VBE7 - vBIOS Editor for Radeon HD 7000 series cards

[darkhmz]

Hi,

Are you sure it was 501/1500?

Just checked some Tahiti LE BIOSes and the clock infos were same for all:

#0 Core Clock: 975, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: boost state voltage
#1 Core Clock: 500, Memory Clock: 800, VDDC: 950
#2 Core Clock: 300, Memory Clock: 800, VDDC: 950
#3 Core Clock: 400, Memory Clock: 800, VDDC: 950
#4 Core Clock: 300, Memory Clock: 150, VDDC: 950
#5 Core Clock: 501, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: 950
#6 Core Clock: 925, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: performance state voltage
#7 Core Clock: 300, Memory Clock: 150, VDDC: 800

I dont see how does your card use 501/1500 if you modify that clock info.

 

[Dionysos]

Yes, totally sure. It's also 501/1500 when playing a flash video.

My clocks and voltages:

#0 Core Clock: 975, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: 1256
#4 Core Clock: 300, Memory Clock: 150, VDDC: 950
#5 Core Clock: 501, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: 950
#6 Core Clock: 925, Memory Clock: 1500, VDDC: 1188
#7 Core Clock: 300, Memory Clock: 150, VDDC: 800

Obviously I don't have #1, #2 and #3.

I have a PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT Myst. Edition with Elpida RAM even tough BIOS says it's Hynix. Same card as in the OP.

I attached my vBIOS for you.

 

[darkhmz]

Your BIOS is same as mine. Other clock modifications work?

 

[Dionysos]

Yes, everything else works fine: clocks, voltages, power limit, fan profile... only #5 didn't Maybe 300/150 is just too low? But where does the card get the 501/1500 from as I don't have this clocks in my modified vBIOS?

 

[darkhmz]

But where does the card get the 501/1500 from as I don't have this clocks in my modified vBIOS?

Good question... I've set my uvd clock (#5) to 400/800, that works fine.
btw the ram info is based on the memory p/n string and memory vendor ID stored in the BIOS.

 

[Dionysos]

I will try 400/800 too. Let's see if that works and lowers the power consumption of my dual monitor setup.

Edit:
400/800 works with flash videos.
As soon as I connect a second monitor to the HD 7870 Myst, the clocks go to 501/1500.
The clocks must be stored somewhere else...

I attached my modified vBIOS

 

[darkhmz]

The clocks must be stored somewhere else...

hmm don't know where but not in the BIOS, i'm sure of it.

 

[Machineghost7]

hmm don't know where but not in the BIOS, i'm sure of it.

...in the registry / CCC per GPU is some, I think...possibly even with MSI AB or other such software (but haven't confirmed that)

 

[Frogger]

As soon as I connect a second monitor to the HD 7870 Myst, the clocks go to 501/1500.
The clocks must be stored somewhere else...

It's in the drivers & from what I'v found it's set based on the # of monitors & the requirement of each to drive them in a 2D. You can get around it using erocker's guide

 

[Dionysos]

Doesn't work... even in the driver there is no 501/1500.

      <Group name="Overdrive5">
        <Feature name="TimeUnlocked" />
        <Feature name="OverclockEnabled">
          <Property name="OverclockEnabledProperty" value="True" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="AutoTuneSupport" />
        [COLOR="Red"]<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="30000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="110000" />[/COLOR]
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="PowerControl_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        [COLOR="Red"]<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="15000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="150000" />[/COLOR]
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="950" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="1193" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="Percent" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want" value="716" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_679E&amp;SUBSYS_23281787&amp;REV_00_4&amp;1CDA0A78&amp;0&amp;0008A">
          <Property name="Want" value="50" />
        </Feature>
      </Group>

 

[darkhmz]

New version available with a new fan profile editor and modifiable power limits. Thought i make an about box too, but instead coded an old school fire effect just for fun, available by double clicking on the fan profile editor area.

 

[Timmen]

New version available with a new fan profile editor and modifiable power limits. Thought i make an about box too, but instead coded an old school fire effect just for fun, available by double clicking on the fan profile editor area.

man u r the best, thanks again for the update of the modifiable power limits i asked, it works perfect

keep up that amazing work!

 

[zaferk]

New version available with a new fan profile editor and modifiable power limits. Thought i make an about box too, but instead coded an old school fire effect just for fun, available by double clicking on the fan profile editor area.

hi, I tried using the latest version to set my 7950's fan speed to 0% while under 40C. I flashed it with atiwinflash, and hwmonitor and gputweak/afterburner report the fan duty as 0% pwm, the fan is still spinning and still at ~1200rpm.

Sorry if i'm doing anything wrong here, this is my first AMD card ever

 

[leeb2013]

hi, I've pm'd Darkhmz, but thought I'd post my findings and questions here too. I would appreciate any comments please.

