Problem in enabling SmartAccess Memory and periodic freezing Rx 6700 XT

[yanaby]

Hello everyone,

First of all, sorry if something is not well written, I don't speak English.

I have a problem when trying to enable a function called SmartAccess Memory (SAM) on my RX 6700 XT GPU. To do this, I need to disable CMS in the BIOS and enable "Resizable BAR". However, when I disable CMS, upon starting Windows, nothing works; I can't open applications or anything else, it just shows the desktop.

Additionally, I have another issue I'd like to solve: my screen freezes periodically when gaming, when I press Alt+Tab, or when I open certain things, for example, when switching tabs in the browser or simply opening the file explorer. etc

My system specifications are:

• OS: Windows 11 Pro Version 23H2
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G 4.6GHz Turbo + Cooler CPU Cooler Master Hyper 212 White LED
• Motherboard: Asrock B450 Steel Legend AM4 DDR4 RGB
• RAM: GeiL DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz Orion Black CL22
• GPU: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT BLACK 12GB GDDR6 SPEEDSTER QICK 319
• Storage: SSD 960 GB + SSD 120 GB
• Power Supply: ADATA 750W XPG PYLON 80 Plus Bronze

If you need more information, please let me know. I'm not very familiar with this.


I have tried:

• running DDU and reinstalling the newest drivers from AMD
• reinstalling Windows​

I haven't tried:

• Updating the BIOS (I don't know how to do it -.-)

Thanks for your help.

 

[c2DDragon]

Hi !
I think it's weird you can't use anything when you remove CSM.
Did you switch it to UEFI or did you choose something else ? (I don't know your BIOS so I'm asking)

When you reinstalled Windows, was it in UEFI ? (Was the USB key hosting the Windows installer in EFI ?)
Is your drive hosting Windows formated in GPT ? (It's better but off topic)

To update your BIOS, you can read what Asrock wrote here (it's not complicated, follow the steps, take photos with your smartphone if needed)

I never heard about being unable to use Windows when disabling CSM so it's weird to me, it could help to update the BIOS I guess.

By the way, know that Resizable BAR is something that CAN grant you like 7% more FPS or be bad on some games, I mean, it's not a magic thing. nVidia got the drivers disabling it by default for games where the performance are worse with it but AMD doesn't have this feature.

EDIT : Also, prefer THIS : https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/faqs/GPU-601.html over DDU.
You may have to reinstall the last AMD chipset drivers, I guess (intel chipset here so I'm not sure).

 

[eidairaman1]

Go ahead and update your motherboard bios

 

[mc_Joe]

SAM isn't a core feature; it can improve your experience in most games, but it may still cause some problems.
So if you can easily turn it ON without getting any trouble with it, that's great.
But if you have any problems when you are using SAM, you can try to fix problems, or just keep it OFF; it's not important.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Of an ASRock motherboard that's pre-B550 era, there's a chance that you will receive the error message from the flasher that it doesn't even look like a proper BIOS image. In that case, you must flash older BIOS versions before the latest. If it's anything like ASRock's A320M/ac.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

I'd keep SAM off. All it did for me was cause stuttering in games.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'd keep SAM off. All it did for me was cause stuttering in games.

You aren't the only 1 to have reported this and that applies to both AMD and nvidia

 

[Zazigalka]

Don't worry if you can't get it to work, it's not gonna make much difference anyway. I had it on before it turned out to be the cause of constant out of video memory crashes (on a 6800 with 16GB lol) in rdr2 running on Vulkan, so I turned it off and really saw no difference.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Hello everyone,

First of all, sorry if something is not well written, I don't speak English.

I have a problem when trying to enable a function called SmartAccess Memory (SAM) on my RX 6700 XT GPU. To do this, I need to disable CMS in the BIOS and enable "Resizable BAR". However, when I disable CMS, upon starting Windows, nothing works; I can't open applications or anything else, it just shows the desktop.

Additionally, I have another issue I'd like to solve: my screen freezes periodically when gaming, when I press Alt+Tab, or when I open certain things, for example, when switching tabs in the browser or simply opening the file explorer. etc

My system specifications are:

• OS: Windows 11 Pro Version 23H2
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G 4.6GHz Turbo + Cooler CPU Cooler Master Hyper 212 White LED
• Motherboard: Asrock B450 Steel Legend AM4 DDR4 RGB
• RAM: GeiL DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz Orion Black CL22
• GPU: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT BLACK 12GB GDDR6 SPEEDSTER QICK 319
• Storage: SSD 960 GB + SSD 120 GB
• Power Supply: ADATA 750W XPG PYLON 80 Plus Bronze

If you need more information, please let me know. I'm not very familiar with this.


I have tried:

• running DDU and reinstalling the newest drivers from AMD
• reinstalling Windows​

I haven't tried:

• Updating the BIOS (I don't know how to do it -.-)

Thanks for your help.

That does seem weird.

Some Asrock UEFI/BIOS can be flakey. In those cases I reset the UEFI/BIOS to defaults, save, reboot, and reapply settings manually.

Second make sure you are only using the WHQL AMD display driver. At least for me Non-WHQL drivers eventually always ended up giving me problems.

If you do update BIOS be sure to follow instructions from your motherboard support page. (In your case using a G processor there are instructions where you must have a certain level of display driver installed in the OS before flashing otherwise you might get an error when finally rebooting and loading the OS.)

• It's helpful to be on a UPS during flashing to avoid bricking your motherboard in case of power failure during flashing.
• On AM4 Asrock motherboards I've had no issues when resetting UEFI/BIOS to defaults before flashing all updates in order (always skip over flashing beta versions).
• Before flashing each new version disable the CPU TPM, save, reboot, then flash. (asrock will issue a warning about that before flashing btw)
  • *The TPM option should re-enable after each flash so you have to keep turning it off for the next flash update. (disclaimer - this behavior only started after a specific version)
• Remember never load a saved profile from a prior UEFI/BIOS version. (Sometimes Asrock fails to clear the saved profiles between flashes)

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Heads up! When the CMOS is at default, expect CSM to be re-enabled, "Above 4G Decoding" to be disabled and resizable-BAR to be disabled. Same goes for Secure Boot, and that will make Windows 11 get very suspicious! This is why the CMOS resetting unexpectedly, can have you banned by Windows 11 from using Windows 11.

 

[Ruru]

Heads up! When the CMOS is at default, expect CSM to be re-enabled, "Above 4G Decoding" to be disabled and resizable-BAR to be disabled. Same goes for Secure Boot, and that will make Windows 11 get very suspicious! This is why the CMOS resetting unexpectedly, can have you banned by Windows 11 from using Windows 11.

Seen this as well, they aren't automatically enabled after resetting CMOS (or after a BIOS update).

 

[XVEX]

@yanaby,
I have the same motherboard and a similar PC configuration (Ryzen 7 3700X, RX 7700 XT) the AMD SAM is not supported in that systems. The problem is... PCIe 4.0. The B450 motherboards are limited to Gen 3 PCIe (3.0), in other words, the SAM need a full PCIe 4.0 system to work. The mine CPU is 4.0 and GPU are ok, but the mobo is the weak point.
Same thing for you: the Ryzen 5700G is PCIe 3.0 only, like the ASRock B450 Steel Legend, the videocard is PCIe 4.0.

A question: your BIOS version?