HD7970 Reference Card Unlocked BIOS

[bitlane]

Does anyone here have an UNLOCKED BIOS for a 7970 Reference Card ?

How do I know if I have an unlocked BIOS ?
If you are a Windows Miner and can make Voltage Changes to your 7970 using CGMiner....you have an unlocked BIOS.

Some Asus Reference cards are bound to have them, as that is where I got my 5870 Unlocked BIOS (flashed my 5850 Reference Cards with) which allowed me to make on-the-fly Voltage changes to my 5850's using CGMiner.

I would just like to add on-the-fly Voltage control to all of my 7970's....without needing anything other than CGMiner.

Thanks in advance,
bitlane

[AzN1337c0d3r]

I use MSI Afterburner profiles. Is there some reason why you cannot use that?

[bitlane]

I use MSI Afterburner profiles. Is there some reason why you cannot use that?

I'd rather keep each rig as simple as possible and not rely on another point-of-failure.
Remember, this is Windows....LOL

[Graet]

k, well
I have found through trial and error (and help from ckolivas) that my 7970s run below stock voltages even though cgminer is still reporting stock.

How do I know this?
plugging system into a wattmeter and comparing power draw at different clocks
Finding that if I do not put --gpu-vddc <number> in my .bat cmd line (ie stock voltage) the cards overheat and crash within 10 seconds

I have also an issue with one card running consistently hot (thanks no advice needed, the supplier doesnt care , told them I'd see em when it fails)
it took quite a while and I'm not sure if its just a problem with the sensor, but with this command line I get 702Mhash per card

cgminer.exe -o http://eu.ozco.in:8332 -u graet.20 -p p -o http://us.ozco.in:8332 -u graet.20 -p p -I 9 -k poclbm --auto-fan --gpu-engine 1100-1180 --auto-gpu --gpu-vddc 0.87 --gpu-memdiff -150 --temp-target 75,95 --temp-overheat 95,115

without those temp settings the card was being throttled by cgminer

I found system with 2 card enabled:
base measurement
97W idle
652W hashing with only --auto-fan --gpu-engine 1100-1180

my command line above
102W idle
620W

been running stable at 702Mhash/card for 5 days (power outage killed my uptime )

I have been told this is impossible - meh, I believe my eyes

cards GDDR5 Overclocked HDMI Radeon GV-R797OC-3GD 7970
I don't do ref cards - 3fan gigabytes are my fav - hash well, run cool and most importantly quiet

[bitlane]

Well, this setup below is drawing 1,000W at the plug (well, at the UPS as it tells me in it's fancy little LCD window).

- 4x Gigabyte Reference HD7970 @ stock voltage, 1100mhz GPU, 950mhz Mem
- Gigabyte X58 I7 Motherboard
- Xeon 5506 80W Quad Core CPU
- 4GB DDR3
- SATA HDD
- Win7 x64, CAT 12.3

**output from my API Monitoring App (a little different from standard CGMiner output, but all info is there)

Using: -I 9 --auto-fan --auto-gpu --gpu-powertune 5 --gpu-engine 1000-1100 --gpu-memdiff -150 --temp-target 69

Code:

GPU 0:	67.0C   4201 RPM     70% Fan |   1100 Mhz GPU   1.17 V   950 Mhz MEM  |   652.0 / 652.7 Mh/s  |	99% Load  |  A:393   R:0   HW:0   U:9.24/m   I: 9
GPU 1:	67.0C   4586 RPM     76% Fan |   1100 Mhz GPU   1.17 V   950 Mhz MEM  |   656.1 / 656.3 Mh/s  |	99% Load  |  A:393   R:0   HW:0   U:9.24/m   I: 9
GPU 2:	69.0C   4586 RPM     76% Fan |   1100 Mhz GPU   1.17 V   950 Mhz MEM  |   653.1 / 653.4 Mh/s  |	99% Load  |  A:405   R:0   HW:0   U:9.52/m   I: 9
GPU 3:	66.0C   3999 RPM     66% Fan |   1100 Mhz GPU   1.17 V   950 Mhz MEM  |   655.7 / 655.6 Mh/s  |	99% Load  |  A:395   R:0   HW:0   U:9.28/m   I: 9

I am about 100W or so over the power draw I really wanted to be at with this setup....

