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Extract and Flash GTX 970 and 980 Firmware - Zoson's H2O and AIR Custom BIOS

927K views 6K replies 913 participants last post by  D4YN3X 
#1 ·
Much thanks to Naennon and JoeDirt for making this all possible with Maxwell Bios Tweaker and the patched version of nvflash!
JoeDirt's Thread for updated NVFLASH and MBT

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AIR, and H2O BIOS Release!
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As always, FLASH AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Before you begin
My BIOS's are not magic, if your GPU has limits placed on it by the VRM, we can't get past those yet.
Likewise if you have a low ASIC, your card won't suddenly start performing like a high ASIC card. Generally the gains are between 2 and 4 bins.
I've put the changelogs in each zip. Simply follow the changelog to turn any existing BIOS into NOLIMITS or GameStable.
You'll need to copy the voltage table from one of the existing BIOS's. I'm too lazy to type out all 78 changes.

In each download you'll find:
1. AIR or H2O bios.
2. JoeDirts's 5.206 NVFLASH.
3. Maxwell II BIOS Tweaker v 1.36.
4. The original BIOS used for modification.
H2O BIOS for Reference GTX 980(Nolimits replacement)

EVGA.GTX980SCACX.04G-P4-2983-KR.84.04.31.00.83-H2Ov2.zip 2006k .zip file


Air BIOS for Reference GTX 980(GameStable replacement)

GM204-REFERENCE-EVGA980SCACX20-AIR-31-83.zip 1129k .zip file

Blower version:

EVGA.GTX980SCACX.04G-P4-2983-KR.84.04.31.00.83-AIRv2.zip 2006k .zip file


Air BIOS for EVGA GTX 970's

EVGA.GTX970SSCACX.04G-P4-3975-KR.84.04.36.00.70-AIR.zip 2006k .zip file


EVGA.GTX970FTW.04G-P4-2978-KR.84.04.36.00.71-AIR.zip 2006k .zip file


JoeDirt AMP Omega Extreme GTX 970 BIOS

JoeDirt-ZotacAmpOmega-Extreme-970.zip 136k .zip file


JoeDirt EVGA Classified 980 2F.00.80 BIOS

JoeDirtEVGAClassified980.zip 136k .zip file


1. Extract your own card's bios using nvflash or GPUz.
2. Open the AIR or H2O bios side by side in MBT with your existing bios.
3. Copy all tabs.
4. Flash your card.

Usage Notes/Benching Tips
1. For NOLIMITS bios, set "Power management mode" in the NVCP to "Prefer maximum performance".
2. Although the power limits are increased, the sliders still go to 125%. This is because the default power was also increased.
3. The BIOS still scales to low voltage/clockspeeds when idling, and does not implement the P00,P02 workaround, it actually does voltage scaling correctly.
4. If benching, be sure to set Preferred refresh rate to "Application-Controlled".
5. If benching, remember to set Vertical sync to OFF. Leaving G-SYNC enabled, for example, causes a severe drop in bench scores.
6. There is strong evidence that afterburner may be incorrectly showing 1.275v. Several people, including myself, have measured the actual voltage from the back of the card to be at ~1.31-1.32v.
7. Gamestable final tested for 10 hours by playing borderlands TPS WHILE encoding x264 at the same time using OPENCL extensions.
8. NOLIMITS bios tested bench stable 3dmark firestrike ultra.
9. These BIOS's were tested on 980 SLI 70.5% ASIC and 64% ASIC quality.

NCP81174 VRM datasheet: http://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/NCP81174-D.PDF
It does not appear to be programmable, it doesn't support I2C. That would explain why Kingpin went to a hardmod in order to exceed 1.3v and disable OVP/OCP.

Some of you noticed the Reference cards are getting updates before everything else. Naturally the card I own will get updates before anything else.
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Obviously, the only BIOS i've actually tested is the EVGA/Reference BIOS. The previous NOLIMITS bios did not feature changes to the voltage tables, so again...
Flash at your own risk!


Still with me? Then, GO NUTS!

