32bit windows & RX400 series - it is possible =)

G

GenTarkin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
436
Recently I purchased a RX 480 ~ when I happened to notice newegg had 1 in stock. Soon after, I discovered AMD didnt have official driver support for 32bit windows so I was bummed, thinking I bought a useless card.
Well, luckily, the drivers work for the most part just fine in windows 7 32bit at least. I had to mod the .inf file quite a bit to coax it into installing for the card then it installed w/o issue.
Its a bit more of a manual installation process and Im sure Im not getting optimal performance out of the card as a result but... its working well in all the games Ive used it in so far, even wattman works =)
I get around 9850 in firestrike.

I modified the 16.8.2 driver. Just wanted to post this in case anyone is in the same situation.
If anyone would find it helpful, I can post how to go about doing it.
I just did it for the RX480 but Im bet other cards would work too that arent normally supported.

NOTE: I dont need to be told or asked why Im using windows 7 32bit still =P ... my OS has long , customized history that Im not quite willing to throw it all out and face months of work on a clean install again ... someday I will tho, for now Im just tryin to milk till Im forced to switch. Maybe BF1 will be the trigger haha!
 
How is that even working? Doesn't 32-bit have the whole max RAM is 4GB, including what the video card takes?

Do you have some sort of mod on there that allows it to see more than 4GB total?
 
Why are you using win 32?





:p

Actually you are not that alone. I've received many request to do some of my small software utilities in win32. I honestly didn't think anyone would need them in 32bit code, but lo and behold I was wrong.:oops:
 
Ocellaris said:
If it takes you months to reinstall your OS and apps you are doing it wrong :eek:
Click to expand...
I assure you I'm not. I have years of apps and custom settings in this OS ... by years I mean over a decade, its seen upgrades from XP to Vista to 7, and multiple hardware changes from different processor vendors / motherboards to anything else. I've baby'd this OS throughout the years and it still performs damn close to a clean install. So, yes, doing all of it over again ... when Ive forgotten most of it ... will be a major PITA.
 
SvenBent said:
Why are you using win 32?





:p

Actually you are not that alone. I've received many request to do some of my small software utilities in win32. I honestly didn't think anyone would need them in 32bit code, but lo and behold I was wrong.:oops:
Click to expand...

You can write and test virtually all forms of 32bit windows software from a 64bit windows install. The only major exception is stuff like drivers that need to be able to work with the OS at its lowest levels.
 
cyclone3d said:
How is that even working? Doesn't 32-bit have the whole max RAM is 4GB, including what the video card takes?

Do you have some sort of mod on there that allows it to see more than 4GB total?
Click to expand...

I used to use a kernel hack that unlocked all PAE addressable physical memory(up to 256GB I believe) ... so yes at one point my task manager would show 8xxx MB of total RAM ... just like all of MS's 32bit server OS's support PAE to the fullest extent. The problem is, MS was so gungho bout switching everyone over to 64bit that they locked away the full PAE addressing in the 32bit kernel (its just 2 flags that get set). Beyond that, they and hardware vendors didnt wanna have to deal w/ writing proper device drivers to fully support PAE.
Luckily for me, for a while .. AMD had been compiling / writing their 32bit drivers to support PAE properly (I bet up till crimson) .. I tried using the newer drivers w/ the PAE kernel mod and artifacts developed which is the same thing that happens w/ nvidia drivers. Prior to crimson drivers, I ran the kernel hack just fine.
Thats a bit of the history
Now as to your other question... Because the VRAM is not completely addressable / exposed to the OS ... it doesnt fall under the 32bit limitation of the OS's address space. What does count against the OS's address space is whatever AMD chose to map to the OS via drivers ... it seems to be either 256MB or 512MB I havent bothered doing the math =P
 
GenTarkin said:
I assure you I'm not. I have years of apps and custom settings in this OS ... by years I mean over a decade, its seen upgrades from XP to Vista to 7, and multiple hardware changes from different processor vendors / motherboards to anything else. I've baby'd this OS throughout the years and it still performs damn close to a clean install. So, yes, doing all of it over again ... when Ive forgotten most of it ... will be a major PITA.
Click to expand...

Dude, do yourself a favor, go to your local library or Amazon and get the book "Who Moved my Cheese?"..It will open up tons of new possibilities and get you over that fear of change you have deeply entrenched into your brain.
 
SvenBent said:
Why are you using win 32?





