Can't Overvolt 5870 Over 1.125v With RBE

my 5870 with you same
(asus 5870)

MakubeX said:

Yo BAGZZlash, any idea of what's going on here?

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Sorry, no.

Are you by chance making sure that you are using the same version of RBE that you used on your friends card? Maybe ensure you are on the same version of RBE and have your friend dump the BIOS from his card using GPU-Z and see if you can flash that one and get the correct results.

I have the same problem with my xfx 5870 xxx cards. I have tried changing the 0x15 0x17 0x18 registers with very limited results. If i changed the 0x15 register voltage from 1.15 to any other voltage it would set the vddci in gpuz to 1.125 also

The only time that i could change the vddc 3d voltage for gpu core was ironically if i used 1.15v on 0x18 register. I have tried with the asus, msi, ati 5870 ref and of course xfx bios all with this same result. 1.15 seems to be the only voltage change that works. xfx must have used their own voltage regulators?

voltage can be changed normaly with msi afterburner and i tried to use the exact voltages that it reported when changing the bios voltages no luck.

has any one else had success changing voltages with these cards?

I read somewhere that xfx cards dont use the ati reference desighn for the pcb, is this true? i got the xxx version hoping to be able to overvolt.

Same here. Got myself a standard Asus HD5870 and tested clocks/vgpu with MSI Afterburner. Once I got my desired settings together I wanted to flash the card accordingly. Sadly without any success. GPU/RAM clocks are set correctly but vGPU stays at 1,125V under load.

Same problem here...

Saphire 5870 reference design. With modded Saphire, ASUS, ATI BIOS it's stuck at 1.125v (which is lower than what it idles at on unmodified BIOS. With unmodded bios it's 1.675 @ load, a value which isn't in any of the GPU registers either btw)

Wtf !?

Btw, OP, did you try to flash the BIOS you modified on your friends pc? As in have him send it to you or so, perhaps RBE is going nuts on some systems¿ *edit* Nvm that, modded a few on a 10 year old XP system, so it's not a misbehaviour of RBE on whatever platform. Just some cards looking in non standard places??

Was planning on putting my gpu overvolt in BIOS as it's not 100% stable at default clocks without upping GPU voltage (yeah dodgy first samples huh....) Back to afterburner for the time being :'(



Furmark is running there, just dragged out of the way. Idle volt is 1.065

*edit 37*

If I don't change GPU registers at all, and just powerplay OC my 3D mode voltage, it goes to 1.5v on idle, load, everything, and not to whatever I set it to.

It is a very early reference design card, are they different to more recent cards??? (a whole day of searching found me the better part of a dozen people with exactly the same issue.) VMem overvolting or changing clock settings is working just fine. But GPU overvolting is completely broken, whatever you touch.

*edit 719*

Apparantly most cards ship at 1.1675v 3D, but some "cherry" ones at 1.125v. Perhaps those look in another place in the BIOS for this value? Or they are hardlocked to this (which would suck )

There are multiple sources for the apparent lack of "hard" programming via the video BIOS (using RBE). Here are two sources I would research first:

Does PowerPlay actually adjust V_GPU during state changes? Is 0x18 the correct location?
I'm unsure whether RBE has a database of cards with the appropriate register locations (15, 16, 17, 18h). Likewise I would compare an Afterburner I2C state dump to a RivaTuner /ri.
Also, AMD okays video BIOSes and has (at least) broken MSI's video BIOSes in their latest cards--listed as worked-around by the MSI SB/RT developer in MSI AB 1.51.

Check the physical power-up voltages. However, assuming the card uses a Volterra power controller, it might be difficult since their datasheets aren't commonly available.
Here's an example of why you would want to look for 1.675V at the controller: The MSI 5770 Hawk powers-up to its third voltage register before using its fourth voltage register thereafter. That is, once communications is started, new voltage values are sent to its power controller for it to use instead of the power-up defaults. However, if there was an issue with communication with the power controller or similiar, the card could get stuck at its boot register values of 3rd (1.289V) or 4th (1.582V).

Registered to say I'm having exactly the same problem.

Reference Sapphire HD5870, bought in first week of Australian release. Using MSI Afterburner I'm able to view and change the load core voltage to whatever I wish (confirmed in GPU-Z). I am, however, unable to flash any custom BIOS with changed voltage settings - no matter what I set the 0x18 register to, GPU-Z shows load voltage as 1.125.

I've tried flashing multiple different BIOSes to my card, and uninstalling/DriverSweeper/reinstalling CCC after each change, but it seems no matter what I do I'm stuck with 1.125 unless I use Afterburner - which needless to say is not an optimum solution.

