Gigabyte Xtreme 3090 vbios issue

Sad Nation · 4 Jul 2021 at 23:41

Hi guys

I upgraded my vbios to F2 on the above card using the Aorus Engine auto update to get access to the resizable bar which worked absolutely fine. The resizable bar is on, it shows in sys info on the Nvidia settings. However, it has halved my performance in games and benchmarks. Timespy is only 10,000 points of gfx settings instead of over 20,000 before. Is there any way to downgrade to F1?

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 01:10

Sad Nation said:
Hi guys

I upgraded my vbios to F2 on the above card using the Aorus Engine auto update to get access to the resizable bar which worked absolutely fine. The resizable bar is on, it shows in sys info on the Nvidia settings. However, it has halved my performance in games and benchmarks. Timespy is only 10,000 points of gfx settings instead of over 20,000 before. Is there any way to downgrade to F1?

The Rebar Bios updates don't actually change the VBIOS version they only enable Rebar in the VBIOS, I have not seen any change the actual VBIOS version numbers.

Have you made sure you are running the latest drivers too ?

What you can do to rule out Rebar causing an issue is disabling it in the motherboard bios as a test and then renable it again to test if there is any difference.

Also make sure your motherboard is on the latest BIOS too as that maybe causing the issues too.

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 07:05

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

List of hardware and drivers/bios to clarify...

Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero running latest bios 3602
Ryzen 5950x
Ballistix 32gb 4400 Ram running at 2666Mhz as XMP Profile 1 doesn't work properly (maybe will on an upcoming bios)
Gigabyte Xtreme 3090 running latest vbios F2 and running latest 471.11 drivers
Windows 10 running latest updates

I have turned off rebar in mobo bios and makes no difference so turned it back on again. As far as I know you need to update the gfx card bios as well as the mobo to get rebar working. It shows in Nvidia sys info as turned on.

Perhaps I just have to wait for Gigabyte to issue a new vbios which doesn't hobble the gfx card to half its speed!

Sad Nation

Wrinkly · 5 Jul 2021 at 08:04

There is a hotfix 471.22 out. Start with that.

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 18:57

Nope that didn't work I am afraid, worth a go though.

Looking at the graph on Timespy, the GPU memory tops out at 1219 Mhz and the GPU Clock Frequency is averaging about 700Mhz with the temperature being around 60-63 degrees on 99% load so it is nowhere its fastest speeds. As mentioned before it is about half its normal speed.

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 19:00

Sad Nation said:
Nope that didn't work I am afraid, worth a go though.

Looking at the graph on Timespy, the GPU memory tops out at 1219 Mhz and the GPU Clock Frequency is averaging about 700Mhz with the temperature being around 60-63 degrees on 99% load so it is nowhere its fastest speeds. As mentioned before it is about half its normal speed.

Doesn't your card have a dual bios switch? Have you tried the second vbios? Make sure you turn off change switch and start up pc again and test.

If you have any overclocking software installed. Try to uninstall it too.

Check your power mode settings in the nvidia control panel too. Try setting to max performance as a test.

https://www.thefpsreview.com/2019/12/04/nvidia-geforce-driver-power-mode-settings-compared/

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:03

Try as I might, I can't find the switch on the card to go from OC to Silent or vice versa. No overclocking software is running and max performance in Nvidia drivers is turned on but again no difference to the low scores. Thank you for your help so far though, much appreciated.

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:12

Sad Nation said:
Try as I might, I can't find the switch on the card to go from OC to Silent or vice versa. No overclocking software is running and max performance in Nvidia drivers is turned on but again no difference to the low scores. Thank you for your help so far though, much appreciated.

It's on the back of the card between the back plate and pcb.

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:15

Yeah I had looked at that picture but could not locate it. Is it on the PCI connector side so I have to take the whole card out to change the setting?

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:16

Sad Nation said:
Yeah I had looked at that picture but could not locate it. Is it on the PCI connector side so I have to take the whole card out to change the setting?

check my updated image above, will give you an idea where it is . No you dont need to take the card out, just power down , flick the switch and reboot and see if it helps. May need to use a small item like a small paper clip to move the switch or a toothpick.

Use a torch or your phones led light to see inside the case and the area, dark card in a dark box makes it hard to see too.

