whats the difference between flashing bios and overclocking?

[rothchilds]

I've got an x1800xt. I have some friends that say flash to PE bios, others that say overclock using ati tool/overdrive. Is one way better/safer/more reliable than another?

 

[lifeguard1999]

Flashing the BIOS is more dangerous, especially if you do not know what you are doing. It is altering what is written on the GPU in terms of voltages, etc.
Overclocking is simply increasing the frequency of the GPU and/or graphics memory. It is safer, but it is not idiot proof either.

Of the two, go with overclocking first as it is generally safer. Once you know what you are doing, then you can try flashing the BIOS.

 

[rothchilds]

thanks for the info, don't get me wrong, I'm not new to computers and o/c'ing/flashing, I just am wondering why you would do one over the other. For example, if I flash the bios, will the card run more stable at the o/c speeds because of the bios. If I o/c with the standard bios to pe speeds, is it not as effective.

 

[lifeguard1999]

A BIOS flash may give you higher voltages to your memory or GPU and thus allow a higher overclock. Others use a BIOS flash to set their fan speeds to a lower setting to keep their video cards quiet. There are many reasons for a BIOS flash.

 

[mwmorph]

also a bios flash means you dont need to oc if you want that speed permenantly. It's on every time without using say ati tray tools or rivatuner.

 

[ForumMaster]

quick request, could you please give me a link or explain to me how you get into your card's BIOS? or how you flash it? thanks in advance...

 

[nippyjun]

Make sure you are willing to have a dead card if your flash the bios and something goes wrong.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: nippyjun
Make sure you are willing to have a dead card if your flash the bios and something goes wrong.

Yeah because it's kind of hard to flash it back and RMA it when it's dead.

 

[mwmorph]

all you guys are talking about it like it's the end of the worl;d and he should pvssy out. A flash 99% off the time will not go wrong if he follows instructions and if he does flash it wrong, he will get a error message. All he has to do si reflash it back to the original saved bios before rebooting and it''ll be fine. If he does not, plug in a pci card and use that to display things to flash the other agp, pci-e or pci card back.

 

[imported_mystery]

Be careful with what you flash with though, as some BIOSes have been known to fry the fan/fan controller, and flashing back to original BIOS does NOT fix it, as the damage has already been done.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
all you guys are talking about it like it's the end of the worl;d and he should pvssy out. A flash 99% off the time will not go wrong if he follows instructions and if he does flash it wrong, he will get a error message. All he has to do si reflash it back to the original saved bios before rebooting and it''ll be fine. If he does not, plug in a pci card and use that to display things to flash the other agp, pci-e or pci card back.

I was talking rather of flashing and OC'ing and frying it or just having it die on you when flashed, if that happens you just ate the card.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: ayabe

Originally posted by: mwmorph
all you guys are talking about it like it's the end of the worl;d and he should pvssy out. A flash 99% off the time will not go wrong if he follows instructions and if he does flash it wrong, he will get a error message. All he has to do si reflash it back to the original saved bios before rebooting and it''ll be fine. If he does not, plug in a pci card and use that to display things to flash the other agp, pci-e or pci card back.

I was talking rather of flashing and OC'ing and frying it or just having it die on you when flashed, if that happens you just ate the card.

that would mean you a, didnt do it right, b, used the wrong flashrom(aka downloaded a x800 flashrom for a 6800), or c, you flashed way over the max oc you have ever achieved with the catrd, which suggests that the person didnt get the nifo straight, not a result of a bad flash.

Generally, a ATi flash is easiest since all ati boards are basicalyl reference and there are less flashroms.