*Official Benchmark Thread* - Post it here or it didn't happen :D

[Mr. Fox]

On 1/29/2026 at 1:52 PM, Mr. Fox said:

Brother @Papusan it looks like there is a solution to use the Matrix BIOS on your Astral. I am using it on my Solid OC and it is the best one.

 

https://www.overclock.net/posts/29553948/

Brother @johnksss I think this is it (above). turbogear figured it out

 

But, also have a look at my post here (below) when I asked for clarification on the Astral mod...

 

https://www.overclock.net/posts/29558012/

 

 

Quote

 

So, if I am interpreting the photos correctly, you merely move the resistor from the pad marked #2 (where the resistor is present on the Black Astral) to the pad marked #5? (where the resistor is present on the white Astral) Is that correct?

 

You move one resistor over to another spot.

 

Quote

 

Yes that is correct. You only need to move one resistor to position 5.

If you lose it after removing 😄 then you need new 0402 size 100k Ohm resistor.

 

 

[electrosoft]

30 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

 

I am using the Matrix vBIOS. I think there is an issue using any other vBIOS on the black Astral unless you move resistors on the PCB to match the white Astral due to a different fan controller arrangement. If you flash something else on the black Astral is causes the GPU to report problems in Device Manager even though it is only a fan issue. There is a post on OC.net showing how to move the resistors so you can use any 5090 vBIOS you want to use on the black Astral.

 

I think I posted a link to it in this thread and tagged Brother @Papusan about the Astral fan resistor mod.

 

---

 

Found it...

  

Brother @johnksss I think this is it.

 

 

There is an issue. For some reason, I figured @johnksss opted for a white one when he went to Microcenter knowing of the issue.....don't ask me why. 🤣

 

 

[Mr. Fox]

1 minute ago, electrosoft said:

 

There is an issue. For some reason, I figured @johnksss opted for a white one when he went to Microcenter knowing of the issue.....don't ask me why. 🤣

 

 

I am not sure whether he got a white one or black one. If he got the white one then yeah, just flash the Matrix vBIOS and good to go.

[johnksss]

49 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

 

What was the top frequency your card was able to sustain with a +460 offset in GPU-Z render? 3400+ is good. 3500+ is god mode. Better bins fall somewhere between 3450-3500.

 

 

Some are untamed (Asus 2000w XOC), while others are actually good. Right now, the Matrix 800w vBIOS is the sweet spot overall for D2D unless you're going to shunt and/or slap on the 1500w+ variants floating around.

 

I know the Asus XOC gives you 1.15v and you will need to adjust down.

 

@Papusan was running the big boy Asus XOC before so he might be able to give you more insight.

 

I know @Mr. Fox is shunted with an EVC2, but not sure what vBIOS he is cooking with atm.

 

 

 

 

 

I would say it is hitting 3412 at 40C right now.

I was shunted with evc2 on my first card, but it didn't seem to be a very good overclocker.

18K

https://www.3dmark.com/sn/6448799

 

43 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

 

I am using the Matrix vBIOS. I think there is an issue using any other vBIOS on the black Astral unless you move resistors on the PCB to match the white Astral due to a different fan controller arrangement. If you flash something else on the black Astral is causes the GPU to report problems in Device Manager even though it is only a fan issue. There is a post on OC.net showing how to move the resistors so you can use any 5090 vBIOS you want to use on the black Astral.

 

I think I posted a link to it in this thread and tagged Brother @Papusan about the Astral fan resistor mod.

 

---

 

Yep. Found it...

  

Brother @johnksss I think this is it.

 

I was using the gig vbios on my last Astral.

Hummm, now that does sound interesting. Any vbios. I'll read up on it.

 

12 minutes ago, electrosoft said:

 

There is an issue. For some reason, I figured @johnksss opted for a white one when he went to Microcenter knowing of the issue.....don't ask me why. 🤣

 

 

A few reasons why. A white card would have cost me roughly another $1200.

 

They did not have a white one instock.

 

My direct replacement was using my MC warranty claim instead of having Asus attempt to fix whatever the issue was. When I bought my card it was $3399.99 at the time. It is currently $3899.99. And that took me a few months to catch MC with an Astral instock. When they had like 25+ my card was still sort of working.