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:34

Sad Nation said:
Yeah I had looked at that picture but could not locate it. Is it on the PCI connector side so I have to take the whole card out to change the setting?

Another image showing where it is the bios switch :-

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 20:49

Its okay I found it, the original graphic made it look a lot larger than it actually was! Thanks for the much clearer picture!

The good new is that worked, I now have a much faster gfx card with Timespy score of 17000 odd instead of 10,000 with the original F1 vbios for Silent. This is lower than before as it is the silent mode which obviously boosts lower. So the F2 vbios on OC mode is causing the issue, probably as it is restricting the power threshold. I might try downloading the F2 vbios again from gigabyte and reflash it if it will let me. Unless someone can tell me how to reflash the OC mode to F1.

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 21:00

Sad Nation said:
Its okay I found it, the original graphic made it look a lot larger than it actually was! Thanks for the much clearer picture!

The good new is that worked, I now have a much faster gfx card with Timespy score of 17000 odd instead of 10,000 with the original F1 vbios for Silent. This is lower than before as it is the silent mode which obviously boosts lower. So the F2 vbios on OC mode is causing the issue, probably as it is restricting the power threshold. I might try downloading the F2 vbios again from gigabyte and reflash it if it will let me. Unless someone can tell me how to reflash the OC mode to F1.

OK great.

On that BIOS now that is working is rebar enabled in the driver ? Is it showing enabled or on ?

Because if it enabled it maybe worth reflashing the VBIOS again to rule out a bad flash. On the other bios switch not the one working now.

If you go here :-

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#dl

You will see there are two bios for the card, one is the rebar one, but you flashed it threw another program and not the file direct that may have caused the issue too.

So what I would do is flick back to the original bios and flash again with the Rebar BIOS and if it again causes same thing there is another bios if you look down the list and click firmware it will show the F1.3 BIOS and you could try flashing that back, that was the original bios and if that works fine you could then try the rebar bios again and update and see if it works, if not revert back to the F1.3. Maybe the program that you used to update it via the other software caused the issue too.

Again there is two bios there

1- F2 (LATEST REBAR BIOS) https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#support-dl-bios

and

2. F1.3 (the orignal bios). https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#support-dl-firmware

^... links to each file , they are both BIOS files, you need to unzip them and run the file. BUT make sure to be back on the original BIOS switch with the problem so not to mess up the other working BIOS, and if it works then you could do the other bios the same way too if you want.

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 21:24

Hi again! No rebar on working silent bios and it shows as F1 vbios. I tried flashing the F1.3 on the OC vbios which looked like it worked but just left the newer vbios in place as F2. I can't reflash the OC vbios to F1.1 or F2 using both reflashing tools now so I think that is me for the night. The F1.3 attempt says F1.1 and then says "Erasing Flash failed". The F2 flashing attempt say "this BIOS version does not match".

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 21:30

Sad Nation said:
Hi again! No rebar on working silent bios and it shows as F1 vbios. I tried flashing the F1.3 on the OC vbios which looked like it worked but just left the newer vbios in place as F2. I can't reflash the OC vbios to F1.1 or F2 using both reflashing tools now so I think that is me for the night. The F1.3 attempt says F1.1 and then says "Erasing Flash failed". The F2 flashing attempt say "this BIOS version does not match".

Contact Gigabyte and explain the issue they may send you a bios to resolve it.

I would explain how to NVFLASH it to you where you force it to take the BIOS without checks, but ask GigaByte first and if they are no help come back to me and I will explain how to get the original BIOS back and then you can run the F2 tool again to see if it takes correctly.

Don't worry it's easy to fix now we know it's just the bios on the card doing it. So ask the Gigabyte support first and explain the issue and see what they say, if they say RMA it and they can't help then you can try NVFLASH to fix it and save the hassle of an RMA.

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 21:41

Sad Nation said:
Hi, Thanks for the reply.

List of hardware and drivers/bios to clarify...

Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero running latest bios 3602

Are you sure you are on the latest motherboard BIOS too ? because I don't see 3602 as latest only 3601 for your board.

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-crosshair/rog-crosshair-viii-dark-hero-model/helpdesk_bios

Sad Nation · 5 Jul 2021 at 21:59

Sorry that was a typo, I meant 3601, I think the one before was a 3502 beta so I got confused, easily done these days! I have sent a ticket to Gigabyte e-support so I will see what they say! Thank you very much for your support, I do really appreciate it!

