PowerColor Outs "Unlocked BIOS" for RX 480 RED Devil

btarunr · Aug 22, 2016

PowerColor today released an optional "Unlocked BIOS" for its Radeon RX 480 RED Devil graphics card. Available through PowerColor DevilClub (and TechPowerUp), the BIOS is optional because it is intended only for power-users. The BIOS increases power-limits on the card, facilitating higher overclocking headroom and clock speed sustainability.

The obvious trade-offs here are higher power-consumption, temperatures, and noise. In fact, PowerColor strongly recommends against using the modded card with FurMark as the company found that it will damage even non-overclocked cards with the new BIOS. PowerColor, however, stated that flashing your card with the optional BIOS will not void your warranty.

DOWNLOAD: PowerColor RX 480 Unlocked BIOS

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

dj-electric · Aug 22, 2016

i really question how much this will improve on the extremely-poor OC capabilities of the RX 480...

ZoneDymo · Aug 22, 2016

Cool stuff!

lanlagger · Aug 22, 2016

ZoneDymo said:
Cool stuff!

it is actually the opposite - "hot stuff", and not like sexy "hot", but phisically hot (think of - mantel and vulkan hot

)

F-Zero · Aug 22, 2016

Good guy PowerColor

Caring1 · Aug 22, 2016

Red Devil, sounds perfect to me

Sempron Guy · Aug 22, 2016

PowerColor, however, stated that flashing your card with the optional BIOS will not void your warranty.

silentbogo · Aug 22, 2016

Dj-ElectriC said:
i really question how much this will improve on the extremely-poor OC capabilities of the RX 480...

I was recently reading a review of this card on a russian website (HardwareLuxx), and there are few things that make it even worse:
- There are 6 GPU phases and quote: "According to the information from PowerColor, each phase can deliver 25W, and not 22.5W." (giving a total of 150W just for GPU)
- With all the other stuff on the board it has a max power draw of 175W, which is exactly where the initial limit is set (hence that crappy/unstable 6.7% overclock)
- Temperatures under load are 76°C and 80°C in Silent-BIOS and OC-BIOS accordingly (which is kinda crazy, considering the size of the triple-fan cooling solution)

So, if there is an "Unlocked" BIOS with raised TDP, then PowerColor deliberately violates its own architectural limit for this card. I couldn't see the model# of mosfets used on this particular card, so I cannot confirm or deny for sure, as to whether these are capable of handling a bit higher than loads. It might be OK just for benching (ONLY with additional cooling), but I'd probably wait for an 8+ phase variant of RX480, if I wanted to overclock the sh#t out of it... :banghead:

CAPSLOCKSTUCK · Aug 22, 2016

btarunr said:
the optional BIOS will not void your warranty.

btarunr said:
strongly recommends against using the modded card with FurMark

hows that supposed to work then?.....

hojnikb · Aug 22, 2016

silentbogo said:
I was recently reading a review of this card on a russian website (HardwareLuxx), and there are few things that make it even worse:
- There are 6 GPU phases and quote: "According to the information from PowerColor, each phase can deliver 25W, and not 22.5W." (giving a total of 150W just for GPU)
- With all the other stuff on the board it has a max power draw of 175W, which is exactly where the initial limit is set (hence that crappy/unstable 6.7% overclock)
- Temperatures under load are 76°C and 80°C in Silent-BIOS and OC-BIOS accordingly (which is kinda crazy, considering the size of the triple-fan cooling solution)

So, if there is an "Unlocked" BIOS with raised TDP, then PowerColor deliberately violates its own architectural limit for this card. I couldn't see the model# of mosfets used on this particular card, so I cannot confirm or deny for sure, as to whether these are capable of handling a bit higher than loads. It might be OK just for benching (ONLY with additional cooling), but I'd probably wait for an 8+ phase variant of RX480, if I wanted to overclock the sh#t out of it...

VRMs are capable of much more than that,

$ReaPeR$ · Aug 22, 2016

this will work only with water cooling imo. its cool that they keep the warranty though!!

Shou Miko · Aug 22, 2016

$ReaPeR$ said:
this will work only with water cooling imo. its cool that they keep the warranty though!!

U don't need wc to flash this bios the devil air cooler should be able to handle this bios too

qubit · Aug 22, 2016

btarunr said:
PowerColor strongly recommends against using the modded card with FurMark as the company found that it will damage even non-overclocked cards with the new BIOS

That's ridiculous. It shouldn't be possible to damage a card regardless of what software is running on it. Next thing you know, there's gonna be some really demanding new game that pushes it similarly hard to Furmark and the thing dies on you. I wouldn't buy a card like this.

If I run Furmark on my 780 Ti, it simply throttles down significantly and stays well below its max temperature. Animation was smooth, too.