Flash guide:
1. Unpack both zips to the same folder.
2. Right click "Computer" and to go Manage. Computer Manager opens.
3. Click Device Manager
4. Expand Display Adapters
5. Right click your GTX980/970 and Disable it(all of them if you have more than one).
6. Start -> run -> cmd (must be administrative, or you must have UAC disabled)
7. Navigate to your nvflash folder: cd\folder\path\here\
8. If you are flashing a BIOS intended for your card, simply type:
nvflash BIOSNAME.rom
9. If you need a PCI DeviceID Override, add -6 after nvflash and before your filename.
nvflash -6 BIOSNAME.rom

If you have more than one card and want to flash a specific one:
nvflash --list
Look at the index number (0, 1, 2, 3) and then
nvflash -6 --index <#> BIOSNAME.rom
Images here (Posted by DBEAU 10/22/2014): http://www.overclock.net/t/1517316/extract-and-flash-gtx-970-and-980-firmware-nolimits-and-gamestable/100_50#post_23040140

Power Table Information Posted 10/23/2014

http://www.overclock.net/t/1517316/extract-and-flash-gtx-970-and-980-firmware-nolimits-and-gamestable/150_50#post_23042849

Clock State Information Posted 10/24/2014

http://www.overclock.net/t/1517316/extract-and-flash-gtx-970-and-980-firmware-nolimits-and-gamestable/250_50#post_23049300

Why Disabling Boost is totally unnecessary
 

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#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoson View Post

Can we please, please, please get people to use the test build of GPUz and submit their bios's for the 980?
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/gpu-z-test-build-bios-saving-on-maxwell.205635/

I'm really hoping to get my hands on an EVGA 980 superclocked acx 2.0 bios.

Here is a version of nvflash that works with Maxwell. You need to unload your GPU driver to flash the card. I've done it and it works.
http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/downloads/Utilitaires/nVidia-NVFLASH-Version-5.190.0.1/

Please note, that while KBT seems to open Maxwell 2.0 bios, it does not read or write them correctly, resulting in a certification failure. So at this time we can only flash other official bios from manufacturers, or an update to KBT that makes it read the ranges correctly(this shouldn't be so hard, it seems like just a different offset).
Here is the bios for EVGA acx 1.0 gtx 970:

https://mega.co.nz/#!AJ02SY7C!WQTWg2gyS-QGEak7SE-BLO3QS2gt8ndEZMSBRqOvOWM

COME ON PEOPLE WE NEED EXPERIMENTING!!!

**PUTS ON LAB GOGGLES**
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoson View Post

Can we please, please, please get people to use the test build of GPUz and submit their bios's for the 980?
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/gpu-z-test-build-bios-saving-on-maxwell.205635/

I'm really hoping to get my hands on an EVGA 980 superclocked acx 2.0 bios.

Here is a version of nvflash that works with Maxwell. You need to unload your GPU driver to flash the card. I've done it and it works.
http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/downloads/Utilitaires/nVidia-NVFLASH-Version-5.190.0.1/

Please note, that while KBT seems to open Maxwell 2.0 bios, it does not read or write them correctly, resulting in a certification failure. So at this time we can only flash other official bios from manufacturers, or an update to KBT that makes it read the ranges correctly(this shouldn't be so hard, it seems like just a different offset).
Could you get yours on the thread?
 
#4 ·
The BIOS I'm running is the one on the techpowerup database.
 
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#6 ·
Uninstalling the driver will do it, yes.
 
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#8 ·
jerry.gif
'

Gonna eat my popcorn and wait to see what possible voltages are before I jump into this. My 760 isnt THAT bad....
.....spending 500 on a water cooled 970 is more and more appealing....if easy soft voltmods are coming!
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#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DBEAU View Post

I can't seem to get it working. nvflash keeps telling me "unable to start services".. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I'd really like to figure this out to hopefully raise my TDP limit at least.
You got any of them details?
 
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#13 ·
Are we able to cross flash between vendors? I have the PNY GTX970, but would like the Palit Jetstream bios on my card. They seem to have the same pcb and even the same voltage controller. Here are both bios for the archive. Any help with a crossflash would be great!

When I try to flash I get PCI Subsystems ID Mismatch.

PNYandPalitJetstreamGTX970Bios.zip 269k .zip file
 

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#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by calliusmaximus View Post

Any reference 980 bios should work on any other reference bios ?
So i can flash SC bios to different manufacturers reference card ?
I don't see why not. If anyone posts the BIOS for a Zotac Amp Extreme then I'll know for sure if BIOS swaps will work.
 
#16 ·
As long as the circuit board is the same, you can cross flash bioses.
I bought reference EVGA 980's, no overclock at all, and i'm running the superclock bios listed on techpowerup.
Please guys, don't upload bios here to this thread, use the upload feature built into GPUz.

