Anyone Else Try This ( 7970 BIOs Flash)

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

Ok so AMD announced the new R9 series GPUs one of which the R9 280X is said to be a rebrand of the 7970 GHz. So i tried to flash my 7970 with the 280X BIOs. It went through but upon reboot the screen turns black upon windows login. Could this because of current drivers don't support the R7/R9 series. Has anyone else tried this
:confused:

t_ski · Oct 6, 2013

Probably. Look around and see if you can find some leaked drivers.

Curious to see if this gets you any performance boost.

Jstn7477 · Oct 6, 2013

Is this 7970 an "old" 7970 or a new or custom 7970? My reference 7970 and XFX reference DD 7950 both don't like some newer BIOSes, and the driver will refuse to load or the card doesn't display anything in rare instances.

Law-II · Oct 6, 2013

Hi

Durvelle27 said:
Could this because of current drivers don't support the R7/R9 series

No; this is most likely caused by the outputs of the Asus 280X vbios differing; device ID, voltage, memory/branding and timings @ PSB level layout

Note: flashing a vbios designed for another board manufactures is asking for issues of this kind, let alone a new revision of the series

I trust you have been able to recover from this black screen and flash back the original vbios image [if need to flash edit a copy of the original vbios using VBE7]

atb (all the best)

Law-II

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

t_ski said:
Probably. Look around and see if you can find some leaked drivers.

Curious to see if this gets you any performance boost.

I have looked but nothing :mad:

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

Jstn7477 said:
Is this 7970 an "old" 7970 or a new or custom 7970? My reference 7970 and XFX reference DD 7950 both don't like some newer BIOSes, and the driver will refuse to load or the card doesn't display anything in rare instances.

This is the old refernce 7970 no custom PCB. Volt unlocked also

Law-II said:
Hi

No; this is most likely caused by the outputs of the Asus 280X vbios differing; device ID, voltage, memory/branding and timings @ PSB level layout

Note: flashing a vbios designed for another board manufactures is asking for issues of this kind, let alone a new revision of the series

I trust you have been able to recover from this black screen and flash back the original vbios image [if need to flash edit a copy of the original vbios using VBE7]

atb (all the best)

Law-II

Yes i flashed it back to stock BIOs

Law-II · Oct 6, 2013

Hi

Durvelle27 said:
Yes i flashed it back to stock BIOs

Maybe an XFX vbios will become available; the circumstances may change, should be a new driver available with official launch :toast:

atb

Law-II

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

Law-II said:
Hi

Maybe an XFX vbios will become available; the circumstances may change, should be a new driver available with official launch

atb

Law-II

I hope so. Launch date is suppose to be the 8th. so i guess i'll want until then and try once more maybe that time with luck

Steevo · Oct 6, 2013

Add the device ID to the driver inf paths. I doubt the BIOS alone will unlock anything or give a performance boost,

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

Steevo said:
Add the device ID to the driver inf paths. I doubt the BIOS alone will unlock anything or give a performance boost,

How do i go about that

Law-II · Oct 6, 2013

Hi

Just looking through the Catalyst 13.10 beta v2 C8162870.inf; only refers to R300 WDDM support at this time.
Example:

atb

Law-II

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

Law-II said:
Hi

Just looking through the Catalyst 13.10 beta v2 C8162870.inf; only refers to R300 WDDM support at this time.
Example:
View attachment 52665

atb

Law-II

Thx

erocker · Oct 6, 2013

Since we don't really know what physical changes were made to the 280x, it's probably a bad idea to flash your 7970 with a 280x bios at this time.

Durvelle27 · Oct 6, 2013

erocker said:
Since we don't really know what physical changes were made to the 280x, it's probably a bad idea to flash your 7970 with a 280x bios at this time.

Welp i already tried it lol

newtekie1 · Oct 6, 2013

This is a classic case of just because two cards use the same GPU with the same configuration, minus maybe a minor clock change, that doesn't mean they are the same card. This is why you couldn't flash a 8800GTS 512MB into a 9800GTX, even though they both used fully unlocked G92 GPUs. The 9800GTX PCB was so different, and supported enough different features, that flashing a 9800GTX BIOS onto a 8800GTS would brick the card.

