Monday, August 6th 2012
GIGABYTE Outs Corrective BIOS Update for GeForce GTX 670 WindForce 3X OC
Apparently, GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 670 WindForce 3X OC graphics card (model: GV-N670OC-2GD) is riddled with stability issues that can only be corrected with a graphics card BIOS update. The stability issues apparently relate to the way the GPU is addressing overclocked Hynix GDDR5 memory chips. The company released a pair of BIOS files, version F4 based on NVIDIA source BIOS 80.04.31.00.58 and version F12 based on NVIDIA source BIOS 80.04.31.00.09. The two were posted recently, but are date-stamped 13-Jul-2012. The two don't change the clock speeds the card ships with: 980 MHz core, 1058 MHz GPU Boost, and 6.00 GHz memory. Graphics card BIOS updating is a trickier process than motherboard BIOS updates, and you need to be really sure what you're doing. Find the BIOS files, and related documentation in the link below.DOWNLOAD: BIOS updates for GV-N670OC-2GD
39 Comments on GIGABYTE Outs Corrective BIOS Update for GeForce GTX 670 WindForce 3X OC
as-well as driver crashes btw.
Thanks for the news btarunr.
The issue encountered wasn't a stability problem but a problem where when the cards installed were loaded to the OS desktop (never before or during setup and always after) the fans would run 70%+ speeds constant (LOUD), drivers or not.. on various platforms. In each instance this occurred i changed to EVGA cards which fixed the issue.
I haven't really handled these since then but believe that problem is long gone now.
If you want to do this, just download their VGA@BIOS software, and it will tell you which version of the BIOS you have. For instance, mine was F1, so I downloaded F4, per their guide, if you follow the link "How to reflash bios?"
After you download the new BIOS and extract it, preferably to the desktop, just run VGA@BIOS, click Flash when the main screen appears, choose the newly downloaded BIOS, and wait for it to finish.
Edit. The whole process literally took less than two minutes and the great part is, it flashes it right in Windows and all you have to do is restart and DONE.
How do I go about downgrading my PCI-E lane to 2.0? That's one thing I didn't try (and I tried alot, about 40 hours worth of trying to solve this issue). I've got an Asus Maximus V Gene, would it just be a bios option (cant check cause I'm at work)?
And yes there should be a an option in your BIOS for switching the PCIE Gen between 2 and 3
Can anyone comment if overclocking has improved with this updated BIOS?
Further info:
Just been on the Gigabyte forum. Apparently it is indeed a problem when running PCI-E 3.0 on a 16x Lane. The problem affects some but not all cards (so it is indeed lucky dip), they haven't solved the issue on the faulty cards with the bios update. Those with a faulty card can either change to PCI-E 2.0 or use an 8x Lane, neither of which will bottleneck a single GTX 670. Or you could try faulting it to your retailer but good luck with that!
I've also seen talk that it's not just affecting this card. Apparently some GTX 680 models from other manufacturers are having the very same issue.
Given that you're running yours on a PCI-E 2.0 you probaby wouldn't realise if you had a faulty card.