2020/12/21 19:33:11
arestavo
Dabadger84
I really want to give it a try but I'm genuinely worried about bricking the card...
 
If I were to brick a BIOS, I can just boot up with the BIOS switch in the other position, switch it back to the broken one & reflash, correct?


Yes? It's a 2 VBIOS card. If for some reason you power down the PC during the flash and soft brick the card, flip the VBIOS switch and reboot. Then when in windows, flip the switch (don't reboot yet) and flash the VBIOS. Simple as can be.
 
Now, if you let PX1 flash the wrong MCU update to your card, you might have a problem with the fans/lighting. I recommend using AB and ditching PX1 because of this and a myriad other issues with PX1.
2020/12/21 19:43:18
Dabadger84
arestavo
Dabadger84
I really want to give it a try but I'm genuinely worried about bricking the card...
 
If I were to brick a BIOS, I can just boot up with the BIOS switch in the other position, switch it back to the broken one & reflash, correct?

Yes? It's a 2 VBIOS card. If for some reason you power down the PC during the flash and soft brick the card, flip the VBIOS switch and reboot. Then when in windows, flip the switch (don't reboot yet) and flash the VBIOS. Simple as can be.
 
Now, if you let PX1 flash the wrong MCU update to your card, you might have a problem with the fans/lighting. I recommend using AB and ditching PX1 because of this and a myriad other issues with PX1.



Well I'm trying to do it, whilst using the "patched" ID Mismatch Disabled NVFlash, and it's not working, keeps saying "No NVIDia display adapters found" and I followed a step by step guide I found.
Dunno what the deal is.
2020/12/21 19:58:51
Dabadger84
I got it workin' - assuming it's normal for the power limit readout to be all wonky, seeing "296W" peak draw in Port Royal but I'm actually getting higher & more stable stock clocks, with more "VRel" than "PWR" in PerfCap reason... and the score is about what I used to get stock, little bit higher.
I'm guessing there's no way of actually knowing how much power it's drawing now other than watching the power readout on my backup power? lol
2020/12/21 20:04:07
arestavo
Here's a more complete guide/information that I've gathered:
 
If you have a power limited 3090 FTW3 card like I do (power perfcap shown even at 390W in the Valley benchmark), the XC3 Ultra VBIOS (which I sometimes just refer to as XC3 or XC3 VBIOS) will open up your card. It bugs out the power readings (AB, GPU-Z, etc.), so total power draw isn't accurate - use a kilowatt meter or UPS reading to see the before/after results. You should use Afterburner (which I usually refer to as AB) instead of Precision X1 (which I refer to as PX1) since using the XC3 VBIOS will have PX1 wanting to flash the XC3 firmware to your FTW3 Microcontroller Unit (MCU - the fan controller / RGB controller) - which will likely cause fan / RGB control issues.
 
This VBIOS WILL result in your card producing more heat because your card will be drawing more watts - on air my card got up to 78C at 100% fan speed, but with the hybrid kit it maxed out at 64C.
 
The fans will likely act a bit buggy too - when at 100% fan speed they'll wind down and then ramp back up under load. I got around this by offloading my hybrid kit's radiator fans onto a fan controller.
 
Why do this? Well, my card would usually game at 1920 to 1950Mhz with any VBIOS other than the XC3, and benchmarking would see a max average of 1996Mhz in Port Royal (on a good run). With the XC3 VBIOS, my card's GPU stays at 2100MHz while gaming, and benchmarking can see 2160+MHz in Port Royal. Quite the difference!
 
Of note - this is not an unlocked VBIOS, so it should not void any warranties like the kingpin 1000W "unlocked" VBIOS and because it is a dual VBIOS card. It just changes something on the card so that it doesn't downclock / undervolt itself to near stock levels of performance even with a hefty +200 GPU offset, like my card does. Likely something to do with the fixed voltage level analog controller that EVGA decided to use, and so it lowers my 77W PCIE slot power draw to the 66W (or lower) and likely the same for my VRAM (which is another reason the card will perfcap power).
 
Also of note, the reason for using the XC3 VBIOS instead of some other 2 power pin VBIOS is because the display outputs (HDMI, DP) are the same between the XC3 and FTW3 - and thus will all work.
 
