This is a guide on how to properly flash your gtx titan to a modded VBIOS. (Fixes throttling & unlocks 100% fan speed.)
 
Tools Needed: (Download, Install, Extract to Desktop.)
#1 GPU-Z v0.6.8 (VBIOS Backup Program.)
#2 NVFlash v5.118 (VBIOS Flashing Program.)
#3 Modded BIOSes (Different Modded VBIOSes for you to choose from. All VBIOSes are based off of Naennon's VBIOS over at Overclock.net)
#4 EVGA Precision X v4.0 (Clock Adjustment, Fan Control, Monitoring, etc.)
 
What should be shown on your desktop:
GPU-Z.0.6.8
Modded VBIOSes folder (Contains Modded VBIOSes for you to choose from. Includes ReadMe.txt file letting you know the differences of each VBIOS.)
nvflash_windows_5.118 folder
Original VBIOSes folder (You will need to create this folder on your desktop. You will want to backup your original vbioses to this folder by using gpu-z's .rom backup feature (circled in red), make sure to backup each vbios for each gpu on the gpu-z gpu list before flashing the new modded VBIOS. (circled in red.))
 
 
 

 
 
 
Flashing Procedure for Single Card Owners:
#1 Open Modded VBIOSes folder and select which BIOS you would like to use (Read the ReadMe.txt to see the differences of each BIOS.) Move whichever BIOS you choose to use into the nvflash_windows_5.118 folder via drag and drop.
#2 Open Command Prompt.
- Windows 7: Press the start button and type "cmd" without quotes into the search feature bar and hit enter.
- Windows 8: Press the Windows Key & X keys togeather and select Command Prompt from the menu.
#3 Type the following commands into the command prompt... "cd desktop\nvflash_windows_5.118" without quotes and hit enter.
- Type "nvflash --protectoff" without quotes and hit enter. (Turns off write protection on the card. Some cards will need to have this disabled before you can flash the card so always perform this command before flashing.)
- Type "nvflash -4 -5 -6 BIOSNAME.rom" without quotes and hit enter. (Replace BIOSNAME.rom with whichever VBIOS you placed into the nvflash_windows_5.118 folder.)
#4 If you get an error stating "Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID <xxxx.xxxx> does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID <xxxx.xxxx>" just ignore the error (this error will cause no harm, it's just letting you know you are changing the subvendor on the card from EVGA to NVIDIA.) and continue on flashing by pressing "Y" to override the error. nvflash should now start to flash your VBIOS to the modded VBIOS and complete by saying the flash was succsessful.
#5 Restart PC. (NVIDIA drivers should automatically detect and install the card, if not, you may need to uninstall the drivers and re-install them.)
#6 Open precision x and check to see if your card has been flashed by checking the power target. (Power target should be able to max out at 150%.)
 
 
Flashing Procedure for Multiple Cards: (Flash one card at a time to prevent issues. DO NOT FLASH ALL CARDS AT THE SAME TIME.)
#1 Open Modded VBIOSes folder and select which BIOS you would like to use (Read the ReadMe.txt to see the differences of each BIOS.) Move whichever BIOS you choose to use into the nvflash_windows_5.118 folder via drag and drop.
#2 Open Command Prompt.
- Windows 7: Press the start button and type "cmd" without quotes into the search feature bar and hit enter.
- Windows 8: Press the Windows Key & X keys togeather and select Command Prompt from the menu.
#3 Type the following commands into the command prompt... "cd desktop\nvflash_windows_5.118" without quotes and hit enter.
- Type "nvflash --index=0 --protectoff" without quotes and hit enter. (Turns off write protection on card #1. Some cards will need to have this disabled before you can flash the card so always perform this command before flashing.)
- Type "nvflash --index=0 -4 -5 -6 BIOSNAME.rom" without quotes and hit enter. (Replace BIOSNAME.rom with whichever VBIOS you placed into the nvflash_windows_5.118 folder. This will flash card #1.)
#4 If you get an error stating "Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID <xxxx.xxxx> does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID <xxxx.xxxx>" just ignore the error (this error will cause no harm, it's just letting you know you are changing the subvendor on the card from EVGA to NVIDIA.) and continue on flashing by pressing "Y" to override the error. nvflash should now start to flash your VBIOS to the modded VBIOS and complete by saying the flash was succsessful.
#5 Restart PC. (NVIDIA drivers should automatically detect and install the card, if not, you may need to uninstall the drivers and re-install them.)
#6 Open precision x and check to see if your card has been flashed by checking the power target. (Power target should be able to max out at 150%.)
#7 Perform steps #2 through #6 until you have succsessfully flashed all cards. Don't forget to change --index=0 to --index=1,2, or 3 to flash cards 2,3, or 4.
 
