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°°°°°°°°°°°°I am stuck on 12.8 drivers, I can't fnd newer drivers that I can Mine While Gaming on°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Alright, so based on the title you would assume this to be an easy task right? Well thats what i thought, and now here I am offering a .05btc bounty for who ever can complete this task.
Im going to make this very clear, The drivers need to be fully capable of Mining, and Gaming at the same time with proper effeciency.
I run One XFX 7950 on Windows 7 64bit with a PhenomIIx6 1090T 3.4ghz processor, So im sure thats not an issue.

Now then, onto the issue. (X represents that I forgot)
I have tried drivers 12.9-12.10-13.2betaX-13.3betaX-13.5beta2
All of wich have failed in one way or another and I have become absolutely sick and tired of driver swapping and cleaning and rebooting-etc so im willing to pay for someone Else to test drivers for me before I try them, I currently run on the 12.8 drivers for my 7950, Wich obviously is not that optimal for gaming, I'll provide some examples below

When mining (CGMiner 3.10) at intensity 3, I can play Any videogame at proper frame rates while on 12.8 (by proper, I mean that it never drops by more than 10fps when Im mining)

-----Gaming Without Mining-----
BF3=48fps AVERAGE, GPU usage avrg 72%
Leage of Legends= 60fps, GPU usage avrg 23%
Touhou 13=60fps (MANDATORY), GPU usage avrg 12%

----Gaming With Intesnsity 3----
BF3, 42fps avrg, GPU usage 99% 131MH/s avrg
LoL, 57fps avrg, GPU usage 99% 292MH/s avrg common brief graphic errors that only exsist in <12.10
Touhou, 60fps Mandatory, GPU usage 99% 434MH/s avrg

--------------------Heres the 13.2betaX where I got better gaming results, but the mining was horrific.

-----Gaming Without Mining-----
BF3=53fps AVERAGE, GPU usage avrg 79%
Leage of Legends= 60fps, GPU usage avrg 22%
Touhou 13=60fps (MANDATORY), GPU usage avrg 9%

----Gaming With Intesnsity 3----
BF3, 32fps avrg, GPU usage 99% 80MH/s CGMiner Crashes after 5-30 seconds
LoL, 45fps avrg, <-Unaccecptable, GPU usage 99% 218MH/s avrg
Touhou, 59fps=FAILURE, GPU usage 99% 382MH/s

-------------------Heres the 13.5beta2 driver results--------------------

-----Gaming Without Mining-----
BF3=57fps AVERAGE, GPU usage avrg 81%
Leage of Legends= 60fps, GPU usage avrg 19%
Touhou 13=60fps (MANDATORY), GPU usage avrg 4%

----Gaming With Intesnsity 3----
BF3, 27fps avrg, GPU usage 99% 240MH/s CGMiner Crashes after 5-30 seconds
LoL, 59fps avrg=Great!, GPU usage 99% 408MH/s avrg CGMiner Crashes after 30seconds to 3 minutes
Touhou, 60fps=GREAT!, GPU usage 99% 530MH/s CGMiner crashes after ROUGHLY 3-5minutes

Happy driver hunting!, If you provide me with the drivers or settings that allow me to Mine and Game EFFICIENTLY then I will happily send .05btc to the address of your choice

Since you tried 12.8 which is in my opinion the best option for mining I would opt for the following:
13.1 drivers (plz remember to NOT install the SDK option when installing)
SDK 2.7 (Link: http://developer.amd.com/wordpress/media/files/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.7-Windows-641.exe)

This combination should do the trick.

So far 12.8 IS trial-by-fire the best for me to mine with. T^T
Failure.
The issue: All drivers past the 12.8 release are Unable to perform mine bitcoins while running a videogame, While mining while gaming on Any game. All "bitmining" software Crashes and stops while the GPU briefly locks up after about 14 seconds to two minutes, Asif about to reboot/restart/recover.

How to reproduce?
Install any 13.x drivers
Install your favorite bitmining software (I reccomend CGMiner 3.30)
Run the bitmining software, with a modest intensity, Like 3
Run the videogame

You should soon experiance a GPU lockup, followed by a message stating that "(bitmining program here) has stopped working"

This issue Does Not exsist in the 12.8 drivers, and exsists in seemingly all 13.x drivers
I desperatley want to upgrade my drivers, But i am constantly cleaning and rebooting my system just looking for drivers that work!