[Graet]

have you tried setting --gpu-vddc ?
I just started at 0.95 and eased it down till I found minimum stable voltages, that allowed me to up the clocks on both cards to run stable

also --temp-target 69 will make your fans run harder than the default 75 - and that uses more power too (unless ambient temp is quite low of course)

[bitlane]

have you tried setting --gpu-vddc ?
I just started at 0.95 and eased it down till I found minimum stable voltages, that allowed me to up the clocks on both cards to run stable

also --temp-target 69 will make your fans run harder than the default 75 - and that uses more power too (unless ambient temp is quite low of course)

I tried --gpu-vddc but the only thing it did was screw up my --memdiff setting, with all cards reverting to stock mem clocks when (gpu-vddc was present) in my BAT file and no effect on the card voltages.

I confirmed this by setting it (-gpu-vddc) to an unreasonably low setting to force a lockup, yet everything stayed running fine and no voltage change.

[Graet]

hmm I guess the old "every system is different" saying is true
sorry I cant be more help

[bitlane]

I have a couple BIOS files I am going to try out.

I found an 'Extreme Reference' BIOS straight from ATI as well as an Asus BIOS for Reference cards, said to be unlocked.

I have 'get out of jail free' cards here (thank you dual bios switches...lol) so I might as well take advantage of them and play.

I appreciate your help.
bitlane

[Graet]

I have a couple BIOS files I am going to try out.

I found an 'Extreme Reference' BIOS straight from ATI as well as an Asus BIOS for Reference cards, said to be unlocked.

I have 'get out of jail free' cards here (thank you dual bios switches...lol) so I might as well take advantage of them and play.

I appreciate your help.
bitlane

welcome - and <3 that switch
good luck

[area]

Did you manage voltage control from inside CGMiner in the end on your 7970s?

[ChanceCoats123]

If you've ever heard of Gpu-z, you'll also know that they have a bios upload feature which allows the user to send a copy of their bios to their database... and then for others to download.

Here are all of the Asus 7970 bios they have uploaded: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+7970&interface=&memSize=0 The bios you're looking for may or may not be there. Hopefully you find what you need.

[ummas]

Op
Did You find any working BIOS whith allows You to change voltage in Cgminer?

Did You try GHz edition BIOS as well?

[ralree]

I can confirm that the firmware here unlocks voltage as far as I can tell: http://en.expreview.com/2012/07/15/new-bios-turns-reference-hd-7970-into-ghz-model/24148.html

[crazyates]

I can confirm that the firmware here unlocks voltage as far as I can tell: http://en.expreview.com/2012/07/15/new-bios-turns-reference-hd-7970-into-ghz-model/24148.html

Can I flash that to my Gigabyte 7970 GHz edition? It's got a factory OC of 1100MHz, but I want to unlock voltage control.

[Internet151]

I can confirm that the firmware here unlocks voltage as far as I can tell: http://en.expreview.com/2012/07/15/new-bios-turns-reference-hd-7970-into-ghz-model/24148.html

Can I flash that to my Gigabyte 7970 GHz edition? It's got a factory OC of 1100MHz, but I want to unlock voltage control.

The bios linked above will not work on the gigabyte 7970 ghz edition, I just tried it on mine.

After flashing that bios I can't seem to get the original or any other bios to flash to my card, I had to use the dual bios switch for now to get it back to mining.

[tnkflx]

Bitlane,

What's the status on flashing your GPUs?

[crazyates]

I can confirm that the firmware here unlocks voltage as far as I can tell: http://en.expreview.com/2012/07/15/new-bios-turns-reference-hd-7970-into-ghz-model/24148.html

Can I flash that to my Gigabyte 7970 GHz edition? It's got a factory OC of 1100MHz, but I want to unlock voltage control.

The bios linked above will not work on the gigabyte 7970 ghz edition, I just tried it on mine.

After flashing that bios I can't seem to get the original or any other bios to flash to my card, I had to use the dual bios switch for now to get it back to mining.

Exact same thing happened to me.