Asus vBIOS V3: Everything but perfect PowerPlay

hmm, then it should be cooler Some people reported that the GSOD disappeared with this vBIOS, maybe because of the lower voltage?

 

Probably not. I think the stock vBIOS wasn't compiled 100% Kosher by Asus. Rebuilding it sorted out the fudness.

 

Works great for me, although I do switch to 100/200 everytime I'm off AC line.

 

If you want to unlock overdrive on your own BIOS without using someone's BIOS, you can do so by maxing out your Upper Limit GPU and RAM clocks on RBE, save and reload, then repeat and rinse until you meet your target. The max value for Upper Limit GPU and RAM will always be multiplied by 2 from the current value. So if you're starting on a fresh BIOS, it will look this way:

1. Load your fresh BIOS from RBE the first time and go to Advanced section.
2. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 0 to 1. Save and reload.
3. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 1 to 2. Save and reload.
4. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 2 to 4. Save and reload.
5. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 4 to 8. Save and reload.
6. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 8 to 16. Save and reload.
7. Move the GPU and RAM clock slider from 16 to 32. Save and reload.
.
.
.
x. Finally set the GPU and RAM clock slider to 860 and 1200 respectively.

And don't forget to save and flash properly. Now you've just unlocked and set the settings of Overdrive on your own.

 

Yeah you misunderstood. My mehtod does unlock on your own. You just load the .rom with OverDrive unlocked, nothing else. Then load the default. For some reason when you load your default then, the setting which usually is blank will have a 0 in there that allows you to go straight to 860.

This method saves oodles amount of time and less chance of making a mistake. Saving and editing a bios over and over...

 

Sorry I didn't update my vbios. Last night, I tried the AMD GPU Tool to set my clock to 705/1100. Running about 7 hours of games (yeah, it's fun... playing some dirt 2 tracks, PES 2010 [ofcourse] and Metro 2033 in DX11 with tesselation on, have to lower my setting from Very High to High to be able to enjoy the game), my G73 just run fine. I'm very very happy with it

I had bad experiences with ATI Winflash, so... I am too scared to update it while I'm already having good machine.

Info: I'm using the 209 BIOS and 10.6 mobility catalyst.

Click Here for a guide to directly download your mobility catalyst

I'm thinking of creating a tool to similar to AMD GPU Tool combined with the Power Play function, so it will automatically switch to specific clock speed for playing games, etc

 

I have not found the proper settings yet, even with v3. I am still experiencing GSOD.

 

But if you game on battery does it go back to normal clocks?

 

Do you think i can edit your bios or should i start from scratch?

 

Your modified BIOS Ziddy is the only one who does not give me GSOD's so far. I tried everything to get it crash, no success at all.

I'm running on mobility 10.6 drivers and slight 10mhz overclock. Everything is just blazing. Games run faster, temps are 5-8 celsius lower, and GPU is strangely quiet all the time.

Thanks.

Let's hope that it will not start shatting sod's in 10 days or something.

 

I didn't misunderstood, your method of unlocking overdrive doesn't work 100% that's why you've stated FAIL 1, FAIL 2, and then led you to "for whatever magical reason". I just stated a proper way for others which works 100% with VGA, HDMI, and PowerPlay functioning properly. Save and reloading for at most 12 times isn't really time consuming you know.

And that's really the behavior of RBE without initial Upper Limit configuration. You always start at 0 to 1 and work your way to your target values.

 

It's always better to do it on your own if you know what you're doing. Use Ziddy's if you didn't want to go through that process and save yourself from making a mistake. Though it's easy than you might think.

 

Whell i made a completely custom 280m vbios, but nibitor was much better to work with (radeon vbios editor istn so clear on all these things)...
And i dont have an original g73jh vbios to work with right now since i dont yet have the laptop (gonna order it on monday and should get it this week).. Do you think you could upload one for me?

And why would you have to go through such steps to enable overdrive? Cant you just set the max value and save it?

 

I have just updated the vBios and I have to admit that beside of down clocking memory/core I do not see any improvements - only screen flickers during down/up clocking.

 

And why cant i edit the fan settings? I had that option when i opened the 5870 vbios from the clevo card...
Also i dont quite understand these powerplay clocks structure info 00, 01, 02, 03.. which info is for what exactly?
Nibitor had this done much better - 3d clock, 2d clock and the lowest one was also called something..
Edit: Figured it out, its still weird to me though.
I also cant find the shutdown temperature like in nibitor.. is there even this setting here?

 

Can you test how much more battery life you get in this underclocked state vs the normal clocks?

