Ok guys i have done some extensive tests on this new bios that was released with my XFX BE 5970 and this fully functional Sapphire 5970 OC bios and my factual information, read on. For a start and this is a fact, with the new XFX bios power saving functions dont work that well as most of the time the 2nd gpu will stay in a high power state after you come out of a 3d game. and also from reading and testing one guy was right in saying it takes less voltage for the same clock on the OC sapphire bios than it does on the XFX new bios. and here is the real kicker. VDDCI clocks set to 1.15v in the new XFX bios doesnt stick where by on the sapphire OC bios they do stick. look at this screenshot : as you can see everything just works with this sapphire OC bios 3d clocks turn into 2d power saver clocks when exiting games aswell as when booting up into windows 2d clocks will stick at there defaults. for low power state... and more testing has turned out that this sapphire OC bios takes less voltage for the same clocks for instance on the XFX bios i needed 1.200v for 950/1200 on this sapphire bios i needed just 1.1875v for 950/1200 *my recommendation would be to stick to the SapphireOC bios untill a newer version than the xfx can be tested.*
I had the feeling the new XFX bios was not as stable at the same clock/voltages as the Sapphire one I was using. Time to reflash to sapphire when I get home. You should have done some benchmarks to see if the tighter memory timings was true for the XFX one.
The tighter memory timeings are true. with the XFX i can max out around 1240 memory with slight artifacting. with the Sapphire OC bios i can set it to 1250 and no artifacts at all, and i gain yet more frames also i have found a bug with the Sapphire OC bios Vendor Information. the Vendor information is ment to be on the SLAVE bios and the Master bios has no vendor as in 0x000 ect. with it the way it was after flash the card behaved weird as in when the drivers where installed the 2nd gpu wouldnt show up or if it did show up it would say it was disabled in catylist. probably the vendor info needs to be this way on the XFX bE cards. also could probably contribute to a official fix for the powerplay working correctly...
Further testing has proven by me that this SapphireOC bios fixes the Vsync issues that some people are having when they overclock there 5970s where by the top 3rd of there screen looses vsync compaired to the rest of there screen. XFX bios = Does it Sapphire OC bios = Fixes it. just another reason why people should use sapphires OC bios for now on there 5970s. Prime Example of this issue : COD 4. if your card exhibits this switch bios.
There is also a Sapphire Test bios, not sure if you seen that one before. But that is what I was using before I tried the new XFX bios. The string in the Sapphire is XXXX-TEST BIOS-XXXX or something like that. I can upload it later and see if it is newer or older. It might have been the original one for the cold bug issues but not sure.
Are you running 10.9 hotfix? Why does your driver version say 8.773 10.9 win 7 x64? On my gpu z it says 8.771 10.9 win7 x64 (I'm running 10.9 +10.9profiles)
to the OP: see told yah it was a good bios http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=3713771&postcount=10 yes I have been running it for 5 months now trouble free dozens of 5970 flashes before I settled on this one and if anyone wants a good 5870 bios, try MSI's 5870 Lightning bios (fan is aggressive and loud, but runs cool at high volts, got a little better overclock with it as well. 100% stable and bug free that bios is)
Here is that Test Bios, it is already editing to 5870 speeds & volts by me as I don't have the original unedited copy anymore. http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xpfepc7ambfojao
After inspection, it looks like its a really old beta RC1 bios april its 4 months older than XFX`s release so im pritty much betting that its got the cold bug issues aswell as vsync issues. i would stay away imho.
I've gone to the latest Sapphire OC bios but cant be bothered checking if my max overclock has changed, going to do that during the weekend.
Just to let you guys know, now I can do 950\1200 gaming-stable with XFX bios, had to raise core voltage over 1200.