I recently purchased two XFX 7950 cards (FX-795A-TDCK 925MHz) and found they were getting very hot, due to the boost function. They are factory over clocked to 925MHz, but easily reach 1200MHz using Trixx. One had quite a low ASIC quality around 69% and boosted to 1.25v, the other was a bit higher at 76% and boosted to 1.169v. I was disappointed at how how hot they got and I'd previously used an Nvidia BIOS tweaker on my GTX680, so was keen to do the same on the 7950. I found this BIOS editor and gave it a go.

Unfortunately my cards don't have the BIOS switch, so I knew this was a risk. Both cards have the same SKU and ordered at the same time, they appear identical except for the ASIC rating, I'll need to check the PCB number later as I'm not at home currently. I was using the highest ASIC rating in the top slot in my PC as it boosted to the lower voltage (1.169v) and was slightly cooler.

I first used Trixx to overclock the cards just to benchmark, but reset them prior to playing with the BIOS. I saved the original BIOSs first. I did a test flash of the original BIOS to the 2nd card (lower PCIe slot) and all seemed well (although I didn't try it by itself at that point, it was in crossfire with the primary card). I didn't use the same BIOS for each card, I used their own BIOSs both original and edited individual BIOSs.

I used ATIWINFLASH with the -f -p options.

I used the BIOS editor to set the voltage to 1.069v and freq to 800MHz to be safe. Then used Trixx again to see how high I could get the freq at 1.069v, which was 925MHz. I then reflashed the 2nd card set to 1.069v and 925MHz.

I used the same method for the 1st (top) card. But for some reason it ignored the frequency and fan settings, and only used the voltage setting, so I set this to 1.069v too and all was good at the default 925MHz.

At this point Trixx was not loaded or used. CCC had no o/c set.

It was when I swapped the cards over to see if I could set the top card's freq and fan settings with it in the lower slot (so the 2nd card was now in the primary upper slot) that the system would not boot even into BIOS, even with on-board graphics set. I tried it with the 2nd card by itself in any slot and it would not POST.

I flashed the card with its original BIOS and it still would not POST. It would only POST when the first card was in the top PCIe slot as the primary graphics card and the second card was back in the lower slot. Even though the first actually now had a non-stock BIOS!

So it's quite strange that this second card won't POST even with it's own original BIOS, yet works fine as the secondary card in crossfire. It's also strange that the first card completely ignored the frequency and fan settings (hence I had to use the default 925MHz), yet I could set the voltage fine.

As I say, the system is working fine in crossfire, and I'm extremely pleased with knocking 20% off the voltages (and power) at 925MHz and the significantly lower temperatures. But in the furture I might like to sell the cards so ideally would like to fix the issue with the 2nd card.

Many thanks for any help you can offer.

Here's my stock BIOS

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47847501/1st_slot.rom

 

[leeb2013]

YES, YES!!!!! It's fixed!

so, I'd seen some references to checksums and started to look into it in more detail, particularly the -f option when flashing. 'f' for force flash irrespective of anything it seems. Probably not the best idea. Then I found a later version of VBE - VBE7.0.0.7, I don't know why I was using an earlier version, I only downloaded it yesterday.

The later version has checks for checksums and generates the checksum, so you don't have to use the -f option. So I proceeded to flash the troublesome 2nd card with its original BIOS without the -f option as a test. Strangely it would not flash, reporting a checksum error. So, just as another test, I tried flashing it with the original BIOS from the 1st card and it flashed ok. This card now passed POST and booted into windows no problem, Yippee!!!!

So I thought I'd screwed up labeling the files, until I swapped the file names over and tried to flash the 1st good card with what I now though was its original BIOS (after swapping the file names over). It failed to flash, reporting incorrect BIOS.

So it seems I hadn't made a mistake with the file naming, but actually one of the original BIOS's (which I stored in 3 locations to be safe!) doesn't actually work any longer!! It was this BIOS that I was mod'ing and putting into the 2nd card which was then problematic and wouldn't POST.

As it happens, the other BIOS works in both cards!

Another thing I noticed is when I opened the suspect BIOS in VBE, VBE reported a checksum error as it was opened. Not so with the other BIOS.

Great, I have 1 working original BIOS, which can be used in either card and one mod'd BIOS at 925MHz, 1.069v, AWESOME!!

Thank you so much to the creators of this editor, without which my XFX 7950 would be baking in the heat, along with my PSU which was pushing 550-600W and is now down to about 350-400W.

One additional observation regarding the fan settings. I changed the fan profile and flash the bottom card. It boots fine and uses the new profile. But when I move this card into the top slot (to flash the other card in the bottom slot), it forgets its fan profile and defaults to the original. This happens with both cards. Bizzare!

 

[leeb2013]

Another strange thing I've discovered, in addition to the other strange things; as I mentioned before, I could only change the voltage of the card in the top primary slot. It ignored the core freq settings. I could change anything on the bottom slot, core, mem, fan, volts.

