KGB - Kepler BIOS Editor/Unlocker

[andressergio]

I managed to play games all day yesterday at 1280 Mhz, but both heaven and kombuster will crash fast at that much.

I'm still drooling over those white PCB galaxies, but the price difference over the 670 isn't worth it to me. They are still ?450 for that model in the UK, vs ?320 for a decent 670. I'm going to try and refrain from getting a second 670 now because I likely won't get another that runs all day on 7400 MHz ram.

yes thats the dif bhavv i can pass furmark kombustor etc they have binned chips and temps are awesome

[Mungri]

Oh well, back to 1250 Mhz I go

By the way, your +700 on the memory / 1852 Mhz in GPU-Z is 7408 Mhz, not 7850 Mhz. For 7800 Mhz you need to be able to do +900.

Thats the same that my memory runs at, but I can go up to +760 before I start getting artifacts.

[CrazyNutz]

Thanks!

http://rapidshare.com/files/1731931034/gtx690bios_.rar

What does your max power go up to right now? Is it 150% ?

[MrTOOSHORT]

Bios has been modded for 150% power target, stock is 135%.

That's all that has been modified.

Here are the actual non modified gtx690 bios':

http://rapidshare.com/files/21007503...os_1_and_2.zip

Thanks again.

[CrazyNutz]

Bios has been modded for 150% power target, stock is 135%.

That's all that has been modified.

Here are the actual non modified gtx690 bios':

http://rapidshare.com/files/21007503...os_1_and_2.zip

Thanks again.

No problem. I was just trying to make sure I found the correct offset for power target. I'll check your non-modded bios to make sure it is 135% then I'll know for sure it's the correct offset.

[andressergio]

310.64 great drivers 290+ points increase



this is with mem at +750



this is with mem at +800



NOT a single artifact till now

[andressergio]

Oh well, back to 1250 Mhz I go

By the way, your +700 on the memory / 1852 Mhz in GPU-Z is 7408 Mhz, not 7850 Mhz. For 7800 Mhz you need to be able to do +900.

Thats the same that my memory runs at, but I can go up to +760 before I start getting artifacts.

question is can u game at 1300 core +700 mem ? without mods etc ? thats why i got this cards and yes i can bench +800+

[trayton]

The two voltage tables for GK104 bios are always the same values. The boost logic automatically boost the voltage up 2 levels.
You have notice i'm sure that your stock volts 1.150v will go to 1.175 on boost.

1150000
1162500
1175000
1187500 < my tool sets the voltage tables to this
1200000
1212500 < The boost logic will bring it here, (if the GPU is cool, and not drawing too much power))

Hi CrazyNut,

First of all, thanks for putting together this tool! I really appreciate initiatives like this and happy to give you my feedback to make the tool even better.
I was able to put my hands on an ASUS GTX660 vanilla version (DC2-2GD5) this week and modded the BIOS with KGB 0.4a. After modding, everything looked fine except the voltages in practice. I read the relevant threads on the forum and according to you the Vcore should rise automatically from 1.187 to 1.212 when the card boosts. Apparently, this is not happening and Vcore is constantly at 1.187V. I thought this might be due to my settings in AfterBurner 2.3 but even after playing with the settings I can't make Vcore go higher. If I recall someone else already raised the same issue in this or another thread. For your reference, I added the original BIOS.

Would you be able to mod the bios or add functionality to KGB so that we can set a custom Vcore?

Regarding fan settings, the ASUS DCUII runs with a 10-100 setting and after mod the temp/RPM slope didn't change. It's just starting at 30 as it's expected.

