970 VBIOS
I see this but there's not much of a way to search for stuff without keywords. What does a VBIOS comprise of? Model number? Version number? May be able to search for that
@degen if they're found they can be documented on the wiki. something like
https://wiki.ledstrain.org/docs/hardware/graphic-card/
## Nvidia
### Geforce 970
VBIOS stuff
or if you have a whole group of VBIOS of multiple devices
https://wiki.ledstrain.org/docs/appendix/tests/
## VBIOS
VBIOS stuff
Could be useful to others and it won't get lost
Slacor Model number in hexadecimal (i.e see here, https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/?architecture=NVIDIA&manufacturer=MSI&model=GTX+970&interface=&memType=&memSize=&since=)
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GTX 970
Good BIOS versions:
Gigabyte G1 Gaming Edition
AgentX20 84.04.2F.00.80 - 2014-10-31 build date
Kray - 84.04.28.00.4D - 2014-10-21
Bad BIOS versions:
MSI GAMING 4G
Harrison - 84.04.36.00.F1 - 2015-01-08
degen - 84.04.84.00.29 - 2016-01-25
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JTL I remember saying I thought it was fine. Then eventually I did some head to head experiments with my GTX 650 Ti Boost and I saw more noise with 970 and assumed it was dithering patterns. It may have been fine in that it wasn't bothering me that much, but it was definitely doing something that the 650 wasn't.
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JTL Wonder how hard it would be to search the posts table with a regex?
That was my thinking too,
This is a messy regex I came up with that I'm going to search with
Hi, I'm a little confused about there VBIOS numberings, could someone please verify if 84.04.28.00.54 counts as a 'good' version?
I found differences between 970 cards with different RAM manufacturers, so I wouldn't hold the VBIOS to be the sole indicator on good vs bad gear.
Me, I have a theory that there's more configuration held in the video card that can change - outside of the VBIOS itself. This is how good cards can go bad, perhaps as a result of a new video driver changing the underlying card configuration.
But - as I say - this is just my pet theory as a result of strange experiences over the years with stuff that used to work, not working after changes, and still not working after rolling back to the original OS configuration.
You may be right, but I have had multiple Gigabyte G1 Gaming cards, and there certainly seemed to be some sort of correlation.
All of them (2 or more) with Hynix ram caused eye strain.
All of them (3) with Samsung ram were OK.
Most were 1.0 hardware, though I do recall there were some 1.1 (the latter were all eye strain inducing) version cards in the mix. It was a while ago so I cannot recall all the permutations.
It's the nature of this dilemma that we go looking for any such patterns right!?
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JTL I was looking to buy one, but based on your response this card is a no-go
thank you for the reply!
The seller said it's rev 1.1, and based on the pictured gpu-z it's hynix memory, release date sep 19.
Edit: If not for it being rev 1.1 I would just risk it but now It's back to square one.
AgentX20 It's the nature of this dilemma that we go looking for any such patterns right!?
Yes.
Me, I have a theory that there's more configuration held in the video card that can change - outside of the VBIOS itself. This is how good cards can go bad, perhaps as a result of a new video driver changing the underlying card configuration.
If that actually is the case, it's going to be much harder to solve. Video cards are enough of a black box on their own, and Nvidia don't really work with outsiders all that well (but what major tech company does?)
Tell you what. If you have an alleged 9xx card that was "turned bad" from a software update, take an old computer that can run Windows 7, install known good Nvidia drivers from circa 2014 or so and see if it's still "bad". If it is I have some ideas on how a VBIOS dump could potentially isolate any differences.
Another idea I've been curious about for quite some time is if a reliable correlation of VBIOS versions between good cards and bad cards can be found, it may be possible to attempt to convert a bad card into a good card. It's not for the faint of heart and is just an idea, but I have some understanding on how this could be done, how to avoid bricking (well, I would be more concerned about doing the reverse and losing a "good" card), etc.
As @degen said above: two of the reported "good" cards have a VBIOS dating from 2014 and two of the reported "bad" cards have VBIOS's from 2015 and 2016, so maybe there is credence to my theory. Need more data.
This all being said, the 9xx series are rather old, and given the mixed reports on newer cards I'm not holding much hope there at all. The silver lining is the 970 makes an interesting case study because we have an initial version that was "good" and through some mechanism later units were "bad", hence my proposal to investigate this.