RTX 3050 vBIOS flash from TUF (75W max) to ROG (95W max)

[Darkov]

Hello!
I've been going around the internet, learning as much as I can about the flashing process and risks, and looking for advice, decided to ask here since in the previous thread I was on this forum, the OP bricked his GPU.
I have an Asus TUF F15 FX506HCB 2021 model with an RTX 3050 75W max, I was looking for vBIOS here: VGA Bios Collection | TechPowerUp, both the vBIOS are very similar, and even the GPU Device ID is the same, only differences are slightly different vBIOS versions, max Wattage and Subsystem IDs.

Which nvflash should I use to have a successful flash and would that vBIOS brick my GPU?

 

[henok.gk]

Don't do it! The risk far outweighs the reward. Obvious cooling system capability concern aside that subsystem id difference might not mean much on desktops but on laptops its a whole different story. There's a high likelihood you'll brick the whole laptop and not just the dGPU because the main BIOS will have problem identifying it after the vBIOS flash is forced on it. All this risk for 2~3fps just doesn't make any sense.

If you still wanna go wild knowing all this be sure to have a hardware programmer for the BIOS chips on hand and back up the entire flash memory (both main BIOS & vBIOS). But like I already said in the beginning avoid all this if you can help yourself.

 

[pavle]

Since this is a laptop we're talking about, use MSI Afterburner to adjust TGP if you're seeking more fps; mind the temperatures (CPU and GPU usually have the same heatsink/fan).

 

[Darkov]

Since this is a laptop we're talking about, use MSI Afterburner to adjust TGP if you're seeking more fps; mind the temperatures (CPU and GPU usually have the same heatsink/fan).

I have used MSI afterburner and overclocked, and also set the power limit to 125% (Which is from 60W to 75W), GPU-Z shows PerfCap pwr. Was wondering if maybe it's pwr limited cause the vBIOS has a 75W limit for my model, but in reality, the chip could go to a max of 95W?

 

[pavle]

The chip yes, to 95W and even more with proper cooling, but realise - inside laptop there is little space and 95W of heat is not little for such small heatsing, you risk at least heating up other components like CPU which means the CPU will then throttle. If 75 is max, that means for your laptop design to operate properly, that is all it can give you.

 

[Darkov]

The chip yes, to 95W and even more with proper cooling, but realise - inside laptop there is little space and 95W of heat is not little for such small heatsing, you risk at least heating up other components like CPU which means the CPU will then throttle. If 75 is max, that means for your laptop design to operate properly, that is all it can give you.

I am planning to improve the cooling anyways, with a cooling pad and liquid metal. I would still like to know how to unlock the full wattage of the chip, I can manage the power limits myself.

 

[pavle]

I am planning to improve the cooling anyways, with a cooling pad and liquid metal. I would still like to know how to unlock the full wattage of the chip, I can manage the power limits myself.

Oh my! Do you realise that liquid metal is metal? That means freely conductive for electric current?
Do you know that with temperature said liquid metal oozes:
A) into heatsink material (=worsening GPU/heatsink contact)
B) out of its intended place between the GPU crystal and heatsink and causing all kinds of short circuits on the GPU surface and the PCB around.
Indeed the situation is not rosy:
A) You can try and risk bricking the laptop with the higher power BIOS, or
B) brick it with liquid metal.
Pick your poison. There really is no good solution, but A is better if you ask me, at least there's a chance of it working....for a while....perhaps....if you risk it.

 

[GerKNG]

with a cooling pad and liquid metal

liquid metal in a laptop?!

 

[Ragnar Lothbrok]

@GerKNG @pavle
Liquid metal can be used in a laptop. It can leak as you say provided, that only necessary precautions are taken. However, this can be prevented if precautions are taken. Liquid metal is used in ps5, it has an open gpu and cpu like a laptop. So I think there is no need to scare people.

 

[GerKNG]

@GerKNG @pavle
Liquid metal can be used in a laptop. It can leak as you say provided, that only necessary precautions are taken. However, this can be prevented if precautions are taken. Liquid metal is used in ps5, it has an open gpu and cpu like a laptop. So I think there is no need to scare people.

yeah if the laptop, heatsink and area around it are properly prepared and manufactured from the manufacturer.

 

[pavle]

So I think there is no need to scare people.

Scare people? Does the definition of metal not mean anything to you?
Go ahead, it's your computer, but know this - now it's working within its parameters, afterwards all bets are off. We have a good proverb in our country: less money, less music.
If you bought a laptop with RTX3060 or RX 6700, you'd have more fps. As simple as that.

 

[Assimilator]

I am planning to improve the cooling anyways, with a cooling pad and liquid metal. I would still like to know how to unlock the full wattage of the chip, I can manage the power limits myself.

No you can't. Your laptop's GPU cooler has been designed to dissipate a maximum of 75W of heat. Liquid metal is not going to increase that maximum, nor is a cooling pad; they will move heat away more quickly, but they cannot ever compensate for an extra 20W of heat load.

