Included with Catalyst packages is usually the graphics drivers, some various other utilities, and CCC. Another driver also exists in Catalyst packages called “amdkmpfd”, or the Pci Bus driver.
This driver is not installed or updated for a lot of people, so you may just be using the generic “PCI Bus” driver provided from Microsoft. While this may not be a huge issue, you may be able to get better performance by switching to AMD’s driver.
How do you tell if you have either AMD’s driver or Microsoft’s? A quick way is to check the name of the PCI Bus device from Device Manager under System devices. If the name is “PCI Bus”, then you most likely have the Microsoft driver. If the name is “Pci Bus”, then you most likely have the AMD driver.
http://puu.sh/24r8q.jpg
To confirm such, just double-click the device, hit the “Driver” tab, and check the Provider.
http://puu.sh/24r6w.jpg
So what do you do if you want to update/switch to AMD’s Pci Bus driver? You’ll need access to a Catalyst driver package. You can grab one either from AMD Game’s page, AMD’s Support Page, or your OEM. For this example, I’ll be using AMD’s 13.2 Beta 5 driver.
http://puu.sh/24rc4.jpg
Once you have it, run it and let it extract files.
http://puu.sh/24rd7.jpg
After extraction is complete, you should then be taken to CIM (Catalyst Install Manager), close it.
http://puu.sh/24rdz.jpg
You’ll now want to head over to Device Manager, find the PCI Bus driver, and Update it.
http://puu.sh/24reX.jpg
Browse my computer for driver software > Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer > Have Disk… > Browse…
http://puu.sh/24rhB.jpg
When you opened up the driver installer, it extracted files. You’ll want to go find that folder now. By default, it would of placed an AMD folder on the root of your system drive.
http://puu.sh/24riQ.jpg
You want to go into the Packages\Drivers\amdkmpfd folder
http://puu.sh/24rkQ.jpg
The next folder you want to go into is dependent on your OS version. The folder names are pretty self-explanatory, but:
W7 = Windows 7 32-bit
W8 = Windows 8 32-bit
W764A = Windows 7 64-bit
W864A = Windows 8 64-bit
- Vista users can use the Windows 7 driver matching their architecture
- Server OS users pick the folder pertaining closest to their OS and exact architecture (Server 2008 = Windows 7, Server 2012 = Windows
You then just double-click the amdkmpfd.inf in the folder
http://puu.sh/24roS.jpg
Press OK, and you should then be shown the “Pci Bus” driver
http://puu.sh/24rpI.jpg
Press Next to Install it
During this time, your screen may either turn off and back on, your computer may be unresponsive for a short period of time, or the installation will complete nearly instantly (regardless of what happens, the driver should install, give it plenty of time though)
Once the driver is installed, restart immediately. It may vary between hardware, but my computer would lock up within 5 minutes of not rebooting after installing the driver.
Once rebooted, the driver should be installed (can verify by checking out Device Manager) and you should be ready to go! Go try out some games and benchmarks and see if anything has changed for you.
Notes:
- Advice taken from: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373501
- Your PCI Bus driver may have “3GIO” in the name, and this would mean it is AMD-provided, but likely outdated as well
- If you experience worse performance, you can roll back the driver
- This is likely only for motherboards using AMD Chipsets, and not Nvidia nor Intel (if Device Manager warns you that the new driver may be incompatible, it might just be right). If your chipset is from a non-AMD vendor, then you’ll have to update using their driver package instead.
(edited by Espionage.3685)