Original BIOS of the card:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dxexxdbiwm...5_original.zip

Voltage table of original BIOS:
1212500
1212500
12125000

1150000
1150000
11500000

After modding:
1187500
1187500
11875000

1187500
1187500
11875000

Lastly, many people have asked how to do the flashing itself. I suggest adding nvflash to the package including a little readme:

With a single graphics card:
nvflash --protectoff (turn off BIOS protection)
nvlash [rom file] (flash BIOS)

With multiple graphics cards:
nvflash --list (lists graphics cards indexes/IDs you have in the system)
nvflash --protectoff --index=[ID]
nvlash --index=[ID] [rom file]

I have been using nvflash 5.118 without any problems.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/geu3lg36q5...flash_5118.zip

Thanks,
trayton

[fgw]

CrazyNutz, the observations made by trayton brougt up my doubts regarding voltagetables again.

you said kgb will flash all tables to the same value and boost voltage simply will be selected by stepping up the voltage two steps in the standard table:

The two voltage tables for GK104 bios are always the same values. The boost logic automatically boost the voltage up 2 levels.
You have notice i'm sure that your stock volts 1.150v will go to 1.175 on boost.

1150000
1162500
1175000
1187500 < my tool sets the voltage tables to this
1200000
1212500 < The boost logic will bring it here, (if the GPU is cool, and not drawing too much power)

first question here: is this the complete table or are there any lower or higher steps available?

there are six voltage values displayed when running kgb. could you elaborate what this six voltage values relate too?
from a logical point of view it would make sense, that some levels relate to standard voltages and some other relate to boost voltage.

need to think a bit about this and see how i can verify this with my lightning. but as you know, lightning cards have their own voltage control
and simply add some offset voltage on top of the voltage delivered by the standard nvidia voltage controller. at least thats how i understand this.

so the most interesting question to me is: what is the meaning of this six voltages displayed and modified by kbg? may be we come to the conclusion
it would be best to change all this voltages independently. than we can check with the multimeter whats really going on ...

anyway, great tool! thanks for your work!

[andressergio]

same GPU clocks but 5GHz HT chip

[trayton]

one more thing before I forget, Crazynut. could you add the functionality to KGB to only fix the checksum of rom file?

[nuno_p]

Any progress on the tool?

[CrazyNutz]

CrazyNutz, the observations made by trayton brougt up my doubts regarding voltagetables again.

you said kgb will flash all tables to the same value and boost voltage simply will be selected by stepping up the voltage two steps in the standard table:

The two voltage tables for GK104 bios are always the same values. The boost logic automatically boost the voltage up 2 levels.
You have notice i'm sure that your stock volts 1.150v will go to 1.175 on boost.

1150000
1162500
1175000
1187500 < my tool sets the voltage tables to this
1200000
1212500 < The boost logic will bring it here, (if the GPU is cool, and not drawing too much power)

first question here: is this the complete table or are there any lower or higher steps available?

there are six voltage values displayed when running kgb. could you elaborate what this six voltage values relate too?
from a logical point of view it would make sense, that some levels relate to standard voltages and some other relate to boost voltage.

need to think a bit about this and see how i can verify this with my lightning. but as you know, lightning cards have their own voltage control
and simply add some offset voltage on top of the voltage delivered by the standard nvidia voltage controller. at least thats how i understand this.

so the most interesting question to me is: what is the meaning of this six voltages displayed and modified by kbg? may be we come to the conclusion
it would be best to change all this voltages independently. than we can check with the multimeter whats really going on ...

anyway, great tool! thanks for your work!

It's not like I have documentation from Nvidia, so I do not know everything about the bios. I only know what I have learned, and what others have shared.
As far as the tables go I have to assume there are multiple entries because there are different power states. Also you must understand that these entries may
be enabled, or disabled.

Now that being said. I only have a GTX660Ti (GK104) to test with, therefor I have to rely on you guys to provide feedback, and thanks the feedback has been great

It look's like the GK106 GPUS may not boost the voltage like the GK104 GPUs. However It's nothing to worry about because I'll have a new version within this week that will allow you to set it
to what you want.

one more thing before I forget, Crazynut. could you add the functionality to KGB to only fix the checksum of rom file?