Relayer · Oct 7, 2013

Looking at the pics of the 280X custom cards they are not using AMD reference boards. They have either already designed custom boards for the 280X, or, more likely, they us the same PCB as the previous 7970's did. The difference, if any, is probably elsewhere besides the PCB.

erocker · Oct 7, 2013

Relayer said:
Looking at the pics of the 280X custom cards they are not using AMD reference boards. They have either already designed custom boards for the 280X, or, more likely, they us the same PCB as the previous 7970's did. The difference, if any, is probably elsewhere besides the PCB.

Yes. The device ID in the driver.

Nomgle · Nov 5, 2013

Has anyone made any progress with this, now that the 280X cards and BIOSs are out in the wild ? I'm thinking the 280X BIOS will be a great way to add Mantle support to the 7970 cards eventually !

Durvelle27 · Nov 5, 2013

Nomgle said:
Has anyone made any progress with this, now that the 280X cards and BIOSs are out in the wild ? I'm thinking the 280X BIOS will be a great way to add Mantle support to the 7970 cards eventually !

Umm the HD 7000 series already has Mantle support as they also use GCN

Nomgle · Nov 5, 2013

Durvelle27 said:
Umm the HD 7000 series already has Mantle support as they also use GCN

Great, thanks for the update. I'd read that Mantle was only coming to the new 200-series cards - good to hear that's not correct

Durvelle27 · Nov 5, 2013

Nomgle said:
Great, thanks for the update. I'd read that Mantle was only coming to the new 200-series cards - good to hear that's not correct

If you look at AMDs webpage it will state Mantle supports all GCN compatible GPUs which the HD 7000 are (GCN 1.0)

cadaveca · Nov 5, 2013

Nomgle said:
Has anyone made any progress with this, now that the 280X cards and BIOSs are out in the wild ? I'm thinking the 280X BIOS will be a great way to add Mantle support to the 7970 cards eventually !

done. ASUS Matrix 7970 used.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4845944

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1042513

Falkentyne · Nov 9, 2013

erocker said:
Since we don't really know what physical changes were made to the 280x, it's probably a bad idea to flash your 7970 with a 280x bios at this time.

OLD original reference 7970's can NOT be flashed to 280x. they also can NOT be flashed with NEWER 7970 bioses. The old reference 7970's have VRM temp monitoring (that isn't stuck at 25C).

They (the old original 7970's) can also be flashed with the old unofficial ghz edition flasher.

New (v2+) 7970's can not be flashed with ANY of the old 7970 bioses (nor the ghz edition versions of them) but they MAY be flashable with 280x, if there were no more major hardware/IC changes.

seanmac · Nov 9, 2013

Hi OP.

I have done a flash from the Sapphire HD7970 OC with Boost to the Sapphire R9 280X Vapor-X. This was done using ATI Win Flash

Here is the link to the VGA Bios http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/146790/sapphire-r9280x-3072-130902.html that worked.

I tested this for 3 days and noticed the card was getting quite hot (temps between 70-85). I used darkmhz's Bios editor and changed the TPD paramaters/powertune and power limits to match the original 7970 Bios and that brought the temps down to normal and expected results (55-65). The only thing else i had to do was up the memory voltage to 1.6 on the R9 280X Rom. I did this using the Modded Sapphire Trixx app.

Stable clocks:-

1100 MHz on the Core at 1200 mV

1450 MHz on Memory at 1600 mV (5800 MHz effective)

I was using the latest Catalyst drivers running Guild Wars 2 and BF4 without any glitches or dramas.

So it's possible :rockout:

and it works. I'm unsure about the long-term ramifications on the hardware in doing this so i reverted back to the original bios

levelord · Nov 9, 2013

Tried this magic with my Asus 7970 DC2T v2 and an Asus matrix 280x bios....
Now i'am a happy owner of Matix card

System Name	Black Prometheus
Processor	\|AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Motherboard	ASRock B550M Pro4\|MSI X370 Gaming PLUS
Cooling	Thermalright PA120 SE \| AMD Stock Cooler
Memory	G.Skill 64GB(2x32GB) 3200MHz \| 32GB(4x8GB) DDR4
Video Card(s)	\|AMD R9 290
Storage	Sandisk X300 512GB + WD Black 6TB+WD Black 6TB
Display(s)	LG Nanocell85 49" 4K 120Hz + ACER AOPEN 34" 3440x1440 144Hz
Case	DeepCool Matrexx 55 V3 w/ 6x120mm Intake + 3x120mm Exhaust
Audio Device(s)	LG Dolby Atmos 5.1
Power Supply	Corsair RMX850 Fully Modular\| EVGA 750W G2
Mouse	Logitech Trackman
Keyboard	Logitech K350
Software	Windows 10 EDU x64

