Can i flash 4870 1g with the 4870 512mb BIOS? Both have same Device ID. Help please!

mrdulik · Feb 21, 2009

Does anyone know that can i flash my Sapphire HD4870 1gb card with Sapphire HD4870 512mb BIOS? Any experience?

My 1gb card and the 512mb BIOS have se Device ID 0x1002-0x9440 and same clock values.
Only diffrence is memory amount. So can i flash it safely?

Please help!!

My card runs at only PCE x8 speed and i cant seem to get it no other way to run at x16
Ive tried both slots and everything in BIOS etc. etc. I think flashing bios wil only do it plus it will make the card more stable and reduce heatoutput it seems from what ive read.

My rig:

AMD Phenom x4 9950 BE 2.6ghz
4x1gb Kingston HyperX 1066mhz
Sapphire HD4870
320&500gb hard drives
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 Motherboard (newest bios)
Advance ATX case with 4x custom fans
Advance 650W PSU

phanbuey · Feb 21, 2009

I would not. Just edit your current bios and flash that...

sneekypeet · Feb 21, 2009

Make certain its in the blue slot, the other only runs at 8x.

Im assuming you are using the latest GPU-z to get this info?

nafets · Feb 21, 2009

Flashing the BIOS won't fix your problem. And it'll create problems, as it's not a proper BIOS for your card...

Tatty_Two · Feb 21, 2009

Nope, it will either fail or you may find half the memory disabled!

red268 · Feb 21, 2009

Doesn't the card look up how much memory it's got when it starts up? I thought it wasn't actually programmed in to the card?
(Something I picked up from reading about RBE I think.)

"# The next line will tell you how much RAM the card has. This information is taken from the hardware specs string (see second last screenshot). You might find that hard to believe, but if this information is not contained inside the specs string, there is no information on memory size inside the BIOS! The card figures it out itself on boot up. For RBE, this means that in case this information isn't contained in the specs string, the information can't be taken from the BIOS file. So if there is nothing displayed here (see last screenshot), don't worry about it. However, you can't change anything here, of course.
# The RAM type is always contained inside the BIOS"

Tatty_Two · Feb 21, 2009

red268 said:
Doesn't the card look up how much memory it's got when it starts up? I thought it wasn't actually programmed in to the card?
(Something I picked up from reading about RBE I think.)

"# The next line will tell you how much RAM the card has. This information is taken from the hardware specs string (see second last screenshot). You might find that hard to believe, but if this information is not contained inside the specs string, there is no information on memory size inside the BIOS! The card figures it out itself on boot up. For RBE, this means that in case this information isn't contained in the specs string, the information can't be taken from the BIOS file. So if there is nothing displayed here (see last screenshot), don't worry about it. However, you can't change anything here, of course.
# The RAM type is always contained inside the BIOS"

Theoretically yes but a long time ago, I had a 256MB geforce 5700 Ultra card, I flashed it at the time with a 128MB 5950 Ultra BIOS and lost the memory, well I say that, there were only limited hardware monitoring tools back then (2003) but even 3D Mark 2001 reported the card as having just 128MB, perhaps things have changed now with the programming and setup of current day cards.

red268 · Feb 21, 2009

Tatty_One said:
Theoretically yes but a long time ago, I had a 256MB geforce 5700 Ultra card, I flashed it at the time with a 128MB 5950 Ultra BIOS and lost the memory, well I say that, there were only limited hardware monitoring tools back then (2003) but even 3D Mark 2001 reported the card as having just 128MB, perhaps things have changed now with the programming and setup of current day cards.

Thanks Tatty.
I agree, it probably isn't a good idea to use the 512 BIOS.

mrdulik · Feb 22, 2009

My card ÍS in the blue slot...
k thx for info, i wont risk flashing.
But still any ideas why my card is running at x8 speed? ive tried both slots and everything in mb bios, doesnt work...its making my pc much slower that it could be. maybe i just need a new mb.
Oh and yes i use latest cpu-z/gpu-z.... how about powerstrip can it change the 8x/16x setting or any other program like that?

Tatty_Two · Feb 22, 2009

mrdulik said:
My card ÍS in the blue slot...
k thx for info, i wont risk flashing.
But still any ideas why my card is running at x8 speed? ive tried both slots and everything in mb bios, doesnt work...its making my pc much slower that it could be. maybe i just need a new mb.
Oh and yes i use latest cpu-z/gpu-z.... how about powerstrip can it change the 8x/16x setting or any other program like that?

Is the slot set to pCI rather then Peg in BIOS? Open up 3D Mark vantage or 2006 and look in system specs there, they normally give a true reading, it will show the true slot speed.

hat · Feb 22, 2009

k... first off you're running in a pci-e 2.0 slot so wether your at 8x or 16x doesn't matter just because of the massive bandwidth of the PCI-E 2.0 bus.

Second... you want to flash your 1GB card with a 512MB bios. No. It will either fail and you'll have a very expensive paperweight, or it will actually work, not cure your problem and you'll be left with a 512mb card to re-flash to the origional 1GB bios anyway

mrdulik · Feb 22, 2009

Tatty_One said:
Is the slot set to pCI rather then Peg in BIOS? Open up 3D Mark vantage or 2006 and look in system specs there, they normally give a true reading, it will show the true slot speed.

Yes its in PEG, tried PEG1 and PCI too, actually like i said ive tried EVERYTHING in mb BIOS.

mrdulik · Feb 22, 2009

hat said:
k... first off you're running in a pci-e 2.0 slot so wether your at 8x or 16x doesn't matter just because of the massive bandwidth of the PCI-E 2.0 bus.

Second... you want to flash your 1GB card with a 512MB bios. No. It will either fail and you'll have a very expensive paperweight, or it will actually work, not cure your problem and you'll be left with a 512mb card to re-flash to the origional 1GB bios anyway

Hmm...ur right good sir!

But let me ask u, even tho i have pci-e 2.0, wouldnt 16x bandwidth improve my overall card performance? ;O

I was thinking to go 2x crossfire, but now i think that i will sell the sapphire 4870 1g and buy 2x HIS 4870 512mb they are better cooled. The sapphire one just blows all the hot air inside my case, even tho i have good air coolers.

Tatty_Two · Feb 23, 2009

mrdulik said:
Yes its in PEG, tried PEG1 and PCI too, actually like i said ive tried EVERYTHING in mb BIOS.

And what does 3D Mark 2006/Vantage report as bandwidth?

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Video Card(s)	Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4870 1gb GDDR5 OC 800/1000
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Can i flash 4870 1g with the 4870 512mb BIOS? Both have same Device ID. Help please!

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