A Redditor has managed to unlock the full potential of their PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 Reaper by flashing it using a Radeon RX 9070 XT BIOS. A simple trick that netted up to 25% performance boost in synthetic tests. Unlike hardware BIOS flashing, which requires dedicated tools, they were able to accomplish this via a software solution that is accessible to anyone.
noVa_realiZe follows in the footsteps of others that have flashed their Radeon RX 9070 cards, in pursuit of greater performance. However, this Redditor has been able to unlock a measurably greater uplift via this method.
Prior to the flash, the Redditor was able to achieve 5,821pts in 3DMark Steel Nomad. However, the new BIOS alone saw this score rise by 11% to 6,461pts. This is better than any score they were able to achieve on the original firmware.
However, pushing the RX 9070 further through tweaks to voltage and memory clocks, noVa_realiZe ended up with 7,277pts, 25% above stock. I don’t think anyone can argue that’s impressive stuff for a couple of free tweaks.
Gaming performance also received a welcome, albeit less-impressive boost. The user reported Cyberpunk 2077 ran 8-12% better using the new BIOS, using their usual mix of raster and ray tracing settings.
Much of these gains come from the BIOS’ higher power limit, allowing Radeon RX 9070 to run at up to 300W (80W above the 220W stock specification). As such, you can expect higher clocks but also worse thermals and efficiency from this software mod.
It’s also worth noting that not every RX 9070 will be able to achieve similar performance improvements. Emulating this success will ultimately come down to a card’s cooler, VRMs, and silicon quality. In this case, PowerColor’s Reaper didn’t exhibit any unusual behaviour, save for an increase in fan noise on account of higher temperatures.
As noVa_realiZe rightly points out, this isn’t a fool proof modification. As such, having an RX 9070 with a Dual BIOS is practically a must for peace of mind. This way, it’s easy for you to switch back to the original BIOS in case the new firmware bricks the other.
You can try this mod for yourself by following Benik3’s guide on overclock.net, but I must stress doing so comes with a degree of risk. Good luck, and may the odds of the silicon lottery be ever in your favour.