11 minutes ago, Mr. Fox said:

I am not sure whether he got a white one or black one. If he got the white one then yeah, just flash the Matrix vBIOS and good to go.

No white one at this time. Although I didn't even know about the resistor issue as I had not been keeping up on the overclocking for the last 6 months or so.

[Mr. Fox]

 

 

[Papusan]

11 hours ago, johnksss said:

So, are any of these unlocked vbios files any good or just bs. Meaning they are unlocked, but the way they are unlocked they just boost power to the moon and no real efficiency gains with true voltage control? The same problem people had back in the day where it looks good, but no meaningful performance increase.

 

You can get the xx.xx.xx.50 Asus XOC but the efficiency is pretty bad from the Asus XOC. This is one of  the few options if you can't use the Matrix/Lightning vbios due fan problems/move some resistors to make it work on Asus. But running the GPU at 1000W without chiller/huge custom cooling for the GPU ain't what I would do. Benchmarks... Yes but not as dayly 24/7 usage. X-flash vbios versions for better performance this gen have been a mess. Even with the better stock Gigabyte vbios without custom cooling create a mess with the fans. Especially if you have Asus cards. Even retail Lightning can't use their own XOC firmware. So pretty screwed.

 

See also....

NVIDIA’s Warranty Claims Have Increased By 1000% Since The Launch of 16-Pin Connector GPUs

 

[johnksss]

4 minutes ago, Papusan said:

 

You can get the xx.xx.xx.50 Asus XOC but the efficiency is pretty bad from the Asus XOC. This is one of  the few options if you can't use the Matrix/Lightning vbios due fan problems/move some resistors to make it work on Asus. But running the GPU at 1000W without chiller/huge custom cooling for the GPU ain't what I would do. Benchmarks... Yes but not as dayly 24/7 usage. X-flash vbios versions for better performance this gen have been a mess. Even with the better stock Gigabyte vbios without custom cooling create a mess with the fans. Especially if you have Asus cards. Even retail Lightning can't use their own XOC firmware. So pretty screwed.

Hummmm.... Well I do have my water block, I was just trying to make sure I have a better sample to start with than I did the first time around. I'll probably do the evc2, resistor and shut mods later today, then block the card back up. 

 

Did anyone manage to get the software that goes with these vbios files?

[Papusan]

20 minutes ago, johnksss said:

Did anyone manage to get the software that goes with these vbios files?

 

Not  sure what you mean. From what I know only MSI offer XOC tools. But I haven't seen it in use outside of some fab clockers/elite.

 

Edit. Also Galax offer own XOC tool. But only for own cards (5090D and 5090D2).

 

[Mr. Fox]

2 hours ago, Papusan said:

NVIDIA’s Warranty Claims Have Increased By 1000% Since The Launch of 16-Pin Connector GPUs

I suspect the defective design of the Founder's Edition trash GPUs is also affecting their warranty claim frequency. There is no way that fragile garbage can be serving them well. Engineered to fail by engineers that are failures. Their demented machinations are ludicrous, and you can tell at a glance that the product design is predestined for failure.

  

1 hour ago, johnksss said:

Did anyone manage to get the software that goes with these vbios files?

As far as I know there is no ASUS software for XOC. I have not heard of any. Just the Astral XOC vBIOS that reduces performance for most. I do not recall having seen anyone report a performance increase using that vBIOS versus Gigachad or Matrix firmware. I have only seen the opposite reported. I loved what it did to my default voltage, but my benchmark scores decreased using it.

[johnksss]

4 hours ago, Mr. Fox said:

I suspect the defective design of the Founder's Edition trash GPUs is also affecting their warranty claim frequency. There is no way that fragile garbage can be serving them well. Engineered to fail by engineers that are failures. Their demented machinations are ludicrous, and you can tell at a glance that the product design is predestined for failure.

  

As far as I know there is no ASUS software for XOC. I have not heard of any. Just the Astral XOC vBIOS that reduces performance for most. I do not recall having seen anyone report a performance increase using that vBIOS versus Gigachad or Matrix firmware. I have only seen the opposite reported. I loved what it did to my default voltage, but my benchmark scores decreased using it.

I just tested it to see and yep. Trash. All that noise about wanting the XOC bios and it's just as I suspected. Give people the warm and fuzzy's so they can say I pulled 1200W from the wall, but yet....nothing else to show for it.