused by frequent sensor switching, however it is in experimental stage yet so please contact me if additional core temperatures reported by RivaTuner and other software like GPU-Z or Everest seriously differ on your system.
- Optimized GPU usage monitoring for RV710 / RV730 / RV770 graphics processors family. Now RivaTuner is no longer waiting for response from on-die PowerPlay microcontroller if GPU usage is not sampled yet and returns the previous cached value instead.
- Now hardware monitoring plugin activation wizard module enables ADT7473 plugin by default on AMD READEON HD 4870 X2 series display adapters.
- Added I2C bus disconnection feature for ATI RV6xx/RV7xx I2C controllers. Now RivaTuner is able to mark I2C bus as unused and exclude it from further detection when I2C controller is not responding to the transactions through this bus during specified timeout. Bus disconnection feature drastically reduces I2C devices scanning time on some systems with missing I2C buses (e.g. on the secondary chip of AMD RADEON HD 4870 X2 having no physical connection to I2C bus). Please take a not that I2C bus disconnection can be disabled via AllowI2CBusDisconnection registry entry if necessary.
- Default timeout for ATI I2C transactions has been reduced from 2 seconds to 0.5 second. Now power users may adjust the timeout using ATII2CTimeout registry entry.
- Improved duty cycle generation accuracy for all types of on-die and external fan controllers due to floating point calculation usage.


Stay tuned!

[_cTn_]

Wonderful :clap clap: Whats approximate release date?

[Unwinder]

Originally Posted by _cTn_

Wonderful :clap clap: Whats approximate release date?

...public release is expected within 1-2 weeks as usual...


Add 7-14 days to today's date and you'll get approximated release time.

[_cTn_]

Unwinder is any chance that u would add (not in this release) maybe in future some enhanced interface for OSD ? (ability to move the : to the GPU: for example, removing mhz from some values, moving things separated by , "500 mhz, 1205.." closer to each other "500 mhz,1205...") this candy stuff, would things like this be possible?

[tuco]

Amazing Unwinder, thanks for the heroric work.

[Unwinder]

Originally Posted by _cTn_

Unwinder is any chance that u would add (not in this release) maybe in future some enhanced interface for OSD ? (ability to move the : to the GPU: for example, removing mhz from some values, moving things separated by , "500 mhz, 1205.." closer to each other "500 mhz,1205...") this candy stuff, would things like this be possible?

Unlikely, sorry.

[Unwinder]

The first posting has been edited to reflect new changes added to v2.11 today. The most interesting one is updated ADT7473 plugin. Probably those of you who examined ADT7473 datasheet know that the sensor contains 10-bit ADC able to monitor state of own +3.3V supply voltage of the sensor (called Vcc) and additional voltage input pin (called Vccp). Vcc always shows something close to +3.3V so it is not that useful for monitoring, whilst Vccp is more interesting because it allows monitoring some additional voltage (e.g. CPU or GPU voltage etc) depending on the PCB design. Sensor's Vccp pin was not in use on NVIDIA 7800/8800/GTX2x0 series so the plugin didn't support it till now, however I've just noticed that 4870 X2 PCB design assumes Vccp monitoring so the plugin is now updated to provide both Vcc and Vccp readings. Vccp reads something close to 1.6V on 4870X2 series, anyone of X2 owners knows what voltage can it be? VRAM?

[Unwinder]

Looking at the feedback of testers, I see that many of you don't understand how dual-head and multi-GPU systems are represented by OS. So there are a few comments for those who test new version now with Crossfire/SLI systems and for those who will use it in future.
The first two devices displayed in the main tab are the primary and the secondary heads of _single_ display adapter (or singe chip in X2 case). These are RAMDACs connected to the same GPU, these are not different display adapters so primary and secondary heads should provide the same hardware monitoring, fan control, clock control features etc specific to a primary physical display adapter (chip). Additional display adapters (or chips in X2 case) used in SLI/CF configuration should be detected as additional couples of display devices under XP or as separate unattached devices under Vista. For example, Crossfire system under XP should look like:

<Display adapter 1> \ <Monitor1> - primary head of physical display adapter 1
<Display adapter 1> \ <Monitor2> - secondary head of physical display adapter 1
<Display adapter 2> \ <Monitor3> - primary head of physical display adapter 2
<Display adapter 2> \ <Monitor4> - secondary head of physical display adapter 2

And under Vista

<Display adapter 1> \ <Monitor1> - primary head of physical display adapter 1
<Display adapter 1> \ <Monitor2> - secondary head of physical display adapter 1
<unattached device> - physical display adapter 2 (invisible to Vista OS and not attached to any monitor)

[ribbell]

Originally Posted by Unwinder

Vccp reads something close to 1.6V on 4870X2 series, anyone of X2 owners knows what voltage can it be? VRAM?

Based on a thread on xtremesystems, the defaul voltage on 4870 for the Vram reads something like 1.5 V, as per Qimonda specifications. Assuming that in the case of 4870x2 the voltages are the same, it is unlikely that Vcc,p is taken from Vdd/Vdd,q. I'm out of ideas on this one.

[Unwinder]

Some more interesting info.
I've just found that NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 / 280 series use fans with non-standard pulses per revolution count. In other words, RPM reading in RT, Everest, GPU-Z or any other currently available software is wrong and actually displays half of actual RPM. ADT7473 plugin has been improved to support proper monitoring for such fans, the same improvements will be implemented in future versions of Everest and GPU-Z.

