This trick could allow you to upgrade an AMD RX 9070 GPU to be an RX 9070 XT for free, in theory but Id seriously advise against it

Date:
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 15:46:27 +0000

Description:
Can an AMD RX 9070 GPU equal an RX 9070 XT? Yes, it sounds preposterous, but its (kind of) true if these modders are to be believed.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Modders have been supercharging AMDs RX 9070 GPU with a simple trick Theyve been
using the BIOS for the RX 9070 XT with the vanilla GPU While this provides a major performance boost, which in fact makes the RX 9070 about as fast as the XT version, there are huge caveats here

It seems that AMDs RX 9070 graphics cards can be supercharged simply by applying the BIOS for its higher-tier sibling GPU, the RX 9070 XT, based on experiments thatve recently been conducted.

VideoCardz noticed that modders who inhabit the PC Games Hardware forum (a German tech site) have been playing around with installing the XT BIOS in non-XT models of the RX 9070.

Of course, this should not be done in theory. After all, these are two completely different models of graphics cards, and the BIOS for each is designed specifically for that GPU, and is not to be used elsewhere.

Doing this wouldnt work at all in many cases indeed, sometimes GPU owners
are completely blocked from using firmware (another term for BIOS) in this
way but because the RX 9070 vanilla card is quite similar to the RX 9070 XT (in terms of many specs ), and there are no such restrictions in place, this trick can be pulled off. (Although I still wouldnt recommend doing this for reasons Ill come back to).

However, that warning noted, what these modders found with the RX 9070
running an RX 9070 XT BIOS was illuminating, to say the least.

There were reportedly no issues using the XT BIOS in this way at least on
the face of it which essentially applies more power and faster clock speeds to the RX 9070, and the graphics card can apparently still be overclocked on top of this, too.

As VideoCardz notes, the RX 9070 supercharged in this way was about 15% to
20% faster than the GPU normally is with that extra overclocking applied, mind. This means its close to stock RX 9070 XT performance (without any overclocking) when using the BIOS meant for the XT (but then the 9070 XT
could also be overclocked, of course). (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Analysis: Three words dont do it

How can the RX 9070 almost be the equal of its XT spin? Well, I must again underline that the RX 9070 coming close to the 9070 XTs performance in this way is due not just to the use of the BIOS from its beefier sibling, but also due to the GPU being overclocked on top of that .

In short, this is a lot of fudging and pushing the boundaries of flashing a non-intended BIOS version into the RX 9070. Even without the extra overclocking, you may well see a lack of stability from the 9070 GPU trying
to cope with using an XT BIOS, and frankly, I think this is likely though
the odds may depend on how good a chip youve got. (There are variances in the quality of GPUs, which means youll get slightly better results in situations where youre really pushing the chip if youve been lucky and won the so-called silicon lottery).

With overclocking as an additional measure here, augmenting the XT BIOS, Id say thats quite likely to cause glitches. Indeed, some of the modders
involved here reported their PC locking up at times, but they were able to tweak their way around these issues. Its definitely the case that those who arent, at the very least, highly confident in their tech abilities should not be attempting anything like this.

Even if things do appear to be okay to begin with when using this trick
which is the case for some, apparently who's to say whether a future driver update might throw a spanner in the works? Or whether a future game could
have problems with an RX 9070 thats turbocharged in this way.

Longer-term, youll also be running an RX 9070 graphics card consistently well above the power and temperatures its cooling system was designed for. So, especially if its an entry-level board without the greatest cooler, that
could lead to potentially serious problems eventually.

The other point to remember here is that if something does go wrong, either with your initial attempt or at a later date, you could end up with a bricked GPU. And if you think that your warranty will cover the results of an alien BIOS being flashed to your graphics card, well, think again it wont, and youll be out to the tune of a whole lot of cash.

Proceed very much at your own peril, given all this, but its still
interesting to see the results of experiments like this and how fast the RX 9070 can be when powered up in this manner.

If you want to try and get more performance out of your RX 9070 graphics
card, Id suggest simply looking to overclock it (with the correct BIOS for
the GPU). But even then, youll need a sound grasp of technical knowledge to proceed, ideally, because things can still go awry with overclocking. You might also like... Where to buy AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070: the best retailers in the US and UK to check for stock AMD warns its RX 9070 GPUs are strictly UEFI-only but don't panic, here's why this probably doesnt affect you I've reviewed three generations of 3D V-cache processors, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the best there is



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/this-trick-could-allow-you-to-upgrade- an-amd-rx-9070-gpu-to-be-an-rx-9070-xt-for-free-in-theory-but-id-seriously-adv ise-against-it


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