2020/12/25 11:25:43
crisgt19
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 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:
 (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)

 
 
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 .
 
 




I flashed the XC3 bios following the directions onto my card and now the power limiter is capped at 104%. Is that correct?
2020/12/25 12:09:02
arestavo
crisgt19
 
I flashed the XC3 bios following the directions onto my card and now the power limiter is capped at 104%. Is that correct?



From what I wrote:
"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."
 
Yes, that is correct.
2020/12/25 12:10:22
crisgt19
I see. Thanks!
2020/12/26 01:29:21
cerealkeller
I check back a couple times a week or so to see if there has been any progress made.  Sad to see we're still in limbo.  I really feel like I got ripped off with some other cards being able to run basically unlimited power draw.
2020/12/26 08:11:45
zig11727
cerealkeller
I check back a couple times a week or so to see if there has been any progress made.  Sad to see we're still in limbo.  I really feel like I got ripped off with some other cards being able to run basically unlimited power draw.


It's a beta bios 
What cards can run unlimited power draw ?
2020/12/26 10:09:36
Turkeyjive
2012 red lipped China card here, limited to around 415 on 500w bios changed to xc3 bios last night, card now working as originally intended added almost 1000 points to my port royal score. Ekwb Waterblock on preorder, cant wait its getting toasty in my case.
2020/12/26 10:33:18
ckelas
Are we voiding our warranty by flashing this bios bro?
2020/12/26 10:43:39
arestavo
ckelas
Are we voiding our warranty by flashing this bios bro?


The XC3? It's not an unlocked VBIOS like the Kingpin 1000W VBIOS. Somehow it fixes the ratio issue on the card so that the PCIE slot draws less wattage (from 77W at stock down to 66W when overclocked for mine - if that reading is accurate).

With EVGA allowing the flashing of other VBIOSs on the card, there shouldn't be an issue on the 2 VBIOS FTW3 per the warranty page - I'd just leave 1 VBIOS stock on the card: https://www.evga.com/warranty/graphics-cards/

"Unauthorized changes to the BIOS or Firmware on Products that do not have a Multiple BIOS option may cause this warranty to be null and void."

Now, if only EVGA could produce an official fix for the affected cards we wouldn't have to use a workaround VBIOS to fix the ratio issue.
2020/12/26 10:46:11
ckelas
arestavo
ckelas
Are we voiding our warranty by flashing this bios bro?


The XC3? It's not an unlocked VBIOS like the Kingpin 1000W VBIOS. Somehow it fixes the ratio issue on the card so that the PCIE slot draws less wattage (from 77W at stock down to 66W when overclocked for mine - if that reading is accurate).

With EVGA allowing the flashing of other VBIOSs on the card, there shouldn't be an issue on the 2 VBIOS FTW3 per the warranty page - I'd just leave 1 VBIOS stock on the card: https://www.evga.com/warranty/graphics-cards/

"Unauthorized changes to the BIOS or Firmware on Products that do not have a Multiple BIOS option may cause this warranty to be null and void."

Now, if only EVGA could produce an official fix for the affected cards we wouldn't have to use a workaround VBIOS to fix the ratio issue.


Agreed.
And thank you for the reply bro 🙏
2020/12/26 15:12:52
andressergio
crisgt19
 
I flashed the XC3 bios following the directions onto my card and now the power limiter is capped at 104%. Is that correct?




No...should be 105%
 

 
I'm on Stock Air Taiwan Card 2014 and Summer here, I can Game Cyberpunk 2077 and Metro Exodus ALL Ultra on my Acer Predator X34 at 3440x1440, as these cards go down when reach some Watts or Temperature, soon as it touches some of those it goes down to 2040 then mostly back to 2055. If I turn on the AC the it stays ALL the time at 2085. So I really hope that the Hybrid Kit I ordered helps on something as I'm seeing many guys with problems with it, mostly because instructions are bad and moreover the VRM zone has tinny thermalpads and a poor heatsink. 
 
I thinks I've been testing Games more than anyone on these thread and I found the XC3 to be the BEST BIOS to do so and also it's good NOT to use the BOOT LOCK, this will not heat the card so much. I compared with it ON and OFF and by far is more efficient to use BOOST LOCK OFF, again this is for gamming not for Benching.
 
Cheers, Sergio!
 
 

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