Nvidia GPU BIOS Lock Broken for First Time Since 2013

Have you ever been annoyed that you can't increase the voltage on your older GeForce GPU? Well, now you can, with no limits! Sure, that doesn't sound particularly safe, and it isn't. But it's just a taste of what's possible with a new set of modding tools developed for Nvidia GPUs—without the company's permission, of course. With these new tools, you'll be able to do pretty much whatever your heart desires to your older Nvidia graphics card. You can even flash a new Ada Lovelace GPU with a different card's vBIOS if you really want to live in the danger zone.

Nvidia put a lock on its GPUs starting with the 900-series, aka Maxwell from 2014, according to TechPowerUp. It included an on-die security chip that had to verify the GPU's BIOS for it to function, so if it had unofficial firmware installed, it wouldn't work. Now two intrepid modders have figured out a way around this, allowing almost unlimited modifications on GPUs up to Turing and vBIOS cross-flashing on Ada Lovelace GPUs. The tools were developed by two forum members independently, with one member named Veii releasing a utility called OMGVflash, and another tool named NVflashk by Kefinatorforum.

This type of modification is only meant for the most hardcore users who know exactly what they're doing. Credit: Veii on TechPowerUp forums

Both utilities allow you to do almost anything you want to GPUs up to Turing, including raising (or lowering) voltage limits and increasing power limits. You can also tweak default fan curves, change default fan speeds, and more. The author of OMGVflash has posted an extensive thread here on the utility. TechPowerUp says it might even work with the author to host future versions of the tool along with its popular CPU-Z and GPU-Z utilities. The author also includes a simple warning that reads, "Don't flash stupid stuff and complain it won't post."

The biggest benefactors of this tool will likely be owners of RTX 40-series GPUs, who can now flash their MSRP GPU with a high-end, factory-overclocked GPU to easily obtain that card's performance settings. This will also open the door to running an RTX 4090 at 1.1v, which is a bit of a boost from the default setting of 1.07v on newer GPUs. However, the deep customization of voltages and settings is not available for Ada cards, as you can only do a straight swap of another card's vBIOS.

As always, using these tools will void your warranty and could brick your GPU, so tread carefully. However, the tools will also allow you to install a new vBIOS on a bricked GPU, hopefully resurrecting it from the dead. TechPowerUp says it's carefully examined each of the utilities for viruses and malware, and they both came up clean, so at least that's one less thing to worry about.