Radeon Pro 18.2.1 and how to have gaming mode with 2x Vega FEs

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noko

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One frustrating road tour to get to the point where I can switch between Pro drivers and Gaming drivers when two Vega FEs are installed.

The Radeon Pro "Driver Options" allow multiple drivers or more exact the Pro Driver with several other gaming drivers. An option that can be selected during a custom install.
The clevit is that this option is only available when you have one graphics card installed. If you have two, like two Vega FEs you are stuck with just the Radeon Pro Driver - no Wattman - no OC utility will OC the Vega FEs - they are forever stuck at stock clocks (sucks for mining, gaming etc.)

So out of pure bug eye frustration, I ripped (I mean removed) one Vega FE out of the machine.
  1. Did a clean install of 18.Q.1 Pro Drivers custom install (to have the Radeon Pro Driver option of multiple drivers pop up during the installation)
  2. Rebooted and then went and install a gaming driver available, 18.2.1 Pro Adrenalin driver
  3. Shutdown and installed the 2nd Vega FE and restarted
  4. I thought it locked up on the log in, but I waited. . . and waited . . and pop the desktop
  5. In gaming mode :happy: with two Vega FE's
  6. So hell, I loaded a second set of gaming drivers, might as well, 17.2.1 - no problem they loaded
18Q1.png
CFX.png

17_2_1.png


Now there maybe a rather good reason RTG prevented the selection with two Vega FE's installed, I have not fully tested this out but so far no issues. If you try the above you take your own risk. Please share if successful, problems and any solutions.

OCing utilities work as a side note.
 
The 17.12.2 driver cleared up the Crossfire issues for having two cards installed. Use pro mode if you want to mine, use gaming mode if you want to crossfire.
 
I basically had to wait 4 months before I could get crossfire support and this was after pleading with developers on Twitter to enable it.
 
So Noko, how well do the crossfire supported games play with your setup? Genuinely curious, thanks.
 
ManofGod said:
So Noko, how well do the crossfire supported games play with your setup? Genuinely curious, thanks.
Click to expand...
Really the first time I was able to get gaming drivers setup. Mostly the cards were using the blockchain drivers. Will know more tomorrow when I switch the Vive over. The Serious Sam VR series supports CFX well. Will test other stuff too.

Newer Pro drivers block OCing or underclockimg making them useless for mining in my experience.
 
Mining Ethereum with the 18.2.1 Pro Adrenalin Game drivers, the two FE's are pulling around 41mh/s - rather good, 2nd only to the Titan V. Found that you have to keep the GPU's 60c or colder, otherwise you get hashrate drop which is a very common issue with Vega cards. Spent hours trying different things to get the hashrate to remain relatively constant. Pushing the fans to run rather fast and 60c and colder was the only thing that worked. Obviously liquid cooling versions would probably do better here like on my Vega 64 LC, it has been mining Electroeum (Cryptonight algorithm) at over 2000h/s for about two weeks straight without a hiccup, temperature of the that GPU is maintained at 55c. I do believe it is more a HBM2 temperature thing than a GPU temperature.

My two Vega FE's virtually perform identical and have outstanding HBM2 OCing ability. The newest drivers have better performance on non-Cryptonight algorithm coins and comparably low when compared to the block chain for Crytonight coins. The Vega 64 LC is making $4.26/day ETN today compared to two Vega FE's making $5.79/day for Ethereum. I just want to use the computer for other stuff which the Block Chain driver just sucks at.

Screenshot, to keep the HBM2 cool (GPU) minimize clockspeed, GPU voltage and HBM2 voltage.

2018-02-26 (2).png
​
Edit: First time I've noticed that I could edit the complete profile/curve for Vega Clock speed and voltages as a note. Previous drivers it was virtually only the last power state that could get edited. No power play tables in the registry applied or configured.
 
