Piospi

vulcZ
 
BIOS 2 sounds perfect! Currently now with stock BIOS some games will cause my card to reach 80c (but never above), and I do notice the card lowers its speeds at that point. I'm not a huge fan of modifying fan profiles through Windows, I'd rather it done at the BIOS level.
 
Going to be trying this BIOS, thanks! Are fan profiles affected at all? Or is the same fan profile from the stock fan kept? I kind of like it because it isn't very loud at all. Though that may be because my card never exceeds 80C.

 
 
Are you able to recommend? Is it safe BIOS? What are the results of your tests? :)
 

Yes I definitely recommend it. Been running it the last few days and I have nothing negative to say. I haven't done much benchmarking, but after some very quick and dirty tests, I can verify that my card runs at a higher turbo frequency ~1400+ a lot more than it used to with the stock BIOS. It's evident by looking at GPUz that the card now has a higher TDP. My temps haven't changed at all in my testing, unless I tried OC Scanner (furmark). Before, my card would get to 80*C and stay there. Now, it gets up to about 83*C, but clock speeds are higher. With the stock BIOS my card would stay under 1200mhz with furmark at 80*C.
 
I have screenshots at home (I'm at work right now), so I'll come back and update this with more information later. But yes, so far I think this is a very good BIOS. Zero complaints from me.

has anyone done this to an SSC yet?
i am constantly hitting the power limit and it limits it to about 1470ish boost and i would like to see it over 1500 if possible

edit: nevermind
did it last night
works fine, makes precision see it as a FTW and use those default clocks
still hitting a wall at 1450 - 1470, peaks at 1520 under light loads

r0ach


Three reasons:
 
#1  Anyone that cares about things like mouse response doesn't install programs like Afterburner, so the slider option shouldn't be available to anyone that's actually seeking optimal gaming performance.  I mean, when's the last time you saw someone running Afterburner in a Counterstrike, DoTA, or League of Legends tournament?  I don't play to lose.
 
#2  My card was pulling up to 196w at default boost speeds of 1400, so setting it to 200w at default power slider is too low of a buffer.
 
#3  Why is it so hard to just *not* increase the power slider if you do install Afterburner?  Even if you do increase it, it's not going to do anything, you can still overclock the same.

Directly referring to your post.

1. Who mentioned afterburner? Let's assume you mean overclocking software I general. If so, then you are saying no overclocking software should be used, or you aren't getting optimal performance. If no software should be used, then you wouldn't have a slider. If there is no slider, then you wouldn't be worried about adjusting it, so therefore you would have reason to mention ever. This makes no sense, again. As you know 95% of people that are looking at this thread have been using precision in an attempt to bump their voltage, your statement makes no sense. How did you try bumping your voltage before? Did you download precision, or afterburner, or the nvidia controller?

2. That makes absolutely no sense. If you aren't using overclocking software, per number 1 above, then you only be running at default, hence you would never pull more than 196w and need no buffer.. So 200w would be perfect, as it would not get there according to what you said. This statement again makes no sense.

3. So why not take the slider away? If increasing the max isn't going to do anything, then reduce it from 115% max to 100%. You don't want people adjusting something that doesn't work, so set it to be at the max and not worry them why there is an option to go higher, when it won't go higher. Heck, they should have any overclocking software, so you tell them to delete that first, according to your post.

There is a lot of contradicting statements in your post.

Also, for anybody that's curious, here are comparison screenshots from the stock FTW BIOS, and the Roach BIOS #2. Notice the difference in clock speeds and TDP, but also temps and fan speed.
 
All "load" tests were conducted in the same identical environment within OC Scanner (furmark).
 
Left = IDLE
Right = LOAD
 
Stock BIOS

 
r0ach BIOS #2

chrcoluk

r0ach

trek554
you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about at this point. even a card working properly  will throttle in various scenarios because that is how they are designed. no one  should ever see stuttering because of that unless the card is defective or there is driver issues. and screen tearing has zero to do with throttling and is only related to vsync.  

 
Seriously are you 10 years old?  I posted actual evidence of GPUZ graphs showing the gpu utilization issues where the EVGA FTW card could not hold 99% gpu utilization in Lichdom while the Gigabyte card could.  The issue was fixed by raising TDP.  If you for some reason think I'm lying about this also causing excess tearing and stutter, the GPU utilization issue is plain as day to see and how it was also fixed by raising TDP.  It's 100% my word vs yours and I actually posted proof and you have 0 proof of anything except childish name calling.  Do you own a Gigabyte 970 and an EVGA 970 to compare the two either like I did?  No? didn't think so.
 
If you're going to tell people "they don't know what they're talking about", you should try to avoid using caveman English with no capitalization, while also starting all of your sentences with "and".
 
 
 

chrcoluk
my FTW gets to 1531mhz during unigine benchmarks and stays pegged there, no stutters, no jumping up and down.