Good idea. Yes.

Any progress on the tool?

Yes. I have been working on it.

[CrazyNutz]

Ok new Version 0.5
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrunxuq03vj0m5y/kgb_0.5.zip

Added support for GTX690
Added fix_checksum option (if you only wan't to fix the checksum and not change any other values supply "fix_checksum" as the parameter rather than "unlock")
Added kgb.cfg file. You can change the values in this file to customize your unlock values fan, voltage, power.

[C-N]

@ CrazyNuts, thanks for the update mate. Please see below for my findings

Playing with the cfg file I appear to be able to change fan speed & power limit in the mod bios however I can only change all the voltages to one value rather than 2 groups of 3 at different voltages like the original bios file.

# Fan settings
Fan_Min = 30
Fan_Max = 100


# Board power settings
Max_Power_Target = 150


# Voltage table
# Voltage = 1212500
# Voltage = 1200000
Voltage = 1187500
# Voltage = 1175000
# Voltage = 1162500
# Voltage = 1150000

Using the above cfg it will set the one without the hash (bold) for all 6 voltage levels
If you just use one voltage line it will set all six to this value

# Voltage table
Voltage = 1150000

I think it will run fine with an across the board voltage & I'll probably try it tonight after playing with the fan speed & power limit but I think this is something that needs a bit more looking into.

[trayton]

That was quick! Will give it a go later tonight. Thanks!

After reading more reviews about GTX660 it seems that the voltages are locked indeed and not being increased during boost. My guess is that NVIDIA made this change because of the lowered default available power target (+10%) and to stay within specified TDP (they're quite serious about it). If they hadn't disable the voltage boost, the gpu would have reached the 110% limit sooner and prevented reaching current boost frequency (~1083).
Having said that, I'm wondering if there is a setting in the BIOS somewhere which controls voltage boost

Ok new Version 0.5
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrunxuq03vj0m5y/kgb_0.5.zip

Added support for GTX690
Added fix_checksum option (if you only wan't to fix the checksum and not change any other values supply "fix_checksum" as the parameter rather than "unlock")
Added kgb.cfg file. You can change the values in this file to customize your unlock values fan, voltage, power.

[CrazyNutz]

Guy's I wan't to clear up the voltage table misunderstanding.

The table that you see:
1150000
1150000
11500000

1150000
1150000
11500000

As far as I can tell, and from my research these are for 3D, and only 3D, Yes all six values!!! So changing them individually will not do what you expect, they need to all be the same value.
I only print them out this way so I can verify that I am reading the correct offset.

Now the only exception that I have seen is in GK106 bios where the default looks like this:
1212500
1212500
12125000

1150000
1150000
11500000

However it only runs at 1.15, so it appears that the bottom three values are the only ones that matter.


Anyhow I may release a version later that will allow you to tweak the two sets independently. But for now the Voltage setting in kgb.cfg will set the whole
table to the same voltage. So you only need to un-comment a single Voltage value.

[C-N]

Have not had time to fully test however my card runs way better now the bios has been modded with v0.5 allowing me not to use more voltage.... maybe my card hates it!!!

I changed only fan speed to min 50 & power target to 160% left voltage @ 1150000 & the card runs fine on stock 1085 core. The fan speed min was 50% in windows however it did not rise as the card got hotter & the card sat at 1085 as it looks like the extra power target max was not applied.

I then used Afterburner to increase the target to 160% & the card boosted up to about 1160 ish using about 130 ~135 TDP @ 1.175v until it got upto 70oC + & began to throttle voltage down to 1.16 something & speed down a little maintaining 74oC. Voltage was measured just using GPU-Z/Kombustor

I also v quickly tested adding more core speed/boost up to 1250 & the card ran until it throttled & I also moded & flashed a bios with lower voltage 1.135 & it ran however I have not fully tested whether it boosts correctly etc. Interesting thing is the boost logic only looks to add about 2 voltage clicks i.e set 1.15 & it boosts 1.1675 then 1.175 according to software anyway.

