AsRock 9070 XT Taichi BIOS confusion

[iSpeakVeryWell]

Hi,

I see in the BIOS collection that there is 3 different files for the same card, same version and same compilation date and I can't come to find an explanation for it.

1. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274515/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203-2
2. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274344/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203-1
3. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274299/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203

All the theories I have come with seem pretty improbable.

Could some card have corrupted BIOS? Or maybe AsRock have compiled the BIOS and than made copies with different values for different regions?

Now place to the story behind the question and why I bother asking:

I bought an AsRock 9070 XT Taichi a month ago. I've been trying to find the right undervolt amount since then. I started at -60mV and added 10mV every time a game crashed. I was disappointed 4 days ago when I got a crash at -20mV.

Being disappointed, I decided to try the Quiet BIOS out of curiosity. At my surprise, the experience was totally different using Q BIOS. I first noticed that TBP limit was 304W instead of 340W and than I noticed that undervolting is way better using Q BIOS than using P BIOS.

I used a game I know to be sensible to greedy undervolt, Forza Horizon 5 and ran some tests.

Using P BIOS, FH5 run for at least 2h @ -40mV +10% PL (374W), it always crash within 15 minutes if I try -50mV.

Using Q BIOS, FH5 run for at least 2h @ -80mV +10% PL (334W), it always crash within 15 minutes if I set -100mV.

With Q BIOS, I can double the undervolt amount of P BIOS! I've confirmed this using other games too.

Maybe it's because 374W TBP is too high for the card I thought? I tryied -2% PL (333W) on P BIOS, but it didn't change the amount of undervolting the card could handle.

I'm now convinced that my card have a bad P BIOS. I wish I could reach 374W TBP on Q BIOS.

I'm now using Q BIOS daily instead of P BIOS because the card run cooler, quieter, and use less power at the cost of only 1% performance.

Back to the question about the 3 BIOS's, my card P BIOS is the same as #3 I listed above, will I lose my time if I test the other 2? Are they the same? Are they different?

Should I try XFX Mercury or Gigabyte Elite BIOS instead? I'm not convinced it's a good idea to mix brand BIOS's, I've seen conflicting argument about that.

Any thought about this situation is welcome!

 

[Space Lynx]

sometimes in life you just have to be content with stock settings and no tinkering, i know it is not the answer you want, but this is a lesson that took me a long time in life to learn, hope it helps

if stock runs fine and no crashes, just enjoy your games

 

[OolongGoat]

A BIOS is not going to magically net your more performance or otherwise improve your undervolt. It appears your sample missed out on the silicone lottery and needs stock to be stable. Unfortunately it happens.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi,

I see in the BIOS collection that there is 3 different files for the same card, same version and same compilation date and I can't come to find an explanation for it.

1. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274515/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203-2
2. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274344/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203-1
3. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/274299/asrock-rx9070xt-16384-241203

All the theories I have come with seem pretty improbable.

Could some card have corrupted BIOS? Or maybe AsRock have compiled the BIOS and than made copies with different values for different regions?

Now place to the story behind the question and why I bother asking:

I bought an AsRock 9070 XT Taichi a month ago. I've been trying to find the right undervolt amount since then. I started at -60mV and added 10mV every time a game crashed. I was disappointed 4 days ago when I got a crash at -20mV.

Being disappointed, I decided to try the Quiet BIOS out of curiosity. At my surprise, the experience was totally different using Q BIOS. I first noticed that TBP limit was 304W instead of 340W and than I noticed that undervolting is way better using Q BIOS than using P BIOS.

I used a game I know to be sensible to greedy undervolt, Forza Horizon 5 and ran some tests.

Using P BIOS, FH5 run for at least 2h @ -40mV +10% PL (374W), it always crash within 15 minutes if I try -50mV.

Using Q BIOS, FH5 run for at least 2h @ -80mV +10% PL (334W), it always crash within 15 minutes if I set -100mV.

With Q BIOS, I can double the undervolt amount of P BIOS! I've confirmed this using other games too.

Maybe it's because 374W TBP is too high for the card I thought? I tryied -2% PL (333W) on P BIOS, but it didn't change the amount of undervolting the card could handle.

I'm now convinced that my card have a bad P BIOS. I wish I could reach 374W TBP on Q BIOS.

I'm now using Q BIOS daily instead of P BIOS because the card run cooler, quieter, and use less power at the cost of only 1% performance.

Back to the question about the 3 BIOS's, my card P BIOS is the same as #3 I listed above, will I lose my time if I test the other 2? Are they the same? Are they different?

Should I try XFX Mercury or Gigabyte Elite BIOS instead? I'm not convinced it's a good idea to mix brand BIOS's, I've seen conflicting argument about that.

Any thought about this situation is welcome!

Crossflashing with a different card brand will result in a brick, don't waste time doing it.

If you aren't happy with your card, buy another and sell your current one.

 

[iSpeakVeryWell]

sometimes in life you just have to be content with stock settings and no tinkering, i know it is not the answer you want, but this is a lesson that took me a long time in life to learn, hope it helps

if stock runs fine and no crashes, just enjoy your games

Tinkering with stuff is not for everyone and I'm happy that you came to understand it was not for you. It's important to do what we enjoy in life! It's a great lesson indeed! I think I enjoy tinkering with my stuff even more that I enjoy my games! For now!

