All Graphics Cards or Discrete Video Cards come with their own BIOS which contains all the important settings for graphics cards regarding fan speed, clock speed, voltages, etc. Generally, graphics cards do not require BIOS updates unless you are facing some serious issues like instability, freezing, compatibility issues, or other technical issues related to GPU. Also if your graphics card is voltage-locked and you want to increase the voltage of the card for overclocking purposes then you have to install custom or modded BIOS on your graphics card. Graphics Card BIOS or GPU BIOS is also known as VBIOS, Video BIOS, or VGA BIOS.
Updating or Upgrading Graphics Card BIOS is not that hard but you should be very careful in updating VGA BIOS otherwise you might end up bricking your graphics card and rendering it useless. There are separate special tools available for both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards for GPU BIOS updates. Here in this post, I am going to list down the tools that you can use to update the video BIOS of your graphics card.
Check out: How to Fix Graphics Card Not Detected on your PC
Reasons to Update VGA BIOS of Graphics Card
Here are the various reasons that may prompt you to update the VGA BIOS of your graphics card.
Stability Issues – If you are facing stability issues like artifacts on screen or monitor, frequent freezing, BSOD, crashing, or restarts due to graphics card then you can try and flash the VGA BIOS of your graphics card to solve these issues.
Heating Issues – Sometimes a faulty or buggy GPU BIOS can cause unexpected heating of your graphics card even when the card is on stock frequencies. This is because the fan speed settings and temperature throttling settings might not be working properly on your current BIOS. In these circ*mstances, you may try and update the GPU BIOS to fix these issues regarding the overheating of your GPU.
Must Read: How to Reduce Graphics Card Temperature
Overclocking Issues – Some graphics cards come with locked voltage and due to this you cannot increase their voltage for higher overclocking and stability. So to unlock the voltage you can flash your GPU BIOS with a custom or modded BIOS for higher overclocking and better stability.
Must Read:
Locked Features / Options – To unlock some hidden features and options you can flash your VGA BIOS to get the extra benefits on some graphics cards.
Nvidia BIOS Update Tools
Here are the best and top Nvidia BIOS Update tools for flashing your GPU BIOS.
NVFlash
NVFlash is the best NVIDIA Firmware Update Utility for updating the BIOS of your Nvidia Graphics Card. Using this tool you can update your VBIOS and can also save the current VBIOS for backup purposes. This is a command-line tool and you can flash multiple graphics cards using this Nvidia GPU BIOS update utility. This tool supports the Windows operating system and it can also be run from a bootable USB disk.
NiBiTor
NiBiTor or NVIDIA BIOS Editor is a utility for editing the BIOS of your graphics card. Using this VBIOS editing utility you can customize or make important changes to your VBIOS file regarding clock speeds, voltage, timings, boot settings, and temperature settings, and then can save the updated VBIOS to the hard drive for flashing purposes. Now after making the appropriate changes you can use NVFlash to flash your VBIOS using this new VBIOS file that you have saved with NiBiTor. NiBiTor is indeed very powerful and advanced for VBIOS modding or tuning utility for Nvidia graphics cards.
AMD BIOS Update Tools
Here are the top AMD BIOS update tools to flash VBIOS of your AMD Radeon graphics cards.
ATIFlash
This is the best and safest tool for updating the BIOS of your AMD graphics card. This AMD VBIOS update tool has both a console/command line and a GUI interface. You can use any one of them to update your AMD graphics card VBIOS. ATIFlash is previously known as ATIWinFlash but now it is renamed as ATIFlash only. This AMD VBIOS update tool can be run from windows and from a bootable USB storage disk or drive. Just like NVFlash, you can backup your current VBIOS and update it to a newer one using the ATIFlash BIOS update tool.
GPU BIOS Collection
If you are unable to find your graphics card BIOS on your graphics card manufacturer website then you can get it from the link given below which has the largest collection of VGA BIOS files for both AMD and Nvidia Graphics Cards.
Click for Video BIOS Collection
How to Flash BIOS of Nvidia and AMD Graphics Cards
Here is a simple and brief guide on how you can successfully update the BIOS of your Nvidia and AMD graphics card.
1. Download the New BIOS
The first step is to download the new BIOS for your graphics card. You can check your graphics card model and current VBIOS version using graphics card information tools like GPU-Z and then look for the correct BIOS on the graphics card manufacturer’s website or on other reliable websites. After finding your GPU BIOS, save it to your hard drive. The BIOS file generally has .ROM extension to it.
2. Download BIOS Update Tools
Now download the BIOS update tools for flashing your graphics card VBIOS. For the Nvidia graphics card, you have to download NVFlash and for the AMD graphics card, you have to download ATIFlash to update your VBIOS.
3. Backup & Update your GPU BIOS
Now make a backup of your current VBIOS using these GPU BIOS Update tools because if anything goes wrong with the new VBIOS then you can safely roll back to your older VBIOS. You can also create a backup of your current GPU BIOS using GPU-Z. After backing up your current BIOS you can now flash your BIOS to the newer one by executing the following commands.
For Nvidia Graphics Cards [NVFlash]
nvflash [options] <filename>
For AMD Graphics Cards [ATIFlash]
atiflash [options] <filename>
4. Test the New BIOS
After successfully updating the BIOS or Firmware of your graphics card, you can test it by overclocking and by playing games to see if everything is working normally or not. If you encounter stability issues or an unexpected rise in graphics card temperature then you should roll back to your older VBIOS that you saved earlier in step 3.
See also: DDU – Best Graphics Card Driver Removal Tool
Final Words
Updating graphics card BIOS or VBIOS is pretty easy and safe if you do it correctly. Generally, graphics cards do not require BIOS updates unless you are an advanced user or enthusiast who wants something extra from the graphics card, or you are facing some serious issues with your graphics card. With the right tools, VBIOS version, and procedure you can update the VBIOS without any problems. If you still have any queries regarding GPU BIOS or VGA BIOS updates then you can ask me that by leaving a comment below.
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