KGB - Kepler BIOS Editor/Unlocker

[Mungri]

No I can't believe that was the case, I just don't want to risk anything now.

I only unlocked the voltage on the second one I had, and each one was running at 1240 Mhz at under 70 degrees. I'm sure it was the 7200 Mhz clocks on the vram.

I'm fine with 1254 Mhz, but it needs a contant 1.175v on my new card. I tried using the feature in EVGA precision that disables boost clocks and forces your overclock and overvolt, but still as soon as my card hit 70 degrees, it undervolted to 1.16v, and it also disables the low power usage clocks.

I absolutely hate this pathetic boost clock thing undervolting my cards at just 70 degrees.

[CryptiK]

It's weird, Titan is made from a Kepler core as well, same 28nm process, and you can overvolt it to 1.20v and max temp allowable is 95*C (not sure where throttling starts though) which is frustrating, its as if they deliberately gimped the 600 series OR that they made certain changes to Titan and the 600 series really is as flaky and damage prone as nvidia make out. The temp thing doesnt worry me as Im on water, but I am worried about how susceptible to damage from overvolting they are.

[Mungri]

As I mentioned in the Titan thread, I'll just quote what happened with my cards here:

6 months and overvolting ... lol. Here my first 670 died in 3-4 months on stock voltage and 1240 / 7200 clocks. I unlocked the voltage on its replacement because I got a worse clocker (1.2125v), same clocks 1240 / 7200, and dead again in 3-4 months . I won't be unlocking the voltage again though, not worth it for only small gains.

Never had that happen before on past cards, but I'll blame having a dodgy batch or vram chips, I don't think the GPU was at fault. Hand me a card with Vram that goes from 6000 to 7200 Mhz with no artifacts or crashes and expect me not to run that? That's just crazy talk .

First one wasnt overvolted at all, stock bios + volts, and set to the max clocks it could reach without artifacts, temperature problems and with 24/7 stability.

Second one was unlocked using this thread because it didnt clock as well. With the unlocked bios it reached the same clocks as the first card. Both died in about the same amount of time, about 3-4 months each because I bought the first one last May.

I dont believe the GPU clock or the voltage can have caused the failure, because I only had them at 1241 Mhz and under 70 degrees with the Galaxy / KFA2 custom cooler. My 680 replacement is also the same, 1241 Mhz max GPU clock on stock volts and fan profile, and 7200 Mhz capable on the ram. You can get GK104s running at over 1300 Mhz like your lightnings, and people have been running that since these cards launched.

So Im not blaming the GPU, volts, or temperature for this issue, its either the Vram overclock or something else wrong with the build quality.

What actually happened with my first 670 was it stopped running at boost speeds or it would crash. Every game and benchmark was running with the card stuck at 324 Mhz GPU + Ram. The second one just suddenly crashed while gaming a couple of times, so I quickly reset it to stock speeds. Two days later it completely fails and no 3D game or benchmark would start up without a 'Driver has stopped responding' error right away.

[LedHed]

Thanks Led!

If someone could get me a titan bios I can get a head start on adding support to KGB

No problem, you deserve credit and it fit in perfectly with what I was writing in our article about Titan's new Power Target/Temperature Target setup to calculate boost. Hopefully it will bring in more users for KGB, that article has over 5,000 (unique IP) views.

Sadly we don't have access to a Titan yet, but we are working on it. I'm sure I can get you a BIOS pretty soon, although you will have to make large modifications most likely to support it with GPU Boost 2.0.

[LedHed]

CrazyNutz it looks like you will have an opportunity to unlock the beast (Titan):

This TDP limit is 106% of Titan’s base TDP of 250W, or 265W. No matter what you throw at Titan or how you cool it, it will not let itself pull more than 265W sustained.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6774/n...nce-unveiled/2

Overvolting is instead a set of two additional turbo clock bins, above and beyond Titan’s default top bin. On our sample the top bin is 1.1625v, which corresponds to a 992MHz core clock. Overvolting Titan to 1.2 means unlocking two more bins: 1006MHz @ 1.175v, and 1019MHz @ 1.2v. Or put another way, overvolting on Titan involves unlocking only another 27MHz in performance.