A BIOS is not going to magically net your more performance or otherwise improve your undervolt. It appears your sample missed out on the silicone lottery and needs stock to be stable. Unfortunately it happens.

I don't totally disagree with you because most of the time cards have great BIOS's. In my case, I see a major difference between Q and P BIOS, which is suspect to me. A BIOS with a voltage table done wrong will impact the card ability to undervolt. Not to say that AsRock have messed up P BIOS, but it's a possibility that I wish to explore.

Crossflashing with a different card brand will result in a brick, don't waste time doing it.

If you aren't happy with your card, buy another and sell your current one.

That's what I feared about CF, thank you for the confirmation! I'm not unhappy with the card. In fact, I really think it's a great card with great potential! This is why I'm ready to push this far! Because I believe it's a good card! I would not go that far with my 6750XT

I'm a very stubborn person, mainly because I enjoy this kind of stuff! I'm going to go down the rabbit hole and see where it lead's me. I'll probably report my findings in case other people having the same card find this thread and want to know if it's worth or not to go down the rabbit hole (probably not).

Now waiting for the CH341A to arrive. I miss the good old days where we could modify and flash a BIOS easily!

Thank you for you inputs guys! It's truly appreciated!

 

[Space Lynx]

Tinkering with stuff is not for everyone and I'm happy that you came to understand it was not for you. It's important to do what we enjoy in life! It's a great lesson indeed! I think I enjoy tinkering with my stuff even more that I enjoy my games! For now!


I don't totally disagree with you because most of the time cards have great BIOS's. In my case, I see a major difference between Q and P BIOS, which is suspect to me. A BIOS with a voltage table done wrong will impact the card ability to undervolt. Not to say that AsRock have messed up P BIOS, but it's a possibility that I wish to explore.


That's what I feared about CF, thank you for the confirmation! I'm not unhappy with the card. In fact, I really think it's a great card with great potential! This is why I'm ready to push this far! Because I believe it's a good card! I would not go that far with my 6750XT

I'm a very stubborn person, mainly because I enjoy this kind of stuff! I'm going to go down the rabbit hole and see where it lead's me. I'll probably report my findings in case other people having the same card find this thread and want to know if it's worth or not to go down the rabbit hole (probably not).

Now waiting for the CH341A to arrive. I miss the good old days where we could modify and flash a BIOS easily!

Thank you for you inputs guys! It's truly appreciated!

ya i did a lot of messing around myself for many years, it was fun for awhile, but I enjoy gaming more so I am glad I grew out of that phase all just to get an extra 10 fps when it doesn't even matter these days

 

[eidairaman1]

Tinkering with stuff is not for everyone and I'm happy that you came to understand it was not for you. It's important to do what we enjoy in life! It's a great lesson indeed! I think I enjoy tinkering with my stuff even more that I enjoy my games! For now!


I don't totally disagree with you because most of the time cards have great BIOS's. In my case, I see a major difference between Q and P BIOS, which is suspect to me. A BIOS with a voltage table done wrong will impact the card ability to undervolt. Not to say that AsRock have messed up P BIOS, but it's a possibility that I wish to explore.


That's what I feared about CF, thank you for the confirmation! I'm not unhappy with the card. In fact, I really think it's a great card with great potential! This is why I'm ready to push this far! Because I believe it's a good card! I would not go that far with my 6750XT

I'm a very stubborn person, mainly because I enjoy this kind of stuff! I'm going to go down the rabbit hole and see where it lead's me. I'll probably report my findings in case other people having the same card find this thread and want to know if it's worth or not to go down the rabbit hole (probably not).

Now waiting for the CH341A to arrive. I miss the good old days where we could modify and flash a BIOS easily!

Thank you for you inputs guys! It's truly appreciated!

If you flash, please use an AsRock Bios only and compare details of each file to your stock bios first

 

[VuurVOS]

Now waiting for the CH341A to arrive. I miss the good old days where we could modify and flash a BIOS easily!

Which version did you order? Not the black pcb version I hope?

 

[iSpeakVeryWell]

I saw this video before I order! I picked a v1.7!

 

[iSpeakVeryWell]

It was not the BIOS

I had a what if moment 3h ago, what if it's a driver problem instead? Had to be sure, so I ran DDU, installed the latest optional drivers and ran some quick tests and now P BIOS have the same undervolting capacity than Q BIOS.

It feels bad, but I'm happy that I had that flash before I went too deep into it!

Also, this misadventure allowed me to discover that this forum is full of good people! Thank you for your support guys!

 

[eidairaman1]

It was not the BIOS

I had a what if moment 3h ago, what if it's a driver problem instead? Had to be sure, so I ran DDU, installed the latest optional drivers and ran some quick tests and now P BIOS have the same undervolting capacity than Q BIOS.

It feels bad, but I'm happy that I had that flash before I went too deep into it!

Also, this misadventure allowed me to discover that this forum is full of good people! Thank you for your support guys!

If you need any other help or have questions you can use this group.

RX 9000 series GPU Owners Club

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