Without a graphics card, we can’t really imagine the visual treats on video games or other high-intensive tasks on our computer. Mostly the gaming PCs require pretty much powerful and advanced GPUs for graphical rendering without breaking any sweat at all. With the increased amount of demand for GPUs, gaming PCs have become stronger than ever. However, sometimes extreme performance players may also require unleashed power more than overclocking the GPU. In that scenario, BIOS flashing comes into the light. Here we’ve shared the steps on how to flash the BIOS on an AMD GPU.
Since PC gaming is the ultimate one, some of the users always want every penny out of their hardware for unbeatable performance in every game or even other graphics-intensive works like video editing, photo editing, rendering, streaming, and more. So, we always look for ‘overclocking’ our CPU/GPU from its default clock speed up to max speed for the ultimate gaming experience.
But if you want more performance beyond overclocking, you’ll require BIOS flashing in a simple word. Though overclocking is simple enough, BIOS flashing isn’t that easy, and it shouldn’t be.
Disclaimer: Keep in mind that you’re solely responsible for what you’re doing or what you’ve done with your GPU card. This isn’t meant for all PC gamers out there and has both the advantages or downsides too. So, we’ll not encourage all of you to go with this method unless you’re a PC gaming freak or want an extra bit of overclocking via BIOS flashing.
What is GPU BIOS?
So, BIOS stands for “Basic Input/Output System”. It’s basically a program that runs on the computer’s microprocessor in order to launch the computer system after turning it on. It also manages data flow between the PC operating system and connected devices/peripherals like mouse, keyboard, video adapter, HDD/SSD, printer, etc.
While the GPU means “Graphics Processing Unit” which is what displays on the computer screen. Now, the GPU BIOS is also known as “VBIOS” or “VGA BIOS”. For a simple term, GPU BIOS is the program or firmware of the graphics card which works seamlessly with your PC hardware, RAM, processor, etc for ultimate performance. It also contains GPU clock speed, fan speed, voltage, power delivery, and more.
Therefore, even after overclocking or intensively using the graphics card on your PC, your GPU card won’t get easily bricked or malfunctioned on average as the BIOS program cares for your GPU by limiting the power flow and voltage frequency, etc. However, after flashing the BIOS on your graphics card you’ll be able to uplift the voltage limitations of your GPU for higher overclocking speed.
Also Read: Fix: AMD Graphics Card Not Recognized in Device Manager
Why GPU BIOS Flashing?
It’s mostly become useful in extreme GPU overclocking. Usually, simply overclocking a GPU card by using an overclocking tool does the job efficiently. However, there are some advanced and hardcore gamers who want an extreme level of overclocking. So, flashing the BIOS on the graphics card will be helpful.
In another sense, you’re basically overwriting the new firmware on the GPU by flashing the BIOS which will offer new values of the core clock, memory clock, voltage limit, power limit, etc. So, all of the new values in the system of the GPU will definitely increase the performance more than just overclocking.
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Compatible Graphics Cards for BIOS Flashing
Most of the AMD graphics cards like AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, Radeon RX 5700, and more models are very much popular with GPU users for BIOS flashing. The best part is that most of these AMD GPUs have the same PCBs as the higher variants like RX Vega 64 and RX 5700 XT. In short, users can easily get the same core clocks and performance levels as the high-end GPUs.
Pre-Requirements:
- Make sure that you have a powerful PSU (Power Supply Unit) to handle the overclocking of the GPU.
- Ensure that your CPU cabinet is well-ventilated and the CPU/GPU cooling fan is working properly. Airflow should be properly maintained.
- Keep in mind that your graphics card has a dual-BIOS option. Most of the higher-tier GPUs offer a dual-BIOS system only for safety purposes. (Optional)
- Go through some reviews online about your particular graphics card model whether the BIOS flashing works properly or not. If the average result isn’t satisfactory on regular usage then you shouldn’t go with BIOS flashing.
- Also, make sure to keep following your graphics card’s performance and behavior after flashing BIOS because in some cases flashed GPUs can behave unexpectedly.
- You should take a backup of the GPU BIOS. You’ll find the guide below.
How to Flash the BIOS on an AMD GPU
Here in this guide, we’ll discuss the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (for example) and will be flashing RX Vega 56 BIOS on it. So, let’s check out the required tools below.
Step 01: Backup using GPU-Z
- Install the GPU-Z on your PC and launch it.
- Note down the base and boost GPU clock speed.
- Click on the Share (arrow) icon next to the BIOS Version.
- Click on ‘Save to file…’ on your computer. (Make sure to save the same file to two different locations as a backup)
Radeon RX Vega Users:
- You’ll see Memory Type as HBM2 with the manufacturer name.
- It’s necessary to flash the BIOS on a Vega card if it has a Samsung HBM2 memory type.
- While other manufacturers don’t offer successful flashes. If you’re flashing 5700 cards then you should skip the memory check.
Step 02: Use ATIFlash
- Once downloaded, extract the ATIFlash zip file.
- Then go to the extracted folder and open the ‘amdvbflashWin.exe’ file as an administrator.
- Now, the ATIFlash interface will appear on the screen.
- Here you can see the Current VBIOS version, New VBIOS version, Filename, System Information, and more.
- Click on ‘Save’ to make another Current VBIOS version backup on your computer for safety purposes.
Step 03: Flash the new VBIOS
- Click on “Load Image” on the ATIFlash Tool.
- Select the downloaded/new VBIOS from the computer.
- Now, you can see the “New VBIOS” details > Click on “Program”.
- Wait for the process to complete > Once done, restart your computer.
- Finally, launch the ATIFlash tool again and you can see newly flashed VBIOS details as a current one.
- Enjoy!
What’s Next?
- Well, once you’ve flashed the new VBIOS version, you should have to test out some of the parameters first whether the BIOS flashing is working properly or not.
- First of all, test out the higher overclocks for performance and stability.
- Second, check for overheating range also.
- Third, run the GPU stress test by using some of the common benchmarking tools that you’ll find online.
Now, if in case, any of these parameters are affecting the graphics performance then you should revert back to the previous VBIOS version by using the ATIFlash tool. To recall, you already have backed up the previous VBIOS version on your PC. To do that:
- Launch the ATIFlash Tool > Load the backed-up VBIOS version from the PC that you’ve saved earlier.
- Click on ‘Program’ > Once done, restart your computer.
- You’ve successfully reverted back to the previous VBIOS version.
That’s it, guys. We assume this guide was helpful to you. For further queries, you can comment below.
