We’ve been able to unlock shaders with BIOS mods in the past on AMD graphics cards, but how about doubling the memory? Apparently some 4GB variants of the card actually contain the same memory chips as the 8GB variant with 4GB of that disabled in the BIOS. This means you can flash the BIOS of the card to a BIOS of an 8GB card and unlock that extra 4GB of memory!
A user on Tweakers.net found out when he analyzed his PowerColor RX 480 4GB card that it actually contained 8GB of memory, while it was sold as a 4GB model. His computer recognizes the card as a 4GB model, as the other 4GB is disabled in the BIOS.
It should be possible to then flash a 4GB card to 8GB of the hardware is present. In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) an AMD employee has stated, “In the market you will see a version with 8GB of physical memory, and a version of 4GB of physical memory. We sent reviewers an 8GB model with a BIOS that allows them to flash between 4GB and 8GB available memory so they could perform testing on both hardware configurations.”
This tool is only currently available to reviewers, but expect to see a BIOS flash tool to be available soon as we’ve seen in the past.
It is still unclear if it is just the PowerColor cards that has 8GB memory and are being sold as 4GB card or if it is all RX 480 cards. Flashing the card is definitely worth the money though, a 4GB version sells for $199 where the 8GB variant is $239
