Converting your reference HD 7970 into a GHZ Edition.

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evolucion8

Gawd
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Mar 15, 2006
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Hi. I've been out for a long time due to work and very little free time. I have a question for everyone, I've seen around the web that there's a little utility based on WinFlash with a reference HD 7970 GHZ edition BIOS file which with a single click transforms your standard reference HD 7970 into a GHz edition. I was skeptical first as when I tried first, I couldn't boot up and had to flip the switch to be able to boot again. Once I booted, I flipped the switch again and tried the utility once more and then I was able to transform the card into a GHz edition! I have the Sapphire HD 7970 reference and now it even has the Turbo mode working. Please share your experiences with that mod. I would like to know if its sucessful as the HD 6950 to HD 6970 mod.
 
I've never been very interested in GPU OCing but the little that I have played around with it, I have always prefered BIOS flashing. Pull the BIOS out, make the changes then flash it back. I don't like extra programs running to OC the card.

Good work! Make sure you keep an eye on the temperatures. The GHz editions are designed with the extra voltage and clock in mind. The reference cooler may need a bump in fan speed (if the flash didn't already do that).
 
I think that it included the bump in speed in the fan, at least the fan still sounding the same. Will try to play a game later on, I used 3DMark11 and the fan noise remained the same. I did that BIOS modding that you said with my HD 4870 CF setup and was nice as I could even decrease voltages and core speed at idle, both were terrible on the HD 4870.
 
One of my memory sticks blew out and I ran the tests again but since my PC is running in single channel mode, the performance gains might not be as noticeable as it should. As soon as I get the memory stick back, I'll do the tests again in Dual Channel mode. Right now what I saw was between 6-12fps gains across all 3DMark11 tests, my score went up from 8,234 to 8,660, but I know it can score more, as before my RAM stick went puff, I scored 8,59X something before flashing the BIOS, so I know I can reach 8,900+, not a huge gain but the FPS seems consistent and more stable with less stuttering.
 
evolucion8 said:
Hi. I've been out for a long time due to work and very little free time. I have a question for everyone, I've seen around the web that there's a little utility based on WinFlash with a reference HD 7970 GHZ edition BIOS file which with a single click transforms your standard reference HD 7970 into a GHz edition. I was skeptical first as when I tried first, I couldn't boot up and had to flip the switch to be able to boot again. Once I booted, I flipped the switch again and tried the utility once more and then I was able to transform the card into a GHz edition! I have the Sapphire HD 7970 reference and now it even has the Turbo mode working. Please share your experiences with that mod. I would like to know if its sucessful as the HD 6950 to HD 6970 mod.
Click to expand...

What is "Turbo mode" anyway? I'm assuming that the instant you touch overdrive, turbo mode doesn't work anymore?
 
it adds an exta 50mhz to the clocks if you have the TDP headroom

you can crank up OD, but if you touch the clocks, turbo is disabled.
 
Dasuchin said:
Anyone know if this will work on the Visiontek 7970?
Click to expand...

I believe it should. I have the same card from recent TD deal. At first I'm thinking to flash this until I found out that at stock voltage (1.112v), using CCC, I can get very stable 1100/1525 oc. That is more than the 7970 GHz edition even at Turbo Boost with much higher voltage.
 
Falkentyne said:
What is "Turbo mode" anyway? I'm assuming that the instant you touch overdrive, turbo mode doesn't work anymore?
Click to expand...

Turbo is a feature when TDP permits, it increases the GPU core speed a bit. Usually the HD 7970GHz will run at 1000MHz, but if it still having TDP headroom, it might go as high as 1050MHz, increasing the performance.

I installed the memory stick and checked my score which went from 8234 to 9075 which it ain't bad.
 
Dasuchin said:
Anyone know if this will work on the Visiontek 7970?
Click to expand...

Should work on any reference Radeon HD 7970 3GB card. My Diamond AMD Radeon HD 7970 is a reference design and indistinguishable physically from the Visiontek's aside from the sticker on the cooler. I was able to flash to the GHz edition on two cards without a problem.
 
I know this isn't nearly as big as the 6950 -> 6970 bios flash, but I still feel like this deserves more of a discussion than a measly 12 post thread. Has anyone been able to get other benefits besides the turbo boost feature. Higher OC or anything?
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
I know this isn't nearly as big as the 6950 -> 6970 bios flash, but I still feel like this deserves more of a discussion than a measly 12 post thread. Has anyone been able to get other benefits besides the turbo boost feature. Higher OC or anything?
Click to expand...

I've had the GHz Edition BIOS flash fix improper voltages set by the Catalyst drivers.
 
As far as I can recall, the GHz flash is only valuable in that it also allows the parameters of CCC Overdrive to increase significantly above reference, which is very useful if you use Crossfire.

The standard GHz flash is not that impressive all by itself , as most any 7970 can OC to 1125/1400 without breaking a sweat......:D

That said, if you have a reference 7970 with a dual BIOS, you have nothing to lose.
 
PnkPwrRngr said:
I know this isn't nearly as big as the 6950 -> 6970 bios flash, but I still feel like this deserves more of a discussion than a measly 12 post thread. Has anyone been able to get other benefits besides the turbo boost feature. Higher OC or anything?
Click to expand...

There was/is another giant thread about this somewhere.
The GHz edition BIOS was available a couple of months ago.......

honestly, I haven't really seen the need......I can get 1125 GPU clocks now without doing anything fancy.
 
magoo said:
There was/is another giant thread about this somewhere.
The GHz edition BIOS was available a couple of months ago.......

honestly, I haven't really seen the need......I can get 1125 GPU clocks now without doing anything fancy.
Click to expand...


here is the thread . . . is it needed no but if i water cooled my card i would until i hit afterburner on
I run dual bios setup so its a win win , but not a need

http://www.overclock.net/t/1281425/amd-release-hd-7970-ghz-bios-upgrade-for-reference-hd-7970/270
 
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