Last edited:
noko said:
Mining Ethereum with the 18.2.1 Pro Adrenalin Game drivers, the two FE's are pulling around 41mh/s - rather good, 2nd only to the Titan V. Found that you have to keep the GPU's 60c or colder, otherwise you get hashrate drop which is a very common issue with Vega cards. Spent hours trying different things to get the hashrate to remain relatively constant. Pushing the fans to run rather fast and 60c and colder was the only thing that worked. Obviously liquid cooling versions would probably do better here like on my Vega 64 LC, it has been mining Electroeum (Cryptonight algorithm) at over 2000h/s for about two weeks straight without a hiccup, temperature of the that GPU is maintained at 55c. I do believe it is more a HBM2 temperature thing than a GPU temperature.

My two Vega FE's virtually perform identical and have outstanding HBM2 OCing ability. The newest drivers have better performance on non-Cryptonight algorithm coins and comparably low when compared to the block chain for Crytonight coins. The Vega 64 LC is making $4.26/day ETN today compared to two Vega FE's making $5.79/day for Ethereum. I just want to use the computer for other stuff which the Block Chain driver just sucks at.

Screenshot, to keep the HBM2 cool (GPU) minimize clockspeed, GPU voltage and HBM2 voltage.

Edit: First time I've noticed that I could edit the complete profile/curve for Vega Clock speed and voltages as a note. Previous drivers it was virtually only the last power state that could get edited. No power play tables in the registry applied or configured.
Click to expand...
My 580 and 480 computer does 50MH/s on ethash. Only thing I did was set the power limit to -25% and set the clocks to 1150. Fans are set to Auto. Shouldn't your 2 Vegas put out at least 50, as well?
 
noko have you tested the 18.2.2 or 18.3.1 driver on Cryptonight yet? I have read on Reddit and a couple other places that AMD has finally brought CryptoNight mining performance to the blockchain driver level but I do not want to risk nuking this BC install if they aren't going to work. I would like to have the ability to game on this rig again though so if I can get confirmation they work then I am going to give them a try.
 
ccityinstaller said:
noko have you tested the 18.2.2 or 18.3.1 driver on Cryptonight yet? I have read on Reddit and a couple other places that AMD has finally brought CryptoNight mining performance to the blockchain driver level but I do not want to risk nuking this BC install if they aren't going to work. I would like to have the ability to game on this rig again though so if I can get confirmation they work then I am going to give them a try.
Click to expand...

Will the 18.3.1 give you just the Pro driver or the gaming driver?
 
The Cobra said:
Will the 18.3.1 give you just the Pro driver or the gaming driver?
Click to expand...

The 18.3.1 will only give the gaming driver to us non FE peons. Cryptonight performance is still crap on both 18.2.2 and 18.3.1, unless I am doing something wrong. Hash rate is ~1400 H/s when it should be 2000 H/s like it is with the blockchain driver.
 
I don't use my FE cards for crypto stuff, just video editing and gaming. I was just curious if it installed the 18.3.1 driver actually installs a gaming driver for the us pro folks. ANy other time I've tried to install the RX driver I just get a pro driver with no option to install a gaming driver.
 
ccityinstaller said:
noko have you tested the 18.2.2 or 18.3.1 driver on Cryptonight yet? I have read on Reddit and a couple other places that AMD has finally brought CryptoNight mining performance to the blockchain driver level but I do not want to risk nuking this BC install if they aren't going to work. I would like to have the ability to game on this rig again though so if I can get confirmation they work then I am going to give them a try.
Click to expand...
Yes and it is not good, seems like only the block chain drivers allow the 2000h/s per GPU capability.

Been mining with NeoScrypt to NiceHash using Awesome Miner and built in miners to mine with. It gives $1 to $2 more per day then just mining to NiceHash
 
The Cobra said:
Will the 18.3.1 give you just the Pro driver or the gaming driver?
Click to expand...
It configures as the Pro driver, you have to do a custom install with a single card which will pop open a window asking you if you want to install the Options Driver menu. Click yes and when 18.Q.1 pro drivers loads, you will now have a Driver Options tab at the bottom left shown in the images above where you can load the gaming driver. 18.3.1 is not options yet for the Pro driver Game Mode or gaming drivers. The gaming driver has to be made to work with the Pro driver. At the moment it allows 18.2.1 and 17.12.2 and 17.9.1.

If you have two FE's installed it becomes more tricky as describe on first post.
 
