PC Drivers & Software

[djwestly]

Hello.

I currently have 2 GPUs installed on Windows 7 Pro x64.

One is an R5 230.  The other is an R9 380 (which was a replacement for an R9 270 that died).

Current drivers are Crimson 16.2.1 for R5 and Crimson 15.11 for the R9.

They work fine with these drivers (use to drive 4 monitors; non-crossfire mode).

I tried installing more recent drivers that supposedly supports both cards (according to the release notes) but after the install, only the R9 shows up in Device Manager.  The R5 is shown as a generic VGA adapter.

I can't figure out how to get both working with the later drivers.  I don't remember the exact message but it was either the best driver is already installed or the generic VGA device is not recognized as an AMD card.  I've tried installing both by running the AMD setup program and by updating the VGA device driver from the Device Manager).

When I use system restore to go back to my previous drivers they both work again.

This happens with Adrenalin 21.5.2, 21.5.1, and 21.4.1.

I'd rather not try EVERY driver version going backwards to the old working versions.

It's not critical to update the drivers but some recent games tell me I should upgrade because of known issues with what I'm running.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get this setup working or what driver version I should try?

Thanks

[elstaci]

First both GPU cards are considered to be Legacy and not supported with any more AMD Updates.

Thus the Windows 7 last AMD driver for the R5-230 is from 2015/2016  while the last AMD Driver for the R9-380 is from 06/21/2021 from AMD Download Driver page.

Yet when I read the Release Notes for the 06/21/2021 Driver it clearly states that the R5-200 Series GPU cards are compatible for Windows 7: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-rad-win-21-5-2

Yet at AMD Download page it only shows 2015/2016 Drivers as the latest version. So if the above is an error that is why your R5-230 is not being recognized because it isn't compatible.

Note: I don't believe you can install 2 different AMD Drivers at the same time. In my opinion I believe the 2016 driver will overwrite the 2015 driver and vice versa.

[djwestly]

Thanks for the reply.

I already knew both were legacy cards.  When I said I tried the latest driver, I meant the latest legacy driver.

When I replaced my failed R9 270 with the R9 380, I didn't re-install any drivers.  I just started the system to see what would happen.  The new card just showed up (along with the R5 230), so I didn't do anything.

Both cards are listed under "Display adapters" in Device Manager correctly ("AMD Radeon (TM) R9 380 Series" and "AMD Radeon R5 230").

I can't remember the steps I took to get both (R5 230 + R9 270) working when I bought the R5.  I do remember it took multiple attempts.  This involved trying different driver versions, trying to install the R9 270 first, trying the R5 230 first, etc.

It's interesting that in Device Manager, the R9 380 device name includes "Series" while the other name does not.  Almost seems like a generic driver is being used for it.  If this is the case, I would prefer to be using a specific driver for the R9 380 and a generic ("Series") driver for the R5 because the R9 drives my main display (the one I game on).  I would think a driver specifically for the R9 would perform better than a generic driver.

Anyways, thanks again for the reply.