Purgatory · 5 Jul 2021 at 22:03

Sad Nation said:
Sorry that was a typo, I meant 3601, I think the one before was a 3502 beta so I got confused, easily done these days! I have sent a ticket to Gigabyte e-support so I will see what they say! Thank you very much for your support, I do really appreciate it!

You're welcome, good luck with GigaByte, but don't stress if they say you need to RMA it, because we can just NVFLASH the original BIOS back, just quote one of my messages above and shout help and I will get an alert and we can sort it out.

Don't mess with NVFLASH if you have never used it or you may brick the bios you are trying to flash.

Just let me know at time if you need help and that way we won't brick the card, flashed a good few 3090s so far and all worked fine.

Sad Nation · 13 Jul 2021 at 11:54

Purgatory said:
You're welcome, good luck with GigaByte, but don't stress if they say you need to RMA it, because we can just NVFLASH the original BIOS back, just quote one of my messages above and shout help and I will get an alert and we can sort it out.

Don't mess with NVFLASH if you have never used it or you may brick the bios you are trying to flash.

Just let me know at time if you need help and that way we won't brick the card, flashed a good few 3090s so far and all worked fine.

Hi Purgatory. Guess what Gigabyte want me to do, yep RMA the card! It's a bit off really considering I used their own software to update the card.

Anyway, I would like some help please using NVFlash.

Purgatory · 13 Jul 2021 at 17:24

Sad Nation said:
Hi Purgatory. Guess what Gigabyte want me to do, yep RMA the card! It's a bit off really considering I used their own software to update the card.

Anyway, I would like some help please using NVFlash.

No problem mate,

^.... watch this video from 15 minutes point as this is what you will be doing, so gives you an idea what to expect. Then follow what I said below.

FIRST thing make sure you are on the BIOS causing the issue, so make sure to have flicked the switch to that BIOS before doing any of the stuff below.

Ok what you will need to do is go here :-

1. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/226268/gigabyte-rtx3090-24576-201018 download the BIOS file (click download now) and the file will be called Gigabyte.RTX3090.24576.201018.rom

Rename the file to something simple like VBIOS.rom so it has a shorter easier name to type later.

2. Download NVFLASH from here :- https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-nvflash/ (Click download and then UK region download it will download NVIDIA NVFlash 5.692.0). unzip NVFLASH folder it downloaded (right click it and say extract all), now you will have a new unzipped folder.

3. Open the uzipped NVFLASH folder and inside will be two folder x64 and x86 , delete the x86 folder as you don't want that.

4. Copy your Gigabyte.RTX3090.24576.201018.rom that you renamed to VBIOS.rom to the NVFLASH x64 folder.

5. Copy the x64 folder to your windows C: (make sure in the root of C: drive)

6. Open command prompt with admin access, easy way click search on the windows search and type cmd and it will show command prompt and right click it and say run as administrator.

7. Now you should have a command prompt open with admin access. Now type these commands.

cd c:\x64 (click enter)

now you should be in the x64 folder with the nvflash file and the VBIOS.rom

you can check by typing this command

dir (click enter)

it will list the folder contents and show the two files.

Now a reminder did you make sure to set the BIOS to the one causing you the issue ? if yes and you are 100% you are on the bios switch that needs flashing then do this.

In command prompt that you still have open type this command.

nvflash -6 VBIOS.rom (click enter)

now it will turn off the drivers cause a little black screen and come back and say are you sure you want to replace the previous bios with this new one. if yes click y , it will now flash the bios and after its done it will again flash black screen turn drivers back on and will now need shutting down and restarting the pc to make sure it took.

Now if it took okay you can go here to update it to the rebar bios. Check with GPU-Z the bios has updated to the one you flashed with NVFLASH and make sure all works right, if so you can then update to a newer bios from the links below.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#dl

Again there is two bios there

1- F2 (LATEST REBAR BIOS) https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#support-dl-bios

and

2. F1.3 (the orignal bios). https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N3090AORUS-X-24GD/support#support-dl-firmware

IF you end up at square one again with the issues again, you can just reflash it with nvflash again and set it back to the original bios and then try the F1.3 Bios from the two above and see if that works well and again then you can try flash to F2 again and see if all okay again. If not nvflash again and then stick with the BIOS that works well for you.