They flash the BIOS of the reference RX 5700 to convert it into an RX 5700 XT
By flashing the BIOS they manage to convert an AMD RX 5700 into a RX 5700 XT, although this only works with the reference model at the moment.
AMD graphics cards have something interesting and that is that the BIOS of their graphics cards can be modified. NVIDIA protects its graphics fairly safely to prevent graphics from being mutated. We recently converted a RX 470 Mining into a RX 570 Gaming without major problems. Well, now it seems that by simply flashing the BIOS you can pass the RX 5700 to the RX 5700 XT.
Graphics card manufacturers typically adjust the GPU performance through the BIOS. In AMD it is common for a graphics to be trimmed by BIOS and its performance can be improved at zero cost. NVIDIA, as we have discussed, blocks it through BIOS encryption.
Convert a RX 5700 to a RX 5700 XT
They have been the colleagues of wccftech who have done this. They took and copied the BIOS of the RX 5700 XT using the GPU-Z tool. They then took this file and copied it to the RX 5700 using the ATIFlash tool. A relatively simple process that unlocks the full potential of Navi silicon.
Once the process is done, the graphics card already has the 2304 Stream Processors active and ready to go. The frequency in this case remains at 1805MHz, but it is not a major problem either. This places it in performance between the RX 5700 and the RX 5700 XT, which is nothing more.
Subsequently the graphics have increased the Power Limit to 20% and have overclocked the graphics to take it to 1950MHz. The fan profile has also been adjusted. With these settings it's even capable of outperforming (narrowly) the benchmark RX 5700 XT. Consumption increases by 60W compared to the RX 5700 XT.
If this is confirmed, users can save a lot of money. To our knowledge, it only works with AMD reference models, not custom models by each manufacturer.