 

I assume that about 1 hour more

 

Id like a real world test if you can do it please..
Just charge up the battery, set the power plan to high performance, which will keep the clocks at 700/1000 (make sure you have the screen brightness at 100% all the time and that the computer doesnt go to sleep or shuts off hds), and leave the laptop in idle and time how long it will last, than charge to full again and set it to power saver, which will set clocks to 200/500 (again make sure you have the screen brightness at 100% all the time and that the computer doesnt go to sleep or shuts off hds) and again leave it idle and time how long it will last.
Or use the battery test programs that notebookcheck uses...

 

Ok, got a problem- can't figure it out.

I am trying to set profiles. I have one for 200/500, one for 700/1000, and one for 800/1100. The 800 clock will never apply- at best it'll go to 700/1100. I have tested using the tool and it tests as ok, but it won't up the clocks. I can raise them using AMD GPU tool but it won't stick for the profile.

Any ideas why this is occurring?

 

Here's both my stock and overdrive unlocked manually using RBE: RapidShare: 1-CLICK Web hosting - Easy Filehosting

Loading your fresh BIOS at the first time, you always have to go to that process. You only have to do that once.

 

GPU Clock will increase automatically once you are running 3D-enabled programs such as 3D games. In short, GPU clock won't increase if you don't need it.

 

LOL, of course! Thanks for pointing out the obvious (that I missed) for me. Duh moment.

 

This is an easy-to-use guide on how to upgrade ur vbios. However, don't blaim me if anything goes wrong, couse this is how i did it, and it worked for me. If any of the members on this forum can add something to this guide, please feel free to do so ;-), couse I take no credit for this, I simply collected some of the intel I found on these forums/the web.

To the people who still have trouble to upgrade their vbios, here is a simple explanation on how to do so; there are multiple bioses to upgrade from, in this case ill take 2 of em as an example.
*The first and easiest one is the 2.09 biosupgrade from asus itself:

-Go to ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support- and download the BIOS 209 upgrade there, and place it in an easy to remember spot.
-Simply restart your computer, press F2 when the Asus-startup screen comes up( this will open up your bios), than go to the advanced page, there you will see the option "start easy flash" on top. just click it, select the file you just downloaded from the asus website (209 BIOS), and voila !
Ive tested some bios files already, and this one is the most stable one for me (don't know why, couse you can't mod that much in it, but the v3 from here doesn't do the trick for me :s)

*The second one is the V3 you can find on this topic:
-Take a bootable usb-stick, and make it bootable (lol)( for people who don't know how to do so, check this: http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm
WARNING: this will delete your usb-stick content!
-Then download the latest ''atiflash.exe'', and simply copy it to the usb you just made.
-Download the file you find on this topic(the vbiosv3 file) and also put it on the usb.
-Restart your laptop, press f2 (into the bios), go to the boot screen, select your usb-drive-boot. This will take you into a windows 98screen. Type in dir (this will open the DIRectory of your usb-drive), than type: "atiflash -p 0 vbiosv3.rom". atiflash is the action you want to do, the ''0'' is the video card you want to apply it to (on the asus g73 there's only one, so always 0), and the ''vbiosv3.rom'' is the file you got from this forum, so the name could be altered. Press enter, and voila !

I hope this helps, let me know if it works

 

Thanks for uploading it!

 

Not really that obvious. That one also took me by surprise.

 

Just loaded this bios up along with 10.6. 800/1100 works for me but my max temps during mw2 were 85.5 on disp and 100.5 on mem so backed it down to 750/1050 but will have to test different settings to get the temps to my liking.

Just one question, how is powerplay not perfect on this vbios?

@shockie - Nice cliffs notes on doint the flash, wish you did that yesterday, You don't know how many times I was typing in "update.bat" before I realized there was more to it than that.

 

Hrm, actually it looks like it didn't shift up for 3d. ?

 

@gstboy

Could you keep an eye out for those intermittent PSOD flashes to see if the modded vBios fixes it? Thanks.

 

I use Techpowerup's GPU-Z and a 3D game running in window mode. GPU-Z needs to be on focus for the sensors' values to be updated in real-time.

 

Thos PSOD flashes seemed to have gone away and I'm not sure if I did anything to make them disappear or if it's just temporary. I flashed my bios to 209 but was still getting them, then I went to 10.5 and 10.6 and maybe either one of those did the trick but can't remember if it stopped happening in between or before I updated the catalyst drivers. All i know is I don't notice them anymore and this is before I flashed the vbios.

 

I'll give that a try and report back. Thanks.

 

BTW. if i mod and use one of these two bioses (id probably just change the powerplay clocks) will i retain the use of hdmi and vga out or will i loose something?

