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View Full Version : Turn Your HD 7970 Into a GHz Edition for Free


John P. Myers
07-12-12, 12:51 PM
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13622/

Flash the BIOS on your HD 7970 with the BIOS from the GHz edition. Easy peasy :)

Of course this would be for people who don't overclock their cards. Obviously you can get much higher speeds from overclocking than a BIOS flash
zombie67
07-13-12, 09:27 PM
1) Does ATI down-clock automatically depending on (impossible to tell), perhaps heat...sometimes, like nVidia? If so, if this firmware has has a more relaxed threshold for down-clocking, it may be more productive in the long run, versus higher OC.

2) Has anyone tried this FW yet?
John P. Myers
07-13-12, 09:49 PM
There's a couple here who say they did it and it worked out fine: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2256940

And several others who don't see the point since you could just overclock it, though i did notice someone say it increases the max clock speed you can set in CCC which could be useful.

I don't recall any AMD/ATI cards being throttled down by kindercare firmware the way Nvidia does.

Edit: oh and the flash also increases voltage from 1.175V to 1.240V
zombie67
07-13-12, 10:17 PM
Interesting. So is there any down-side to upgrading? Even if you are going to OC, it sounds like this is a better starting point.
John P. Myers
07-13-12, 10:21 PM
Interesting. So is there any down-side to upgrading? Even if you are going to OC, it sounds like this is a better starting point.

I don't really see a down-side. Since the 7970s have dual Bios anyway, even if the flash didn't work on your card, just push the button and your fine. And with the increased range in CCC and the voltage boost, it does sound like overclocking would be a bit easier to do with this flash.
zombie67
07-13-12, 11:00 PM
Sooo.... Is this a reference design?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150591
zombie67
07-14-12, 12:25 AM
Tried it out. BOINC didn't see my GPU after. Re-installing 12.6 but it all back to normal as far as I can tell.
John P. Myers
07-14-12, 12:35 AM
Tried it out. BOINC didn't see my GPU after. Re-installing 12.6 but it all back to normal as far as I can tell.

lol guess that answers the question on whether it was reference or not. I couldn't tell for sure :/