:p

Actually you are not that alone. I've received many request to do some of my small software utilities in win32. I honestly didn't think anyone would need them in 32bit code, but lo and behold I was wrong.:oops:
Click to expand...
see my
ccityinstaller said:
Dude, do yourself a favor, go to your local library or Amazon and get the book "Who Moved my Cheese?"..It will open up tons of new possibilities and get you over that fear of change you have deeply entrenched into your brain.
Click to expand...
Um ... Im not afraid of a new OS, its just going to be a long road to setting up all my stuff again.
 
GenTarkin said:
see my

Um ... Im not afraid of a new OS, its just going to be a long road to setting up all my stuff again.
Click to expand...

I was just having a bit of fun with you, but seriously, the fact that you can no longer address more then 4GB of ram should be more then enough reason for you to take a single day and just reinstall/tweak things to your liking..My 5Ghz 3770K is so fast that even with a now older SSD I haven't felt the need to tweak anything other then setting the Power Options to "High Performance" and disabling all Power Management Options in the BIOS, which takes all of 30 seconds.
 
To tell you the truth, you WON'T be able to get the performance you want out of a modern graphics card running an OS that can only see a total of 4GB memory. I could not imagine trying to run even dated games on a system with ~3GB system memory and ~1GB VRAM.

Do yourself a favour and upgrade to 64bit.
 
It won't take as long as you think to set up everything.

I used to be the same as you, afraid to do clean installs because I won't be able to set up again.

I found though that what I had was a crapload of old software, settings, etc. for stuff I either no longer owned (Logitech hand scanner anyone?) or did not use anymore (DVDshrink).

It also did not fix the "bit-rot" issue, and I'm too cheap to buy ECC RAM and server motherboards.

What you do is buy a new HDD or SDD, do a clean load, install the basic apps you know you'll use, then see what happens. If you miss anything vital connect up your old hard drive to copy it over.

Apart from user data like documents I'll bet after a year you will have reinstalled maybe 30% of what you used to have.

Now I do a clean install every new OS or new computer so my workstation doesn't get dragged down by a bunch of old shit that has no meaning to me anymore.

Try it!
 
KazeoHin said:
To tell you the truth, you WON'T be able to get the performance you want out of a modern graphics card running an OS that can only see a total of 4GB memory. I could not imagine trying to run even dated games on a system with ~3GB system memory and ~1GB VRAM.

Do yourself a favour and upgrade to 64bit.
Click to expand...


Eventually, I will, like I stated. And you are mistaken the VRAM is all useable since its not entirely exposed to the OS ... anyways. I play BF4, max settings on here and its using around 2.5-3GB VRAM. Also, its not really a big deal having just 3GB useable memory. I have a pagefile sitting on the PAE addressable memory and it has quite a decent throughput so, program swapping is no big deal.
I usually have chrome w/ 30+ tabs open + BF4 running max settings ... easily both can consume more than my free physical memory =) ... but its amazing how fast a swap file in RAM can be... granted not as fast as RAM itself but... it works.
 
rtangwai said:
It won't take as long as you think to set up everything.

I used to be the same as you, afraid to do clean installs because I won't be able to set up again.

I found though that what I had was a crapload of old software, settings, etc. for stuff I either no longer owned (Logitech hand scanner anyone?) or did not use anymore (DVDshrink).

It also did not fix the "bit-rot" issue, and I'm too cheap to buy ECC RAM and server motherboards.

What you do is buy a new HDD or SDD, do a clean load, install the basic apps you know you'll use, then see what happens. If you miss anything vital connect up your old hard drive to copy it over.

Apart from user data like documents I'll bet after a year you will have reinstalled maybe 30% of what you used to have.

Now I do a clean install every new OS or new computer so my workstation doesn't get dragged down by a bunch of old shit that has no meaning to me anymore.

Try it!
Click to expand...

Yeahp, I keep telling myself it wont take too long. =) ... dont worry, if I want to play BF1 bad enough ... Ill be forced to upgrade then =P
Keep in mind, like I stated, even tho Ive had this same instll for a decade .. it runs just like a clean install. I would know, since I have 12+ years of experience in being a very skilled PC technician. Over those years Ive done plenty of clean installs on huge range of hardware. My PC performs no slower than any of those in all aspects. Its just a testament to what a well maintained OS can offer =)
 
What ever floats your boat! Of course what you perceive as high performance some of us would laugh at! And im not joking! Learn to do image backups and if you run into issues on a new clean 64bit install its just simple matter of restoring the backup. Honestly buying modern AMD graphics for gaming with out win 10 64 bit is maybe even a solid 50% performance loss compared to what you could be getting.

It just goes against our [H] religion to do those things!
 
TBH I am shocked AMD/Nvidia even have 32bit drivers for Windows anymore. It's like Windows XP 32/64. Its EOL.