I have been stuck on the 12.8 drivers ever since they were released.

BUMP!

Is that only with 7000 series cards? 5000 series cards mine just fine while gaming, even with 13.x drivers.

It appears so, yeah, All my 5xxx and 6xxx cards are Fine.
my 7xxx card works OKAY on 12.8, but with a few errors, when i go upto 13.x, Everything gets all fucky when it comes to HOW the gpu "horsepower" is distributed.
On 13.2beta 7, I gained Two Hundred MH/s while gaming playing LoL, But CGminer crashes after 30seconds to 6 minutes.
on the same drivers, BF3 runs very nicely, But having CGMiner on intensity ONE steals about 27fps and Lags the Fuck out of battlefield
and yet on 12.8 No game lag, and mining is just fine with intensity at 2

HALP?

are you sure the lag is because of the gpu? setting intensity too low (less than 3) introduces moderate cpu load on one core.

Extremely sure, I always run cgminer on two of my six cores, and i have experimented with using 4/6 to run the game while 2/6 run cgminer.
Nevertheless, At intensity 1, I get cpu load of 2-4%

Thanks SkyNet, this is the same issue I'm having.

I rolled back to 12.8 from 13.1 but I did install the sdk, and I'm still having a blue screen crash on a fresh install of Win 7, with nothing else on there but cg miner and windows.

I will try to reinstall the 12.8 drivers without the sdk and see how it works.

On mine, cg miner crashes  right away with a turquoise (not blue) screen almost as soon as it starts processing a few blocks.

Weird. This is really pissing me off. Clean machine, new install, and still a crash...grrrrrr...

No it is not, please do not derail my thread, I am not having Windows crashes, or BSoD's

Well, it happens during playing a game also, if I start mining.

 :-\

*facepalm* please understand that it is NOT the same problem, You have compleatly differant symptoms caused by events that make you to be unable to mine.
This is not about Failure to Mine.
This is about Drivers failing to game and mine effeciently and effectively seemingly when i go above the 12.8 drivers.

I am willing to Pay for a solution to my issue that has been plauging me for nearly a Year.
I would be very greatful if you chose to stop posting in this thread because THIS IS NOT THE SAME PROBLEM.

I feel that you are having GPU problems, Not driver problems, Im not an expert. Thats why im Paying for help.
Please stop posting here, I realise that I am being rather rude, however I simply cannot stress enough how much of a fucking HEADACHE this SHIT is.
And i do not need someone coming in here going "I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, <Insert not the same problem here>"
Then Helpful Stranger walks in and goes "Oh well the solution to your problem <Insert Not the same problem here> is to just do THIS"

Then comes the thanksyous, clapping, cheers and hurrahs, because "I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM" was fixed.
While i sit here, Trying to PAY SOMEONE to help me with my unsolved problem.
I understand that you are angry with your problems, but Please dont post here, You do not have the same problem.

Bump!

the poll should be reworded. "can you mine while gaming"

I have zero problems mining... I have zero problems gaming. I am using the latest drivers.. just an older version of APP.

i dont attempt to mine and game at the same time.

Thanks, Fixed that.
D'you think you could try to run a highISH power game on a 7xxx card while mining and see if it works? Cause if it works, And you tell me your drivers that made it work...
Thats .05btc in your wallet

bump

Solution 1 - Stop gaming and just mine until you've mined enough to afford a cheap setup to mine with. Purchase a low price, high gaming quality GPU and a bare bones kit. Throw the GPU in the computer you're using now, and put the 7950 in the bare bones kit. Bam, problem solved.

Solution 2 - At this point a Block Erupter or ASIC miner or even FGPA would be good for you.

How about installing 13.4 driver(or the best for gaming) + OpenCL from 12.6 driver?
+ disabling all Catalyst stuff

I've been running a barebone rig with a box fan atop it's dual gpu's for awhile now (1.6years?), There is no reason to simply stop mining on this gpu other than the obvious wear and tear
The 7950 IS my high quality gaming card, Not everyone has alot of money.

