Flash Sapphire 5850 Toxic BIOS on Sapphire 5850 1GB?

[20mmrain]

Question is..... can you flash the new Sapphire 5850 Toxic BIOS on a Sapphire 5850 1GB Version.

The 1 GB version that I am talking about is the non Reference Sapphire 5850. If you look at the two cards the PCB's and almost everything seems to match. Do you think it is safe to do. From what I understand the two cards are almost the same except for the clocks and the cooler. Here is a pic of the two cards that I am talking about..... as you can see they are both non reference.

If you look at the two cards at New egg and anywhere else online it seems that the back of the PCB is Identical. Has Anyone done this or could anyone give me some advice.

Thanks

BTW the new BIOS version is listed here in case someone needs it.....

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/downloads/download_index_01.aspx?psn=0006

 

[20mmrain]

I will also like to add that it states this by Sapphire....

" ONLY for P/N : 288-3E140-T00SA , 288-3E140-T00KC. Other P/N cannot flash. The new bios only open the Options to adjust the core clock up to 1000 Mhz and memory clock up to 1300 Mhz in Catalyst Control Center. "

Which I am not sure if this is just your standard warning saying tht other video cards should not download this...... Because sapphire doesn't want everyone to have this capability.

Or

Is this maybe because Sapphire put a line of code in there that won't allow you to put this on the other version of the Sapphire 5850.

Again has anyone tried????

 

[mrsemi]

I don't know the answer but your suspicion could be spot on. Don't think I'd risk it.

I've got a vapor - x I might have the same question about though, same cooler as the toxic right? It has run hot since I bought it though so thanks for the reminder, gonna yank it now and re-apply the paste.

If you gamble it, obviously post results.

Btw that link is broken, did you mean there's a link to the original bios or did they update something?

One more thing, here's links to the vapor x board and heatsink if it's helpful.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa285/TemperVale/IMG_0632.jpg
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa285/TemperVale/IMG_0630.jpg

 

[20mmrain]

Yeah for sure if I do gamble with it..... I will post the results. But I probably won't just because of the cost involved.
I will repost the link when I get home tonight from work.

But thanks for the pics and the response. The rear pics might help allot with this question.

But that is right the Vapor X is as another card that I believe is using the same PCB as the other two posted above.

I can't believe know one in this place tried it. Come on we have people flashing 5870's here with 4870 BIOS's for Christ sake LOL (I know that was an accident.)

 

[LouCi4er]

Hi guys,i am new in this forum.20mmrain i have this card

.


I think that is same as yours.I flashed my card with the MSI bios and everything is working perfect.The only problem with the non-reference cards is that you can't set the voltage with software.The only way is the pencil mod.If you flash the toxic bios just tell me too.I think that the toxic,vaporX your card and mine have the same PCB.

 

[Aioras]

So you can´t modify any volts even with the new bios? I own your same card and I´m not sure if replacing the current bios with the MSI will work because is a non reference pcb.

I need help :S

 

[slyfox2151]

im fairly certain flashing the bios wont let you change the voltage as it wont have the right chip on the PCB. its a hardware limitation not software as far as i know.


if you have a spare video card and 2 slots in your motherboard you can always reflash it to the old/backup bios you created before you flashed the card.

 

[Aioras]

Even if the new bios uses another default volts? At least my card does 880/1200 without the volt mods so....

 

[20mmrain]

Yeah I don't want to flash so that I can volt mod.... I just want to get past the CCC limit. So is there still anyone out there who has done this yet. I am not bold enough to try it first. LOL

But think about it.... If I can achieve a score of 850core and even stay with 1125 Mem that is still a huge increase.

 

[Aioras]

True, at this moment I´m on 880/1175 with no artifacts at all running MSI Kombustor.
This card is wonderfull!

 

[tbar]

Question is..... can you flash the new Sapphire 5850 Toxic BIOS on a Sapphire 5850 1GB Version.

The 1 GB version that I am talking about is the non Reference Sapphire 5850. If you look at the two cards the PCB's and almost everything seems to match. Do you think it is safe to do. From what I understand the two cards are almost the same except for the clocks and the cooler. Here is a pic of the two cards that I am talking about..... as you can see they are both non reference.


If you look at the two cards at New egg and anywhere else online it seems that the back of the PCB is Identical. Has Anyone done this or could anyone give me some advice.

Thanks

BTW the new BIOS version is listed here in case someone needs it.....

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/downloads/download_index_01.aspx?psn=0006

The simple answer from my experience is YES.

I have the 2883E140.000SA vs 2883E140.T00SA and it worked for me. As for any other models I'd be guessing.

My suspicion is it would work on all of the 5850 non-reference models. One thing to remember is mainly what you get with the Toxic BIOS is higher GPU/MEM clock upper limits by default. You can easily change this setting on your own BIOS using BIOS editor RBE v1.25 under the "Additional features" tab "Increase overdrive limit". Underneath the fancy Toxic cover the 5 heatpipe heatsink/fan unit looks the same to me so there shouldn't be any overheating issues. I don't have a Toxic card so I can't verify that the Samsung memory is identical between any of the models. I do know that I get stable video using 925/1225 GPU/MEM settings and can push it to 950/1250 before things start to break. As far as I know that's = or > most reference cards get without adding $$$ on aftermarket gear or exotic mods. Crossfire these with the right processor/memory combo and you get a monster game slayer for < $600.00 US. Badda Boom.

