Retail RX 480 4GB to 8GB Memory Unlock Mod Works

So would one of these cards be an upgrade to my 290X? The 8 gb thing sounds sweet.
 
I like AMD.. but this probably isn't going to end well when people go to buy the card thinking they can flash the BIOS and get a free 4GB of VRAM and find out AMD fixed it. It's nice now, great perk for an early adopter.
 
I know I will be curbstomped for this, but doesn't posting this seem somehow...bad? Yes, it's news and yes, it's big news, but posting links that will end up losing money for AMD kinda stinks.

Stomp away.
 
I like AMD.. but this probably isn't going to end well when people go to buy the card thinking they can flash the BIOS and get a free 4GB of VRAM and find out AMD fixed it. It's nice now, great perk for an early adopter.


Ya.... Ide like 8 gb. I just want to know if it will outperform my 290x @ 1100/1450.. I play at 2560x1080
 
Spidey329 said:
They likely failed the QA for 8GB, but passed for 4GB. Cheaper to just flash it as a 4GB model.

Same reason some of the processors could get a free core years ago (X3 to 4).
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What he said, this is no blunder nor is it free memory. These cards didn't meet the specs for the 8gb version or weren't stable, so they are sold with a BIOS which makes them more stable but perform a bit less. It makes more sense to sell them cheaper than throwing them away.

You might be lucky, that everything runs smooth with the 8gb BIOS, maybe you only have to clock the memory down to 7ghz who knows. But it stays a gamble.
 
quiktake2009 said:
Reminds me of the business model for computer printers. Pay more for a firmware that enables faster printing speed!
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And often digital cameras etc. etc.

I would not be annoyed at buying an 8GB card. In the past when things have been later 'enabled' it was for a very specific reason or quality control reason and enabling wasnt always successful or reliable.

In this case I should think it was just decided to make all 8GB cards (to get the manufacturing run done quicker) and just assign a 4GB BIOS to 25% of them so they could fill a lower price point to more cost concious buyers.

In the next couple of months those 4GB reference cards will disappear from shelves and the OEM cards will just have 4GB of chips on them.
 
I'm pretry sure the story goes that AMD didn't have time to manufacture two different boards, but it NEEDED to have 4GB cards within the launch window or else everyone and their dog would call AMD out on falsely advertising the '$199' price. So they just firmware flashed the 8GB cards to not see half the RAM.

AMD is probably loosing money on each 4GB card sold, or its barely breaking even. I dont think this 'free 4GB givaway' is going to last long at all.
 
This is pretty sweet. Not quite as awesome as Omega unlock on the 9500 -> 9700 Pro, but still pretty sweet.
 
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I thought you could pretty much just not solder down the extra chips and that's literally all you would need to do besides the BIOS? That's why you see some low end devices with the pads laid out for extra chips right? Are you telling me AMD is so pathetic they cant even get someone at the factory to reprogram the machine to not lay down the 4 extra chips and save that cost? Did they forget to spec the 4GB model until the last minute? There really is no explanation besides incompetence or laziness.
 
gunbust3r said:
I thought you could pretty much just not solder down the extra chips and that's literally all you would need to do besides the BIOS? That's why you see some low end devices with the pads laid out for extra chips right? Are you telling me AMD is so pathetic they cant even get someone at the factory to reprogram the machine to not lay down the 4 extra chips and save that cost? Did they forget to spec the 4GB model until the last minute? There really is no explanation besides incompetence or laziness.
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Lol. Apparently you've been inside the meeting room
 
Oh wow. This sort of reminds me of when you could unlock the 6970 shaders on the ATI 6950's. AMD going old school again.
 
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The matter is very simple; AIBs wanted to make sure they'd have ample supply of both 4GB and 8GB models on launch day/week, they must have been expecting high demand and/or had a lot of pre-orders so to make sure they met that demand a few AIBs just rebadged some of their initial 8GB shipment batch boxes to 4GB and added the BIOS restriction. AMD already made their money since they sold them the 8GB kits so AMD loses nothing. I repeat, what the AIBs chose to do with the SKUs they already paid for is out of AMD's hands as they already sold them the 8GB models and got their money.

On the AIB side it makes business sense to do that 'cause the alternative for them is not selling the cards at all to people looking to buy just the 4GB model (those people would buy a card from another AIB). After the initial launch demand from pre-orders and regular customers is fulfilled, there will be no need to rebadge the 8GB models and the profit loss from a few rebadged SKUs is made up in volume sales. In the end AMD already made their money, it's the AIBs that are making a little less initial profit which will eventually be made up by volume sales as this price bracket is by FAR the largest market.
 
KazeoHin said:
I'm pretry sure the story goes that AMD didn't have time to manufacture two different boards, but it NEEDED to have 4GB cards within the launch window or else everyone and their dog would call AMD out on falsely advertising the '$199' price. So they just firmware flashed the 8GB cards to not see half the RAM.
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I think this is the most likely case. RAM chips are tested before they are soldered onto the PCB so the "failed validation" idea doesn't make much sense.

P.S. I bought a Radeon 9500 non-pro on the 9700 PRO PCB, that was a killer deal, about half-price. It did experience artifacts in one old game I played but that's it. It otherwise worked great.
 
DukenukemX said:
AMD should just price the 8GB cards to $200 already. What were they thinking? Also, for the first time you can now literally download more ram.
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Yeah, but you wouldn't download a car.

I might have to see if I can find a 4gb card local to play with. Reminds me of my 9500 flashed to a 9700 and my x800 pro flashed to a x800 xt.

Nah, fuck it. I have a 1070, I'll wait for Vega.
 
As stated above, I'm pretty certain this is a case of expediency to get the maximum number of reference cards out into the market. All good things come to an end and this one will soon, I'm sure. Bet there is zero chance AIB's will include four extra GB's of VRAM on their pcb's.