Block erupter ROI Is shit at this point due to difficulty (i've had the gpus for a long time, They've already payed themselves off) ASICminer and FPGA's are too expensive for me.Dear sir, How do i go about installing the 12.6's SDK when the SDK's are "built in" to the 13.x drivers :S
Also I doubt this is the issue due to the factor that my Working drivers (12.8.) use SDK 2.8 wich is the same that the 13.x's use
Aha!, This might be the problem!, SDK 2.8 may just be the culprit!

Naw bro I mean, buy a $100 used GPU and use that to game with. Keep mining with your 7950s :) Or, use -d 0 to disable one gpu, and use the other one to mine with. Use the one disabled in CGMiner to game with. Just a theory though :D

Im not going to go Buy a new fucking gfx to Avoid my issue.
*facepalm* Im not trying to dodge the issue, I could easily do that already. My 7950 is my strongest GFX, So i will game on it, For that very same reason I need to mine btc with it at the same time aswell to reduce as much income loss as possible.

I didnt buy a highpowered 7950 GPU for mining, Nor did i buy ANY gpu-For Mining.
I bought it for a great gaming experiance, Wich im not getting without Recent drivers. Upgrade to recent drivers? And I cannot mine on it while gaming, Crapping out my profits.

yo, man! : D

1) SDK = Software Development Kit, it has nothing to do with the runtime.. well ofc, why would anyone need SDK without the runtime?)))
long story short.. SDK is not built-in in the driver, neither is the runtime(lower than 13.4, in 13.4 runtime is indeed built-in.. installation process is, to be precise)

2) Almost each version of ATI driver has different OpenCL runtime bundled - http://www.hal6000.com/seti/boinc_ati_gpu_cheat_sheet.htm

3) OpenCL runtime is located in \AMD\Support\12-6_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Apps\OpenCL64\OpenCL.msi



From this I've assumed u need newer drivers for gaming, but u can't mine with newer drivers..
So, my idea was - why not to use new drivers and old opencl?

Well my good aquantence, That would be because i have have Difficulties installing an Old SDK with newer drivers (the factor that the SDK is built into the newer installations really fks me)
So, I suppose what i shall do is:
Install the newer drivers (reboot if neccessary)
Uninstall the SDK (reboot if neccessary)
Goto \amd\supp\12-8blahblahblah and install the Old openCL files that are within this said folder that should still exsist?

Sound about right?

Heres a bit of a problem though, When i goto install 13.6beta2, It calims that the SDK is already installed and UP TO DATE. Wouldnt that imply that im Running on SDK 2.8? with display driver 12.8??

I just checked, My SDK version is 10.0.938.2 Wich is a 2.7 SDK..... So what now? when I try to install cat 13.6 and it tells me that it doesnt need to install SDK, and that its uptodate

I'd rather
0) disable windows to install drivers from auto-update(Control Panel->System->Advanced System Settings->Hardware->Windows Update Driver Settings)
1) run amd_cleanup_util_1.2.1.0.exe and reboot
2) install driver manually, c.panel->system->device manager->ur gpu->right click->update->browse->pick from a list->have disk-> \AMD\Support\12-6_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Drivers\Display\W76A_INF\->ok
3) launch GPU-Z and verify that there is no OpenCL ticked
4) install OpenCL

On step 4, Install from where? the 12.8 setup? or the 12.8's setup files?
Also the AMD folder you specified shouldnt exsist after the AMD_cleanup_ultility is done gutting the drivers off the system... Should it?

\AMD\Support\12-6_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Apps\OpenCL64\OpenCL.msi

Running the Cleanup Now!

Might be a good idea to run CCleaner after u finish with AMD cleanup.

Also, u might want to check if exists and delete following -
"Program Files (x86)/AMD APP"
Windows/System32(+SysWOW64)/OpenCL*.*
I usually also delete amd*.* and ati*.* - but this can cause issues if system has some other AMD/ATI hardware.

Btw, if after cleanup Windows still will detect "AMD Radeon" video card, then either Windows is using update or amd cleanup util screwed up.
In this case go to device manager and uninstall the driver manually and tick "delete driver files"

So im here after rebooting, And im just noticing that now SDK's are not even freaking mentioned in either the 13.4 or 13.6 driver setup files. Where is it hidden in? I'd like to have the CCC installed so that i can control desktop colour/gamma/contrast/brightness

Im currently installing 13.6 display driver via device manager

Please stop calling it SDK ; )
And, as I've mentioned earlier, starting from 13.4 it is embedded in the driver, so the files are in
AMD\Support\13-4_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Drivers\Display\W86A_INF\B155215\
but there is no msi installer, so u can't install it manually(without some mess).