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The Cobra said:
I don't use my FE cards for crypto stuff, just video editing and gaming. I was just curious if it installed the 18.3.1 driver actually installs a gaming driver for the us pro folks. ANy other time I've tried to install the RX driver I just get a pro driver with no option to install a gaming driver.
Click to expand...
I can't get Rx drivers to install and if they do they are actually the Pro drivers. Read above - you have to do a custom install of the real Pro drivers and when window opens asking if you want the Driver Options tab - click yes. You will be able to load gaming drivers meant to work with the Pro Drivers.
 
I wish AMD would throw us "regular" RX guys a bone and give us the option to use multiple drivers. They could keep the "pro" stuff locked out, just the ability to switch from BC to gaming would be huge. I would buy another 3-4 VEGAs right now if they would allow that. I am shopping for a 3440x1440 or a new 4K set and would love to use multiple VEGAs for FarCry5 since they are supporting Crossfire.
 
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Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition for Radeon Pro 18.3.1 has been released, it says Mar 20, don't think they were available then but anyways that is what the notes say:
https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-ar...tion-for-Radeon-Pro-18.3.1-Release-Notes.aspx

Inside of Radeon Pro 18.Q.1 drivers under Driver Options (Pro drivers had to be loaded with the Options Tab enabled) you can select 18.3.1 gaming driver to install and switch. Since I already had two gaming drivers loaded, 18.2.1 and 12.12.something, loader had me pick which one to uninstall so 18.3.1 could load. Have not tested them out yet.

2018-03-27.png​
 
It was a very pleasant surprise today seeing that AMD released another gaming driver for 18.Q.1 Pro Drivers - Gaming driver 18.4.1.

First Pro gaming driver which allowed full speed for CyptonightV7 of Monero, before to get close to 2kh/s per card I had to use the very much dreaded beta Mining drivers. With 18.4.1 it is not only faster but more stable and now I can play my games as well without going through driver flipping hell with 2 Vega FE's. Now the Vega FE's is outstripping the Vega 64 LC in hash rate by a little.
Monero.jpg Monero2.jpg
​
Both Vega FE's in CrossFire with FarCry 5 benchmark at 4K resolution and Ultra settings did this, very first run, stock settings on the FEs:
20180511112334_1.jpg​
 
noko, the 18.3 drivers didn't give you full speed in Cryptonight? I have been using them since they released and my cards paired with CastXMR 1.0 love Turtlecoin..My 56s (core 1350/HBM 1100) get 3900-4100 per card and my 64 gets 41-4300 (1350/1065).

I haven't tried the 18.4s yet.
 
ccityinstaller said:
noko, the 18.3 drivers didn't give you full speed in Cryptonight? I have been using them since they released and my cards paired with CastXMR 1.0 love Turtlecoin..My 56s (core 1350/HBM 1100) get 3900-4100 per card and my 64 gets 41-4300 (1350/1065).

I haven't tried the 18.4s yet.
Click to expand...
I tried 18.3.1 with cast Xmr 1.0 and never got above 1500 H/s per card. Interesting. Well 18.4.1 is a charm and looks good for gaming as well. Switch to Pro drivers for Modo when I do 3d stuff. Happy camper

Now this is Vega FE (2x), my Vega 64 LC is working on 18.3.4 drivers with cast Xmr just fine
 
I finally got around to installing the newest Professional drivers 18.Q2. I went to Pro-Mode on 18.Q1 and check for updates but it did not show any for the Pro drivers. Downloaded 18.Q2 from AMD and installed, did not use clean install. I wanted to keep the Driver Options menu as well as the two Pro Gaming drivers installed, 18.3.1 and 18.4.1. Well it worked without issue, have 18.Q2 Pro drivers and the two previous Pro gaming drivers now. Looks like a conclusion for this thread. Will start another thread if anything interesting occurs. On 18.Q1 I had to pull one Vega FE out to allow the Driver Options menu choice on a Custom Install, here I just updated 18.Q2 over 18.Q1 and it carried over. I am not sure if a clean install will allow the Driver Options menu (so as to allow Pro Gaming Drivers installation) on a multiple Vega machine is possible. Would be nice if the case.

If you want to read up on these drivers other than AMD, AnandTech has a good write up:
 
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