This thread includes all of the info and utilities needed to flash 4GB to 8GB. It also includes methods to tighten VRAM timings & speeds as well as various GPU and fan adjustments, and even a fix if you happen to brick your brand new RX 480 ;) enjoy:

Polaris Bios Mod ( RX480 )
 
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gunbust3r said:
I thought you could pretty much just not solder down the extra chips and that's literally all you would need to do besides the BIOS? That's why you see some low end devices with the pads laid out for extra chips right? Are you telling me AMD is so pathetic they cant even get someone at the factory to reprogram the machine to not lay down the 4 extra chips and save that cost? Did they forget to spec the 4GB model until the last minute? There really is no explanation besides incompetence or laziness.
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They most likely need the 8 memory chips for bandwidth. If they're 32-bit each, then you need 8 for 256-bit. The disabled memory was probably to increase the value of the 8GB model. I can't think of any other reason? If the memory controller was defective, then why is it still 32-bit? I doubt you can have defective memory chips and disable half of each chip.
 
Decibel said:
Yeah, but you wouldn't download a car.

I might have to see if I can find a 4gb card local to play with. Reminds me of my 9500 flashed to a 9700 and my x800 pro flashed to a x800 xt.

Nah, fuck it. I have a 1070, I'll wait for Vega.
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I would SO download a car. Yes I would.
 
KazeoHin said:
I'm pretry sure the story goes that AMD didn't have time to manufacture two different boards, but it NEEDED to have 4GB cards within the launch window or else everyone and their dog would call AMD out on falsely advertising the '$199' price. So they just firmware flashed the 8GB cards to not see half the RAM.

AMD is probably loosing money on each 4GB card sold, or its barely breaking even. I dont think this 'free 4GB givaway' is going to last long at all.
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No the 4gb packages and 8 gb packages have the same amount of ram chips, just that the 4 gb use half the memory size. They could make a 4 gb version with the same traces they use with the 8 gb by using the different packages, I think the cost difference between the two is negligible or AMD got a discount for bulk purchase of the 8gb packages.
 
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DrLobotomy said:
I would SO download a car. Yes I would.
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In comparison, it would be like downloading a new image for your ECU that unlocks the performance of the engine. Some models of car actually DO have this as a opinion. At lot of turbo cars particularly are detuned for longevite. VW Golf, GTI, Ford Focus ST, Mustang Ecoboost, etc.
 
is there a tool to test memory on VGAs?: maybe some of those 4gb were 8GB with failed memory chips?
 
I seriously cannot believe the nVidia fans drooling over and over on this thread.
"pathetic", "losing money", "pure fail".

Jesus.
nVidia ass kissers.

nVidoa fucks you over with less ram than advertized and you make excuses for them.
AMD gives you MORE ram and you bitch about it.
Not that any of you would have bought it, you're too blindly loyal to nVidia and it shows.

You are the type of guys making excuses for dating the Bailey Jays out there.
 
griff30 said:
I seriously cannot believe the nVidia fans drooling over and over on this thread.
"pathetic", "losing money", "pure fail".

Jesus.
nVidia ass kissers.

nVidoa fucks you over with less ram than advertized and you make excuses for them.
AMD gives you MORE ram and you bitch about it.
Not that any of you would have bought it, you're too blindly loyal to nVidia and it shows.

You are the type of guys making excuses for dating the Bailey Jays out there.
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Haven't you heard? The 1060 is 10% faster than the RX 480 in FireStrike! NVIDIA WINS! Eat that AMD losers! Wait, that's the 6GB card, and that costs $280? That's not even DX12? FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU...............>>>>>>>>!!!!

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Ok, how many of you RX 480 4GB owners have actaully done this? I was reading reports that this was only for the models sent to reviewers, but if we're actually seeing this abundantly in the wild, I may pick up a 4GB RX 480 for my dad sooner rather than later.
 
Spidey329 said:
They likely failed the QA for 8GB, but passed for 4GB. Cheaper to just flash it as a 4GB model.

Same reason some of the processors could get a free core years ago (X3 to 4).
Click to expand...
That's my assumption as well. They either failed validation for 8GB capacity or they failed at the faster memory speeds specced for the 8GB model.

If I had a 4GB RX-480, I would wait a week and see how this all pans out before flashing.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
Ok, how many of you RX 480 4GB owners have actaully done this? I was reading reports that this was only for the models sent to reviewers, but if we're actually seeing this abundantly in the wild, I may pick up a 4GB RX 480 for my dad sooner rather than later.
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Retail boards should be able to do it too

image.png
 
^ LOL

No way, they literally spent more on the 4GB model by leaving the 8GB of vram and adding a sticker. This is awesome.
 
Oh Noes!! My property taxes are gonna go up cuz I have to claim an 8GB RAM video card instead of a 4GB. Oh Noes!!!!!
 
DrLobotomy said:
How can they be unhappy if they got what they paid for? More air is needed.
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You don't get it, and it's obvious.

Your point is obvious as well, and most likely was considered by the person you quoted, who still made the same conclusion which is correct, and unsurprisingly so.
 
Welp.. I had an order for a XFX RX 480 4GB from Newegg that I placed last week and cancelled. They're currently OOS, but I'm actually still getting reminder emails that my will-call order is ready, so I'll test my luck after work. :D
 
Whoever paid the $40 premium for the 8GB model thought it was worth the money at the time. They got their 8GB card.

They made their deal with the AIB's & retailers. They paid their money, they got what was promised.

It shouldn't matter to them that other buyers got lucky. Just because you didn't win the lotto, doesn't mean you should be upset at the guy who bought his ticket right after you.
 
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