Unlocking Voltage In MSI Afterburner Asus R9 270x

So when I orginally got my 270x, the first thing I did was boot up MSI Afterburner in attempts to overclock it. I noticed that while MSI Afterburner could not adjust the voltage, I could in GPU Tweak, which logically lead me to believe that the voltage was not locked, MSI just didn't know how to control it. So I went on a manhunt. It took about a week, but I eventually found out how to unlock the voltage within. I haven't had the chance to test it, or overclock using the newly unlocked voltage meter within the program, but if you'd like to, here's how:

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DISCLAIMER:
Like all overclocking situation, there IS a chance to destroy your hardware or brick your software in doing so. By following these instructions, you understand and agree to the fact that no one on the Overclockers forum (including me) are responsible for damage to your computer, rig, home or any other personal objects/anything relating to you that results from the following of these instructions. You have been warned.
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What I had to do was run AB with some tool they have built into the program that searches the bus and devices connected to your system. I myself have an ASUS 270X Direct CU II TOP installed. Running AB with the /i2cd command will dump a file into your program directory with a list of devices. Eventually, you'll find a line that'll look similar to this inside the .txt file:

Scanning I2C bus 1...
Probing device 30...
24 99 D7 A9 D7 60 FA 30 00 08 83 00 65 7F 00 97 ...


That is what mine looked like, your's will most likely vary. After you find this, locate your profile folder, and find the config file. If you're only using one graphics card, you'll most likely only find one file. Input this line into the file:

[Settings]
VDDC_CHL8228_Detection = 1:30h (1 being the bus and 30 being the device)

VDDCI is the voltage regulator for AMD cards(why it doesn't list the "I", I hadn't deemed important). nVidia differs(It's labeled PEXVDD from what I could find). CHL8228 is the type of voltage regulator you have for card. Different cards vary in what type you have. You can check AIDA64 (I was told by someone that you could use this to view the type) or if you're lucky enough, find it online somewhere else. Afterwards, save the file, change it to a cfg file again (provided you changed it to a txt file for editing in the first place), restart AB and restart you computer(or not, I didn't) and voila, you have voltage regulation. I'm assuming that this can be done for other cards as well, but don't quote me on that.
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As anything, if anyone finds any information in this thread to be incorrect, feel free to correct me, and I'll fix it in the post. Specially speaking on the voltage controller names an such. I'm not an engineer, I'm just someone who likes playing with hardware. lol

I just BIOS modded my 270x's voltage lower

Nonetheless, awesome find!

Haha. Thanks! It took me awhile to figure it out. I dont think i could do it again if I had to.

Hi! Awesome post!
The new "power adjustment" is plain crap, for most cards it doesnt do anything.
I did encounter some problems with this, however.

I found my GPU on bus 6 and device 30, but the VRM is probably not right. I have a Gigabyte 270x and found 1135mHz (Core) to be the sweetspot in terms of performance (over that results in degradation of performance, because of a lack in voltage).
I could of course tinker with the bios, but flashing it again and again is IMO too risky for a 180€ piece of hardware.
I couldnt find anything on the web so would you happen to know if the VRM code is labeld on the VRM chips themselves or is it labeld somewhere else? AIDA64 and Everest couldnt find the VRM code either.

Thank you in advance for any help

Power adjustment is just for the power limit. It does not raise voltage so that makes sense.

I do not know about where the VRM code would be, sorry. Free BUMP though!

MrPipa94 said:

Hi! Awesome post!
The new "power adjustment" is plain crap, for most cards it doesnt do anything.
I did encounter some problems with this, however.

I found my GPU on bus 6 and device 30, but the VRM is probably not right. I have a Gigabyte 270x and found 1135mHz (Core) to be the sweetspot in terms of performance (over that results in degradation of performance, because of a lack in voltage).
I could of course tinker with the bios, but flashing it again and again is IMO too risky for a 180€ piece of hardware.
I couldnt find anything on the web so would you happen to know if the VRM code is labeld on the VRM chips themselves or is it labeld somewhere else? AIDA64 and Everest couldnt find the VRM code either.

Thank you in advance for any help

Click to expand...

I'm not precisely sure. This was over a year and most of my notes were lost in a HDD incident. I'll definitely help you look around and see what I could find. I'm surprised you even found this post.

I know I'm resurrecting an ancient thread regarding hardware that for most is pre-historic, however this is the third result on Google for "asus r9 270 memory voltage" (the 2nd result links here) and I thought I would add some information here for posterity. Perhaps this will help someone like myself trying to squeeze some extra life out of an ancient rig, especially when the miners are have destroyed any chance of a reasonably priced GPU upgrade.

Not only does MSI Afterburner not work out of the box for voltage increases, but the current version of ASUS GPUTweak doesn't either. Instead you have to use an older version (1183) according to the a post here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1609213/asus-directcu-ii-radeon-r9-270x-no-gpu-voltage-increase

Using version 1183 of GPU Tweak does allow me to increase the voltage a bit more. I'll probably try @Deathscreton's method though because the MSI GUI is much better. That tiny little bit of extra leeway really helps, I can get my Asus R9 270 up to 1140/1450 with the voltage increase and at those speeds old games like Arkham City are playable (mostly) at 4K even with DX11 features turned on.