Tools that you will need:
NVFlash (download the October 1st version, otherwise you won't have the nvflash64 executable - you might be able to use nvflash instead, and use "nvflash" instead of "nvflash64" as a command - I've not tested it)
XC3 Ultra VBIOS
MSI Afterburner 
 
1. Reset/remove any GPU/VRAM overclocks in AB (you shouldn't use PX1 for the reason stated in the first paragraph). Close AB completely (right click on the tray icon and choose Close).
2. Open command prompt in administrator mode. Windows key, type CMD, right click on Command Prompt, select Run as Administrator, choose Yes.
3. Navigate to where you unzipped NVflash and put the unzipped XC3 VBIOS. Open the folder and highlight the path bar and copy it (something like C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\nvflash ). Type, without quotes, "CD" a space (for Change Directory), then right click in the command prompt to paste the NVFlash folder. Press the Enter key to change the directory.
4. Backup your current VBIOS for later. Use the following command, without quotes, in command prompt to do so: "nvflash64 -b name.rom" (name can be whatever you want it to be WITHOUT spaces). Don't be alarmed when the screen blanks - that's just the driver being deactivated / reactivated in order for the tool to download the VBIOS.
5. Flash the XC3 Ultra VBIOS. Using the same command prompt window, and still without the quotation marks, type the following command: "nvflash64 -6 EVGA.RTX3090.24576.200902.rom" and press Enter.
6. When prompted, press "y" which will be asked twice.
7. When the process finishes (after some more screen blanking) reboot the PC when prompted to do so.
8. After windows loads again, it will reinstall the graphics driver. I highly recommend one more reboot.
9. Use AB and your benchmark / game of choice to find your new max overclock offsets. VRAM likely won't change, but your GPU offset likely will - and your card will likely be at a higher GPU clock speed than it ever was before even with a hefty overclock.
 
 
To restore your backup VBIOS, simply repeat steps 1 through 5 (skipping 4), and use NAME.rom (whatever you named the file as). Or use any 3090 VBIOS, including the XOC or stock VBIOS, from Techpowerup's database.
 
 
2020/12/21 20:07:04
arestavo
Dabadger84
I got it workin' - assuming it's normal for the power limit readout to be all wonky, seeing "296W" peak draw in Port Royal but I'm actually getting higher & more stable stock clocks, with more "VRel" than "PWR" in PerfCap reason... and the score is about what I used to get stock, little bit higher.
I'm guessing there's no way of actually knowing how much power it's drawing now other than watching the power readout on my backup power? lol


That's what I see for perfcap all the time as well, and yes total power isn't accurate - kilowatt meter or UPS reading is the way to know for sure.
 
Now go find your chip's actual max OC. Mine in 3DMark's Port Royal is 2.2GHz, with a 2122Mhz average clock speed (with Hybrid kit - it was a bit lower on air). https://www.3dmark.com/pr/645547 
2020/12/21 20:25:41
changboy
Wow good score dude and just with that bios, iam impress. I think i will try it after i have put my ek waterblock.
 
I tried flashing a bios but its never working on my system....but i have lsi x8 sas card in pice 3 on my mobo and i think this is the issue for flashing next time i will pull out this card for flashing the bios. 
2020/12/21 20:32:27
slovak_killer
go go go : http://overclockingpin.com/3998/NDA_%20xoc_tools_3998.zip (link was posted on another forum, copying it here)
2020/12/21 20:35:01
arestavo
slovak_killer
go go go : http://overclockingpin.com/3998/NDA_%20xoc_tools_3998.zip


That the unlocked kingpin VBIOS? Just be aware that flashing it will void your warranty.
2020/12/21 20:37:30
arestavo
changboy
Wow good score dude and just with that bios, iam impress. I think i will try it after i have put my ek waterblock.
 
I tried flashing a bios but its never working on my system....but i have lsi x8 sas card in pice 3 on my mobo and i think this is the issue for flashing next time i will pull out this card for flashing the bios. 


My Adaptec 8805 RAID card never gives me issues. The NVFlash tool should only look for and identify the GPU adapter. Make sure that you're using an NVFlash that works for Ampere, and the nvflash64 executable. 
2020/12/21 20:46:46
Dabadger84
I circled all the way back around to putting the original stock OC switch BIOS (which I saved back when I got the card) back on to the card then reflashing it with the eVGA tool - and it did a thingy (ignore the score because my CPU is at stock, as was the GPU, set to Stock Core, -250 vRAM) :
 

 
It still doesn't get anywhere close to 500W in Port Royal though.
 
I would very much like to try out the 520W Kingpin BIOS, but I'll just wait til I have a Kingpin card in hand then give it a try on this card, see if it does anything or use.
 
The XC3 BIOS appeared to be working as you said it would, but either my card has some sick-level coil whine when it's actually pegging at 500W, or something else was making slightly abnormal noises.  Based on how the noise varied with load, I would say it was coil whine, whatever VRM was having to actually carry a full load that wasn't before was going REEEEEEEEEEEEE lol

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