 

[zithe]

I would avoid it in all honesty. Gain 3-4FPS at the res you run or risk killing the card? ><

 

[20mmrain]

I would avoid it in all honesty. Gain 3-4FPS at the res you run or risk killing the card? ><

Yeah I think your right.....the way I look at it right now.... I already have two very powerful vid cards that can play anything out there.

But I also love to overclock... it's in my nature. I am trying to fight the urge

 

[tbar]

I would avoid it in all honesty. Gain 3-4FPS at the res you run or risk killing the card? ><

So where's the risk? Killing the card? It would be a risk if he'd done it without asking if it's safe first. Having been given the answer and then NOT doing it is well...never mind. I don't see how you could possibly harm a non-reference card. Worse case scenario is having to re-flash it. It's not like with a reference card where you could fry it with too high a voltage.

 

[synapz]

hey 20mmrain

i have the same card as you and I tried flashing with the toxic bios.
the flash went alright, but it seems like i can't OC like i did with the stock bios.
with stock bios i got 950/1200 without artifacts in games and msi kombustor.
with tocix bios, i can't even do 900/1150 without artifacts showing up in kombustor... something's up for sure.

oh ya, have u figured out a way to save the stock BIOS? cuz i havent. :\

 

[synapz]

update:

I got it working now, seems like I flashed the wrong TOXIC bios onto my card.
As tbar says: he has an 2883E140.000SA, which he flashed 2883E140.T00SA onto it.
The PN for my card was: 2885E140030SA, so I was supposed to flash it with 2883E140.T30SA, which I didn't do.

So make sure you flash it with the correct TOXIC BIOS ending with 30SA or 00SA, which should be the same as your card's original PN.

My card runs again @ 950/1200 with no artifacts, and Powerplay is working

 

[LouCi4er]

update:

I got it working now, seems like I flashed the wrong TOXIC bios onto my card.
As tbar says: he has an 2883E140.000SA, which he flashed 2883E140.T00SA onto it.
The PN for my card was: 2885E140030SA, so I was supposed to flash it with 2883E140.T30SA, which I didn't do.

So make sure you flash it with the correct TOXIC BIOS ending with 30SA or 00SA, which should be the same as your card's original PN.

My card runs again @ 950/1200 with no artifacts, and Powerplay is working

If you took the original bios with the gpu-z( you can also take it during the flashing with the command "atiflash -s 0 oldbios.rom"),i would to send it to me.Upload with Rapidshare and post the link.I want to see the clocks.Not the Toxic,the original bios that your card has.

 

[Melhisedek]

Did this with the same card (same P/N) but sadly I couldn't overclock more than 765 on the core so BIOS couldn't unlock my card :/

So I'm back to using Afterburner which does so that my driver crashes when watching flash :/

 

[Wastedslayer]

Anyone know a painless way to make a flash drive bootable so i can flash my cards?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

it would be cool to get an update on this if possible

 

[FreedomEclipse]

actually I tried this last night - the flash worked n everythin booted up fine. but when it came to testing my stable overclocks in Kombustor it just crashed within 2mins even with the fan cranked up to 90% my old bios was able to sit happily with my overclocks in kombustor for well over 30mins n i didnt even have to manually set the fan or nuthin.

 

[erocker]

actually I tried this last night - the flash worked n everythin booted up fine. but when it came to testing my stable overclocks in Kombustor it just crashed within 2mins even with the fan cranked up to 90% my old bios was able to sit happily with my overclocks in kombustor for well over 30mins n i didnt even have to manually set the fan or nuthin.

That would tell me that the bios doesn't work with this card. I would suggest editing your values in RBE using the original bios.

 

[LouCi4er]

actually I tried this last night - the flash worked n everythin booted up fine. but when it came to testing my stable overclocks in Kombustor it just crashed within 2mins even with the fan cranked up to 90% my old bios was able to sit happily with my overclocks in kombustor for well over 30mins n i didnt even have to manually set the fan or nuthin.

Did you uninstall and reinstall the drivers after the flashing?Because my non-reference Sapphire works perfect 5 months now with the Msi bios.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

That would tell me that the bios doesn't work with this card. I would suggest editing your values in RBE using the original bios.

already gone back to my old bios

Did you uninstall and reinstall the drivers after the flashing?Because my non-reference Sapphire works perfect 5 months now with the Msi bios.

no i didnt, was i was under the impression that it would be fine as a 5850 is a 5850 and use the same drivers as each other reguardless of which OEM brand they are

 

[LouCi4er]

no i didnt, was i was under the impression that it would be fine as a 5850 is a 5850 and use the same drivers as each other reguardless of which OEM brand they are

I think that is important to reinstall the driver.Never mind,now you are with the old bios again.Tell me that,your card is Sapphire,what bios did you flash?