One day soon everything will be 64bit, and you will be shit outta luck.

BTW it took me 14 minutes to install windows 10 on my machine. 64bit.......very simple and easy...
 
Brackle said:
TBH I am shocked AMD/Nvidia even have 32bit drivers for Windows anymore. It's like Windows XP 32/64. Its EOL.

One day soon everything will be 64bit, and you will be shit outta luck.

BTW it took me 14 minutes to install windows 10 on my machine. 64bit.......very simple and easy...
Click to expand...
lol more like 5 min from usb ......and even less than that with usb 3.1 lol
 
yea can never go back to any OS. all os will have their ups and downs but windows 10 is just damn smooth for me. I never have random shit happening where I want to slam my keyboard and throw my mouse. Oh and did I mention this is the first time I haven't used an after market anti virus for a year and have had no issues lol. I know they are pushy with updates but this thing gives me a piece of mind.
 
Another thing....Buy a cheap 128GB SSD, load up W7/W10 64bit, and boot off of that for games. Keep your badass W7 32bit OS on that HD you have now.

Problem Solved.
 
Brackle said:
Another thing....Buy a cheap 128GB SSD, load up W7/W10 64bit, and boot off of that for games. Keep your badass W7 32bit OS on that HD you have now.

Problem Solved.
Click to expand...

Man I bought a 960gb sandisk ultra 2 and I have loaded up so many games. I am living the life lol. I still have about 500gb to spare. Got it for 200 when I built the new system. I was going to get 850 evo for 350 or so but man for 150 less I really can't tell a difference with regular usage. I would grab a midrange 500gb and use that was 2nd drive if I was OP.
 
I remember a few weeks back someone was pissed off cause they bought a 480 as well but AMD had forgot all about releasing 32bit drivers lol. The very next day after he requested to return it AMD released drivers! People with ancient pcs are one thing, but who would have thought customers buying brand new gaming graphics cards are still stuck on 32 bit windows? You expect it to be OLD people that still use AOL! Not gamer's lol Some company's have already phased out 32bit exe right?
 
primetime said:
I remember a few weeks back someone was pissed off cause they bought a 480 as well but AMD had forgot all about releasing 32bit drivers lol. The very next day after he requested to return it AMD released drivers! People with ancient pcs are one thing, but who would have thought customers buying brand new gaming graphics cards are still stuck on 32 bit windows? You expect it to be OLD people that still use AOL! Not gamer's lol Some company's have already phased out 32bit exe right?
Click to expand...

But it took those old people "months" to setup AOL the way they like it. They can't leave it now :(
 
Poor guy, came into to write about some beneficial hack he would share for people if they where in the same boat as him.
Thread turns into MY 64BIT OS'S DAD CAN BEAT YOUR 32BITS OS'S DAD. :D

Good luck with whatever poison you pick. Its your own choice.
 
SvenBent said:
Poor guy, came into to write about some beneficial hack he would share for people if they where in the same boat as him.
Thread turns into MY 64BIT OS'S DAD CAN BEAT YOUR 32BITS OS'S DAD. :D

Good luck with whatever poison you pick. Its your own choice.
Click to expand...

Not really tbh. He came in to tell us he was able to hack a driver to 32bit because he was too lazy to install a 64bit windows on another HD.

So he spent more time doing the hack, then he could of just installing a 64bit windows to enjoy his new card.
 
SvenBent said:
Poor guy, came into to write about some beneficial hack he would share for people if they where in the same boat as him.
Thread turns into MY 64BIT OS'S DAD CAN BEAT YOUR 32BITS OS'S DAD. :D

Good luck with whatever poison you pick. Its your own choice.
Click to expand...
So by us trying to explain to a somewhat inexperienced member that installing windows doesn't take "Months" to achieve and more like an evening grand total were somehow being mean to him? What the fuck ever dude! This is a somewhat performance oriented website so of course were going to make our own personal suggestions. (and it was just to help him!)
 
Is win7 32-bit that dead? Finally ... also, 32-bit Linux kernel is on the way out, finally.
 
primetime said:
So by us trying to explain to a somewhat inexperienced member that installing windows doesn't take "Months" to achieve and more like an evening grand total were somehow being mean to him? What the fuck ever dude! This is a somewhat performance oriented website so of course were going to make our own personal suggestions. (and it was just to help him!)
Click to expand...