 

Just want to give tips about modifying your own BIOS...

#1 Changing RAM clock causes the screen to flicker. If you didn't like your screen flickering, make your RAM clock constant (e.g., downclocked 200/1000, normal 700/1000, overclocked 800/1000).

#2 Downclocking RAM clock doesn't increase battery life (not 1 bit).

#3 Undervolting from 1.15 to 1.05 and 9.05 to 9.00 increases your GPU lifespan. If you encountered any problems, I suggest set the voltages back to its original values.

#4 As per RBE's recommendation, it is strongly recommended (see FAQ) to modify a non-pre-modified BIOS from RBE. This is if you can load your original BIOS (not yet modified by RBE before) and then save only once and never modify with RBE again. As you might ask, how can you unlock Overdrive's Upper Limit values without using a pre-modified BIOS, here's how it is done...

#1 Load your original (non-modified BIOS) and follow my instructions in my earlier posts here on how to unlock Overdrive on your original BIOS by which requires multiple reloads and saves to unlock its Overdrive. This BIOS will only be used as reference to unlock Overdrive.

#2 Restart your RBE

#3 Load your RBE-modified BIOS which has Overdrive unlocked.

#4 Without doing anything, load your original (non-modified BIOS)

#5 Go to Additional Features and you'll see you can now freely modify the Overdrive Upper Limit values.

#6 Modify other settings as you see fit

#7 Save

Now you have your own BIOS having modified by RBE only once.

 

It will left your HDMI, VGA, and PowerPlay untouched. Using someone's signature may disable one or another such as HDMI, VGA, etc... That's why I didn't include nor I recommend using any of it.

 

#1&2 is good info, will keep that in mind since i really dont like flickering.

#3 So it drops temperatures - if yes by how much?
But at the same time shouldnt that make the card much more unstable if i try to overclock it (either using overdrive or ati gpu tool) or have you got any good clocks out of it even when undervolted like that?

#4-7 Nice to know you can unlock overdrive doing that! So i can use the two bioses you uploaded to do that? Just open the one with overdrive enabled and than open over it the unmodified one?

Nice, so i can retain all functionality while making sure i am not a gsod victim plus get all the additional features

 

What are you guys using to dump your vBIOS? I've tried GPUz and it says that BIOS reading is not supported on my device. I've also tried RBE/WinFlash and it says they can't detect an ATI GPU.

 

Yes, another good reason to undervolt. Though I'm not sure how much it drops.

Yes. Overclocking needs enough power to be stable. As for me, I didn't change any clocks, just the voltage. I'm already satisfied with ASUS' configuration. I didn't overclock my card yet as 1) I don't need it yet and 2) I want to get as much of its lifespan.

Yes. Try it and you'll see.

You can do it in either of these 2 ways...

1) USB Bootable + Techpowerup's ATIFlash
2) Techpowerup's Winflash

I use #1 for flashing though.

 

#2 is complete bull.

If downclocking and the temperature drops then that can only result in less power consumption.

 

Overclocking memory doesnt impact performance much, but rather a core overclock, so i imagine it also consumes very little power.. so i dont see a point in underclocking it especially if it makes the screen flash.

 

Overclocking your ram speed can increases performance. I'd say 2-3 FPS is huge when we are only look at 30 FPS for example is significant. And for overclockers, they overclock the memory up to 200 clocks, I'd say they do that for a reason, not to just increase heat.

You are so wrong...

Downclocking your memory does increase battery life. This has been proven repeatedly by various people who have been tweaking to extend battery life. Such BS.

You're completely obnoxious... pissing me off.

And your little instructions to open OverDrive is the EXACT SAME INSTRUCTIONS I TOLD YOU... Very lame when you told me that was not the way to do it and had some ridiculous repeatedly loading the bios and increasing the OverDrive little by little.

Hijacking my instructions as if it were yours when they were the exact as I had already wrote. Then uploading your bios unlocked with RBE as if it was done with a different process from my V3.

Thanks for first telling me my instructions were somehow wrong and then hijacking them as if they were different from what I had said before and then uploading your bios as if it was done with a different process from mine.

+ rep for you.

 

I never gained a single fps overclocking memory on my 280m, also the gain in synthetic benchmarks was minimal, but a core overclock would cause a decent rise in fps, but its possible its different with the 5870.. i just made a conclusion from my own expirience...

Well if its your instructions, thank you for them.