These two bins are in the strictest sense overvolting – NVIDIA doesn’t believe voltages over 1.1625v on Titan will meet their longevity standards, so using them is still very much going to reduce the lifespan of a Titan card – but it’s probably not the kind of direct control overvolting hardcore overclockers were expecting. The end result is that with Titan there’s simply no option to slap on another 0.05v – 0.1v in order to squeak out another 100MHz or so. You can trade longevity for the potential to get another 27MHz, but that’s it.

Ultimately, this means that overvolting as implemented on Titan cannot be used to improve the clockspeeds attainable through the use of the offset clock functionality NVIDIA provides. In the case of our sample it peters out after +115MHz offset without overvolting, and it peters out after +115MHz offset with overvolting. The only difference is that we gain access to a further 27MHz when we have the thermal and power headroom available to hit the necessary bins.

The bad part:

Those partners will have the option to release Titan cards with factory overclocks and Titan cards with different coolers (i.e. water blocks), but they won’t be able to expose direct voltage control or ship parts with higher voltages. Nor for that matter will they be able to create Titan cards with significantly different designs (i.e. more VRM phases); every Titan card will be a variant on the reference design.

[Mungri]

OR that they made certain changes to Titan and the 600 series really is as flaky and damage prone as nvidia make out.

This is just a rumor I heard, that maybe the GK104 was originally intended to be clocked much much lower, but instead Nvidia maxed the chip out in terms of voltage and frequencies to what they consider its maximum safe limits in order to compete with the 7970. Apparently if you overvolt the reference design, its life expectancy is significantly shortened because it is already clocked and volted to its max.

Again, just a rumor, no idea if its true, but I wont be unlocking my reference card anyway.

GK110 may have been improved to be safe with up to 1.2v, but GK104 might not be.

[CrazyNutz]

CrazyNutz it looks like you will have an opportunity to unlock the beast (Titan):



http://www.anandtech.com/show/6774/n...nce-unveiled/2



The bad part:

Nice!!! Now I just need someone to send me one when they release

[Cookiesowns]

I heard on another forum that there's a Titan BIOS floating around HWBOT with a unlocked power limit to around 120% or something like that. Should look into it crazy! =)

Appreciate the work you done on Kepler, even given that I don't have a Kepler card!

[Tripp17]

Tripp17, in GPU-Z at the bottom you can select each GPU separately can't you?

I remember when I had a GTX 295 it would show two 295's and it was each GPU being displayed separately.

Thanks for that, but im still having problems.. The program works just fine, does what its supposed to do. When i flash it using nvflash in DOS it says ERROR mismatch and will not procede. So to clear it up, KGB works and its easy to understand. Flashing it however is my problem. Any sugestions? Im using the command: nvflash --list (enter), then it shows my GPUs. Then i use: nvflash -i1.rom (enter) thats when it says ERROR ect.. but i was planning on using the command nvflah -i2 2.rom if the first had worked as i have the 690. Should i use the "-4 -5 -6 .rom" because i know that forces the flash. Please, anyone.. any help or insight would be great!!! Ive been trying to mod my 690 bios LONG before KGB and now that a program exists that will unlock the bios, im so close.

EDIT: [I] was able to get the first GPU flashed but the second GPU got ERROR mismatch. My question is when using KGB, I have been typing these commands: KGB 1.rom unlock (enter)
After its done I type: KGB 2.rom unlock. Is there something I should be doing or not doing. If I had a 680 id be fine, but my dual GPU 690 is different. I finally got the first flash to work so I know im doing it right, just not sure about the second GPU. I named the bios files 1.rom and 2.rom. Veterans instructions on Guru3d are very helpful since he has a 690. I just need to know what I have to do with my 2nd GPU and KGB. Please if anyone has any insight I would be in your debt!

[ziggymanILT]

My rom does not seem to be supported. When I try to run the tool I get "Hmm? Could not find max boost offsets" and NiBiTor could not recognize it.