So is this permission to recommend nVidia cards in the AMD sub-forum and vice versa, because we want to help people?

primetime said:
I remember a few weeks back someone was pissed off cause they bought a 480 as well but AMD had forgot all about releasing 32bit drivers lol. The very next day after he requested to return it AMD released drivers! People with ancient pcs are one thing, but who would have thought customers buying brand new gaming graphics cards are still stuck on 32 bit windows? You expect it to be OLD people that still use AOL! Not gamer's lol Some company's have already phased out 32bit exe right?
Click to expand...

The person had Windows 8.x and AMD had drivers for Windows 7 and 10 but not 8.x. Considering that 8.x EOL is for another couple of years at least I don't think this is even a comparable statement.
 
Algrim said:
So is this permission to recommend nVidia cards in the AMD sub-forum and vice versa, because we want to help people?
Click to expand...
That would be ok depending on wether your one of the nvidiot trolls or not in all honesty....I dont mind someone being biased toward one brand or another. Ill use razor as an example.....He's doesnt drive us all NUTZ so we all IGNORE him lol! But if you ask me the fucking shrills need to be banned from the AMD section lol! Anyways i think were off topic.;) AMD cards are NOT a perfect fit for everybody as they can be a little more tricky to maintain and optimize.
 
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You should just dual boot and use your 32 bit install for work, 64 bit for entertainment. Easiest solution.

Or, make an image of your current install, buy a big HDD/SSD, install 64 bit Windows, then use the image as a VM. Best of both worlds.
 
GenTarkin said:
Recently I purchased a RX 480 ~ when I happened to notice newegg had 1 in stock. Soon after, I discovered AMD didnt have official driver support for 32bit windows so I was bummed, thinking I bought a useless card.
Well, luckily, the drivers work for the most part just fine in windows 7 32bit at least. I had to mod the .inf file quite a bit to coax it into installing for the card then it installed w/o issue.
Its a bit more of a manual installation process and Im sure Im not getting optimal performance out of the card as a result but... its working well in all the games Ive used it in so far, even wattman works =)
I get around 9850 in firestrike.

I modified the 16.8.2 driver. Just wanted to post this in case anyone is in the same situation.
If anyone would find it helpful, I can post how to go about doing it.
I just did it for the RX480 but Im bet other cards would work too that arent normally supported.

NOTE: I dont need to be told or asked why Im using windows 7 32bit still =P ... my OS has long , customized history that Im not quite willing to throw it all out and face months of work on a clean install again ... someday I will tho, for now Im just tryin to milk till Im forced to switch. Maybe BF1 will be the trigger haha!
Click to expand...


Hi Nice work !
I finally have found your post and am really impressed about it !
Like you, I have to stick to windows 7 32-bit os with some reasons like running 16 bit softwares..
Recently I got XFX RX470 graphics card and it is now useless due to the 32-bit driver issue, so I was really depressed..
Could you please let me know how to modify the driver so that I can use this graphics card ?
Thanks in advance !
 
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primetime said:
What 32bit driver issue? https://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/n...eon-software-crimson-relive-16.12.2-dec19.exe
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-art...son-ReLive-Edition-16.12.2-Release-Notes.aspx
Click to expand...

This.. you can find it in your link
That is why I need to modify the driver for 32-bit

" Radeon Product Compatibility "
Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 16.12.2 is compatible with the following AMD Radeon products.

Note that AMD Radeon™ R9 Fury, Radeon™ Pro Duo, and Radeon™ RX 400 Series graphics are only supported by Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition on Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit.
 
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Joshua Yunjae Kee said:
This.. you can find it in your link
That is why I need to modify the driver for 32-bit

" Radeon Product Compatibility "
Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 16.12.2 is compatible with the following AMD Radeon products.

Note that AMD Radeon™ R9 Fury, Radeon™ Pro Duo, and Radeon™ RX 400 Series graphics are only supported by Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition on Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit.
Click to expand...

Well that's a huge kick in the nuts when you get to the final drop down on the driver selection page and no 32 bit OSes are available :eek:
 
Joshua Yunjae Kee said:
This.. you can find it in your link
That is why I need to modify the driver for 32-bit

" Radeon Product Compatibility "
Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition 16.12.2 is compatible with the following AMD Radeon products.

Note that AMD Radeon™ R9 Fury, Radeon™ Pro Duo, and Radeon™ RX 400 Series graphics are only supported by Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition on Windows 7/8.1/10 64-bit.
Click to expand...
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/amd-radeon-software-crimson-16-11-5-driver-download.html just fall back on the latest non relive edition versions
 
Ocellaris said:
Well that's a huge kick in the nuts when you get to the final drop down on the driver selection page and no 32 bit OSes are available :eek:
Click to expand...
Yea how many pcs you still use at home running 32bit windows? (Not to mention primary gaming setup)
 
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