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multi-core nForce3 systems on Win7 x64 - no more Code 43! Here is a signed GART driver that works on Win7 x64

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First post, by Mister No

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nForce3 users with multi-core CPUs rejoice! Over at WinRaid Forum a well-known user canonkong digitally signed the 64-bit nForce3 GART driver v4.3.4 .

What does that mean for usability of Windows 7 x64 on nForce3 systems? It means that now it is finally possible to use Windows 7 x64 "normally". That’s right, this signed driver enables you to use Windows 7 x64 on an nForce3 system without any workarounds (for example enabling Test Mode) or decreased security which comes with disabling “Driver Signature Enforcement”!

Athlon64 X2 CPUs can be used together with both ATI and Nvidia cards. Nvidia cards can even be used with K10 Phenom II X2 and X4 CPUs, but ATI cards are unfortunately limited to K8 Athlon64 X2.

In short:

  1. Nvidia cards work on any AMD CPU with WDDM (Windows 7x64) drivers;
  2. ATI cards work on single and dual-core Athlon64 X2 CPUs (the fastest being Athlon64 X2 6400+), but are limited to XPDM (Windows XP64) drivers;
  3. When using XPDM drivers there is no limit on the memory that can be used;
  4. When using WDDM drivers maximum memory is limited to 4GB and "memory hole" or "memory remap" in BIOS has to be disabled.

The signed driver, together with instructions how to install it, is here: https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/nvidia-opti … /787?u=misterno

P.S. If someone finds the way to use Phenom II CPUs together with ATI cards, that would be awesome. At the moment, I am stuck with Athlon64 5600+ @3.0GHz with Radeon 3850 AGP and 16 GB DDR2 RAM on my ALiveDual-eSATA2.

Reply 1 of 3, by Mister No

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Here is a Crysis benchmark result with my setup:

CPU : Athlon64 X2 5600+ @3.0 GHz
MB : ASRock ALiveDual-eSATA2 (BIOS: 1.90) [FSB = 231 MHz]
RAM : DDR2 4x4GB @ 858MHz, 5-5-5-16
GPU : Sapphire HD 3850 512MB AGP (overclocked to 770/1035 MHz), Catalyst 10.7 XP64 driver.
OS : Windows 7 x64

Crysis v.1.2.1 (Crysis Benchmark Tool : "gpu_benchmark") :

Preset "Low" (Full HD) - Avg. 73,16 FPS, Min. 31,80 FPS

Reply 2 of 3, by Ozzuneoj

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Wow, I am amazed that someone got this working after all these years. I have an EPoX 9NDA3J (with X2 beta BIOS) and an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ that I've wanted to equip with an HD3850 I picked up a few years ago.

Has anyone tried installing these drivers in Windows 10? I'm curious if they would work there too. That was honestly one of my main interests with the system. I wanted to see how an old DDR1 AGP system with a fast CPU and GPU (for the time) would fair in a modern OS with modern-ish software.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 3 of 3, by Mister No

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-03-08, 05:54:

...
Has anyone tried installing these drivers in Windows 10? I'm curious if they would work there too. That was honestly one of my main interests with the system. I wanted to see how an old DDR1 AGP system with a fast CPU and GPU (for the time) would fair in a modern OS with modern-ish software.

You are out of luck. Starting from Win 8.1 x64, all Win x64 versions require CMPXCHG16b instruction and AMD Socket 939 CPUs unfortunately don't have it. There is no workaround for that. AMD CPUs starting from AM2 socket are compatible with Win 10 x64.

I have an AM2 nForce3 system and Win 10x64 could theoretically work on my ALiveDual-eSATA2 with an AGP card, but only with Nvidia AGP cards. Why only with Nvidia AGP cards? Because on Win 10 x64 XPDM drivers don't work anymore. There is also no workaround for that.

So, unless someone finds the way to make ATI Catalyst WDDM drivers compatible with this GART driver signed by canonkong, there is no way to use 3850 AGP on an nForce3 motherboard with Win 10 x64.

If someone has for example an Nvidia 7950GT AGP card, it should work without any limitations even on a Win 10x64 with WDDM drivers, under two conditions:

  1. Win 10x64 accepts this GART driver signed by canonkong (I don't know, haven't tested it),
  2. When using WDDM drivers maximum memory is limited to 4GB and "memory hole" or "memory remap" in BIOS has to be disabled.
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