My rom:https://www.dropbox.com/s/zva84vyup4l0xzq/GK106.rom

Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: might help if you knew the card- EVGA GTX660 02G-P4-2660-KR (reference not SC)

[zalazar]

Hi Crazynutz, i've used the tool for my MSI GTX660Ti PE , power limited to 150% , voltage went up to 1.212 . and core up to 1305mhz
if i open any benchmark or heavy game the power goes up to 290% and crash me in 3 sec , even tho i did not overclock the card yet just on stock settings .

any idea what cuses the card to go up that high in power and crash me fast ?

thankx in advance .





this is my bios before using KGB >> old bios <<
this is my bios after using KGB >> new bios <<

[UyqtcojoXeseC]

Hi guys I'm new to this Forum and I found it very interesting this post that I been following from another web site ROG to be specific. But anyways my question is can I use this tool to check my voltage on my 2 GTX 670 cards. okey let me explain my self a little. When I first bought my first GTX 670 there was a issue about this card having some problems with BSOD at first, which in the other hand I never had any problem of any kind with the card, but at ASUS web site I saw a new Vbios for the card and I went ahead and updated it, find. It was not till I bought the other card and setup the SLI that I started to see that one card's voltage was higher than the other. I start looking around the web and found peoples' comments about after updating the card with the ASUS web site Vbios, that theirs voltage was a bit lower then, theirs boost clock they start to see it a little lower, after I read this I decide not to flash the other card. But when I use GPUz or ASUS GPU tweak the vbios ver is the same as both cards, but always while playing BF3 one card Boost to 1225 with the 313.97 driver and the other Boost to 1154. I have done swithching the cards around and the same results then I switch them back to have the most boost as primary card. But I will like to have both to boost at the same boost clock cause ones in a while I like to switch them around to have balance on the wear of the cards.

Can some one help by giving me some guidance on how to check and what to do with this Tool and if I'm able to solved this. TIA to all.

[CrazyNutz]

I have an update for you guys. This just adds support for some bioses that were not working. @ziggymanILT yours should work now.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsxyvofr1idazhm/kgb_0.6.2.zip

[ziggymanILT]

I have an update for you guys. This just adds support for some bioses that were not working. @ziggymanILT yours should work now.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsxyvofr1idazhm/kgb_0.6.2.zip

Worked like a charm! Thanks for the extremely quick update, much appreciation!

[UyqtcojoXeseC]

I have an update for you guys. This just adds support for some bioses that were not working. @ziggymanILT yours should work now.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsxyvofr1idazhm/kgb_0.6.2.zip

hey Crazy, with this new update tool it should work with my cards vbios? hey Crazy I'm going to post some steps that I'm going to do can U correct if I'm wrong or if I should follows this steps, TIA guy.

Step #1:With the GPUz found in this web site extract the vbios of each card save them in a different folder and rename them ej: vbios0 and vbios1, also make a copy of each vbios and save them separately in another folder.
Step #2:Open KGB tool ver 6.0.2 load a vbios of the first card see voltage parameters and max boost clock save and close, then load the secnd vbios repeat the process and compare the parameters on each card and if one is lower than the other correct voltage save and exit.
Step #3: After saving both vbios separately. Do I have to make a dos bootable usb to flash the cards with the NVflash program? Can just make a bootable Dos usb copy the NVflash and make a folder for each vbios, boot the computer with DOS usb then work my self to the NVflash and ones in this program it is like a dos ver or windows ver. this is the point were I'm afraid to screw up guy, any help guy, hey I'm learnning as I go guy. I swear guy I'm not a guru on this I just love this hobby which is quite expensive as it is. Thanks for any help that I can get from anyone. TIA all

[lowfat]

You can flash the cards directly from Windows. IIRC you just drag the unlocked bios and drop it on the NVflash tool.

[UyqtcojoXeseC]

You can flash the cards directly from Windows. IIRC you just drag the unlocked bios and drop it on the NVflash tool.

Hey LOWfat thanks 4 the replay guy. But I think I just going to stick with what I got cause look what I got when I extract the bios of the 1st card, some weird parameter set. I don't think those #s are right. I think eitheir the NVflsh is not compatable with my card nor the bios ver. cause those num aren't right. U or anyone do the Math and pls advice me what to do. I don't want to go to any blind route, as it is I'm in the learnning process, TIA.

Well sorry I'm not able to upload the files. I save them as jpeg first upload no success change them to png and either no success. I will keep traying to see if I be able to upload them.

