[jr2]

Make sure you've got a dual BIOS, YMMV, your warranty will be voided I'm sure, but man is this cool:

https://www.techpowerup.com/232498/radeon-rx-480-cards-can-successfully-be-flashed-to-rx-580

[Mito [PL]]

This is very interesting. Case very alike people sometimes getting some dormant processing units in HD7850/HD7950 cards up and running via a BIOS modification, effectively acquiring a HD7870/HD7970 that way...

What's done here seems to be just a tiny little difference in 580's BIOS which allows the GPU power supply section to force higher voltages and push more current into the chip, which is the same on 480 and 580... While the core itself won't be harmed by this unless overheated/damaged by too high voltage, I am wondering how could this affect the longevity of the card itself (mainly power supply section).

As for flashing a GPU's BIOS, I have some experiences myself - I once flashed a HD5770 card... It was a bad flash. The solution is to grab a hot-air soldering station, localise a single BIOS memory chip, remove it and program it via an external SPI Flash memory programmer. These things are pretty cheap, and they do work. So "killing" a single-BIOS card isn't actually a death sentence for it, and it can be fixed by anyone with an equipment worth a couple dozen bucks and some courage.

I am rather disappointed by the BIOS modification limitations forced by AMD here.

[jr2]

Well, if you have dual BIOS, you don't even have to do that (not everyone can solder lol).

[TechnoD11]

A word of caution:
Don't do this unless you know what you are doing.
Not all RX 480 graphics cards (or any other model of graphics card you wish to flash for that matter) have the same voltage controller on the PCB. If you flash a new BIOS that was designed to interface with a different voltage controller you will brick your graphics card (unless, as mentioned by Mito, you know/can resolder a new bios chip, which just takes us back to the "know what you are doing" bit).

That being said, as a RX 480 owner with a custom cooler I will be following this rather closely.

[Mito [PL]]

But if you can solder, you don't need to pay extra for a dual BIOS card/MOBO . This is actually a very useful ability for someone who does some stuff with PCs. With proper knowledge you can at least fix a bad BIOS flash, but also revive a PSU (I've done that with a Corsair GS600) or possibly even repair a broken LGA socket...
Heck, I'd say that soldering is pretty easy and even enjoyable - but my view on this is subjective.

@TechnoD11: Unless the new BIOS is compatible with the voltage regulator, but an error of some kind occurs and it pushes a bit too high voltage to the core. THAT may fry the GPU, but it's purely theoretical and I am not sure it can ever occur if somebody tried to force such situation.

[Charismatic]

Slight off topic, but, I have a buddy that owns a Rx 480, 4gig. And he says that it pulls a lot of power through the MOBO and that his MOBO smells like burning? You have any issues regarding power draw?

This is very interesting. Case very alike people sometimes getting some dormant processing units in HD7850/HD7950 cards up and running via a BIOS modification, effectively acquiring a HD7870/HD7970 that way...

I own a 7850 (http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-R785OC-1GD#ov). Whats the benefit to flashing GPU bios to a diff version?

[The E]

Slight off topic, but, I have a buddy that owns a Rx 480, 4gig. And he says that it pulls a lot of power through the MOBO and that his MOBO smells like burning? You have any issues regarding power draw?

There used to be a bug in the driver's power management (which has been fixed with the 16.7.1 drivers) which caused the 480 to draw too much ower from the Motherboard.

This is very interesting. Case very alike people sometimes getting some dormant processing units in HD7850/HD7950 cards up and running via a BIOS modification, effectively acquiring a HD7870/HD7970 that way...

I own a 7850 (http://www.gigabyte.us/Graphics-Card/GV-R785OC-1GD#ov). Whats the benefit to flashing GPU bios to a diff version?

In some cases, like the 480 to 580 thing here, the cards are physically identical so that the only difference between the two is the BIOS. In other cases, like the 7850/7870, the lower-rated chip is one that had a couple of compute units disabled in the BIOS, so flashing a new BIOS onto the card may enable those CUs (But there's a chance that that won't work correctly if the disabled units are faulty). So, benefit: You may gain a bit of performance. Drawback: You may brick the card or make it unstable.

[jr2]

So, benefit: You may gain a bit of performance. Drawback: You may brick the card or make it unstable.

Probably not worth the risk unless you have a dual BIOS (ability to swap back to a known-good BIOS with a flick of a switch).

[The E]

It's probably not a good idea either way, given how the RX 480's voltage regulators aren't built to handle the extra draw the overclock imposes.

[qazwsx]

As for flashing a GPU's BIOS, I have some experiences myself - I once flashed a HD5770 card... It was a bad flash. The solution is to grab a hot-air soldering station, localise a single BIOS memory chip, remove it and program it via an external SPI Flash memory programmer. These things are pretty cheap, and they do work. So "killing" a single-BIOS card isn't actually a death sentence for it, and it can be fixed by anyone with an equipment worth a couple dozen bucks and some courage.

What I want to know is where the hell  you're getting an SMD rework station for under $30 from.

[Mito [PL]]

You're right there, not $30. If prices from Poland can be a good indication for you, absolutely basic, new hotair stations start at about 130PLN here (shipping free). 1$ = 4PLN, so that's about 32,5$. And a CH341A serial memory programmer starts at 20PLN, so 5$ + 5PLN shipping (1,25$). That's below 40$ total. Soldering compound might even not be needed for that operation, but a small piece should cost a marginal price.
I don't know where to reliably look for such equipement in other regions of the world, but I imagine prices wouldn't be much higher.

(Not to mention that you can actually do this with a normal soldering iron with some patience and courage.)