Wednesday, April 19th 2017

Radeon RX 480 Cards Can Successfully be Flashed to RX 580

User TonybonJoby in our own forums has successfully flashed his XFX RX 480 graphics card with the BIOS from a Sapphire RX 580 Limited Edition (the one that runs at 1411 MHz Boost clocks, yes.) Having obtained the Sapphire's BIOS right here on TPU, he then flashed it onto his graphics card (which possesses a dual-BIOS setup; this is an important point which you should consider, as it gives you an extra safety net should anything go wrong) through ATIFlash. The newly-christened RX 580 thus smiles for the screenshot, with a stock clock of 1411 MHz, higher than most overclocks possible with the RX 480 cards, probably due to increased voltages on the BIOS level. The user then tested the card on The Witcher 3 and Furmark, with no problems having been reported. Just remember to back-up your BIOS with GPU-Z and make sure to peruse our forums for some details on this flashing process before you get the proverbial grease on your elbows.

Essentially, this may allow you to bypass some artificial overclocking limitation with your graphics card, probably by increased voltages on different power states of the card. You should do this at your own risk, and remember, the only guaranteed way of getting an RX 580 is... you guessed it, buying an RX 580. However, this might also give you an extra performance boost, and free performance is always good, right?
Source: TechPowerUp Forums
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77 Comments on Radeon RX 480 Cards Can Successfully be Flashed to RX 580

#2
Ja.KooLit
I believe alot will expect this to happen as it was rebranded.
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#4
natr0n
I got a bad feeling about this.

The die shrink has to cause some issues with the older cards I'm sure.

heat basically
Posted on Reply
#5
Beastie
Cue loads of "I flashed my 480 with a 580 bios and now it doesn't work" threads. :fear:
Posted on Reply
#6
Nihilus
Well that didn't take long. let's see it done now with an RX 470.
Posted on Reply
#7
kruk
Can't wait to see if you can flash an unlocked RX460 to RX560 to get rid of the BIOS check patcher :).
Posted on Reply
#8
GorbazTheDragon
Something something rebranding, something something nvidia vs amd...
Posted on Reply
#9
hojnikb
Any such bios for the MSI Gaming X RX480 8GB ?
Posted on Reply
#10
Solid State Brain
Hopefully a Sapphire RX580 Nitro+ 4GB BIOS will be uploaded at some point so that I can test this on my card.
Posted on Reply
#11
natr0n
Did the news cards get a die shrink or not ? I'm confused.


die got refined :kookoo:
Posted on Reply
#12
ffleader1
They used to laugh at download more RAM...Now, even better, download GPU.
Posted on Reply
#13
P4-630
natr0nheat basically
Yeah... Temps could run up to 80s he said in his thread....

Still comfortable to him he said...:ohwell:

IMO 75C is really hot and personally I try to keep my GPU temp below 65C during summer...:ohwell: thats just me..
Posted on Reply
#14
buildzoid
From everything I've seen they just tweaked the power states and gave the cards more voltage. So I am going with there not being any kind of changes to the die similar to how the 390 and 390X are basically software optimized 290s and 290Xs with more better VRAM.

BTW the new Nitro+ card is a totally different PCB from the old Nitro + I doubt the new BIOS will work with the old card.
Posted on Reply
#15
Sasa Grujicic


sapphire nitro 480 4gb on air oced to 1450mhz with +42mv on core and 40% power limit
ASIC Q. 77.8% STABLE 24/7 MAX TEMP 74 C

"higher than most overclocks possible with the RX 480 cards"

HA HA HA
Posted on Reply
#16
natr0n
wow when did trixx get so pretty ?
Posted on Reply
#17
Divide Overflow
I cringe to think how many will brick their 480s in ham-handed attempts to "upgrade" their cards.
Posted on Reply
#18
P4-630
BeastieCue loads of "I flashed my 480 with a 580 bios and now it doesn't work" threads. :fear:
:rolleyes:
Posted on Reply
#19
Solid State Brain
buildzoidBTW the new Nitro+ card is a totally different PCB from the old Nitro + I doubt the new BIOS will work with the old card.
But as the user of this news flashed a Sapphire RX580 bios onto an XFX RX480, shouldn't it probably be fine?
I need a RX580 4GB BIOS anyway because I know that the 8GB one won't work properly on my card, although booting can be possible in some cases (already tried!).
Posted on Reply
#20
KainXS
Yup this is exactly what I was thinking after seeing Gamers Nexus's review, in that review they showed the Gaming X 580 and based on the voltages and overclocked it looked just like my Gaming X 4Gb. I'm definitely not going to flash a bios from a different card on it though, I know the 580 Gaming X has the same PCB as mine and that's what I will use If I can find the bios for it to get the lower idle clocks really.
Posted on Reply
#21
buildzoid
Solid State BrainBut as the user of this news flashed a Sapphire RX580 bios onto an XFX RX480, shouldn't it probably be fine?
I need a RX580 4GB BIOS anyway because I know that the 8GB one won't work properly on my card, although booting can be possible in some cases (already tried!).
The XFX RX 480 Tony has is a XFX RX 480 RS it has the same voltage coltroler as the Nitro +. He got pretty lucky that he has one of the few RX 480s that doesn't use the IR 3567B because that would probably not work at all.
Posted on Reply
#22
Solid State Brain
That's a bummer then. I was interested in the higher voltages and idle power state improvements.
Posted on Reply
#23
alucasa
Like I said before,

flashing is magical.

Though someone is bound to flash wrong BIOS. lol
Posted on Reply
#24
ERazer
need balls of steel required for bios flashing
Posted on Reply
#25
Nihilus
Solid State BrainHopefully a Sapphire RX580 Nitro+ 4GB BIOS will be uploaded at some point so that I can test this on my card.
Price/performance beast right there.
Even at RX 480 levels, the 4GB vRam doesn't seem to give that card any penalty. www.legitreviews.com/amd-radeon-rx-480-4gb-versus-radeon-rx-480-8gb_183576/6
A few % drop at 4k, but not the intended resolution of that card anyhow.
The 4 GB Rx 480s are going for $200 OR LESS on the Egg. Paying $280 for an RX 580 is silly. Flash one like yours to an RX 580 and it will be at the top of the price/ performance chart alongside the Rx 470.
Posted on Reply
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