[SOLVED] My Zotac AMP 2060 has a max power target of 100% In MSI AB

[MINIRED]

According to this link from tech power-up my current Zotac RTX 2060 AMP should have a 111% power target, but mine is only at 100%. Do I have an old BIOS? I bought this card in March of 2019, the Box has AMP marketing on it, is there a chance they put the wrong card in the box and I've been running with a basic Zotac this whole time?

Thanks!

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/207413/zotac-rtx2060-6144-190116

 

[Barty1884]

That's the later released BIOS from mid-Jan? The original has no power adjustment:
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/207293/zotac-rtx2060-6144-181129

You bought the card in March 2019, the card was likely manufactured in the first few batches (for a Jan launch), so built between Nov-Jan.

is there a chance they put the wrong card in the box and I've been running with a basic Zotac this whole time?

I guess there's always a 'chance', but it's highly unlikely. Wouldn't have come from the factory, so someone would've had to buy a Gaming and a Gaming AMP, switch the cards and somehow seal up the packaging ala factory to pass as 'unopened' and see it hit the shelves again for sale. Theoretically possible, but highly, highly unlikely that someone would go through all the effort (AND have access to a machine to properly wrap the cellophane) to save ~$20, the widest price disparity historically that I can find between the two models.

If you're really worried this could've happened, cross-reference the serial number of the card with the box it shipped in.... Do they match?

 

[MINIRED]

That's the later released BIOS from mid-Jan? The original has no power adjustment:
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/207293/zotac-rtx2060-6144-181129

You bought the card in March 2019, the card was likely manufactured in the first few batches (for a Jan launch), so built between Nov-Jan.



I guess there's always a 'chance', but it's highly unlikely. Wouldn't have come from the factory, so someone would've had to buy a Gaming and a Gaming AMP, switch the cards and somehow seal up the packaging ala factory to pass as 'unopened' and see it hit the shelves again for sale. Theoretically possible, but highly, highly unlikely that someone would go through all the effort (AND have access to a machine to properly wrap the cellophane) to save ~$20, the widest price disparity historically that I can find between the two models.

If you're really worried this could've happened, cross-reference the serial number of the card with the box it shipped in.... Do they match?

Currently don't have time to cross reference this second, however I did compare my GPU bios version with GPUZ before I left and I believe it matched the older bios for the AMP so it looks like I'll have to flash the bios, unfortunately I have no idea what I'm doing haha, and heard some terrible horror stories about people bricking their card and I've hardly ever used CMD prompt for anything

 

[Barty1884]

Flashing a vBIOS can be risky, no doubt about it. However, done properly, with the correct vBIOS it's fairly safe.

Plenty of walkthroughs available online, so it's not too difficult, although may appear daunting.

HOWEVER, I'd encourage you to consider whether the small potential benefit from an increased power target offsets the small risk of bricking your card. Again, the risk is small... but it is there.

 

[MINIRED]

Flashing a vBIOS can be risky, no doubt about it. However, done properly, with the correct vBIOS it's fairly safe.

Plenty of walkthroughs available online, so it's not too difficult, although may appear daunting.

HOWEVER, I'd encourage you to consider whether the small potential benefit from an increased power target offsets the small risk of bricking your card. Again, the risk is small... but it is there.

My CPU has integrated graphics (i7-4790k) if it went wrong can I plug my display into my motherboard and reflash it to it's original state? And as for the small uplift potential, the difference is probably intangible, however I did technically pay £30 extra for an overclocking card, I know it can hit 2100mhz as I've seen it do it, just only for a few seconds before it drops and equals out into the mid 1900's, I'm really torn. Are there any good walkthroughs if I can flash it with the fail-safe being my IGPU? If there is no fail-safe I'll be relatively content with how it is

 

[Barty1884]

Technically speaking, you'd didn't buy an "overclocking card", you bought a factory overclocked card.
The official boost specs for the AMP are 1800MHz over the 1680MHz on the 'Gaming'. Of course, that's before boost tables from temperature/voltage headroom come into play, but there's just no guarantees with overclocking of any sort.

Yes, the iGP can be a good backup plan to get it back and, while I've had success doing it myself in the past (not a card I 'bricked', but managed to salvage), but there's just no guarantee.

Probably a 90+% chance of success (either initially or restoring if it goes wrong), but if you're content with performance as-is, then I'd likely suggest just leaving it alone.

Unfortunately, there are many write-ups and I've yet to find one that is foolproof in the walkthrough.
This one is newer than most, but is aimed specifically at flashing a different cards BIOS to a card. Discount the modified NVFlash or ---protectoff, and it's the same process.

How-To Flash RTX Video Card BIOS To A Different Series

 

[MINIRED]

Technically speaking, you'd didn't buy an "overclocking card", you bought a factory overclocked card.
The official boost specs for the AMP are 1800MHz over the 1680MHz on the 'Gaming'. Of course, that's before boost tables from temperature/voltage headroom come into play, but there's just no guarantees with overclocking of any sort.

Yes, the iGP can be a good backup plan to get it back and, while I've had success doing it myself in the past (not a card I 'bricked', but managed to salvage), but there's just no guarantee.

Probably a 90+% chance of success (either initially or restoring if it goes wrong), but if you're content with performance as-is, then I'd likely suggest just leaving it alone.

Unfortunately, there are many write-ups and I've yet to find one that is foolproof in the walkthrough.
This one is newer than most, but is aimed specifically at flashing a different cards BIOS to a card. Discount the modified NVFlash or ---protectoff, and it's the same process.

How-To Flash RTX Video Card BIOS To A Different Series

In regards to core overclocking, i'm looking at a maximum of a 7% gain from 1950mhz to 2100mhz if my maths is correct? Does that scale linearly in fps, because if it's a 1-7% increase, it's not worth the risk right?

 

[Barty1884]

In regards to core overclocking, i'm looking at a maximum of a 7% gain from 1950mhz to 2100mhz if my maths is correct? Does that scale linearly in fps, because if it's a 1-7% increase, it's not worth the risk right?

Correct, in terms of clock speed.

No, % gains do not necessarily scale linearly. A 7% clock speed increase will rarely achieve anywhere close to +7% FPS.

Remember, your card will currently be spiking to close to it's maximum capable already (assuming temperature headroom etc). So even if 1950MHz is the 'typical' you see, you're likely hitting higher clocks on occassion - closing the gap further.

 

[Zerk2012]

You can look at it like this.
If it did scale linearly and you were getting 100 FPS is it worth it to get 107 FPS.

 

[MINIRED]

Correct, in terms of clock speed.

No, % gains do not necessarily scale linearly. A 7% clock speed increase will rarely achieve anywhere close to +7% FPS.

Remember, your card will currently be spiking to close to it's maximum capable already (assuming temperature headroom etc). So even if 1950MHz is the 'typical' you see, you're likely hitting higher clocks on occassion - closing the gap further.

Appreciate your time man, thank you!

Take care!

 

[MINIRED]

You can look at it like this.
If it did scale linearly and you were getting 100 FPS is it worth it to get 107 FPS.

Yeah exactly, i'd never know in a blind test without a counter, I'm bottlenecked by my CPU half the time anyway, not by much, but the difference would be so miniscule