Ruru · Aug 22, 2016

I'd not recommend Furmark for any GPU, since it's just so useless. Just tests the maximum heat output/power consumption, who needs that? IMO the best way to test the stability of an overclocked GPU is simply playing GPU intensive games.

silentbogo · Aug 22, 2016

hojnikb said:
VRMs are capable of much more than that,

I was quoting the website, that was quoting PowerColor, so it is not something I simply made up.

Orivaa · Aug 22, 2016

Dj-ElectriC said:
i really question how much this will improve on the extremely-poor OC capabilities of the RX 480...

Excuse you?

dj-electric · Aug 22, 2016

Orivaa said:
Some guy proved that overclocking your golden sample with water cooling makes it not so horrible. still pretty bad, but not horrible

FTFY.

Tatty_Two · Aug 22, 2016

I welcome anyone willing to go the extra to give us a little more performance out of our investment but looking in the UK these cards cost £266 ($348 US) as the 3 retailers I have just looked at have 8GB versions only, I therefore would suggest that unless retailers are taking a huge margin Powercolor may have needed something like this to push sales of the card .... I dunno, I still like the idea of getting something for nothing and it's nice to see as it's becoming rarer but in context this card is way more than what I paid for my 290X.

dorsetknob · Aug 22, 2016

btarunr said:
PowerColor, however, stated that flashing your card with the optional BIOS will not void your warranty.

Soon to be added to TPU Data base By someone
and ................>>>>>> all those i Flashed my Bios and now card DON'T WORK threads

Bruno Vieira · Aug 22, 2016

Dj-ElectriC said:
FTFY.

He doesn't have a golden sample at all... All the RX 480 reach 1450 with 1.25v without any problem. Just look around the RX 480's Owners Club. And yes, you NEED water to live with 1.25v

Orivaa · Aug 22, 2016

Dj-ElectriC said:
FTFY.

Watch the video. That's not a golden sample.

btarunr · Aug 22, 2016

dorsetknob said:
Soon to be added to TPU Data base By someone
and ................>>>>>> all those i Flashed my Bios and now card DON'T WORK threads

It's already on our DB, a human reviews every BIOS user-submission and GPU-Z keeps away identical submissions. Also, TPU doesn't offer any warranty for its downloads.

dorsetknob · Aug 22, 2016

btarunr said:
Also, TPU doesn't offer any warranty for its downloads.

That's right
and as Powercolor are Saying

btarunr said:
PowerColor, however, stated that flashing your card with the optional BIOS will not void your warranty.

I Still stand by what i said

dorsetknob said:
>>> all those i Flashed my Bios and now card DON'T WORK threads

Trust me They will come

rtwjunkie · Aug 22, 2016

qubit said:
That's ridiculous. It shouldn't be possible to damage a card regardless of what software is running on it. Next thing you know, there's gonna be some really demanding new game that pushes it similarly hard to Furmark and the thing dies on you. I wouldn't buy a card like this.

If I run Furmark on my 780 Ti, it simply throttles down significantly and stays well below its max temperature. Animation was smooth, too.

What it's doing is intentional, just like all cards since the 2nd gen of Fermi, because Nvidia also feels Furmark will damage their cards. The difference is they do it for you instead of just warning you like Powercolor and AMD are doing. Furmark is bad...bad, bad, bad.

Don't be concerned about a game putting that much stress on a card.....games won't get there for at least 10 years. By then no one will be using any current cards.

_Flare · Aug 22, 2016

+33 Ampere
+55 Watts

the Warning is serious

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	Cyberline
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600k -> 12600k
Motherboard	Asus P8P67 LE Rev 3.0 -> Gigabyte Z690 Auros Elite DDR4
Cooling	Tuniq Tower 120 -> Custom Watercoolingloop
Memory	Corsair (4x2) 8gb 1600mhz -> Crucial (8x2) 16gb 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	AMD RX480 -> RX7800XT
Storage	Samsung 750 Evo 250gb SSD + WD 1tb x 2 + WD 2tb -> 2tb MVMe SSD
Display(s)	Philips 32inch LPF5605H (television) -> Dell S3220DGF
Case	antec 600 -> Thermaltake Tenor HTCP case
Audio Device(s)	Focusrite 2i4 (USB)
Power Supply	Seasonic 620watt 80+ Platinum
Mouse	Elecom EX-G
Keyboard	Rapoo V700
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64bit

