GPU VBIOS

[TonyCarter]

Hopefully a quick one...and I know section 7.9 of the T&Cs states certain things may/will invalidate your warranty...

We reserve the right to suspend the warranty or refuse service if your Case, Motherboard, CPU or BIOS have been replaced without authorisation.
Any tampering, repair or modification by unauthorised personnel voids the warranty.

...but is VBIOS included in that clause?

I ask as I see a new VBIOS to enable Resizable BAR is available from Zotac.

Also would this require a motherboard BIOS update too - which would then of course fall into that clause above

 

[Scott]

I believe manufacture VBios is OK, but any modified VBios would be a huge no-no.

However, it would be best to send PCS themselves a message and ask for clarification. Unfortunately you can sometimes get different answers depending who responds and their interpretation of the query/rules. If you have it in writing that you can do it from a PCS employee, that would cover you from a warranty standpoint.

 

[TonyCarter]

Thanks Scott.

Got it. Ask PCS first, and cover my back

Sounds like it might be worth it for the 'free' performance gain.

 

[TonyCarter]

Mmmm...bit of a catch-22 reply from PCS

Thank you for your email.

I have just checked this information and as far as desktop PC's are concerned, you can update the BIOS and as long as it will not damage the system, warranty will not be void.

All BIOS and vBIOS are done on own risk.

Laptop BIOS is tailored for particular hardware so any BIOS update not done in house voids warranty.

If we can assist you any further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

...think I'll leave it until I've seen other's doing it successfully and reporting huge FPS boosts

 

[SpyderTracks]

Mmmm...bit of a catch-22 reply from PCS


...think I'll leave it until I've seen other's doing it successfully and reporting huge FPS boosts

Flashing a VBIOS is pretty straightforward, just like flashing a BIOS so have to take the same precautions.

But yes, definitely don't do it without PCS oking it. I can't see them having an issue with it though, if it's manufacturer provided.

 

[TonyCarter]

Flashing a VBIOS is pretty straightforward, just like flashing a BIOS so have to take the same precautions.

But yes, definitely don't do it without PCS oking it. I can't see them having an issue with it though, if it's manufacturer provided.

The email I received when I asked is above.

Basically, I've got permission to do it...but can't screw anything up as that would invalidate the warranty.

Seems to be the same dilemma I'd be in if I'd not bothered asking

As I said earlier, will wait a few weeks to see if anyone else has any issues first - no point being a martyr for a couple of extra FPS in a few games 😆

 

[SpyderTracks]

The email I received when I asked is above.

Basically, I've got permission to do it...but can't screw anything up as that would invalidate the warranty.

Seems to be the same dilemma I'd be in if I'd not bothered asking

As I said earlier, will wait a few weeks to see if anyone else has any issues first - no point being a martyr for a couple of extra FPS in a few games 😆

Which card do you have? A lot of modern GPUs actually have 2 VBIOS chips so if a flash fails, you can revert to the other one, so it’s literally impossible to brick the card.

 

[TonyCarter]

Which card do you have? A lot of modern GPUs actually have 2 VBIOS chips so if a flash fails, you can revert to the other one, so it’s literally impossible to brick the card.

It's the basic Zotac RTX3070 Twin Edge - and their support pages/downloads are a bit useless. They actually state "ZOTAC generally does not make available VBIOS files for end user downloads" on their support pages - right next to the offering of a VBIOS update for the RTX3070.

However, reading elsewhere (as the owner manual, tech specs, install guide, brochure certainly doesn't mention it) it doesn't offer dual-bios or RGB.

Although I believe my motherboard also has a 'safety' too (BIOS Flashback™).

 

[SpyderTracks]

It's the basic Zotac RTX3070 Twin Edge - and their support pages/downloads are a bit useless. They actually state "ZOTAC generally does not make available VBIOS files for end user downloads" on their support pages - right next to the offering of a VBIOS update for the RTX3070.

However, reading elsewhere (as the owner manual, tech specs, install guide, brochure certainly doesn't mention it) it doesn't offer dual-bios or RGB.

Although I believe my motherboard also has a 'safety' too (BIOS Flashback™).

BIOS Flashback is a dedicated USB port that you can directly flash a BIOS image should the board become unbootable, I believe, so should have you covered in the worst case scenario.

You would need to have the latest Resizeable Bar BIOS for your motherboard as well for the GPU to boot.

Some dude has done a video for it (for the 3080 but will be the same process across all their cards):

 

[Kickim]

Hopefully a quick one...and I know section 7.9 of the T&Cs states certain things may/will invalidate your warranty...


...but is VBIOS included in that clause?

I ask as I see a new VBIOS to enable Resizable BAR is available from Zotac.

Also would this require a motherboard BIOS update too - which would then of course fall into that clause above

I actually forgot about the vbios. Probably my zotac(which will be replaced tomorrow) was having issues. Maybe I should have tried to update the VBIOS

 

[TonyCarter]

I think I'm going to leave mine for now, as I've got a very stable system which is performing well.

Really don't see the point in risking damage to something (with no warranty) or bringing in potential instabilities for a few FPS in some games (and losing a few in others from what I can see on Gamers Nexus - even on supposed white-listed titles).

I'll give it a couple of months to see how it pans out and then see if it's worth it.

Thanks all

 

[SpyderTracks]

I think I'm going to leave mine for now, as I've got a very stable system which is performing well.

Really don't see the point in risking damage to something (with no warranty) or bringing in potential instabilities for a few FPS in some games (and losing a few in others from what I can see on Gamers Nexus - even on supposed white-listed titles).

I'll give it a couple of months to see how it pans out and then see if it's worth it.

Thanks all

That's a good plan, let the masses apply it first and work out any issues there may be or if it's even worth it in the first place.

 

[Ash_]

Damnnnnnn, i was still under the impression that flashing the bios could brick the card. I may have to look into it.

 

[TonyCarter]

Well, I think I've waited enough for things to calm down, so have recently updated lots of things - one at a time, with a couple of hours between each to run some benchmarking and games to stress the system a little and plugging in/out various USB devices!

1. Ran Windows Update until there were no updates/options updates available
2. Update ASUS chipset to 3.08.17.735
3. Checked RTX3080Ti (not a PCS supplied GPU) already had Re-BAR support
4. Updated ASUS BIOS from 2812 to 4021
5. Reset OHCP to auto so that I get my 3597mhz RAM instead of 2133mhz
6. Set CPU clocks to auto (strangely the default seems to force all cores to 4300)
7. Now have ROG boot logo

Everything seems to be working fine after a day, and even got a a little performance boost from enabling resizable BAR.