Now all video cards with 4Gb video memory in Ethereum mining are slowly and surely dying, because instead of the 30-32Mh/s required, RX480 and RX 580 4Gb give out 16-18Mh/s in zombie mode. And with each new era on the Ethereum network, the "health" of such video cards will only deteriorate by 1.5MH/s. There are forgotten knowledge in the world, with the help of which you can turn RX 480 4Gb into RX 480 8Gb in an instant, i.e. resurrecting and returning them to a full life, where they can "breathe deeply" and delight their owners with graceful 30-32MH/s.
Actually, we will share this knowledge with you today.
But we warn you right away, salvation is not waiting for everyone.
Having finished with the lyrical introduction, let's move on to the vital practice of being.
AMD graphics cards codenamed Polaris went on sale in the summer of 2016 and are released under different names (RX470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580, RX 590) with minimal changes so far. There are two basic variants of execution - with 4Gb video memory and 8Gb, and at the start of sales in the summer of 2016 you could buy both of these variants. But in fact, at the start of sales, everyone was selling video cards with 8Gb of video memory on the board. The difference between them was only in different BIOS versions. The actual process of flashing the BIOS from an 8Gb video card to a 4Gb video card will immediately make you a little happier. Because in a matter of minutes you will get a full-fledged Polaris with 8 gigabytes of video memory.
If you have a reference AMD Radeon RX 480 4Gb video card (see image) purchased in the summer of 2016, then you have almost a 100% chance to get a more expensive and valuable 8Gb option from a video card costing less than 100 USD, without applying any special effort.
If you disassemble such an RX 480 with 4Gb, then all memory chips will be soldered on the printed circuit board, as is done on the 8Gb version.
All you need, except for the correct video card from the first batch, is the AMD VBFlash program for reading and writing VBIOS of AMD video cards and the VBIOS itself from the reference 8Gb RX 480 video card. You can download the required BIOS at Techpowerup.com
Attention: replacing the VBIOS video card may damage it, so perform such actions only at your own risk.
The actual result of such a flashing can be seen in the screenshots below:
P.S. The price between the RX480 4Gb video card and a similar one for 8Gb can differ by 2-3 times. Therefore, you should try your luck either with your own video cards, or look at the classifieds site in search of good options.
