Tutorial on how to use RBE (Radeon BIOS Editor)

Introduction - What does RBE do?

RBE is a handy tool to modify several interesting parameters in ATI BIOS files. It focuses on fan and clock settings as these are the most important things to most users. BIOS modification is an alternative to using memory resident tweaking utilities such as RivaTuner, ATI Tray Tools or ATITool. It has several advantages such as

• No need to run any program on boot up for setting the tweaks
• Thus independence of operating system - BIOS tweaks work in Linux and any other OS, not just Windows
• Option of voltage modification
• Keeping PowerPlay untouched/still working after overclocking - in fact, you can even boost this power saving functionality at your own needs.

However, it has some disadvantages:

• You will void your warranty by BIOS flashing
• BIOS flashing means a direct intervention into the hardware
• This can be dangerous and needs to be done carefully
• Thus, it should be done by people who really know what they are doing only!

RBE can not only modify the settings inside the BIOS, but it also balances out the BIOS' checksum. ATI's flashing utilities (see section 4) use this checksum to compare BIOS images. If a BIOS file has a different checksum than what is inside its contents, it won't let you flash the file or you have to force the flash. This is for security reasons: ATI tries to make sure only proper BIOSes can be flashed onto the cards that way.
A BIOS tweaked using RBE will always have a proper checksum - there is no reason for the flashing program to complain about not matching checksums.