[Guide] Undervolting Msi 280x Gaming (+ some rig pics)

Wolfbot

I had a hard time undervolting my Msi 280x cards. Msi Afterburner and Trixx didn’t work. Flashing the original Bios with modified Voltage just caused a black screen (even with stock Voltage)

So after 3 days of work I finally managed to get them undervoltet to 0,956 V running steady without hardware errors with 720-730 khash.

As those cards gave me such a pain in the ass I thought you guys might appreciate a little guide :)

Attention: You might lose your warranty for your cards or might damage them. Follow this guide on your own risk!

This guide is for Msi 280x cards which come with the bios “015.042.000.000.003435”

What you will need:
* Usb pen drive
* VBE7
*hpflash
*win98boot
*gpu-z
*atiflash
*Msi Bios 015.040.000.000.003435

Instructions:

Follow this guide and create a bootable dos usb drive: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html
Download atiflash and store it on your bootable pen drive: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2306/atiflash-4-17/#
Download gpu-z on your rig and create a backup of your Bios. Gpu-z can be found here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
To backup your bios open gpu-z and click on the icon next to “Bios Version”
rename the bios to something simple, for example “backup”.
Store it on your usb pen drive.
Download the bios mentioned above: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/146769/msi-r9280x-3072-131009.html
Download VBE7: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/vbe7-vbios-editor-for-radeon-hd-7000-series-cards.189089/
Run VBE7 and open the bios you downloaded. Click on powerplay and edit #6 VDDC and #0 VDDC to a voltage you want your cards to run on. Mine run absolutely stable witch 0,956V. Keep in mind that VBE7 uses mV.
Rename the bios to something simple (I choose m.rom) and copy the edited bios to your pen drive, restart your rig and boot from the pen drive
Change the little switch located next to the crossfire port on your graphics card (Do so for every card you have on that rig)
In Dos write: atiflash -f -p 0 m.rom
0 is the number of the graphics card.

replace m.rom with whatever name you gave your new bios.

If you have 4 graphics cards in your rig and your bios is named m.rom you would have to type:
atiflash -f -p 0 m.rom
atiflash -f -p 1 m.rom
atiflash -f -p 2 m.rom
atiflash -f -p 3 m.rom

Restart your rig and boot to windows or whatever os you are using.
Have fun with your msi cards running on lower voltage, consuming less power and producing less heat :)

P.S.: Rig pics have to wait until later, sry ;)

Ignition75

Jesus that’s low, are you sure you’re cards aren’t getting sick?

I found if I went under 1.075 on the Sapphire 280x’s I started getting issues…

Pancrisp

Wow, never seen anyone undervolted below 1.0mV

Wolfbot

Jesus that’s low, are you sure you’re cards aren’t getting sick?

I found if I went under 1.075 on the Sapphire 280x’s I started getting issues…

I have them running on 0,956 for two days now and so far no sick devices :)

Wolfbot

And here are the promised pics:

AcidD

This topic is 4 years old but deserves a bump! I recently had the time to bring back one of my old mining rigs which used 280X cards…

Yes this still works and yes I was able to undervolt to 0.950 and my rig of 4x MSI 280x 3GB cards is doing 2 MH/s total. each card is ~505 KH/s

using nsgMiner 0.9.3

Thank you @ghostlander