What is Flashing the Bios? and what are the risks/benifits?

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DesertHawk

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Sep 26, 2013
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Hi All,

I have only recently started overclocking my GPU, previously i was just overclocking my CPU.

I have heard people referring to Flashing their bios on their GPU. What are people referring when they say this? and what are the risks and benifits from doing so?

Does this unlock voltage controls?

Thanks guys
 
Solution
manofchalk
The BIOS is kind of the operating system of an individual component and is what makes it run. As it is "Firmware" you cant update it like you can normal software, so to update it what basically happens is you remove it entirely and then put in an updated version of the BIOS, rather than just alter the original BIOS to update it. This is called flashing.

There is always some risk when flashing as its always possible something goes wrong and bricks the component, its pretty small but its there. On high end cards usually there will be two BIOS' you can switch between, that way if something does go wrong you can switch over to the other.

Benefits, as you would expect from updates in general. More features (voltage control maybe, depends...
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Jun 5, 2013
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It the firmware of the GPU card that controls the GPU and card, similar to flashing the mobo BIOS, often provides updates for how the GPU operates and for better compaibility with mobo chipsets, and yes it may unlock things like locked voltage controls or even raise voltage limits
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
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The BIOS is kind of the operating system of an individual component and is what makes it run. As it is "Firmware" you cant update it like you can normal software, so to update it what basically happens is you remove it entirely and then put in an updated version of the BIOS, rather than just alter the original BIOS to update it. This is called flashing.

There is always some risk when flashing as its always possible something goes wrong and bricks the component, its pretty small but its there. On high end cards usually there will be two BIOS' you can switch between, that way if something does go wrong you can switch over to the other.

Benefits, as you would expect from updates in general. More features (voltage control maybe, depends on the card and BIOS features), better compatability and possible performance.
 
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Solution
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DesertHawk

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Sep 26, 2013
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Thanks guys, that helps a lot.

I recently bought a HIS R9-290x but it seems it has its voltages locked. I am planning on getting a waterblock for it in the coming weeks so it would be good if i can adjust the voltages to see how far i can push it when i do.

How would i flash the BIOS of a 290x?
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
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Overclocking newer cards is different to how it has been traditionally where you just increase clock speeds and voltage. The way it works now through utilities like Powertune and AMD's equivalent (forgot the name) is that it will automatically ramp the cards clocks and voltages up until it hits certain thresholds, on the 290X I believe that is a 94°C max temp.

Basically, stick a water-block on it, and the thing will overclock itself as hard as it can as long as you don't hit those limiting factors (namely the temperature limit, which wont be an issue with a water-block).

I prefer the older method of overclocking, through this utility it will only hit a max of 1Ghz, which is actually a very easy overclock for most GCN cards. My 7970 is running at 1125mhz quite comfortably (though the memory is not liking being pushed that much...).

Chances are you cant flash the BIOS of a 290X quite simply because there is nothing to flash it with. The cards only been out like 2 weeks, really doubt they have an updated BIOS for it when drivers still have to properly accommodate it.
 
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DesertHawk

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Sep 26, 2013
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I have tried using CCC but when i change the settings to the powerlimit and GPU clocks through there my screen goes black either as soon as i apply or when i have restarted my computer. The only way i coud figure ut hpw to fix it was uninstall CCC and reinstall so it has default settings.

Any ideas? Is there a problem with the card?
 
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