If it is working, LEAVE. IT. ALONE.

 

[Vya Domus]

with a cooling pad and liquid metal.

I strongly advice you to not do that, people have damaged their laptops doing this before you, not worth it. If you repaste it just use better thermal paste, this is a 3050 we're talking about, it's not like you're gonna extract an insane amount of performance out of it with 20W more.

 

[Darkov]

I am aware of the risks, I wouldn't have created the thread if I wasn't aware of the risks.
Yes, I am aware of the possibility of my laptop bricking with vBIOS flash, shorting with the incorrect appliance of LM, and the fact that LM can eat into the copper heatsink over time, to prepare the components I'll use TG Shield Conformal Coating, and Electrical Tape.
I appreciate the concerns, and I have considered them.

No you can't.

If you mean I can't improve the cooling efficiency of the heatsink, sure, I can see that being the limiting factor, for now. Although, I can use Afterburner to power limit the GPU to 75W if it gets too hot after the swap If so choose. I just created the thread to learn more.

 

[Ragnar Lothbrok]

@pavle
I didn't make a comment that it would take more performance.I just couldn't make sense of your frightening description of using liquid metal in a laptop. I think it will be more useful to stick to the settings of your manufacturer about performance. As other friends have said, it's not right to expect to improve your laptop's cooling performance with liquid metal and thermal pads. This is not only about the laptop, but also includes information about how many watts of cpu it can cool down or how much it can cool in desktop computer cooling. Let me go back to the point, a 20 watt increase may look good in terms of performance, but can it bottle the cpu? and is the adapter that comes with your laptop enough? Questions and problems may occur, and you may also get worse performance in line with these problems
and you may get worse performance.

@Darkov
It is strange that you can increase the power limit to 125%, usually on laptops this is locked or cannot be increased.
edit:
Also, is the reason you increase it because it performs poorly? if you are not satisfied with the performance you can fix it.

 

[Darkov]

is the adapter that comes with your laptop enough?

It is strange that you can increase the power limit to 125%, usually on laptops this is locked or cannot be increased.

Also, is the reason you increase it because it performs poorly? if you are not satisfied with the performance you can fix it.

I too, wondered if the adapter is enough.
And well, the original reason why I stumbled upon the "Increasing TDP/Wattage" topic is because GPU-Z showed that the GPU PerfCap Reason is pwr, not VRel, Thrm, or VOp.

 

[Ragnar Lothbrok]

I too, wondered if the adapter is enough.
And well, the original reason why I stumbled upon the "Increasing TDP/Wattage" topic is because GPU-Z showed that the GPU PerfCap Reason is pwr, not VRel, Thrm, or VOp.

Fill the log to file box in the gpu z sensor section, enter a game while gpu z is running in the background, play for 15 minutes, then share.
edit:
Since your RTX 3050 graphics card is limited to 75w, it may be normal for it to show a power limit, but if it shows a power limit before 75w, there is a problem.

 

[Darkov]

Welp, I took the risk, I found a vBIOS by dell that matched my GPU Device ID, and it worked, readings were borked tho, and showed 750 W in use.
Does the GPU Device ID have to match? Otherwise brick?
The higher TDP ROG vBIOS by Asus didn't match my GPU Device ID.

Could the incorrect readings have been caused by not clean installing drivers/monitoring software or nah?

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

Welp, I took the risk, I found a vBIOS by dell that matched my GPU Device ID, and it worked, readings were borked tho, and showed 750 W in use.
Does the GPU Device ID have to match? Otherwise brick?
The higher TDP ROG vBIOS by Asus didn't match my GPU Device ID.

Could the incorrect readings have been caused by not clean installing drivers/monitoring software or nah?

So many things have to match, Core, Memory, Voltage Controller Etc etc etc.

Its why if you read a lot of the posts about flashing you will see people asking for pictures of their cards to match Memory and cores especially. Also each individual OEM will do things slightly different to everyone else even with the same core hence why you got the funky readouts of Power draw etc.

 

[Darkov]

So, I found an unverified vBIOS, flashed correctly, with no problems, NVCP shows max TDP 95W.
Opened up heaven, TDP didn't exceed 75W even though I set the power limit in Afterburner to like 150%.

So what can I conclude from here? Hardware power limited? Nothing I can do?

 

[Dr. Dro]

So, I found an unverified vBIOS, flashed correctly, with no problems, NVCP shows max TDP 95W.
Opened up heaven, TDP didn't exceed 75W even though I set the power limit in Afterburner to like 150%.

So what can I conclude from here? Hardware power limited? Nothing I can do?

Laptops have custom power regulation and control settings, so yeah, you won't wring much more out of it.

You should try to undervolt and fix the curve instead. My Dell G15 5515 has the 85W variant of the 3050M, I use 0.937v at 2070 MHz for my daily settings.