Hm. This requirement changes things a lot.
Lets first check if you will be able to play and mine without Catalyst and then figure out how to make it with Catalyst or find a way to control colour/gamma/constast without Catalyst, ok?

Sounds good to me.
Im back after installing the 13.6 DISPLAY DRIVER via Device manager->browse and GPU-Z shows that OpenCL is ticked. It was not ticked when it drivers were "cleaned up"

Fucking hell even CGminer is running.........., Yes it was labeld as "standard VGA device" when i went to install it's display driver

This means that 13.4+ even with manual install it installs OpenCL anyway.. not good.
Ok. Can you launch cgminer, check runtime version, install older OpenCL and check version in cgminer again?

I sense manual removal of Opencl )))

Gonna do that... Meow...
Just tested the current installation, and computer is acting "sticky" and mining crashes while gaming.
Gonna delete the OpenCL.dll files... Make SURE that they are gone, Then try to run the 12.8 installer for it's SDK

w8, dont run any installer yet ; )

Ok, so unpacked OpenCL.msi from 13.1 driver looks like this -

"/program files/AMD APP/bin/x86_64/"
amdocl_as.exe
amdocl_ld.exe

"/System32/"
amdocl.dll
OpenCL.dll
OpenVideo.dll
OVDecode.dll
SlotMaximizerAg.dll
SlotMaximizerBe.dll

"/System64/"
amdocl64.dll
OpenCL.dll
OpenVideo64.dll
OVDecode64.dll
SlotMaximizerAg.dll
SlotMaximizerBe.dll
clinfo.exe


So.. find them and delete them.
After deleting run Ccleaner -> Registry, run it several times until it won't find any 'issues', this will de-register OpenCL from Windows.
To confirm, run GPU-Z, it should launch and report no OpenCL installed.

Now you can install the 'old' OpenCL.

+in "\AMD\AMD_Catalyst_13.6_Beta2\Packages\Drivers\Display\W86A_INF\B157935\" directory I've also found

amd_opencl32.dll
amd_opencl64.dll

but I bet it's just renamed OpenCL.dll
anyway if you notice them somewhere(System32/Syswow64 probably) - delete them also.

Yuppers, Also, I THINK WE HAVE A WINNER!, Please post your BTC addr, I will send them by tommorrow after i have done a 12 hour test, Right meow i am gaming and mining happily.
You seemed to have solved my issue

THANKYOU SO VERYMUCH

hey, w8, so.. what was the solution? : D
U've deleted OpenCL installed automatically with the 13.6 driver and then installed older OpenCL, right?

My BTC addr. is in my sig.

Yes, I installed 13.6, Display Driver, Then i manually deleted the OpenCL.dll and AMDocl.dll from both syswow64 and system32, Then installed Open CL via the 12.8 .dll's that i "grabbed" before running the Cleanup utility.

Wooo! BF3 @ 48fps and 120mh/s on a 7950? Fuck Yeah! (Max settings aside from AAx2 and Shadows at high aswell as SSAO instead of HBAO, Reason is the "Grid" that you see when its enabled)
Core 1000 mem 1375
Sorry about not paying you on time, I'll send the funds quite shortly and when i do i'll post the TX log.
I deeply thankyou for solving my problem, aswell as I thankyou dearly for caring about fixing a problem that doesnt belong to you.
Thankyou so very, Very much

Sadly i have just realised that the first poster, Skynet, posted a solution to my problem.
However, I was unable to execute the solution without instruction and it resulted in a failure

Date: 6/30/2013 14:45
To: 18ozhbkfHneX8tnPgHJuTizyBmspM5Vgpa
Debit: -0.05 BTC
Transaction fee: -0.0005 BTC
Net amount: -0.0505 BTC
Transaction ID: 14185ae79a3a09668606eae0979ee32c8c52e73a50cc579f4a3506075aa432b8

Cool, I'm glad it works ; )

Yep, just checked SkyNet's solution, should have worked also.
Except 2.7 SDK weights 149MB and OpenCL runtime is named 'OpenCL-CPU.msi' there.

Btw, have you installed Catalyst also?

Oh yeah.