customizing ATI g-card BIOS

Post by **bad_brain** » 20 Jan 2009, 15:50

I finally ordered the g-card for my new system (using the onboard one yet), I will use a MSI HD4850 (dual slot with heatpipe cooler).
from the reviews I've read I expect the fan not to be the most silent one because the min. speed is 60% of the max. speed....I've also read that lowering the speed to a min. of 35% reduces the noise a lot but increases the temp only 5 degrees. so there are 2 options to decrease the fan speed:
- by using the Catalyst control center settings, there is a little "hack" which enables you to do this in the user profile XML file
- or by customizing the BIOS of the g-card by using GPU-Z together with RBE (Radeon BIOS Editor) and Winflash

I am planning to use the 2nd option, because the bloated ATI Catalyst Center would always have to reside in RAM and would have to be loaded on startup...and I prefer to enable as less services as possible for max. performance. but the 2nd option also has a negative aspect: the loss of the warranty...

so, has anyone already experience with it or maybe knows another option?

Post by **bad_brain** » 22 Jan 2009, 09:38

alrighty, the g-card arrived today....and as expected it was pretty loud. the card is kinda made especially for overclockers, and that's most likely why the fan runs at such a high speed even when the GPU is cool.
so I took the risk of customizing the g-card BIOS...and it worked fine!

here are the fan settings, first the original one:

and here my customized settings:

I ran FurMark a couple of times to stress the card and the fan speed behaves as it should, the only "problem" I experienced was that the default sound card was set back to the onboard one in the audio settings for some weird reason after flashing the g-card BIOS and rebooting...

but after setting it back to the discrete soundcard all is fine again and I can enjoy my high performance silent system...

that's my card btw, so you see why it's an overkill imo to run the fan at high speed when having such a huge heatpipe cooler:

if other ATI g-card users are interested here's the howto:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/ove ... idcard/154

Post by **pseudo_opcode** » 22 Jan 2009, 10:48

it looks beautiful, how much is the retail of one of these?

Post by **bad_brain** » 22 Jan 2009, 11:27

um, no idea, the "official" price is about 150-160 euro, but I've seen it for prices down to 118 euro in online shops.
the ATI 4850 is maybe the best deal at the moment, and the MSI one additionally offers the best cooling....if you plan to get one watch out, because there are about 5 different versions, and at least 2 or 3 of them have exactly the same name (MSI HD4850 / R4850), make sure to get the dual slot one...the coolers of the single slot ones are not as good and slowing down the fan on those ones is most likely not as easy (in context with keeping a decent GPU temp).

Post by **floodhound2** » 22 Jan 2009, 13:00

Well there is another option. You could use an external fan controller that would basically control the fan.

Take a look at this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ol&x=0&y=0

You could even go as far as replacing the fan with a much quieter one that perhaps offers more CFM/s

Post by **bad_brain** » 22 Jan 2009, 14:28

hm, right floody, I already thought a couple of times already about getting such a fan control panel....but after I finally found fans that are REALLY silent ( http://www.noiseblocker.de/en/produktmeta_luefter.php , the "Multiframe S-Series") I decided that it's not necessary anymore.

I am not too familiar with the features of such panels, are there ones that allow to dynamically adjust the fan speed depending on the temperature? because without this feature it would be pretty uncomfy and even dangerous, just imagine you are in the middle of a game and simply forget to increase the fan speed....

the possibility to set the fan speed depending on the GPU temp is what I really like about the BIOS editor, but of course I would not recommend to anyone to do what I did: to end the warranty of a brand new card that way (I saved the old BIOS but the manufacturer would still notice it because the checksum has changed) .....I am just a little weird when it's about the noise level of my system...

btw, I did a little test by playing 1 hour of "Stalker- Shadow of Chernobyl" on the max. possible settings, CPU temp: 43 degrees Celsius and GPU 52 degrees Celsius, the noise of the g-card increased almost not remarkable...

Still_Learning · Post by **Still_Learning** » 22 Jan 2009, 14:42

What happened? You advised me to underclock my system but here you are overclocking it

Post by **bad_brain** » 22 Jan 2009, 15:01

nope, I only adjusted the fan speed, I haven't touched the clockings...it was all about reducing the noise level. I would never overclock any components of my system...

Still_Learning · Post by **Still_Learning** » 22 Jan 2009, 15:35

Is overclocking your system illegal in your country or something? or do you just really suggest people not to overclock..

Post by **Gogeta70** » 22 Jan 2009, 16:59

No, it's not illegal. When you overclock a hardware component, it voids your warranty because there's a chance it could damage your hardware. Also, it tends to shorten the life of whatever you're overclocking too, but not by a lot.