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AMD’s mining driver is called ReLive for Blockchain Compute and is designed for “Blockchain Computing”. AMD has specifically optimized these drivers for mining.
By the time Ether mining began in 2015, the cards from Red were the cheapest and most productive when compared to Green. The company responded to this and created special drivers in 2016. The name was uncomplicated “ReLive for Blockchain Compute”.
Blockchain drivers have long been included in major Radeon Software builds. The mining driver was created as an experimental version of Re-Live. The main version is designed for fast gameplay and image rendering for VR glasses. ReLive for Blockchain driver set was developed until 2017, then its components were included in the regular Adrenaline Edition.
No special drivers are needed for mining. This was relevant in 2017-2018, in 2021 the drivers are built with mining needs in mind. To mine cryptocurrency in 2021, Adrenalin Software provides “Compute Mode”. Below we will tell you how to activate it.
Seven simple steps to install an AMD driver when building a farm
- Step 1: open the user support page on the AMD website.
- Step 2: Click the big “Download Now” button.
- Step 3: Wait for the download
- Step 4: Run the installation of the downloaded drivers. They will be in the “Downloads” folder, the name starts with the words “radeon-software…”.
- Step 5: specify the folder for unpacking the installer files, for example, C:\AMD_Drivers
- Step 6: Open the folder “AMD Drivers”, open the only folder that will be there and run the file “Setup.exe”.
- Step 7: select all the checkboxes, click “Next”, and wait for the installation to complete.
A video tutorial that starts with the AMD drivers page:
The auto-installer will install drivers for any AMD hardware on your PC. If you are using an AMD chipset board, you will not need to download a separate driver package. The driver installer will detect the native hardware and download the drivers for the chipset and PCI controllers by itself. For Intell chipset-based boards, the motherboard drivers are installed separately.
What is Compute Mode in AMD cards and how to enable it
This is the mode for advanced computations, such as when maps are used to model protein molecules or predict weather conditions.
In our case, we will use the card for mining.
Video Instruction:
- You need to have Radeon Software installed on the farm.
- Open the Radeon Software panel.
- Find the gear on the panel, press it.
- Open the “Graphics” section, if the program is in Russian, select the “Graphics” section, scroll down and click “Advanced”.
- Scroll down to the “GPU workload” section, click on “Graphics card” and select “Calculate”. Reboot your computer.
After rebooting, the video card will be in computation mode and ready to use its full potential for mining.
If your hash rate drops on RX 400 or RX 500 series graphics cards, turn on Compute Mode.
Disable auto-update so that you don’t have to run after the farm. Before you start mining, turn off automatic driver installation so that it interrupts mining. Go to the “System” tab and click the switch next to “Check for updates”.
Compute mode can be enabled on all video cards at once.
Laziness is the engine of progress. Therefore, a special utility was created by enthusiastic miners, which enables the calculation mode on all connected AMD video cards.
It is called AMD-Compute Switcher. [open the official BTT forum thread].
Using AMD-Compute Switcher
- Run AMD-Compute-Switcher.exe.
- If the window says “switch to compute mode”, press “Ok” to switch to compute mode.
Blockchain driver for AMD
The year 2021 is on the calendar, this driver was new in 2017. It used to give a 15% increase in profit and hash rate, but that figure is no longer relevant. It was created for GCN or “Polaris” cards. Vega cards, HD 7000 line, R9 and R7 video cards with HBM memory are running on this chip.
ReLive for Blockchain has lost its relevance, this driver will not give an increase in Hashreit
ReLive For Blockchain is not relevant as a separate set of drivers, even for old Polaris cards. If you are using HD 7000 cards, Vega or similar then download the normal drivers. AMD has been optimizing video card software since the 2000s.
AMD driver installation errors and their solutions
Even an insurance policy with a monthly premium does not protect against mistakes.
But there should be no errors if you use a relatively “modern” graphics card such as the RX 400 or RX 500. Errors will occur when a video card younger than the HD 7700 is installed in your computer. This is officially “Old” hardware which is not supported in the new driver sets.
How do I install drivers on my old video card?
Use SDI. The program searches among the available databases of software for video cards that no longer receive official updates. [official website of the software developer].
We recommend using SDI Lite if the farm has online access. For a farm without network access, download SDI Full.
How to resolve driver installation errors
- Reset the overclocked graphics card to factory settings and repeat the installation.
- Update the MS Visual Basic library [link to library set from 2005 to 2019].
- Disable the antivirus and try the installation again.
- Use the DDU utility to completely remove the video drivers and repeat the installation procedure. [link to utility]
- Use the official driver from the video card manufacturer’s website.
- Remove old drivers via AMDCleanupUtility.exe [link to utility page on AMD web site]
These are solutions to the most common driver installation problems. If the case is unique, it should be described in detail and googled. Similar questions could have been asked on the forums 2 or 3 years ago and found a solution.
Build Windows 10 is a friend for mining. To avoid problems with drivers, it is recommended to use the LTSC build of Windows 10 and its variations, such as by LeX_6000 or Ovgorsky. LTSC is a branch of Windows that gets the most stable and tested updates and is designed for corporate customers. Automatic updates and spyware modules that could interfere with the farm have been removed.
AMD driver patch: where to download and how to use
Suppose you have modified the BIOS of your video card and the drivers for it stop working or give errors. For example, error 43.
After modifying the BIOS, use atikmdag-patcher. This is software that convinces the drivers and the system that the video card is not a bastard and can work. After modifying the BIOS of the video card, run the utility, and run the patching procedure. [download the utility from the author].
The utility works very simply – run it, a window appears, click “YES” and it does the rest on its own.