NOTE: When flashing your card/cards with one of the modded bioses you may notice that the card/cards auto boost to 1202MHz, not all cards can handle 1202MHz and will result in the cards crashing to desktop when running a game/benchmark, to correct this problem simply open evga precision x and set the GPU Clock Offset to -105.
 
Use at your own risk! This can and will VOID your warranty on your card/cards if you forget to flash your original VBIOS back onto the card before sending it back to EVGA for RMA if you ever have a problem. If you have any questions please let me know. Happy flashing!
 

You are the Man!! Thanks for the guide! Sajin, What bios Flash are you using on yours? Will the voltage remain that high or will it Go down while not gaming?

jacob650

You are the Man!! Thanks for the guide! Sajin, What bios Flash are you using on yours? Will the voltage remain that high or will it Go down while not gaming?

Currently using BIOS4 for gaming and BIOS1 for benching. The voltage will go down while not gaming.

This is wonderful information...and from someone like me who hasn't flashed a card bios in SOME time, extremely useful.
 
Thanks bro!

Great work!

Sajin
 
great post full of accurate detail
 
Thanks :)

vitaminx

I thought only physical damage voided your warranty?

Excuse my ignorance, but why would you want to flash the bios on them?  Unlock voltages or what?

Ahh NVM I glanced over it.  Fan speed is locked! This card..  For a 1000$ this thing should come with everything!  No backplate, throttle problems, no 100% fan speed control....  You kidding me?  I bet it even has locked limited voltages haha.  Someone is laughing all the way to the bank with your money on this one!

No your warranty is void the second your flash a new bios that isn't official. If you can reflash your original bios before RMA they can't say no to RMA it though. 

thebski

The fan speed thing is beyond ridiculous. I get that it has to comply with nVidia regulations for noise, but why can't there be a similar unlock fan button like the unlock voltage (for all models, not just Titan). Have a box pop up saying that it could become annoying and you must agree to it and yada yada, but to not give users access to 100% fan is just ridiculous.

This post is absolutely BR worthy, but it won't get one because EVGA will never encourage people to flash their bios' or teach people how to flash their bios'. Guess what ... if basic features (such as no throttling and fan control) were not left out of a $1000 GPU, users would not have to flash their bios. People don't just do it because they hate having a valid warranty ...

 
So very true.  It's actually quite ironic that in an effort (that is, Nvidia believes) to save themselves RMA's by throttling these GPU's they are actually pushing people to modify the BIOS on these cards (which in turn will cause more).  Funny, isn't it?  Actually more sad than funny.

armando666

I have gone through the stages of Denial; this can't be true, to Anger; oh, but, it is true, and why would Nvidia do this, to now, Solution Orientation; not waiting for Nvidia to come out with the drivers to fix this, let's solve this problem through the help of the enthusiast community. And, a big thanks to everyone who has contributed towards this worthy effort.
Latest beta drivers came out recently for what? Primarily for TR ! ..lmao (sarcastically) ..after all this outcry, they bring out the beta and ignore everyone who has bought this card already...lmao
For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out why Nvidia would so amateurishly gimp these cards? They must have known that people would just mod these stock bios, and flash their cards to get rid of the throttle

While I agree with a lot of what you have said, but not everyone has a throttle issue.  I have 2 Titans in SLI and they do not throttle.  These 2 cards were tested individually prior to SLI and putting them on water and they did not throttle.   When issues like these arise it is not something they can fix overnight since not everyone is experiencing it.  
 
With that said, there are still people with modded bios that still have throttling...so it has to be something else.   The only issue I have is that one of my cards only goes to 1.187v when setting the max voltage while my other card goes to the 1.200v max. Of course this means that one card boosts to 1163 with a +140 to the core while the other with the same offset maxes out at 1137.  
 
 

@hawk269 -Well, I guess throttling is in the eye of the beholder, to some extent..lol
Some people are happy with stock clocks, some are pleased with whatever dynamic boost gives them, and yet others are just ecstatic to own a Titan, and consider it a real privilege. What would you call what you described above? One my card only goes to 1187, and one to 1163, no matter what the voltage. I am a purist, and I enjoy benching. This throttling does not jibe well with my OCD...lol, especially after forking out the kind of dough that we have.
I am sure that in games, these cards are great, and I know that they are. But, unfortunately, I don't have time to game as much, and I would not have purchased three cards for gaming, as two would have sufficed for surround resolution. I picked up three cards for benching, and me no happy with gimping.

I have been on 17 different bioses, 14 edited myself, several before finding naennons bios trying to fix my severe throttling.
 
