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AMD Radeon RX 460 Unlocking - der8auer strikes again!

IEC

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Guide:
http://overclocking.guide/amd-radeon-rx-460-unlocking-1024-stream-processors/

The AMD Radeon RX 460 unlocking process involves nothing more than a simple firmware update and can result in a performance upgrade of 12.5%. The Radeon RX 460 is considered a solid choice in terms of price/performance. It comes by default with 56 TMU and 896 Stream Processors in the form of the Polaris 11 GPU architecture. But here’s how to get an additional 8 TMUs and 128 Stream Processors.

Note: It’s always possible that something goes wrong if you flash the BIOS of your card. In addition it’s possible that not all cards can be unlocked and that you might damage the card. Flash at your own risk!
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As always YMMV, but at this price point (~$100) a "free" upgrade of 12.5% is always a nice boost 🙂

witcher3-1024x557.png
 
I dont know if its worth avoiding your warranty for such a little boost...althought personally i would unlock it
 
Where do you get the BIOS to try this? And is it possible that those shaders are bad? What are the odds? I do DC with my card, I need all of the available shaders to be 100% quality.

Edit: Oh, I see, they provide BIOS flashed for the two cards they tested. One of which, is the one I own. 🙂
 
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I would be worried about the cards without the extra 6 pins and this mod

but it's a nice mod if there is a significant success rate.
 
I thought that modern partly disabled dies actually used lasers to cut the connections, so that this sort of stuff would not be possible. Surprised that it is still possible.

Also - why did AMD release the 460 in its current state anyway? They released a fully unlocked Polaris 10 but not a fully unlocked Polaris 11?
 
Apple gets the best fully unlocked Polaris 11 dies for their usage, or so goes the rumor (you will never receive explicit confirmation of this without NDA violations being involved).

So for whatever reason (didn't meet power envelope, didn't pass a stability test at specified clockspeed, didn't meet stability test at specified voltage, etc) these chips were soft-locked to fewer shaders. It's always a gamble to unlock them and you aren't guaranteed stability, but plenty of users can and do unlock with good results. No laser-cut dies (yet).
 
How do you test this after you do it to find out if you have bad shaders? It is obvious, like run Firestrike and it crashes obvious?
 
Ok, I flashed it. Now to see if it makes any difference in the TPF for my current F@H WU.

Edit: My RX 460 4GB Nitro card, doing a F@H 11403 WU, went from 7.xx% @ 9:11 TPF, to 9.36% @ 4:21 TPF. Estimated PPD has gone from 89K PPD, to 238K PPD.

That's some boost! (Wondering exactly what's going on here. greater than 2X improvement in F@H?)

Edit: Hmm, could have sworn the WU was past 10%, but then it reverted to 10.00% exactly, and the TPF went to 8:42. Still, an improvement. Est. PPD is 112K, nope now 98K PPD, and dropping slowly.

Edit: Settled at around 93K PPD, up from 89K PPD. Not a bad increase, for free.

Temps seem to be up 3C though.
 
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swilli89 said:
This is awesome! What was the last unlockable card.. The 6950? Stuff like this will forever remind me of the original unlock beast.. The 9500 pro unlocked to a 9700 😀
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Actually, it was the 9500 non-Pro with the memory placed in an "L" configuration on the PCB. The 9500 Pro wasn't unlockable. I think I still have mine in my 'spare video cards box' in the basement.
 
Creig said:
Actually, it was the 9500 non-Pro with the memory placed in an "L" configuration on the PCB. The 9500 Pro wasn't unlockable. I think I still have mine in my 'spare video cards box' in the basement.
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You are exactly correct, sir. I knew it was the L shaped memory but couldn't remember if it was the Pro or Non Pro. R300 was such a monster!
 
Anyone else try this, or am I the only person on these forums willing to admit I bought an RX 460? (But, it was a "deluxe OC" 4GB model, the Nitro.)
 
Many of AMD's early parts end up unlockable, as they just software mod them to weaker parts. Once revisions come in they are hardware disabled. Anyone who bought early 6950 (70), Fury Air, 480 4gb and others got free upgrades 🙂
 
VirtualLarry said:
Anyone else try this, or am I the only person on these forums willing to admit I bought an RX 460? (But, it was a "deluxe OC" 4GB model, the Nitro.)
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I have a 4GB Strix myself I plan to try it on soon. Only thing holding me back is my main media server needs an immediate rebuild (which includes flashing a SATA card in Live DOS to save a buck) and that is taking all my computer time.

I appreciate you trying it out. You ran Firestrike yet to make sure there are no obvious visual errors?
 
Hmm, seems that AMD is detecting these unlocked shader cards, with newer driver versions, and shutting down the driver so it gives a "Code 43" and locks you down to MS Basic Display Driver, which will only go up to 1360x768 resolution.

That, or my card suddenly developed a bug in the shaders, even though I was running Folding@Home for a week on them, and they didn't have an issue.

If anyone would like to prove me wrong, by unlocking the shaders on their RX 460 card, and then upgrading to 16.12.2 drivers, successfully, then please let me know.

I had to flash the backup BIOS image back to my card, to get it to work again. The newer driver install definitely did something to it.
 
VirtualLarry said:
Hmm, seems that AMD is detecting these unlocked shader cards, with newer driver versions, and shutting down the driver so it gives a "Code 43" and locks you down to MS Basic Display Driver, which will only go up to 1360x768 resolution.

That, or my card suddenly developed a bug in the shaders, even though I was running Folding@Home for a week on them, and they didn't have an issue.

If anyone would like to prove me wrong, by unlocking the shaders on their RX 460 card, and then upgrading to 16.12.2 drivers, successfully, then please let me know.

I had to flash the backup BIOS image back to my card, to get it to work again. The newer driver install definitely did something to it.
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To quote Techreport:
All that said, the unlocking party may not be long-lived. TechPowerUp also reports that AMD has resumed firmware signature checking on its cards with the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition update, so that driver will fail to load with cards running unsigned firmwares. Folks trying to flash their cards will have to stick with older drivers—not an appealing prospect considering ReLive's many benefits.
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Oh that sucks, AMD can really use the publicity that free unlocks give them. Doesn't seem wise to lock that out in the drivers...
 
Headfoot said:
Oh that sucks, AMD can really use the publicity that free unlocks give them. Doesn't seem wise to lock that out in the drivers...
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Uh, what? That makes very, very little sense. Why should they give their blessing to people hacking their cards? Overclocking is one thing, this can actually brick your card. The shitstorm when idiots start doing this and then getting their RMAs refused would do far, far worse things to AMDs reputation than this hack could do in the other direction. AMD is working hard to rectify their reputation for shirts drivers. Allowing people to run hacked hardware does nothing to help this. Quite the opposite.

Of course, it's probably possible to modify the drivers so that this check is bypassed. Again, a hack. IMO, raising the skill level required to implement a hack like this is only a good thing for the average user.
 
Valantar said:
Uh, what? That makes very, very little sense. Why should they give their blessing to people hacking their cards? Overclocking is one thing, this can actually brick your card. The shitstorm when idiots start doing this and then getting their RMAs refused would do far, far worse things to AMDs reputation than this hack could do in the other direction. AMD is working hard to rectify their reputation for shirts drivers. Allowing people to run hacked hardware does nothing to help this. Quite the opposite.

Of course, it's probably possible to modify the drivers so that this check is bypassed. Again, a hack. IMO, raising the skill level required to implement a hack like this is only a good thing for the average user.
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Lol. No.

Unlocks = free performance. They're good, despite all the handwaving to the contrary. Is this an enthusiast forum or has everyone turned into handwringing bean counters?
 
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