Title: Flashing 7950 to 7970 - possible: YES.. but... Post by: biddicoin on September 04, 2012, 01:43:46 PM Hello all,
since RBE doesnt work with HD7xxx series I looked for a way to flash the bios - so I could overclock a bit more. With ATIFLASH it worked! I took a ASUS 7970 Bios online, download it and flashed it to 2 different 7950. I use Linux Mint. Reinstalled Linux Mint + drivers - everything working. Started CGMiner - everything working... but!!! but...: More heat while Idle (think because there is more Voltage on it) Yes more overclocking - but also much more power use (for every 10mhash > 10 watt) If you drive your overclocking to the point the card stops working - the whole system - even after restart - goes crazy! I tried it twice, and everytime after reaching the limits, I had to reinstall linux! If you are willing to play around (make bios backups first!) - and stop overclocking at about 1180 Engine Clock (test with Saphire 7950 3GB OC) - it works. Most 7950 (or all?) have dual bios- so you don't even need to flash back, just switch the switch to the other position. So to me: Makes no sense because of power costs, I've a system running in total 580w at about ~1360-1380mh. before flashing I have a max (7950) of about 580mh, after flashing 615mh - and for every mh there is at least 1w of power use! I think this could be because of more basic voltage on it after flashing. But I didn't want to play around with voltage - so I don't know. Regards Title: Re: Flashing 7950 to 7970 - possible: YES.. but... Post by: mc_lovin on September 05, 2012, 03:59:10 PM wow, that's awesome! I wonder if you could do the flash, lower the voltage somehow, and still get higher clocks?
Title: Re: Flashing 7950 to 7970 - possible: YES.. but... Post by: biddicoin on September 05, 2012, 05:37:33 PM yes! I wonder, too :-)
I spent a whole day on this thing, but without trying the voltage... had no more nerves for reinstall again and again (after find the max for every card...) So I again, run it with old original bios - no more 7970... |