 
So on a website with much more knowledgable people about overclocking than this one, Overclock dot net, people overclocking MSI 970's with a 220w TDP limit were getting throttling at 1500mhz, yet you want me to believe your EVGA card doesn't throttle at 1500mhz with only 187w TDP limit?  I suppose it might be possible, but it would be comparing the worst binned MSI on the planet vs the best binned EVGA on the planet if true, then still probably not likely.  Either that or you're using the wrong game to determine just how much power the card can draw.
 
My EVGA 970 FTW needs 196watts to not throttle at 1400mhz in the most graphically demanding games.  I'm running an EVGA Supernova 1300w PSU with a single 970 GPU card so I'm not exactly straining my PSU here...

I guess i got lucky then, dont shoot the messenger.
 
It doesnt goto 1531 in games, for whatever reason it only hits the rated boost speed in games, but unigine benchmarks it reaches 1531, it is reported on the top right whilst it is running   I watch it during the bench to see if ti moves and it doesnt, it stays on that until I stop the bench.
 
Ok an update both nvidia inspector and evga precision report 1405 during the unigine bench, unigine itself reports 1531, but I dont know where it gets that from.  The 1405 is static tho, its not bouncing up and down plus is above the rated boost speed so I have no reason to complain.

 
Ok so what you are talking about is Heaven 4.0 Unigine, right? Heaven (for whatever reason) gives an inaccurate clock reading; it's definitely not 1531 at stock.

Heaven does the exact same thing to me. It reads 1531Mhz when I run it (but it's actually more like 1367Mhz)

rockketman
I get I/O error: cannot open file whenever i try to flash, looked online with no help. Anyone here can help?

Try making a folder directly in the C:/Drive

Label it nvflash. Put everything from nvflash program in that folder as well as the bios you are trying to flash.

Open the command prompt. Type:
Chdir:\Nvflash <enter>

(this should change c: over to nvflash)

Next type:

Nvflash --protectoff <enter>
Nvflash -4 -5 -6 biosname.rom <enter>

Do not skip the step change directory. See if that helps.

Check your TDP if you can. Save the bios you currently have, and load it into maxwell or Kepler bios tweaker and just make sure your TDP is correct. I am not sure what the bios number would show as in gpuz though.

Did it give any errors while loading?

Also, it may be a good idea to uninstall and reinstall your driver's of possible.

Good deal. If you see stuttering or anything, you can use the save bios button in gpuz and then load it to drop box and send it over to me. I don't tinker with them, but I can look at it at least.

vulcZ

Piospi

vulcZ
 
BIOS 2 sounds perfect! Currently now with stock BIOS some games will cause my card to reach 80c (but never above), and I do notice the card lowers its speeds at that point. I'm not a huge fan of modifying fan profiles through Windows, I'd rather it done at the BIOS level.
 
Going to be trying this BIOS, thanks! Are fan profiles affected at all? Or is the same fan profile from the stock fan kept? I kind of like it because it isn't very loud at all. Though that may be because my card never exceeds 80C.

 
 Dont run furmark, its torture to the gpu
Are you able to recommend? Is it safe BIOS? What are the results of your tests? :)
 

Yes I definitely recommend it. Been running it the last few days and I have nothing negative to say. I haven't done much benchmarking, but after some very quick and dirty tests, I can verify that my card runs at a higher turbo frequency ~1400+ a lot more than it used to with the stock BIOS. It's evident by looking at GPUz that the card now has a higher TDP. My temps haven't changed at all in my testing, unless I tried OC Scanner (furmark). Before, my card would get to 80*C and stay there. Now, it gets up to about 83*C, but clock speeds are higher. With the stock BIOS my card would stay under 1200mhz with furmark at 80*C.
 
I have screenshots at home (I'm at work right now), so I'll come back and update this with more information later. But yes, so far I think this is a very good BIOS. Zero complaints from me.

rajinator12
Hey Scarlet-Tech. I got my GTX 970 FTW last month. Is this fix required? Also is it compatible with my current PSU - EVGA Supernova G2 750w?

That powersupply is definitely sufficient. As far as needing to do anything, you would have to test your card first. There is no way to know how your card will react until tested.

This is interesting stuff. Can anyone tell me if the FTW+ suffers from the same TDP ceiling? Would it benefit from a modded BIOS? I assume the FTW and FTW+ BIOS are not interchangeable.

by the way after running more unigine tests I agree the power throttle is a legit problem.
 
My card is unable to get anywhere near close to 100% utilisation at even the marketed FTW boost speed, as power is at max.
 
However I dont get stuttering and tearing because of it, I just observe the clock speed drops to get the power down.

Ran firestrike with it and by clock still sits at <1400, when GPUZ shows the boostclock is 1500
Also Power % is only around 80

I just got my 970 FTW+s in the mail yesterday from step-up, and I am VERY pleased with them so far.  I have experienced ZERO throttling so far (unlike my FTWs).  For me, it was worth the price to step-up to the FTW+.

Just checking to make sure, I can use this on a 3975KR SSC GTX970?