Hey guys, sry to hear you are having issues...


I have had no issues adjusting volts and CCC max using RBE.

But i've been using a different bios, most likely.

I've included it here in my post, as well as 2 edited bioses...


maxCCC will not adjust voltages, but will raise CCC max to 1200/1500. Stock clocks are 900/1250.

CCCedit increases voltages to 1.225, as well as increases the max in CCC to 1200/1500.

900/1250 is the stock bios.

Make sure to flash using "atiflash -f -p 0 wwwwwww.www"


I am currently running the 900/1250 with CCC @ 1200/1500, with no volt increases, @ 925/1275, on a XFX XXX 5870.

cadaveca said:

Hey guys, sry to hear you are having issues...


I have had no issues adjusting volts and CCC max using RBE.

But i've been using a different bios, most likely.

I've included it here in my post, as well as 2 edited bioses...


maxCCC will not adjust voltages, but will raise CCC max to 1200/1500. Stock clocks are 900/1250.

CCCedit increases voltages to 1.225, as well as increases the max in CCC to 1200/1500.

900/1250 is the stock bios.

Make sure to flash using "atiflash -f -p 0 wwwwwww.www"


I am currently running the 900/1250 with CCC @ 1200/1500, with no volt increases, @ 925/1275, on a XFX XXX 5870.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35152&stc=1&d=1272209782

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Thanks for trying to help, but unlocking CCC is not the problem - flashing a BIOS with a custom core voltage is. I've tried multiple different BIOS versions without success - uninstalling all ATi software, running DriverSweeper, flashing to your "cccedit" BIOS file and then re-installing CCC (10.4a) does not help - as with custom BIOSes created from the reference Sapphire, load 3D voltage is still stuck at 1.125V, although MSI Afterburner is still able to change voltage.

huh...interesting..my cards are reference as well...

CCC unlock isn't the point..one of the bioses had increased voltage, and works perfectly...spent all day yesterday gaming with it.

So i think the base bios is the culprit...the bios I have used is the most recent for reference cards.

If it doesn't work(I had the same issues as you before), and you are changing clocks as well, then I'd think it's the clock change causing the issues...I've not modified clocks, just CCC max, and volts.

I ya like, I ca flash back to that bios, and show increased volts...in the end, I found the clock in crease the extra volts offered, only minimally impacted performance, so I went back to stock volts.

cadaveca said:

CCC unlock isn't the point..one of the bioses had increased voltage, and works perfectly...spent all day yesterday gaming with it.

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I realise, thankyou for posting it - but as I said,

SoulsCollective said:

...uninstalling all ATi software, running DriverSweeper, flashing to your "cccedit" BIOS file and then re-installing CCC (10.4a) does not help - as with custom BIOSes created from the reference Sapphire, load 3D voltage is still stuck at 1.125V

Click to expand...

cadaveca said:

So i think the base bios is the culprit...the bios I have used is the most recent for reference cards.

If it doesn't work(I had the same issues as you before), and you are changing clocks as well, then I'd think it's the clock change causing the issues...I've not modified clocks, just CCC max, and volts.

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I don't think so - as you can see, others are having the same issue with a card from a different manufacturer - and I've flashed not only your above linked BIOS with increased voltages, but I've also tried flashing edited versions of all the reference 5870 BIOS files listed on TPU without luck. RBE simply seems incapable of changing the load voltage on my card, although Afterburner has no trouble doing so. I've tried changing just one thing at a time, but again, no luck - no matter what I change the 0x18 register to, and even if that is the only change made, the load voltage does not increase. The only way to increase core load voltage that I have found is via MSI Afterburner, and this is obviously not ideal.

That's really odd. And no kidding, not ideal!

My cards came with a 1.174v bios, and from the sounds of things, you got 1.162?

So those cards are the ones affected?

Misterpro here has 1.25v default?


WTH?

I wonder if Afterburner is actually raising the volts...

I've noticed that the actual clock profiling within the bios is very different on some cards...check out an XFX bios, then Sapphire, and ASUS, and you'll find they use different positions for 3D clocks...

Working bios is using "clock info 3" for 3D clocks, while ASUS has 400/900 in this position, there is something definately weird with these bioses. The only ones that work for me are ones using "Clockinfo3" as 3D clocks.

My card has 1.15v and 850/1200 in clock info 1. It's also stable @ that clocks and volts...but only is I use those infos in "clockinfo3" area


Maybe some cards are using a different controller...

cadaveca said:

My cards came with a 1.174v bios, and from the sounds of things, you got 1.162?

So those cards are the ones affected?

Misterpro here has 1.25v default?