System Name	My i7 Beast
Processor	Intel Core i7 6800K
Motherboard	Asus X99-A II
Cooling	Nickel-plated EK Supremacy EVO, D5 with XSPC Bayres & BIX Quad Radiator
Memory	4 x 8GB EVGA SuperSC DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SuperClocked
Storage	Samsung 950 Pro 256GB m.2 SSD + 480GB Sandisk storage SSD
Display(s)	Three Asus 24" VW246H LCD's
Case	Silverstone TJ07
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Keyboard	Corsair K95
Software	Windows 10 x64 Pro

System Name	Awesomesauce 4.3 \| Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor	Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore \| Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3\| Stock
Cooling	Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans \| Stock
Memory	G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel \| 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost \| NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others \| Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s)	Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms \| 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case	Fractal Design Define XL R2 \| MSI
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z \| Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply	Corsair HX850i Platinum \| 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 \| Windows 10 Home x64

System Name	H2o Box
Processor	Intel(R) Xeon e5-2690 v2 Stock 3.300 GHz stock
Motherboard	MSI X79A-G43 Plus (MS-7760) v3
Cooling	CPU EK & Phobya G-Changer 360 V2.0 RAD H2o VGA "AlphaCool M18" Hybrid [pump replaced 18/8/21]
Memory	G.Skill TridentX 16Gb 11-12-12-32 2T @ 1866Mhz [locked]
Video Card(s)	Zotac GTX 1080ti AMP EXTREME
Storage	HyperX Fury 120GB & Savage 480GB SSD, Seagate 250GB,250GB 7200rpm Kingston 64GB SSD
Display(s)	Asus TUF Gaming VG32VQR 2560*1440 165Hz VA Panel
Case	Corsair O-800D
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
Power Supply	Be Quiet! [Dark Power Pro 11] 1200W CM replaced [7-4-2017]
Mouse	Zelotes T-90
Keyboard	K66 Mechanical US Layout
Software	Win 10 Pro 64Bit v 20H2 / OS [build 19043.1237] WFEP 120.2212.3530.0

System Name	Black Prometheus
Processor	\|AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Motherboard	ASRock B550M Pro4\|MSI X370 Gaming PLUS
Cooling	Thermalright PA120 SE \| AMD Stock Cooler
Memory	G.Skill 64GB(2x32GB) 3200MHz \| 32GB(4x8GB) DDR4
Video Card(s)	\|AMD R9 290
Storage	Sandisk X300 512GB + WD Black 6TB+WD Black 6TB
Display(s)	LG Nanocell85 49" 4K 120Hz + ACER AOPEN 34" 3440x1440 144Hz
Case	DeepCool Matrexx 55 V3 w/ 6x120mm Intake + 3x120mm Exhaust
Audio Device(s)	LG Dolby Atmos 5.1
Power Supply	Corsair RMX850 Fully Modular\| EVGA 750W G2
Mouse	Logitech Trackman
Keyboard	Logitech K350
Software	Windows 10 EDU x64

Anyone Else Try This ( 7970 BIOs Flash)

Durvelle27

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t_ski

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Law-II

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Durvelle27

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Nomgle

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My name is Dave

Falkentyne

seanmac

levelord

System Name	Compy 386
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Display(s)	56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s)	ATI HDMI
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Razer
Software	A lot.
Benchmark Scores	Its fast. Enough.

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
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Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	NomPC
Processor	Intel Q6600 Quad Core S775 2.4GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R rev 2.0
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9500 LED Flower
Memory	2 x Corsair 2GB XMS DDR2 800MHz
Video Card(s)	Palit 1GB Radeon HD4870 Sonic Edition
Storage	1 x 160GB WD Velociraptor, 3 x 500GB Seagate Barracuda
Display(s)	DELL Ultrasharp 2709W 27" 1920x1200
Case	Thermaltake Xaser III (4 x 8cm Intake and 3 x 8cm Exhaust)
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty
Power Supply	Corsair TX750W
Software	Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit

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Processor	Devil's Canyon i7 4790k @ 4.7
Motherboard	Asus Maximus VII Ranger
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