• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

any risks of using a card with a mining bios?

AGreatFlood

New Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2024
Messages
25 (0.10/day)
hi!
very recently (basically today) i got my RX 5600 XT that i bought some days back second hand and put it in my system, it works beautifully and thermals are good! but upon checking gpu-z for curiosity, i see this in the AMD BIOS section:
1729090091289.png

i wasnt aware that it couldve been a mining card (the seller has a lot of history, so i didnt think much about it) i compared my bios (https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/268204/268204) to the stock, unmodified Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT one and i noticed the only real changes were the memory timings, but im unsure if there are any other risks that id need to watch out for?
looking for that string in the Part # section only tells me that it was a website that used to host modded mining bioses, namely for the 5600 XT


very sorry if this sounds like a tin foil hat post, but ive never been in a situation like this before! i just wanna know if im running any particular risks (be it instability or malware, even, but i doubt its that serious!) by running this card with a mining bios
 
hi!
very recently (basically today) i got my RX 5600 XT that i bought some days back second hand and put it in my system, it works beautifully and thermals are good! but upon checking gpu-z for curiosity, i see this in the AMD BIOS section:View attachment 367824
i wasnt aware that it couldve been a mining card (the seller has a lot of history, so i didnt think much about it) i compared my bios (https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/268204/268204) to the stock, unmodified Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT one and i noticed the only real changes were the memory timings, but im unsure if there are any other risks that id need to watch out for?
looking for that string in the Part # section only tells me that it was a website that used to host modded mining bioses, namely for the 5600 XT


very sorry if this sounds like a tin foil hat post, but ive never been in a situation like this before! i just wanna know if im running any particular risks (be it instability or malware, even, but i doubt its that serious!) by running this card with a mining bios
It won't game due to ram timings being too tight, instability. Also mining cards are typically abused.

If anything, I suggest first is to get a picture of the white pn/sku sticker on the card and post it here, also since you are in gpu-z with advanced tab click on amdbios and locate anything relating to specific ram used on the card and get a screenshot of that. Then screenshot the general tab please.
 
Last edited:
It won't game worth a hoot due to ram timings being too high
im sorry but what do you mean with worth a hoot due??

It won't game due to ram timings being too high, instability. Also mining cards are typically abused.

If anything, I suggest first is to get a picture of the white pn/sku sticker on the card and post it here, also since you are in gpu-z with advanced tab click on amdbios and locate anything relating to specific ram used on the card and get a screenshot of that. Then screenshot the general tab please.
ive posted a screenshot of the AMD Bios section already, but this is my general tab:
1729091284654.png





for the condition and temperatures they are really good!! so it doesnt seem too abused, i also talked to the seller about it beforehand and on that note all is good!

is it really not suitable for gaming with this bios? ive tried some heavy games (shadow of the tomb raider, borderlands 3) and they all ran fine so im not sure if im missing something... im pretty scared to flash since i dont have an extra card i could plugin, plus this card costed me a ton so theres not a lot of room for error :(
my only experience with it was with my old HD 7950, so im not sure if i have to change tools to something more specific for Navi.. if with this bios its really not doable, please guide me with on how i could safely flash it back to stock!!








also for the sticker, would i have to take the card apart?
 
hi!
very recently (basically today) i got my RX 5600 XT that i bought some days back second hand and put it in my system, it works beautifully and thermals are good! but upon checking gpu-z for curiosity,
Then stop worrying and just play.
 
Probably slower clock rates, lower power consumption and lower FPS.
Nothing to worry about.
 
right, right! i just wanna know if there could be any future issues (that at least, i havent met yet) by having this bios installed!

This bios is likely the original vbios for your card:
 
im sorry but what do you mean with worth a hoot due??


ive posted a screenshot of the AMD Bios section already, but this is my general tab:View attachment 367825




for the condition and temperatures they are really good!! so it doesnt seem too abused, i also talked to the seller about it beforehand and on that note all is good!

is it really not suitable for gaming with this bios? ive tried some heavy games (shadow of the tomb raider, borderlands 3) and they all ran fine so im not sure if im missing something... im pretty scared to flash since i dont have an extra card i could plugin, plus this card costed me a ton so theres not a lot of room for error :(
my only experience with it was with my old HD 7950, so im not sure if i have to change tools to something more specific for Navi.. if with this bios its really not doable, please guide me with on how i could safely flash it back to stock!!








also for the sticker, would i have to take the card apart?
No the sticker is located typically on the heatsink by pcie slot, fyi too tight of timings does prevent games from working so put the stock bios on it.

If you haven't noticed there are tons that come here with rx580 2048 sp units needing stock bios just to game on, that is where @VuurVOS @Imperator and myself assist.
 
thank you all guys but i flipped the bios switch and i think im gonna settle on this BIOS! (im pretty sure its the "quiet mode" setting? looking physically at the card, it was technically the first in position, link for it: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/228318/228318)
426EFSAM.O4R (228318.rom / quiet)
  • Higher temperature target (83°C)
  • Lower target fan speed (800 RPM)
  • Lower power limit (135 W)
  • Lower memory clock (1500MHz)

426EFSAM.X4Q (226660.rom / performance)
  • Lower temperature target (81°C)
  • Higher target fan speed (1000 RPM)
  • Higher power limit (160 W)
  • Higher memory speeds (1750MHz)
 
426EFSAM.O4R (228318.rom / quiet)
  • Higher temperature target (83°C)
  • Lower target fan speed (800 RPM)
  • Lower power limit (135 W)
  • Lower memory clock (1500MHz)

426EFSAM.X4Q (226660.rom / performance)
  • Lower temperature target (81°C)
  • Higher target fan speed (1000 RPM)
  • Higher power limit (160 W)
  • Higher memory speeds (1750MHz)
wanted to ask something, since im a bit curious! on sapphire's website for the pulse rx 5600 xt, there are vBIOSes updates i could apply for the 11296-01-20G sku (not sure if the board models are the only 2 variants between the sku) but mine has an SKU of 11296-01 (without the 20G at the end), would it still count or is it a no-go?
okay, ive researched a bit, and it seems like that update is only for the earlier released cards, but im wondering, am i still eligible to apply the performance mode one just to get the stock performance mode bios again? or would it be incompatible in a way?

1729109706824.png
 
wanted to ask something, since im a bit curious! on sapphire's website for the pulse rx 5600 xt, there are vBIOSes updates i could apply for the 11296-01-20G sku (not sure if the board models are the only 2 variants between the sku) but mine has an SKU of 11296-01 (without the 20G at the end), would it still count or is it a no-go?
okay, ive researched a bit, and it seems like that update is only for the earlier released cards, but im wondering, am i still eligible to apply the performance mode one just to get the stock performance mode bios again? or would it be incompatible in a way?

View attachment 367855
Sticker on the cooler shows PN S88-4E426-210SA
Also 237-DE426-0CAAF is written on the PCB (nearby HDMI/DP on the picture).

The bios I have provided earlier is based on E426. It will work.
 
Back
Top