System Name	"size does matter"
Processor	i7-6700k
Motherboard	Fatal1ty Gaming Z170 Gaming-ITX
Cooling	Scythe big shuriken 2
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GBx2
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080 Ti Turbo (gigabyte blower) got it form 320 eur form ex miner with 2 year warranty left
Storage	toshiba q300 pro 512GB (waiting for that samsung 960 pro m.2)
Display(s)	4K Samsung LU28E590DS
Case	Silverstone SG13 (you can fit exactly 2 of these in bitfinex Prodigy or Fractal Nano S "m-itx" case)
Power Supply	silverstone SFX SX500-LG
Software	win 10 pro

Processor	Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 Ghz
Motherboard	Asus TUSL2-C
Cooling	CoolerMaster Sckt.370
Memory	Kingston 2x256Mb SDR 133 Mhz
Video Card(s)	3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 64Mb
Storage	Crucial BX500 240GB
Display(s)	Fujitsu B19-5 ECO
Case	Antec PlusView 1000 AMG
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-FI XtremeGamer
Power Supply	XFX TS 550W Bronze
Mouse	Glorious MODEL O-
Keyboard	Corsair K70 RGB MK.2
Software	Windows XP
Benchmark Scores	3DMARK00-4905, 3DMARK01SE-2168

System Name	H7 Flow 2024
Processor	AMD 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asus X570 Tough Gaming
Cooling	Custom liquid
Memory	32 GB DDR4
Video Card(s)	Intel ARC A750
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 2TB.
Display(s)	AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
Mouse	Lenovo
Keyboard	Eweadn Mechanical
Software	W11 Pro 64 bit

PowerColor Outs "Unlocked BIOS" for RX 480 RED Devil

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

dj-electric

ZoneDymo

lanlagger

F-Zero

Caring1

Sempron Guy

silentbogo

Moderator

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick

hojnikb

$ReaPeR$

Shou Miko

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

silentbogo

Moderator

Orivaa

New Member

dj-electric

Tatty_Two

Gone Fishing

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"

Bruno Vieira

Orivaa

New Member

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

dorsetknob

"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

_Flare

System Name	Salamander
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.325ghz 1.206v
Motherboard	Asrock X370 Taichi
Cooling	EK Supremacy Evo \| Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS XFlow \| Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro 120mm x 3
Memory	Team T-Force Xtreem 2x8GB DDR4 3733 @ 3733mhz c16 1.4v \| IF @ 1866mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX RX-470 RS Single Fan flashed to RX-570 @ stock water-cooled
Storage	Samsung 850 Evo 256gb M.2 \| Crucial M4 128GB \| WD Blue 1TB \| WD Blue 500GB 2.5" \| Toshiba 2TB 2.5"
Display(s)	LG 27MP68VQ 27" 1920x1080 75hz IPS Freesync monitor
Case	Fractal Design Define C
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime Gold 650w
Mouse	Steelseries Kana White
Keyboard	Steelseries 6GV2 Cherry MX Black
Software	Windows 10 Pro N

System Name	WS#1337
Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X3D
Motherboard	ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling	Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory	4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage	ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case	ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s)	ALC1220
Power Supply	SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse	Logitech G603
Keyboard	Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD	Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software	Windows 11, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

System Name	Party On
Processor	Xeon w 3520
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty
Cooling	Big tower thing
Memory	6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s)	HD 7970
Case	a plank of wood
Audio Device(s)	seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply	Corsair
Mouse	cheap
Keyboard	under going restoration

System Name	Personal Rig
Processor	Intel i5 3570K
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12P Push/Pull
Memory	8GB 1600Mhz Vengeance
Video Card(s)	Intel HD4000
Storage	Seagate 1TB & 180GB Intel 330
Display(s)	AOC I2360P
Case	Enermax Vostok
Audio Device(s)	Onboard realtek
Power Supply	Corsair TX650
Mouse	Microsoft OEM 2.0
Keyboard	Logitech Internet Pro White
Software	Legal ;)
Benchmark Scores	Very big

System Name	Ryzen/Laptop/htpc
Processor	R9 3900X/i7 6700HQ/i7 2600
Motherboard	AsRock X470 Taichi/Acer/ Gigabyte H77M
Cooling	Corsair H115i pro with 2 Noctua NF-A14 chromax/OEM/Noctua NH-L12i
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z 32GB @3200/16GB DDR4 2666 HyperX impact/24GB
Video Card(s)	TUL Red Dragon Vega 56/Intel HD 530 - GTX 950m/ 970 GTX
Storage	970pro NVMe 512GB,Samsung 860evo 1TB, 3x4TB WD gold/Transcend 830s, 1TB Toshiba/Adata 256GB + 1TB WD
Display(s)	Philips FTV 32 inch + Dell 2407WFP-HC/OEM/Sony KDL-42W828B
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Luxe/Acer Barebone/Enermax
Audio Device(s)	SoundBlasterX AE-5 (Dell A525)(HyperX Cloud Alpha)/mojo/soundblaster xfi gamer
Power Supply	Seasonic focus+ 850 platinum (SSR-850PX)/165 Watt power brick/Enermax 650W
Mouse	G502 Hero/M705 Marathon/G305 Hero Lightspeed
Keyboard	G19/oem/Steelseries Apex 300
Software	Win10 pro 64bit