[Boulard83]

Still cant unlock my GK106 GTX 650 TI.
** sorry for pics quality, its form teamviewer cause i'm at work **


There is my Asus GTX 650 TI DCII bios. The card is in my HTPC on a Z77 and a 2500K.
http://www.infodupat.com/MiscPics/GK106_asusDCII.rar

[Mungri]

Well there is a whole line in your screenshot and the OP that says it only supports GTX 660 and higher... Herpy derpy doo

[Boulard83]

660 and 650TI are based on the same GPU.

[LedHed]

Crazy, perhaps you should post what I put back on Pg 13 in your OP so people will have less trouble using the tool.

Here it is again for anyone that is having trouble getting this to work:

This is the link to user Veteran's guide:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...6&postcount=29


(Below this guide is another for using NVFlash inside of Windows, be sure to get the correct version)

Flashing bios instructions for any Nvidia Keplar GPU.
YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK

I wrote this guide as i couldnt find one anywhere.

First of all, You then need to download these files.

GPU-Z (This is used to grab the original Bios from the Gpu wether multi or single)
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2181/mirrors.php


KGB - Kepler BIOS Editor/Unlocker. (This is used to modify the Bios that you just grabbed from your Gpu using Gpu-z)

KGB supports: GTX690, GTX680, GTX670, GTX660Ti, GTX660OEM and GTX660

New version 0.6.1 (Adjustable Boost control)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d6dimgnx8cxvlca/kgb_0.6.1.zip

Old version 0.5
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrunxuq03vj0m5y/kgb_0.5.zip

NVFLASH (This is used to reflash or reinstall the new modified bios)
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownloa...oad-16133.html

Steps 1-10.

1.Ok what you need is firstly to make a USB dongle bootable into DOS, To do this read this very easy to follow guide.
http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm

2.Run GPU-Z and and click on the icon that allows you to grab your bios from the Gpu and save it to your PC.

The pictures below show how.....




Also make sure you have a copy of your bios!!

3.Once you have grabbed your bios put it into C:\Users\My and rename it 1.rom

For example the bios from the GTX 690 Gpu 1 is called GK104.rom, I renamed it to 1.rom and the bios from Gpu 2 I renamed 2.rom.

The reason why you should put the bios in C:\Users\My is because the default path will be set here from KGB.exe so if you are not familiar with the CMD (Commandline) then this is the easiest way of doing it.



5.Take the KGB.exe as well as the KGB.cfg file and also place both of these in C:\Users\My.
You should now have KGB.exe, KGB.cfg and 1.rom files in C:\Users\My.

If you have more than 1xGpu then you will have 1.rom and 2.rom respectively in C:\Users\My.


6.The next thing to do is open up the CMD (Commandline) which im sure you all know how to do.
Once you have the CMD open, Copy and paste in this command.

kgb 1.rom unlock (press enter).

It will now save the new values (i.e. from kgb.cfg) in your bios then print out the new values in the bios.

7.Now all we need to do is put the new modified 1.rom back onto the gpu, To do this we need to use the USB DOS bootable Dongle that we created in step 1.

Take the nvflash files once you have extracted them and place them onto the USB DOS bootable Dongle, There should be 2 files.

Then place the 1.rom bios also on the USB DOS bootable Dongle.


8.Now the Dongle is ready to be booted from so reboot the PC and go into the bios.
Once you are in the bios make it so the PC boots from the dongle, Once this happens you will then have a flashing cursor telling you that you are in DOS mode.


9.Type in nvflash --list (press enter)
This will then tell you what gpu(s) that you have installed on your motherboard.

10.Type in nvflash -i1 1.rom (press enter)

It will then say flashing Gpu and press Y to confirm, so press Y and the flashing will commence which takes a few seconds.

If you have a second gpu with 2.rom.

Type in nvflash -i2 2.rom (press enter)

It will then say flashing Gpu and press Y to confirm, so press Y and the flashing will commence which takes a few seconds.

Once this is done reboot the PC go into the bios and reset your boot so it boots from your hardrive with the Windows OS on.

Once you get into windows you can see from MSI afterburner or EVGA precision that the power target can be raised from 130 to 150.

When gaming the boost clock should be higher depending on your GPU.

I achieved around an increase of 30 on the core clock on boost alone on both GPU's which is very good.

