Radeon RX 9070 ->>>> 9070XT BIOS moddingMembers of the PC Games Hardware forums are the first to try something new with the Radeon RX 9070. Although BIOS modding was very popular back in the day, GPU vendors are now locking down such modifications quite strictly, meaning it is often very hard or even impossible to introduce changes to the card specs with such a simple switch. It turns out that at least some Radeon RX 9070 non-XT GPUs can be flashed with the 9070 XT BIOS.
https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-can-be-bios-modded-with-xt-firmware-surpasses-reference-rx-9070-xt-when-overclockedBasically, this enables higher clocks and higher TGP, one of the most visible changes when comparing both variants of RDNA4 GPUs. However, this does not change the core count or memory specs, the latter being identical on both SKUs already.
The power and clock-starved RX 9070 non-XT got new wings with the unlocked XT BIOS. Users are reporting that it is even possible to overclock the card further. There is no issue running the non-XT 9070 cards with XT BIOS at stock, adds one of the modders.
Radeon RX 9070 with 9070XT BIOS, Source: Gurdi/PCGH
The card has scored 15-20% higher than stock RX 9070 non-XT. This is of course with overclocking not out of box experience after flashing. However the important detail is that this is already at or near RX 9070 XT level.
Radeon RX 9070 with 9070XT BIOS (overclocked), Source: Gurdi/PCGH
Performance gains are one thing, but there are also some drawbacks. For instance, ULPS mode does not seem to work, and some freezes were encountered by one of the modders. However, with some optimizations, the card seems to be stable and can beat reference 9070XT cards.