On my stock bios, my SC titan throttled horribly to near stock on several benchmarks, and on parts of far cry 3, despite being on water with backplate, and temps never above 35C.  Not what I paid for.  Editing the power limits on my own bios, was nearly useless, as the card ignored the original buggy bios, hence it ignored the changes.
 
Naennons bios has something different which allows the cards to actually follow the set power limits in the bios, ie his bios works as intended instead of being bugged like most.
 
The card has a hard limit of 300W, beyond that it will throttle no matter what.  Naennons bios set default power at 260W (first throttling point) and max at 300W (no point in setting higher than 300W as that is hard max).  This resolved 90% of my throttling (my card is leaky and power hungry) but most cards it resolved all throttling in normal benchmarks.  I had to alter Naennons default power to 285W to stop all throttling using common 3dmark benchmarks/games on mine.  Now only if go above 285W will I start to get throttling, no sensible 3D benchmark or current game have I seen throttling now.
 
Also I altered the 1398 max boost down to 1202.  But that was unnecessary, the 1398 max boost is ignored anyways since boost table only goes to 1202, but it bothered my OCD.  Interestingly, my stock bios had 1254 for boost limit.  Only other change is I reset base/boost clock to my stock SC settings.

My SC titan is now rock stable at 1202 core boost limit, all I really did was use naennons bios to fix power bug, so the card will actually follow the bios set limits.  
 
But it isnt without issues, although minor, and I have 2 options.
 
Option 1) I can use my edit of naennons bios and card works great, 100% stable in many loops now of several 3dmark benches, and gaming far cry3 etc.., no throttling at all,  only down side is my boost will always be to 1202core in everything with more than 20% load on cpu with 1.21v (any game or 3d bench).  (it is 1.21v that is issue, but that seems to be the default or it is the default with this buggy bios).
 
Option 2) I can use same bios, with P0 and P2 volts changed to 1.87v (or whatever I want), and mhz set to whatever I want.  But to do so, have to always run precision X, and hit default mhz and hit reset apply on voltage, and then have it always running.  Because otherwise the bios setting are IGNORED by the card...not a huge deal, but kinda funny I have to use software to tell the stupid card to follow what I set in bios.
 
Bottom line, nvidia, driver fixes aside, better release a non buggy bios in future that we can flash to.  Though I am now happy with my card...just not the bios.
 
 

Does it matter what manufacturer the card is?
 
Can i use the modded bios' for an ASUS GTX Titan?

Trolololo

Does it matter what manufacturer the card is?

Can i use the modded bios' for an ASUS GTX Titan?

Card manufacturer does not matter.

belgin

gladiator7

belgin- is it possible to link both of your bios here too?

post 4997, im opt33 on ocn
http://www.overclock.net/...lub/4990#post_19547493

I have earlier bioses up, but best one to use is N1187 (link above) that I have been using since I understood how to get around buggy bios, it is option 2 bios which am currently doing.  Very similar to carlhil2 edit of naennons find through same link, along with explanation. 

And like others said, when flashing different vendors, you will get warning, and may or not get audible beep, and you will likely have to reload nvidia drivers.  And get it again when switching back to original vendor....but once on similar vendor usually dont have to reload drivers.

As an aside the percentage loads/watts dont matter, as it turns out.  What matters is the hard limits are 300W and can not be changed.  So setting max watts above 300W, is same as setting max watts at 300W.  The default watts at 260W will keep most cards from throttling...but not my leaky one.  so on mine I set default watts at 280W.   It is those settings that matter, not relative percentage difference.  And most importantly needs to start with Naennos bios, since with his bios at least set power limits are followed (up to 300W max).

Any of Sajins listed bioses will work similar to mine.  The fact that the boost limits in his posted ones are set to 1398 is not relevant, as the boost table is greyed out and maxed at 1202, hence will go to 1202 max.  I only decreased boost limit down to 1202 to satisfy my OCD (and my distrust of these buggy bioses).  His all have def power at 260W, which will keep 95% gpus from throttling during benchmarks and gaming, except very leaky ones like mine, so I increased to 280W.  The max limits set higher than 300W, will be same as hard limit of 300W.  And his have non SC settings, again irrelevant for function, as only number that matters is boost limit, since always active at any significant load.  Again, just my OCD kicked in, I want gpuz to show my irrelevent SC settings.  Sajins have more voltage options with multiple bioses is functional difference you will see as opposed to mine.  And you can kepler mod any of his or mine in 1 minute.

 
Thanks for sharing this. 

Trolololo

Thanks for clarifying that for me guys.

I'm not too familiar with bios modding. 

I went ahead and flashed the BIOS 2 file and my voltages are locked at 1200mv and gpu core is at 175 offset equaling 1201mhz core clock. But only with over-voltage at 35mv in PreX.

Scored around 15000 in 3dmark 11.

Does this sound normal?

Looking good.