[boogieman]

Installed 211 test 4. So far so good.

[drouge]

[Unwinder]

New tasty feature has been added to v2.11:

- Added experimental low-level fan control and overclocking settings cloning modes. When cloning mode is enabled RivaTuner clones and automatically applies the same low-level fan control or overclocking settings to all identical devices (i.e. the same display adapter models, different brands are allowed) installed in the system. Please take a note that currently these modes are available to power users only and can be enabled via EnableFanControlCloning and EnableClockControlCloning registry entries.

New build will be sent to beta-testers on Monday.

[mR Yellow]

Originally Posted by Unwinder

New tasty feature has been added to v2.11:

- Added experimental low-level fan control and overclocking settings cloning modes. When cloning mode is enabled RivaTuner clones and automatically applies the same low-level fan control or overclocking settings to all identical devices (i.e. the same display adapter models, different brands are allowed) installed in the system. Please take a note that currently these modes are available to power users only and can be enabled via EnableFanControlCloning and EnableClockControlCloning registry entries.

New build will be sent to beta-testers on Monday.

Nice new feature!

[Punisher!|ITA]

What is exactely a RivaTuner "driver database" for a release?

[Unwinder]

I'm afraid that I don't understand the question

[Punisher!|ITA]

Originally Posted by Unwinder

I'm afraid that I don't understand the question

I actually don't understand why for each version of drivers we need a new release of RivaTuner... don't them have always the same structure?

[Unwinder]

Originally Posted by Punisher!|ITA

I actually don't understand why for each version of drivers we need a new release of RivaTuner... don't them have always the same structure?

If you don't understand something, try to peek in FAQ. This way works for 99% of questions and this one is not an exception:


Q: What is *.RTD database and how can I use it?
A: *.RTD database is just the list of registry entries, which can be viewed and edited via the built-in registry editor. RivaTuner uses *.RTD files to store info about the registry entries, used by a driver. Different driver versions use different sets of the registry entries, stored in different registry keys, so the information for each driver version is stored into a separate database. Database for each driver version contains the list of registry entries used by this driver. Default values and descriptions for each registry entry are also included in the database. You don't make any changes in your registry when you are opening new database in RivaTuner, you just load the list of registry entries, which can be modified via the built-in registry editor.

Q: Do I need to load new *.RTD database after installing new drivers?
A: Don't care about databases until you are going to edit the registry directly with the PowerUser tab. Forget about databases if you are not an experienced user and you are not using this tab. The rest of RivaTuner's features absolutely don't depend on the currently loaded database, this tab is just an advanced tool for experienced users, which doesn't directly affect any RivaTuner's module. So you may safely work with RivaTuner even if completely old database is loaded in PowerUser tab. RivaTuner will correctly detect any supported driver and allow you to change all the supported options via the Direct3D / OpenGL / System tweaking dialogs regardless of the database you've loaded in PowerUser tab.

[boogieman]

Added experimental low-level fan control and overclocking settings cloning modes

I have enabled EnableClockControlCloning registry entries. Are we expected to see a clock control tab in Low-level tweaks or is all overclocking still done at driver level?

Need a little more help on this one.

[Unwinder]

Originally Posted by boogieman

Are we expected to see a clock control tab in Low-level tweaks or is all overclocking still done at driver level?

Nope, you're not expected to see it on your hardware. Enabling clock cloning modes only affect low-level overclocking capable devices (i.e. devices having this tab available prior to enabling cloning mode).

[drouge]

unwinder, you rock. fan control and overclocking for the 4870x2 crossfire-x works great. cloning mode works 100%. I'm gonna wheelie tonight in your honor.

[boogieman]

Originally Posted by Unwinder

Nope, you're not expected to see it on your hardware. Enabling clock cloning modes only affect low-level overclocking capable devices (i.e. devices having this tab available prior to enabling cloning mode).

Got it.

Thanks

[Risco]

Unwinder, have you got a link to the 4870 fan controller data sheets? I want to do some investigating in to tslope.

Thanks!

[Unwinder]

Originally Posted by Risco

Unwinder, have you got a link to the 4870 fan controller data sheets? I want to do some investigating in to tslope.

Thanks!

It is similar to RV670's one:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=255960

[Unwinder]

A few more improvements have been added to v2.11's hardware monitoring and fan control modules, new build has been sent to testers.


- Improved VT1103.dll plugin:
- Now the plugin is able to monitor independent temperatures of VT1105/VT1165 voltage regulator phases (slave chips).
- Improved temperature monitoring for RV710 / RV730 / RV770 graphics processors family. Now RivaTuner is able to monitor independent temperatures of display controller, memory controller and shader core on RV7xx graphics processors. Please take a note that unlike many other diagnostic tools reading these temperatures via GPU's internal sensor switching and calibration logic, RivaTuner reads these temperatures via direct access to thermal sensor's ADC outputs and calibrates ADC readings at software level. Such approach drastically reduces CPU load and doesn't have side effects like fan speed fluctuations caused by frequent sensor switching, however it is in experimental stage yet so please contact me if additional core temperatures reported by RivaTuner and other software like GPU-Z or Everest seriously differ on your system.
- Optimized GPU usage monitoring for RV710 / RV730 / RV770 graphics processors family. Now RivaTuner is no longer waiting for response from on-die PowerPlay microcontroller if GPU usage is not sampled yet and returns the previous cached value instead.
- Improved duty cycle generation accuracy for all types of on-die and external fan controllers due to floating point calculation usage.