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I re-installed Windows 7 a few days ago on my computer and I've noticed that the Ati drivers are using too much RAM and CPU.
There have been instances where ccc.exe would use around 4-5GB of RAM out of a total of 8GB and shoot to ~80% CPU usage. I terminated that process and now atieclxx.exe is using 3.5GB of RAM(cpu is at ~19%). I'm using the latest drivers available. I just re-started Catalyst Control Center and it shot to ~60% CPU usage in a matter seconds.

The specifications of my computer are:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
8GB RAM
2 x Ati HD3850 512mb using crossfire(I don't know if it makes a difference but I'm only using 1 bridge) CCC 12.6

I've noticed many cases of similar problems while searching the net but I couldn't find a solution.Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?
Thanks a lot.

Updates: If ccc.exe is terminated atieclxx.exe starts using too much RAM and CPU instead(~20-25% CPU and ~0.5+ GB of RAM)
I tried re-installing the drivers as climenole suggested but it didn't fix the problem.
Restarting fixes the problem temporarily.

EDIT: I disabled Catalyst on startup and stopped AMD External Services utility and everything seems normal. It turns out that stopping AMD External Services Utility would only cause problems if hotkeys or Overclocking were enabled so I just went to msconfig->Services and stopped it. Thanks a lot for helping out.

1 Answer 1

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Possibly Catalyst files corrupted. Try to reinstall it.

What you (really) need to use the ATI Catalyst drivers is the service AMD External Events Utility started in automatic mode.

Catalyst® Control Center Launcher or CCC.exe is as far as I know useless and can be disabled (with Sysinternal's Autoruns for example). You don't have to run this utility at each boot...

The ATI drivers (amdkmdag.sys and atikmpag.sys) are loaded at system startup with or without CCC

It still possible to start Catalyst Control Center manually ("C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CCC.exe"). CCC is also used for automatic drivers update but please note that AMD montly update policy has been changed:

Extreme Tech: AMD rethinks driver strategy for graphics, halts monthly updates

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  • OK, I'll try re-installing it and then disabling Catalyst. What about 'atieclxx.exe' ? Aug 11, 2012 at 22:09
  • This is a subprocess of C:\Windows\System32\atiesrxx.exe (the AMD external service) and normally takes few CPU time. Are you sure you have the most recent drivers? check here: support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx. When the installation process is finished check the report if there's no problem with the installation. It's an HTML file viewed by your default browser.
    – climenole
    Aug 11, 2012 at 22:16
  • After selecting the appropriate option I get redirected here: support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/legacy/Pages/… It's the exact same page I downloaded the drivers I'm using a couple of days ago. Catalyst is at version 12.06 which I believe is the most recent, isn't it? Aug 11, 2012 at 22:19
  • Yes you're right. When the installation process works well you must see display modifications during the process (screen blinking). If not there's some problem. This happen to my PC and I have to reinstall it twice until I get a normal CPU usage from Catalyst. Very strange...
    – climenole
    Aug 11, 2012 at 22:23
  • I re-installed the drivers(Remove from device management, uninstall from Control Panel, rebooted into safe mode and removed everything with driver sweeper) but the problem persists. I terminate ccc.exe which still uses too much RAM and CPU and atieclxx.exe takes over right now it's at ~600mb RAM and 23% CPU. Should I try older drivers perhaps? Aug 12, 2012 at 13:38

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