However, once either card is moved from the bottom slot, to the primary top slot, it forgets everything except the voltage!! It forgets memory, core and fan settings and only remembers the voltage setting (which is a one plus I guess).

Moving that same card back to the bottom slot doesn't make it remember them again, once it forgets, that's it!

So due to this peculiarity, it seems that for me I can only set the voltage. Which is fine really as I can only clock to the default 925MHz at 1.069v anyway. And 1.069v 75C is infinitely better than 1.25v 95C.

At these settings, I can actually o/c the memory to 6000 easily. It gains another 100 points in heaven11. If need be, I can use Trixx to do this.

 

[Tomorrow]

Driver has a tendacy to overwrite the fan settings sometimes. Its also recommended to try and install (or re-install) new drivers after flash.

 

[darkhmz]

hi, I tried using the latest version to set my 7950's fan speed to 0% while under 40C. I flashed it with atiwinflash, and hwmonitor and gputweak/afterburner report the fan duty as 0% pwm, the fan is still spinning and still at ~1200rpm.

Sorry if i'm doing anything wrong here, this is my first AMD card ever

Probably the driver prevents you from doing that (for safety reasons)

Another thing I noticed is when I opened the suspect BIOS in VBE, VBE reported a checksum error as it was opened.

You can fix it by simply saving the loaded BIOS. It will be saved with the correct checksum.
As to why these strange thigs happening to your system, i have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with crossfire? Could you test your cards individually and see if the modded BIOS works?

Anyway, found a bug in the new fan profile editor. In some BIOSes, Tmax is higher than 100°C but the temperature axis only went up to 100°C. Fixed this bug in the new release.

 

[leeb2013]

You can fix it by simply saving the loaded BIOS. It will be saved with the correct checksum.
As to why these strange thigs happening to your system, i have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with crossfire? Could you test your cards individually and see if the modded BIOS works?

Thanks, I tried that, opening the BIOS with the incorrect checksum. I save it and then try to flash (no -f option) and it doesn't flash, still reporting incorrect checksum. I can't flash either card with this BIOS. If I force flash (-f) then it flashes, but my system won't POST when that card is in the primary graphics slot (but works fine the second slot).

The BIOS with the valid checksum flashes to both, no problems.

If you have time to look at them, below are links to the original BIOSs.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47847501/card1(incorrect checksum).rom

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/47847501/card2(valid checksum).rom

 

[darkhmz]

What version of atiwinflash are you using?

 

[leeb2013]

What version of atiwinflash are you using?

2.3.0 here;

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2232/ati-winflash-2-3-0/

 

[darkhmz]

Thanks, im using the same version. Compared the two files and there are two 256 bytes long blocks where they differ. In the file with the invalid checksum, these areas are filled with zeros. Their stored checksum is the same so their content sould not differ, but for some reason they are not the same. Strange...

 

[leeb2013]

Thanks, im using the same version. Compared the two files and there are two 256 bytes long blocks where they differ. In the file with the invalid checksum, these areas are filled with zeros. Their stored checksum is the same so their content sould not differ, but for some reason they are not the same. Strange...

Thanks for doing that. It is strange, both files were freshly extacted from each card using GPU-z before I touched anything, infact the cards were only 2 days old! Maybe XFX screwed up their own flashing!

I tested and benchmarked both cards individually when I got them, so they both definately worked.

 

[darkhmz]

Found another strange thing. Invalid checksum again, 256 bytes differ again... But this time not filled with zeros, seems like some random stuff from the memory.
Link to the two files:
XFX.HD7970.3072.120110.rom
XFX.HD7970.3072.120110_1.rom

 

[leeb2013]

ok, another update to my saga!!

I tried flashing again with just one card in my system. Restarted computer, still only the voltage changed, not the core/mem/fan. Hmmm.

I reflash again, but this time I completely power down my PC. BINGO!! It remembered all the bios settings.

It seems that unless the PC is completely powered down, it doesn't remember all the settings. I can only guess that when the bios is flashed it doesn't immediately put it into the main bios memory (as you are still using the card). When you reboot, it moves the new bios into the main bios memory. But if it's not powered down completely, it doesn't move all of it across.

But, it doesn't end there.....

I did the second card, wiped all CCC and reinstalled and thought everything was dandy. Then I open GPU-z and the second card suddenly jumps to its performance state with 100% GPU usage!! WTH? It heated up like it was being used 100%, yet only GPU-z was open.
The same in games and benchmarks, GPU 2 was always at 100%, even when the game was loading, whilst 1 was fluctuating normally.

I tried all sorts, reflash with the original bios, wiped and changed CCC versions, I couldn't stop this. Then as a last ditch attempt, I disabled ULPS. Et-voila, it was fixed! It seems ULPS was doing something wierd, even with the original bios's, I'm sure I didn't see this behaviour before though.

Anyhow, now that everything was sorted, I thought 1000 was a rounder number than 925, so nudged up the voltage to 1.081v and got a nice 1GHz core and 6000MHz memory.

Here's the results;