As far as rebooting safe mode, it was suggested to me as an option on another forum, but I didn't try it myself. Sounds like it doesn't work. When I did my flashes I went into device manager and deleted the display adapter to uninstall the driver completely, flashed, then reinstalled the driver.
 
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#19 ·
A-Ha! I thought PNY had somehow managed to lock the BIOS on my GTX-970 or maybe that was their hope? Anyhow this altered version of GPU-Z allowed me to save the BIOS.

UPdate EDIT: I've used this Test Build to try to upload my BIOS for PNY GTX 970 but it reports that "This BIOS is already in our database. Get lost loser!" Ok, I added the "get lost loser" myself. Thing is, when I look for GTX 970 BIOS, there are 8 listed and none for the PNY card. Maybe it's still under review or something.
 
#20 ·
If you're new to GPU BIOS flashing or just haven't done it for years (like me), heres a Guide To Using NvFlash

Well, it seems the most recent version of Nibitor is very much behind the times, so contrary to the Tom's Hardware Guide, you'll need to use KeplerBiosTweaker or some more recent utility.

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NEVER MIND!

The Tom's Hardware guide is hopelessly outdated. Microsoft doesn't let you create bootable thumb-drives anymore, not even if you use the HP utility it seems. Not work for me. You gotta be running WinXP or older.

New guide needed.
 
#21 ·
Whelp, that was fun.

I used the KeplerBiosTweaker v1.27 to alter the Power Limits in my PNY GTX 970 original BIOS and tried flashing the new BIOS using the nvFlash tool and got the following:

Error Code: 8 BCRT_ERROR_CODE_BODY_FNV_SIGNATURE_MISMATCH

VBIOS Signature Check failed

Error Code: 7 BCRT_ERROR_CODE_BODY_FNV_HASH_MISMATCH

VBIOS image failed certification sanity check.

BCRT Error: Certificate verification failed

ERROR: ERROR:BIOS Cert Verification Error. Update aborted

Looks like we'll have to wait for new versions of BIOS editing tools that work for Maxwell GPUs before we can customize our BIOS?

biggrin.gif
The certification was not only invalid, it was even so far as insane judging from this err msg.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ItsAlive View Post

Are we able to cross flash between vendors? I have the PNY GTX970, but would like the Palit Jetstream bios on my card. They seem to have the same pcb and even the same voltage controller. Here are both bios for the archive. Any help with a crossflash would be great!

When I try to flash I get PCI Subsystems ID Mismatch.

PNYandPalitJetstreamGTX970Bios.zip 269k .zip file
Yep, same here!

The Palit BIOS are very similar to my PNY BIOS but appear to have a higher Power Limit. Couldn't flash them though. Got this message:

WARNING: Firmware image PCI Subsystem ID (1569.13C2)
does not match adapter PCI Subsystem ID (196E.1131)

ERROR: PCI subsystem ID mismatch
 
#23 ·
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTc5ODA

This article explains most of the cert errors you are getting. nVidia is now requiring the signing of vBIOS and Firmwares "... [to protect] fuses and ROM from being written by incorrect or malicious software. There's protections for registers dealing with thermal shutdown and the thermal sensors while with GM20x there's now physical memory access restrictions too." Of course this does not mean that is impossible to modify the files, but it means work to modify the files will take more time to figure out the UEFI signing procedure and ways to bypass them.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by cryptos9099 View Post

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTc5ODA

This article explains most of the cert errors you are getting. nVidia is now requiring the signing of vBIOS and Firmwares "... [to protect] fuses and ROM from being written by incorrect or malicious software. There's protections for registers dealing with thermal shutdown and the thermal sensors while with GM20x there's now physical memory access restrictions too." Of course this does not mean that is impossible to modify the files, but it means work to modify the files will take more time to figure out the UEFI signing procedure and ways to bypass them.
sigh.......not what i wanted to hear.
 
#25 ·
Don't fret, I am sure that people are working hard on figuring out the specifics on the hows and whys. We just have to wait and see if nVidia releases tools to help the open source community as they have a vested interest (the Linux community is a large portion of why Nvflash and KeplerBiosTweaker work in the first place.)
 
#26 ·
I got my original PNY BIOS and the Palit BIOS open in HxD hex editor right now. The two are so very similar but there is a bunch of code near the end of the files that is probably some sort of digital signature.

I'm hoping to fool my PNY card into thinking that it's getting legit PNY bios but with different Power Limits.
I'm probably gonna end up bricking my card.

Update: Oh well, up past bedtime. Still got signature mismatch and hash mismatch error.
 
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