It will differ for each person and each GPU(s), You can also try other peoples bios as long as iyts the same GPU as your own.

You can also modify the KGB.exe and tweak power settings for even more results but I wouldnt advise this unless you know what you are doing, I would just leave it at stock and use that for the time being.



The original Creator of KGB.exe can be found here.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...Unlocker/page4


Additional Information,3rd Feb 2013

v0.6.1 has adjustable Boost clock which are coded into the KGB.

The Boost clock adjust can be found in the .cfg file.

Here is the table with which you should set your boost clock too which are increments of 13mhz.

This is a list of valid frequencies that have been coded in KGB.

771.0
784.0
797.0
810.5
823.5
836.5
849.5
862.5
875.5
888.5
901.5
915.0
928.0
941.0
954.0
967.0
980.0
993.0
1006.0
1019.5
1032.5
1045.5
1058.5
1071.5
1084.5
1097.5
1110.5
1124.0
1137.0
1150.0
1163.0
1176.0
1189.0
1202.0
1215.0
1228.5
1241.5
1254.5
1267.5
1280.5
1293.5
1306.5
1319.5
1333.0
1346.0
1359.0
1372.0
1385.0
1398.0
1411.0
1424.0

Set your Boost clock ,flash and then test for stability.

Everything you do is at your own risk

I hope this guide has helped.

Good luck.

from Guru3D user Bentez on using NVFlash from inside of Windows:

Just wanted to add if you prefer to not reflash the modded bios using a USB stick you can do it whilst booted in windows.

Once you have modded the bios using KGB download the following version of nvflash
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...20Windows.html

Create a folder on your C drive called nvflash. Extract all the contents from the nvflash zip folder to the one you created. Copy your modified bios you created earlier into this folder,

Now type CMD in your start menu, right click and run as administrator

type

cd C:\nvflash

Then type

nvflash -4 -5 -6 gk104.rom (or whatever your rom is called)

press (Y) for run, (S) for skip and (A) for abort

If it tells you the bios is protected then type the below in cmd from the nvflash location

nvflash -4 -5 -6 gk104.rom --protectoff

now type

nvflash -4 -5 -6 gk104.rom

[kevindd992002]

Crazy, perhaps you should post what I put back on Pg 13 in your OP so people will have less trouble using the tool.

Here it is again for anyone that is having trouble getting this to work:

When using the nvflash DOS version, what is the difference when using the switches -4 -5 -6 and when not using them? I can flash my card just by typing "nvflash mod.rom" where mod.rom is my modified vBIOS.

[LedHed]

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...13&postcount=1

-5 means : --overridetype = Allow firmware and adapter PCI device ID to mismatch.
-6 means : --overridesub = Allow firmware and adapter PCI device ID to mismatch.
-4 override switch for force flashing mismatched sub-vendor or hardware ID's (often required for flashing a BIOS from a different vendor)

this is the "longest" way to flash, you are telling it GPU ID #1 and then using all the overrides:

OVERRIDE SWITCH -4
nvflash --index=1 -4 -5 -6 BIOS.ROM (enter) (BIOS.ROM is example name)
There is an override switch for force flashing mismatched sub-vendor or hardware ID's (often required for flashing a BIOS from a different vendor);
This command will flash your GPU with the new BIOS that you selected by typing the name of the BIOS.

From reading that thread it just sounds like that is the "advanced" way to enter the flash command while the other is the shorthand or "basic" way. I guess if something doesn't work with the shorthand way, you try the overrides. I had to use the --protectoff command on my card in order to flash while others do not need to, I guess it all depends on which card/manufacturer you have.

[zalazar]

i think drag and drop the file on the nvflash icon works too , once you do it dos window pops up waiting for you to press y to confirm the update .
iss this also fine ?

[kevindd992002]

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.ph...13&postcount=1



this is the "longest" way to flash, you are telling it GPU ID #1 and then using all the overrides:



From reading that thread it just sounds like that is the "advanced" way to enter the flash command while the other is the shorthand or "basic" way. I guess if something doesn't work with the shorthand way, you try the overrides. I had to use the --protectoff command on my card in order to flash while others do not need to, I guess it all depends on which card/manufacturer you have.

Got it. So in my case, I can do simply "nvflash mod.rom" and I'm all good, right?