[CrazyNutz]

Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah some cards do not like the extra voltage, I have seen this.

And yes the fan ramping is obviously not effected by the min/max as I have stated. I have bashed my head trying to figure out the ramping, There has to be a value in the bios that
effects this, I just have not found it yet I'll keep trying.

With the bios tweaking we are doing I would say we are getting to the point where Liquid Cooling may now be justifiable for these cards. Perhaps some LC company may send me a block for my card

[C-N]

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah some cards do not like the extra voltage, I have seen this.

Looks like mine's one of them & tbh the extra voltage is no good to me anyway on stock cooling as the card just throttles anyway.

And yes the fan ramping is obviously not effected by the min/max as I have stated. I have bashed my head trying to figure out the ramping, There has to be a value in the bios that
effects this, I just have not found it yet I'll keep trying.

I appreciate the work & progress of KGB...... we got to learn to walk before we can run ay....

With the bios tweaking we are doing I would say we are getting to the point where Liquid Cooling may now be justifiable for these cards. Perhaps some LC company may send me a block for my card

Yup looks like it, temps are the limiting factor for me.

Maybe lapping the heatsink & some liquid metal on the core would help.....

[CrazyNutz]

Yup looks like it, temps are the limiting factor for me.

Maybe lapping the heatsink & some liquid metal on the core would help.....

I have coollaboratory liquid pro on mine. It did not help lower temps much. I think water cooling is the way to go.

[C-N]

Thanks for the heads up that saves me a job, I figured it would not help much at low ish temps as it made hardly any difference to my 3570K for 24/7 use. The massive 20+oC gain was up at high oc & temps 80+ under heavy load which aint where u want to be with a 680.

[KGB7]

With the newer version of KGB 0.5, my card doesnt get OCed past stock speed. The fan speed stays low as before, and the card gets hotter as before; with last version of the tool. But now it wont even reach stock speeds.

Im using manual fan controller to keep the temp around 60C, but the clock speeds hover around 1084Mhz

Stock speed on factory BIOS was/is 1162Mhz.



Can you post the last version of the tool?? I think it was 0.4a.

Thanks.



Edit.

I changed the Max_Power_Target = to 175 in cfg file, and my card still wont go past 1162Mhz (stock speeds).
Set the fan speed to 45%, but it still starts of at 30%.

[CrazyNutz]

With the newer version of KGB 0.5, my card doesnt get OCed past stock speed. The fan speed stays low as before, and the card gets hotter as before; with last version of the tool. But now it wont even reach stock speeds.

Im using manual fan controller to keep the temp around 60C, but the clock speeds hover around 1084Mhz

Stock speed on factory BIOS was/is 1162Mhz.



Can you post the last version of the tool?? I think it was 0.4a.

Thanks.



Edit.

I changed the Max_Power_Target = to 175 in cfg file, and my card still wont go past 1162Mhz (stock speeds).
Set the fan speed to 45%, but it still starts of at 30%.

The only real difference between the 0.4 and 0.5 is the the added config file. The config file with the default settings is the same as what 0.4 was doing to your bios, as a matter of fact you can just delete the config file, and kgb will use the default hard coded values.

Anyhow here is 0.4
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wiuizftusj2rcy/kgb_a0.4.zip

Let me know if there is any improvement

EDIT: Post your bios so I can check it out. include your stock, and modded.

[KGB7]

No change with 0.4.
No change with 0.5 with out cfg file.

Here are my BIOS. EVGA 660 TI SC 2GB

1. Stock BIOS
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q39qvq72lb...GB%20GK104.rar


2. KGB 0.5 BIOS
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fthy37ozwi...20SC%202GB.rar

3. KGB 0.4 BIOS
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ildblwv5da...20SC%202GB.rar


Thanks.