VBE7 - vBIOS Editor for Radeon HD 7000 series cards

[Ruski]

Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II (HD7970-DC2-3GD5)

Hey folks,

Just purchased a couple of Asus HD 7970 DirectCU II (HD7970-DC2-3GD5) on sale ($269 if anyone cares to know).

These cards are lower clocked:
Engine Clock 925 MHz
Memory Clock 5500 MHz ( 1375 MHz GDDR5 )

What I am hoping to do is use the VBE7 Bios editor to unlock the voltage and overclock the cards to the to 1200/6000 range (or higher if possible), keeping the voltage ~1.25V

Just want to make sure i have the right procedure in my mind. (Cards will be used in seperate PCs, not Crossfire mode.)


Here is what I think I need to do:

1. Overclock - Determine the max overclock before flashing to custom BIOS:
   • Bump Power Overdrive 20%
   • Bump up the core ~10 and test via Heaven Bench. Probably start at 1050 or so and move up.
   • When fail, bump voltage by 0.02V, repeat Heaven Bench. (settle at or under 1.25V for Core Voltage)
   • Do the same with the Memory Clock (no voltage manipulation) until I max out.
2. Backup my stock BIOS using ATIFLASH
3. Edit stock BIOS using VBE7 vBIOS Editor
4. Flash edited vBIOS to the card
5. Overclock:
   • Repeat the process but with the custom BIOS
6. Monitor stability, temps, fan speed/noise.
7. Companion Apps - VBE7, Afterburner, Heaven Bench, ATIFlash

Questions/Answers:
1) Should i find the max overlock on my stock BIOS before flashing to custom and manipulating voltage?
Answer: Yes
2) These Asus cards come with DUAL BIOS, do i need to flash both BIOS switch positions to custom BIOS or just the default one i am using.
Answer: Only flash position 1

UPDATE: Cards arrived today. I got one running at the max clocks allowed through Afterburner 1125/1575 and +20% power. Voltage locked at 1.17V
Absolutely no issue at those speeds, through multiple rounds of Heaven Bench and some BF4.

Should be fun seeing what this card can do at higher clocks!




Any tips/suggestions are much appreciated and i will edit my post, as needed so hopefully its useful for someone else down the road.

P.S. Cards are still in the mail so might not get them until Monday of next week....but will post results as soon as i can.

 

[welly31]

I've run into an issue where flashing the bios doesnt change my voltage. I can change my voltage in afterburner no problem. I went to flash my sapphire 7950 to 1100 core 1550 mem and 1.181 volts and the clocks changed but teh voltage remained at 1.094 which is the default. Can anyone think of a reason why the voltage change didnt work? Theres no way my card is voltage locked because i can change it with afterburner. Also I did not reinstall drivers when i flashed the edited bios. Could this of made a difference?

 

[cadaveca]

but teh voltage remained at 1.094 which is the default.

Are you SURE the voltage changed, and not just the software-based reading? How are you measuring the voltage? VID requested, and VID applied are different with that card in particular(I have one.).

IF BIOS mod doesn't change it, your card is likely voltage-locked, even under the ASUS vTweak hardware-based stuff.

 

[welly31]

Are you SURE the voltage changed, and not just the software-based reading? How are you measuring the voltage? VID requested, and VID applied are different with that card in particular(I have one.).

IF BIOS mod doesn't change it, your card is likely voltage-locked, even under the ASUS vTweak hardware-based stuff.

Yea the voltage changes. I measure it with Aida64. If i set 1200 in afterburner, aida shows anywhere from 1.160 to 1.180

My default is 1090 and aida64 shows around 1.060 when its set to that.

Cards not voltage lock. Im not sure why the bios flash didnt change the voltage.

 

[cadaveca]

Im not sure why the bios flash didnt change the voltage.

Unfortunately, these cards are a bit odd it seems. I have both the DCUII and a MATRIX, and the MATRIX card had the some issues the DCUII did as well....but the MATRIX has a program to flash the controller firmware, but the DCUII does not. The MATRIX, I fixed with the controller firmware flash, and it works fine with BIOS mods in every way, except that voltage set in BIOS is the maximum that is controlled via the onboard buttons. The MATRIX BIOS works on my DCUII as well, and others that have had voltage-control issues unlocked control via flashing the MATRIX BIOS, but my card..no such luck.

do you know which version of BIOS your card shipped with originally? That can be found by using the ASUS GPU TWEAK software, and checking in the LiveUpdate tab.

 

[Law-II]

Hi

Now the questions:
1) Should i find the max overlock on my stock BIOS before flashing to custom and manipulating voltage?

Yes; for each card and test in games as well as benchmarks

2) These Asus cards come with DUAL BIOS, do i need to flash both BIOS switch positions to custom BIOS or just the default one i am using.

No [Note: DO NOT Flash position #2 on either card] Edit: looks like Asus have been mixing this up a bit see SetsunaFZero post below

Read here

3) Has anyone done the VBE7 edit(s) on this particular card and can share their experience/settings?

