HP ENVY x360 - 15m-bq121dx BIOS UNLOCK REQUEST

[chris189]

1) Laptop Serial No. 8CG7515G6T
2) Bios version. F.22 http://www.mediafire.com/file/8v0rf4uqhdl2lkn/BIOS_F22.exe/file
3) Laptop Product No. HP ENVY x360 - 15m-bq121dx
4) Windows running on Windows 10 Home x64
5) Do you have a bios backup no
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ruywtpzw0z1x2nf/AcpiTbls.zip/file

Hi, I'm requesting to have my BIOS unlocked because I badly need to increase my dedicated video memory from 256mb to 4096mb because all my games are blurry because of too little Vram. On top of having the Advanced BIOS menu unlocked for extra features.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[silentbogo]

It won't make any difference. The amount of VRAM set in settings is a minimum reserved for GPU. If an OS needs more, it'll take it.
Basically, if there was a possibility to change it to 4GB, it wouldn't make any difference to the GPU, but it would limit how much RAM your CPU can use.
Also, not having a fullflash dump makes this whole "modding" idea ridiculous. You can't just take an update from HP website, extract it and use as-is, unless your goal is to turn it into a brick.

 

[chris189]

My friend has the same CPU on his Dell Inspiron 5000 series, and his has 2GB reserved video memory and all his games come in way sharper than mine. Especially Unreal Engine games, with the streaming texture engine in place. So I guess I'll just have to wait for HP to fix this in a BIOS update.

The reason why I need more dedicated reserved video memory is not for performance, but so it can load textures properly into video memory & display them properly on screen in a non-blurry fashion. Rather than being a blurry mess, like it is now.

 

[Rhein7]

Looking at Google, you are using Ryzen 2000 series laptop right? Then check your Bios for Vram setting. If you couldn't see any settings for that try to update your Bios to the latest. Also how much Ram that you have right now?

I have Lenovo laptop with Athlon Gold processor (rebrand of Ryzen 2000 I guess) with no Vram setting on the Bios. With 4 GB Ram onboard it automatically set the Vram to 512 MB. I added another 8 GB on it and somehow the Vram jumped to 2 GB instantly without any setting at all.

If you already at the latest Bios but with no Vram setting and using 8 GB Ram or more then dunno, you're out of luck I guess. Try asking HP for that Vram setting.

 

[chris189]

I have 32 gigabytes of ram installed and its still stuck at 256mb of vram.

 

[chris189]

Can you use the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U for gaming?

Despite a resurgence on the desktop, AMD Ryzen still isn't making big waves in the laptop space. And that's a shame because AMD has a nice little package on its hands.

www.windowscentral.com

On that site they say "The Vega 8 GPU that comes on the Ryzen 5 2500U has an impressive spec list. Besides having 1GB of VRAM, it has a clock speed of 1100MHz and a total of eight graphics cores. To be clear, you're not going to be hacking out some high Metro Exodus on one of these, but its performance is still very impressive — certainly much more impressive than anything Intel has to offer."

Mine only has 256MB of VRAM and it makes all my games a blurry mess. All games are unplayable with 256MB because sometimes you need the texture resolution to make out what to do next. Like ringing the bells in Bioshock Infinite in the beginning or Call Of Duty World War II sniper scope texture.

Maybe I should revert back to an earlier BIOS version to see if they increase the VRAM amount?

 

[AltCapwn]

As stated by other users, without a BIOS that has an option for you, there's no way to allocate more VRAM for the APU.

Laptop manufacturers rarely give flexible BIOS. They usually go with a "Tatooed" BIOS so people can't explode a laptop and call for warranty afterwards. They usually gives some options, like VRAM settings, for gaming oriented devices.

Yes, unfortunately, the Vega 8 could support much more VRAM, but it depends of the manufacturer support.

I'm not sure if someone from the community would be able to make a custom BIOS, and unlock "without risk" the vram settings.
You have to be conscious that *unlock* implies the settings are already included / coded in the BIOS. If it's not the case, it a whole next level of sh!t.

But hey, as long as there's life there's hope.

 

[chris189]

Thank you for the reply. I guess I'll keep using the laptop until I buy a new one. Hopefully some AMD Radeon RX 5700M Laptop's pop up in 2021 or late 2020?!?

Or maybe I'll wait until RDNA 2 pops up in the mobile segment for ray tracing support?

 

[silentbogo]

We are running circles around your problem.
I'll repeat it one more time: It doesn't matter what amount of VRAM is set in BIOS for iGPU - OS will allocate more when it needs it.
Just open up task manager, click on "Performance" tab and select "GPU".
There you'll be able to see what's the maximum for that Vega8.
In case of iGPU, there is pretty much no difference between "dedicated" and "shared" in terms of speed, since all of it comes from RAM anyways.

Post your task manager screenshot, so that we can put this non-issue to rest.

 

[chris189]

The issue isn't performance related though, it's texture definition related. Here's an example, however it doesn't matter much in this game. However it does matter in Call Of Duty World War II & Bioshock Infinite. Can't even play the game its so blurry.

 

[Vya Domus]

That GPU wouldn't run games in a million years with just 256MB, they would all crash. The problem is that this GPU is only so fast, this is a 15W TDP chip. Your expectations are too high, I am impressed it even runs at 30fps at 720p.

See, it's the same for everyone.

 

[chris189]

I think I fixed the issue. I had to turn up the settings and exit the game and restart bioshock infinite to get the textures to look normal. If I set them any lower than High then it would result in a blurry mess. Not sure about Call Of Duty but ill test it. Thanks

 

[Vya Domus]

I think I fixed the issue. I had to turn up the settings and exit the game and restart bioshock infinite to get the textures to look normal. If I set them any lower than High then it would result in a blurry mess. Not sure about Call Of Duty but ill test it. Thanks
View attachment 167513

There you go, 16GB of GPU memory. Those 256MB are simply reserved for the GPU at boot time.

 

[silentbogo]

I had to turn up the settings and exit the game and restart bioshock infinite to get the textures to look normal.

It's UnrealEngine-related issue. It has little-to-nothing to do with your GPU or the amount of VRAM, just your typical UE3 texture pop(especially noticeable on low-end hardware or even more when playing off HDD).