 

Yeah for me it worked. But we know that the memory controller on ATi is different than what Nvidia has. So higher clocks will make a difference with the HD5870. But certainly not dramatic. but 2-5 FPS is worth it to you, then it makes a difference

And yes those were my instructions and I did create V3 in one step with RBE. I believe credit should given where it's due. As you've seen with my Bios 209 thread and this one, I always give credit and rep to those who discovered it first.

 

Its always nice to get an answer, even if its just quoting someone, but i do agree you should give credit to those people than...

 

RAM is helpful if you play games on higher resolution. They didn't help much if you play sub-HD games. Didn't like the flicker when plugging/unplugging my G73 due to automatic overclocking done by ATI Overdrive.

Tested it and nothing and even if it did, 1 min of battery life isn't worth the screen flickering. But feel free to prove me wrong. At the end of the day, it's how I tested on my side.

Well that won't help anyone I suppose.

When you're giving an instruction, you don't tell people for magical reasons. You have to give them facts. Your instruction is good enough, though what I don't recommend from it is using signature which may or may not disable other features. I just provided another option which can be done 100% without fail and not using any signature loading from someone's BIOS which may affect VGA, HDMI, etc not working.

And by the way, I don't claim I was the first to discover what I've found out. Xeven is way ahead of us by discovering on how to unlock Overdrive. He knows how to unlock it but since he didn't provide the instructions, I'm here to show everyone how did I do it properly.

Hellcry asked for it, I just provided it nothing more, nothing less. I provided my BIOS not to be flashed by anyone but can be used as a reference to unlock Overdrive to save them time and not go to the process of reloading/resaving at least 12 times. And yes it is different in a way I did not use signature from other BIOSes. Using signature may corrupt other values that concerns other features (VGA, HDMI, Powerplay).

Are they the same? Only them can tell. Sorry if you felt I hijacked your post. Since I don't want this to drag anymore further I'll stay away from your threads from now on. If you don't like what I've posted earlier, please say so, so that I can delete them at your convenience.

At the end of the day, I'm not here for reps. I've been lurker here already for 1.5 years (27 posts since Sep 2008, can anyone imagine that? ) and it's my turn to help everyone as I could. We're all here to help our fellow G73 owners/soon-to-be owners.

And sorry if I hurt your feelings.

Ziddy has his own instructions which involves signature loading. Mine doesn't have signature which I believe safer and with tips from RBE itself. If you used his instruction, satisfied with it, and it worked well for you, rep him up. But if you used mine, then still rep him up instead since I don't have any use with the so-called Rep Power. Why would I care about rep considering I have a total of 28 posts within 21 months?

 

Noticed this thread on another forum while looking around for any way to raise my fan speed. I am far from technologically literate like you guys but maybe there is something in this post that will help us with our fan speed ? I dunno.
Thanks to all you guys for working to make new vbios' for our G73's.

How to disable Powerplay ATI cards

Quoting form the article:
"I increased the core speed and voltage and applied a slight overclock to the 3dmodes in gpu and memory. I also increased the fan % to 100% from 41%."

Seems he did this with just a new profile edit... ?

 

After few days it started to crash. Again. Back to stock...

 

Whatever, your way is different from mine. Pfft, applause for you. You load unclocked OverDrive bios and then load the default original to unlock in one step. Yep, really different.

Xeven's bios is a ASUS BIOS, which he used from his G73. But you're right, your way is different. Credit should be given where it's given, and it goes to Xeven and Keith. You didn't do anything different from what those two discovered and what I wrote.

 

This vBios is great! Thanks for the hard work on this!!

MSI vBios was the only one I could use, but this one works great, no lockups on WEI and no GSODs using Cat 10.6 after gaming for awhile. And best of all, HDMI SUPPORT!!

Thanks again! I'm staying on this one indefinitely!

So the only downside of this Bios is no Powerplay? And Powerplay didn't work on the original Asus bios either anyway, right?

 

Well PowerPlay works just not 100%. The automatic downclocking is a feature of PowerPlay.

What I did with this vBios, I have PowerPlay set to downclock to 200/500 for battery and when you watch movies/videos.

So take advantage of this. Use ATi Profiles. Choose Battery Mode in PowerPlay, then apply. Then go to Profiles and create one called Idle. You can then set a hot key for this. So for me whenever I press Ctrl+Alt+I it sets PowerPlay to battery mode. And then I create when I have PowerPlay set to Performance.

Hope this helps. But yes this means when you are on battery it will automatically downclock to 200/500 @ .90v now, so enjoy your extra battery life. I don't get 3 hours but it's definitely over 2 hours now with surfing the net, excel/word etc.

 

ziddy123: I saw you on another forum, and I have a quick, but stupid question: how do you put the ASUS G73JH in sleep mode?