All cards are different; no ones experience will be exactly alike

4) I have dual monitors but have been using my primary video card on the gaming monitor, while using the on-board video card on the 2nd monitor, assuming i can get higher FPS on the gaming monitor while being able to watch TV or stream something to the 2nd monitor. Does this make sense? I realize that CPU is being shared in this setup.

Yes; makes sense as the ramdac on the vga card is not being stressed

Note: make sure PSU is of good quality

atb (all the best)

Law-II

 

[welly31]

Unfortunately, these cards are a bit odd it seems. I have both the DCUII and a MATRIX, and the MATRIX card had the some issues the DCUII did as well....but the MATRIX has a program to flash the controller firmware, but the DCUII does not. The MATRIX, I fixed with the controller firmware flash, and it works fine with BIOS mods in every way, except that voltage set in BIOS is the maximum that is controlled via the onboard buttons. The MATRIX BIOS works on my DCUII as well, and others that have had voltage-control issues unlocked control via flashing the MATRIX BIOS, but my card..no such luck.

do you know which version of BIOS your card shipped with originally? That can be found by using the ASUS GPU TWEAK software, and checking in the LiveUpdate tab.

well my card is a sapphire. It was one of the original ones. i think its reference. hmm bios version is 015.013.000.010.000705
VRM is CHL822x

 

[welly31]

Got it to work. Turns out afterburner doesnt play well with a modded bios.

 

[rene85]

hi darkhmz

I have a HTPC in the living room, I would like to change the UVD voltage, undervolting Blu-ray, Live TV playback.

Unfortunately, the field is grayed out for the Voltage

Stage 1
# 3 Core Clock VDDC
Stage 2 UVD
# 5 Core clock VDDC

can you please unlock so that I can test other Vcore

BIG THX for your Great Tool

i uploadet my Sapphire r9 270x Bios , the same bios as Sapphire HD 7870

 

[Kasmeri]

Backup my stock BIOS using GPU-Z

No. If you read this whole thread, you will see that at some point darkhmz discovered that sometimes a BIOS saved with GPU-z adds some bytes at the end. It was an issue in some cases and in order to rule this out and have peace of mind,

SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS USING ATIFLASH.

Then, after you mod it, use Atiflash again to flash it.

Like I said before, if you are going to do this, take the extra minute to do this right and eliminate as many possible problems as you can from the start.

Besides, if anything does go wrong, you will have to use atiflash to recover your BIOS anyway. So why not use it from the start, also to make sure that you know how to use it and how to recover your BIOS before actually flashing.

 

[Frogger]

Turns out afterburner doesnt play well with a modded bios.

A clean install of AB should fix that ....delete your 'profiles' too

 

[Kasmeri]

Read here

Law-II, in that post you linked to you write:

Place the cooler card at the bottom when in crossfireX

Can you please elaborate why that is?

I always thought that it would be better to place the cooler card at the top PCI express slot which always gets hotter (closer to CPU and VRMs), thus saving a few degrees. Is that wrong?

Thanks.

 

[Frogger]

With the fan in take spacing the card in slot 2 is reduced = less cool air intake to the card placing the cooler card in this slot only way to go

 

[welly31]

A clean install of AB should fix that ....delete your 'profiles' too

As long as I leave voltage control disabled, afterburner seems to work fine.

 

[Coldblackice]

No. If you read this whole thread, you will see that at some point darkhmz discovered that sometimes a BIOS saved with GPU-z adds some bytes at the end. It was an issue in some cases and in order to rule this out and have peace of mind,

SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS USING ATIFLASH.

Then, after you mod it, use Atiflash again to flash it.

Like I said before, if you are going to do this, take the extra minute to do this right and eliminate as many possible problems as you can from the start.

Besides, if anything does go wrong, you will have to use atiflash to recover your BIOS anyway. So why not use it from the start, also to make sure that you know how to use it and how to recover your BIOS before actually flashing.

I wasn't aware of this -- thanks! Great to know.


Any word on whether there are benefits to be had from flashing another card's BIOS onto your own card's? I've heard that some BIOSes may perform better than others, particularly in lieu of tighter "memory timings" --

I'm wondering if I should flashing a 7970 BIOS onto my Sapphire 7950 Dual-X reference.

 

[Melcar]

Nice. Was hoping for something like this for a while. Waited for ever for a BIOS editing tool on my HD6850, but it seems I upgraded just in time. My card is a HD7850-DC2-2GD5-V2. Apparently the bios that came with it is a UEFI one. This tool simply disables that no? Should not be a problem?

 

[leeb2013]

No. If you read this whole thread, you will see that at some point darkhmz discovered that sometimes a BIOS saved with GPU-z adds some bytes at the end. It was an issue in some cases and in order to rule this out and have peace of mind,

SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS USING ATIFLASH.

Then, after you mod it, use Atiflash again to flash it.

Like I said before, if you are going to do this, take the extra minute to do this right and eliminate as many possible problems as you can from the start.

