Hi
Anyone here know how to update VGA bios? I have a R8500, is it possible to update it?

It's possible, but why?

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

it is possible, depends on yours cards manufacturer, if they releases any new bios for updating. but generally, you dont need to update your video cards bios, unless if you have problems with it.

My R8500 is LE version, I forgot to mention
it's clocked at 250/230, it's made by Sapphire
I would like to increase the memory speed to 250 without using Windows' software, such as Powerstrip.
if it's possible, plz tell me
still a big thanks if it's not possible

You should go see the ding bats over at the Rage 3D forums, thats about all they do these days. After you read about all of the mishaps they are having, hopefully you will make the wise decision and leave your card alone. if you do see them, tell them that they will never make a R9500 out of a R8500, wich it seems they believe is possible.

If someone with multiple personalities, threatens to commit suicide, is that a hostage situation?..xXZoomInstagibXx

It's easy. You need two programs from rage3d.com. The first one is a flasher, the next is an interpreter (whatever it's called, reads BIOS, interprets values). You save your card BIOS to disk with the flasher, change the MHz setting, and reflash the updated version. I did this with my old Radeon LE.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

BTW, I'd try overclocking in windows first to see how far the card goes. 3.6ns memory for example should reach 275MHz.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>

You can do this, but it can be extremely dangerous if you don't know what you are doing.

Flash writing to a ROM chip is permanent. It is not like a driver or software on your harddrive where you can uninstall or edit it. If you mess up, your card may be gone for good, period.

For one thing, most flash writing is done out of DOS mode, or some pre-boot mode before you reach your Windows desktop. So for one thing, you'll need to know how to use command lines, not pointing and clicking on icons with mouse cursors.

Make sure you know exactly what you are doing if you are going to attempt this procedure.

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Benchmarks don't lie :-)

Thanks for your information
then do you think I should leave my video card alone? or I should flash the bios of it to run it as 250Mhz?
I've tried a program, it said the max of the memory speed can reach 275Mhz, the core clock speed is sth around 3xxMhz (I forgot)
so..Should I or not? Thanks in advance
if I do, is that possible to "backup" the bios first?

It is possible to "back up" the old bios. The only scary thing is if your video card stops responding completely. Then you won't be able to recover to the old bios. You probably could boot up on a PCI video card and re-flash your agp one but that's a whole different ballgame in itself.

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ok, now it's the thing
I've downloaded 3 stuff
atiflash, flashUtility, and rage3dedit
I would like to know the procedure of how to flash the bios, and what do I do with those files? Should I do it in Windows or Dos? means do I have to boot from a bootdisk?
I know what I'm doing, but I don't know how ^^
could anybody tell me the procedure of flashing bios? Thanks a lot

You are right Rubberbband about fixing an improperly flashed card - however that's the thing. You have to target your secondary display adapter as the card to be flashed (if you have 1 PCI video card, and 1 in the AGP slot, if your PCI card in your primary in your system BIOS, you would have to direct the flash utility to write the information to your second card).

Night, if these flashing utilities come with instructions you should read them first. They might explain everything.

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Benchmarks don't lie :-)

Yeah, I would like to read, but there is nothing related to it, all I see are many files, but no documents
I have only one AGP video card and it's my Primary Display Adapter..
Thanks for you answer, please continue to help me!

Hey, everyone, I did it!
now my R8500LE is now running at 250/250 instead of 250/230, I've tested it. In 3Dmark2001, I got an increase of 200
Do you think I should go further?