System Name	Lynni PS \ Lenowo TwinkPad L14 G2
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Raphael (Waiting on 9800X3D) \ i5-1135G7 Tiger Lake-U
Motherboard	ASRock B650M PG Riptide Bios v. 3.10 AMD AGESA 1.2.0.2a \ Lenowo BDPLANAR Bios 1.68
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black (Only middle fan) \ Lenowo C-267C-2
Memory	G.Skill Flare X5 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHZ CL36-36-36-96 AMD EXPO \ Willk Elektronik 2x16GB 2666MHZ CL17
Video Card(s)	Asus GeForce RTX™ 4070 Dual OC (Waiting on RX 8800 XT) \| Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
Storage	Gigabyte M30 1TB\|Sabrent Rocket 2TB\| HDD: 10TB\|1TB \ WD RED SN700 1TB
Display(s)	KTC M27T20S 1440p@165Hz \| LG 48CX OLED 4K HDR \| Innolux 14" 1080p
Case	Asus Prime AP201 White Mesh \| Lenowo L14 G2 chassis
Audio Device(s)	Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W Goldie \| 65W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeedy Wireless \| Lenowo TouchPad & Logitech G305
Keyboard	Ducky One 3 Daybreak Fullsize \| L14 G2 UK Lumi
Software	Win11 IoT Enterprise 24H2 UK \| Win11 IoT Enterprise LTSC 24H2 UK / Arch (Fan)
Benchmark Scores	3DMARK: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/89434432? GPU-Z: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/v3zbr

System Name	Quantumville™
Processor	Intel Core i7-2700K @ 4GHz
Motherboard	Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Cooling	Noctua NH-D14
Memory	16GB (2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance Black DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz)
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro 256GB \| WD Black 4TB \| WD Blue 6TB
Display(s)	ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQR (4K, 144Hz, G-SYNC compatible) \| Asus MG28UQ (4K, 60Hz, FreeSync compatible)
Case	Cooler Master HAF 922
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty PCIe
Power Supply	Corsair AX1600i
Mouse	Microsoft Intellimouse Pro - Black Shadow
Keyboard	Yes
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X @ PBO +200 -20CO
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 50, EKWB Vector TUF
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF OC 10GB
Storage	3.3TB of SSDs + 3TB USB3.0 HDDs
Display(s)	27" 4K120 IPS + 32" 4K60 IPS + 24" 1080p60
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless / Corsair HS35
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518 + Asus ROG Strix Edge Nordic
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis

Processor	Intel Core i9 11900KF @ -.080mV PL max @220w
Motherboard	MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK
Cooling	DeepCool LS520SE Liquid + 3 Phanteks 140mm case fans
Memory	32GB (4 x 8GB SR) Patriot Viper Steel Bdie @ 3600Mhz CL14 1.45v Gear 1
Video Card(s)	Asus Dual RTX 4070 OC + 8% PL
Storage	WD Blue SN550 1TB M.2 NVME//Crucial MX500 500GB SSD (OS)
Display(s)	AOC Q2781PQ 27 inch Ultra Slim 2560 x 1440 IPS
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Windowed - Gunmetal
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek ALC1200/SPDIF to Sony AVR @ 5.1
Power Supply	Seasonic CORE GM650w Gold Semi modular
Software	Win 11 Home x64

Processor	Core i9-9900k
Motherboard	ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6
Cooling	All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax ETS-T50 Black CPU cooler
Memory	32GB (2x16) Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX 4070 Ti Super OC 16GB
Storage	1x 1TB MX500 (OS); 2x 6TB WD Black; 1x 2TB MX500; 1x 1TB BX500 SSD; 1x 6TB WD Blue storage (eSATA)
Display(s)	Infievo 27" 165Hz @ 2560 x 1440
Case	Fractal Design Define R4 Black -windowed
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-1000 Gold
Mouse	Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard	Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)

Processor	Ryzen 5600X
Motherboard	MSI A520
Cooling	Thermalright ARO-M14 orange
Memory	2x 8GB 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 3050 (ROG Strix Bios)
Storage	SATA SSD
Display(s)	UltraHD TV
Case	Sharkoon AM5 Window red
Audio Device(s)	Headset
Power Supply	beQuiet 400W
Mouse	Mountain Makalu 67
Keyboard	MS Sidewinder X4
Software	Windows, Vivaldi, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Games, etc.