Besides, if anything does go wrong, you will have to use atiflash to recover your BIOS anyway. So why not use it from the start, also to make sure that you know how to use it and how to recover your BIOS before actually flashing.

actually that happened to me. 2 7950's, extracted BIOS from both, but one then turned out to have an invalid checksum, due to these additional characters. Fortunately, the BIOS from the other card worked fine for both as they were identical cards. But something to be aware of definitely.

 

[Melcar]

I'm happy to report a success for my card. Asus DirectCU II (v2) HD7850. Only went so far as changing the frequencies and the fan profile.

 

[Frogger]

well my card is a sapphire. It was one of the original ones. i think its reference. hmm bios version is 015.013.000.010.000705
VRM is CHL822x

Please upload a copy of the bios on the card & the PN# SKU# from the box or back of card. In the meantime I'll have a look @ the 1's in the Rom dB

As long as I leave voltage control disabled, afterburner seems to work fine.

The CHL822x has full support in AB so this must lead back to a bios lockout.. awaiting Bios

 

[SetsunaFZero]

No [Note: DO NOT Flash position #2 on either card]

Read here

your partly wrong here. Not all cards operate on Bios1
My card's Bios1 is write protected -> Backup Bios in case of a failed flash etc.
Bios2 is flashable and should be the on to use
Asus 7950 CUIITop v2

 

[Ruski]

Hi


Yes; for each card and test in games as well as benchmarks


No [Note: DO NOT Flash position #2 on either card]

Read here


All cards are different; no ones experience will be exactly alike


Yes; makes sense as the ramdac on the vga card is not being stressed

Note: make sure PSU is of good quality

atb (all the best)

Law-II

No. If you read this whole thread, you will see that at some point darkhmz discovered that sometimes a BIOS saved with GPU-z adds some bytes at the end. It was an issue in some cases and in order to rule this out and have peace of mind,

SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS USING ATIFLASH.

Then, after you mod it, use Atiflash again to flash it.

Like I said before, if you are going to do this, take the extra minute to do this right and eliminate as many possible problems as you can from the start.

Besides, if anything does go wrong, you will have to use atiflash to recover your BIOS anyway. So why not use it from the start, also to make sure that you know how to use it and how to recover your BIOS before actually flashing.

Thanks folks! Updated my original post with some of the info you provided.

Will use atiflash as suggested and let you all know how it goes.

Still not 100% clear on all the editing options in VBE7, but i guess ill figure it out once i get in there. Cards scheduled to be delivered tomorrow!

 

[antuk15]

Love this tool!!

Had to use the non-boost BIOS for my Twin Frozr 3 card though as the Boost version only has memory voltage set at 1.55v compared to 1.6v the non boost card has.

 

[Coldblackice]

No. If you read this whole thread, you will see that at some point darkhmz discovered that sometimes a BIOS saved with GPU-z adds some bytes at the end. It was an issue in some cases and in order to rule this out and have peace of mind,

SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS USING ATIFLASH.

Then, after you mod it, use Atiflash again to flash it.

Like I said before, if you are going to do this, take the extra minute to do this right and eliminate as many possible problems as you can from the start.

Besides, if anything does go wrong, you will have to use atiflash to recover your BIOS anyway. So why not use it from the start, also to make sure that you know how to use it and how to recover your BIOS before actually flashing.

Can anyone confirm this happening? Like comparing the checksums between a GPUZ-extracted BIOS and an atiflash-extracted BIOS?

I can do so when I'm home from work later this evening, but I'm curious if anyone has already tested such.

 

[Kasmeri]

Search this thread and you'll see that it was discovered here by the OP. I don't know how often it happens and if it's GPU-z's fault, all I'm saying is that when it comes to BIOS, avoiding the Windows environment is a good precaution, whether it is for saving or even more importantly flashing.

I learned this the hard way many years ago when I used an Asus "utility" program to flash my mb bios from within Windows. The program would connect to the Asus website, look for a bios update for your Asus mb and give you the option to flash it if there was an update. It worked well until the third or fourth time when it froze during flashing and bricked my mb. Guess what, it also wasn't covered by the warranty.

 

[Kasmeri]

Here from a quick search:

Originally Posted by darkhmz View Post
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

that is wierd, do you reckon XFX are having issues flashing their own bios's?

leeb2013: no, found more BIOSes, from other manufacturers too... Always 256 bytes long block(s), usually filled with zeros, and the checksum is invalid. Attached a comparison pic of two 6850 BIOSes, they are the same, except the area from 7500 - 75ff (in this case, part of the BIOS character set). There is an app displaying the data as bitmap, starting from the address 7585. The BIOS on the right side has some missing characters. (are these bioses messed up by the manufacturers, or maybe gpu-z sometimes not saving the bios properly?)

Originally Posted by Viring View Post
Ok. Saved with atiflash
Ok, thanks... What did you use for saving the other BIOS? Because they are not the same (even though they should be the same...). The another has invalid checksum, and guess what, a 256 bytes long block filled with zeros.

Originally Posted by Viring View Post
Wow... it's possible? I saved other BIOS by using GPU-Z and then flashed it. It was ok...except overclocking.
Yeah looks like its possible... Use the 01.rom as backup, the one saved with gpu-z is messed up...