Making Radeon RX 5700 5700 XT with BIOS update

This article describes how to update the VBIOS of the Radeon RX 5700 GPU with the faster RX 5700 XT BIOS file.

AMD had launched the RX 5700 series, the top-of-the-line video card segment for the time being, in 2019. In this series we see two different video card models, the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT. These GPUs are very close to each other in terms of specifications and have almost the same configuration. We can also see in performance tests that they are relatively close together.

AMD introduced the Radeon RX 5700 XT with a list price of $ 399. With a price tag of $ 349, the brother Radeon RX 5700 is separated from his brother by some technical details and price.

radeon-rx-5700-xt5237189

RX 5700 series features

Both graphics cards come with the same type and amount of 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. In addition, both GPUs are based on the 7nm ‘Navi 10’ silicon. Another common key component between the two is the PCB design with the same voltage controllers. The RX 5700 PCB has fewer VRM phases, but the feature-rich IR controller can automatically detect changes and work with existing phases.

The differences occur in processing units, the number of Stream Processors and clock speeds. The Radeon 5700 XT has 40 processing units and 2.560 Stream processors, while the RX 5700 has 36 processing units and 2.304 Stream Processors. Clock speeds vary as shown in the table.

Model	Processing Units	Flow Processors	GDDR6 (GB)	Base Frequency (MHz))	Game Frequency (MHz)	Max. Frequency (MHz)
Radeon RX 5700 XT	40	2.560	8	1,605	1,755	Up to 1,905
Radeon RX 5700	36	2.304	8	1,465	1,625	Up to 1,725

Let’s get to the point without further ado. Because the basic configurations of these GPUs are the same, it is possible to use the bios of one card on the other. Theoretically, if you use the RX 5700 XT with an RX 5700 BIOS, you will maintain the number of 2,560 processors, but you will get the low clock speed of the RX 5700 and face power limitations. More importantly, when you use RX 5700 together with an RX 5700 XT bios, the number of processors that are 2,304 is maintained. On the other hand, power limits can be exceeded and you can achieve higher clock speeds.

To achieve this kind of VBIOS exchange between the RX 5700 XT and RX 5700, the PCB, memory chip brand and VRM controllers need to be the same. This process has previously been tested with reference design cards and has yielded positive results. Provided the PCB design is the same, it is possible to replace the special design RX 5700’s BIOS with the custom design RX 5700 XT.

One point to note is that the bios of the graphics card is rewritten. This process is very risky and can cause your card to fail if it is not done correctly. Many video cards offer dual BIOS features that make it extremely easy to write to the BIOS in case of various problems. However, all special design cards do not have dual BIOS.

Finding A Compatible BIOS

To flash the RX 5700 XT VBIOS to the RX 5700 graphics card, we need a compatible BIOS first. Things are pretty easy if you have a reference design card. But things could change at AMD’s third-party partners. If you have a custom graphics card, you can browse the BIOS database.

RX 5700 XT BIOS Database
RX 5700 BIOS Database

Recommended RX 5700 XT BIOS files for BIOS Flash

Radeon RX 5700
ASRock RX 5700 Challenger
Gigabyte RX 5700 Gaming OC
MSI RX 5700 Gaming X
PowerColor RX 5700 Red Dragon
Sapphire RX 5700 Pulse

How to download the AMD BIOS Flash application

First, we need to download the latest version of AMD’S BIOS Flash software from here.
AmdvbflashWin, the GUI version after extracting the files from the archive.let’s start the EXE. (amdvbflash.exe is the command-line version)
Before taking any action, it is useful to close all open applications so that nothing affects this process.

How to flash BIOS?

Here we see the interface of the AMD helper application. As always, at first ‘Save’ button to back up your own BIOS. That way, when we have problems, we can get everything back.

1. Then click on the ‘Load Image’ option to select the BIOS file that we downloaded and overwrite.

2. Continue to select the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT BIOS file that we downloaded from the BIOS collection.

3. Now we can start the flash process by clicking on the’ Program ‘ button.

4. The progress bar shows us that transactions are taking place. This process will not take too long.

When we receive this message, the process is complete. We complete the process by restarting our computer

After this process, let’s note that we do not need to change our existing drive. If you want to replace the BIOS version with the old one, you can select the BIOS file that you backed up by following the same steps above.

Post-Update Differences

Here we see the differences that the process creates on the reference design graphics card. The GPU clock and Boost frequency increase from 1465 MHz to 1605 MHz and 1725 MHz to 1905 MHz respectively. The number of shaders remains the same as ‘2304’. The card will also appear in Windows as the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT.

Another reason why the change is effective is that the card power limit is significantly increased. For example, the reference RX 5700 BIOS has a power limit of 150W, while the new BIOS goes up to 180W. In addition, the manual power limit range increases from +20% to +50%. In other words, due to the new BIOS, manual overclocking limits are increased.