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My card is the Sapphire "Game edition" reference card. From the BIOS it shipped with, and also the latest BIOS hosted here, the GPU registers are 0x15=1.15, 0x16=0.95, 0x17=1.0625, and 0x18=1.175. This results in, according to GPU-Z, a low idle 2D voltage of 0.95, dual-screen/idle of 1.0625, and load of 1.125 (note load is lower than referenced in 0x18 register).

I wonder if Afterburner is actually raising the volts...

Click to expand...

According to GPU-Z it is. And when raising with Afterburner I can see temps increasing on all relevant components, as well as being stable at higher clock speeds at which my machine will GraySOD/driver recover when at stock volts.

Maybe some cards are using a different controller...

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Possible - however Afterburner, which is only good for reference cards (or MSI customs, but that's not really relevant here) has no problems. I'm more inclined to think that these cards are somehow looking in a different place for the 3D load voltage, which Afterburner understands and can interpret but RBE cannot.

SoulsCollective said:

and load of 1.125 (note load is lower than referenced in 0x18 register).

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I'm more inclined to think that these cards are somehow looking in a different place for the 3D load voltage, which Afterburner understands and can interpret but RBE cannot.

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Yeah, something is whacked there. Like I mentioned before, only adjusting volts in "Clock info 3" got me anywhere...and from what you say, you are adjusting in "clock info00".

Is that correct?

cadaveca said:

Like I mentioned before, only adjusting volts in "Clock info 3" got me anywhere...and from what you say, you are adjusting in "clock info00".

Is that correct?

Click to expand...

I'm adjusting voltages by editing the registers directly. Typing values directly into the Clock Info fields has done nothing on any of the cards I've used RBE with, not just this particular problem card, (and from the RBE FAQ and scamps' tutorial directly editing values in the Clock Info fields will not work and is not the correct method with 5-series cards), and the drop-down menu only has "---" as an option.

According to the Powerplay settings, though, Clock Info 03 is only used for UVD - which is borne out by the fact that the core and mem clocks set there never become active during regular usage - so I wouldn't expect it to be affecting load 3D voltages.

Just open the bioses I put here in RBE...and see the difference...as you can see in CCC and GPU-Z, once compared with BIOS, for some reason these cards use that "clockinfo03" space for 3D clocks work with volts increases...I don't know why, or WTH is going on, but I do know that bioses that use "clockinfo 00" don't allow volt changes here, but ones with "Clockinfo03" as 3D do.



Maybe this is the cause of the issue, I dunno, nor do I understand why these bioses would be different, when the cards I have are indentical to every other reference card out there...nor do I understand why XFX does it this way when ASUS and others do not.

What I do know is that I've spent all weekend playing with bioses, and now it works for me. Yiou'll see above someone with the same cards, and the same issue. I no longer have this issue.

I also managed to get rid of any other issues I had with the cards too, all done using bios edits.

kinda O/T but...

To the point, my cards are 875/1300 stock, and this is my 3rd pair of cards, but I have had 7 total now, and not one of them worked perfectly @ 1300mhz mem. I'll be dealing with XFX and THAT issue on Monday. I bought cards with 1300mhz mem, that's what I expect. If they cannot deliver, I expect a refund.

cadaveca said:

Just open the bioses I put here in RBE...and see the difference...as you can see in CCC and GPU-Z, once compared with BIOS, for some reason these cards use that "clockinfo03" space for 3D clocks work with volts increases...I don't know why, or WTH is going on, but I do know that bioses that use "clockinfo 00" don't allow volt changes here, but ones with "Clockinfo03" as 3D do.

Click to expand...

I noticed that, yes - and also that your BIOSes reference a 3D load setting which is different from boot settings, whereas on the Sapphire BIOSes the 3D load and boot settings are the same. Still, flashing your BIOS with 3D load referencing Clock Info 03 to my card did not change load voltages, and other Sapphire reference cards using the same BIOS as mine are capable of having load voltages edited by RBE, as a quick Google will tell you.

Then I'd say you are SOL.


I have no reasons as to why...if these bioses don't work for ya.

Interestingly enough, the ASUS and Sapphire bioses do seem to ahve issues with 2D flicker on my cards, so there msut be a different controller or something.

After I deal with XFX tomorrow, I'll pull my cards apart and snap some pics of the area and we'll see if there really is a physical difference...there MUST BE...

But at least, I think dude above wit hthe same card as me should have some luck with these bioses..if not..well...WTH!!!

All this sounds kinda odd. Did any of you guys actually measure (with a multimeter) what the voltages in fact are before/after RBE/Afterburner voltage setup?