Hello,

I bought an XFX 7950 graphics card a few month ago, expecting this product to be fully UEFI compatible.

Unfortunatelly, the manufacturer of my graphics card (XFX) does not yet have a new UEFI BIOS for 7950 cards available. XFX says, this is because AMD does not provide a new reference BIOS with UEFI compatibility.

Come on AMD, even the integrated Intel HD4000 graphics cards are UEFI compatible!

Nvidia card Users of the 600 series are gettinng UEFI GOP bios send when they ask their manufacturer.

Over one year ago, AMD was praising GOP compatibility, and now, nearly in 2013, many users are still waiting for a compatible bios for their BRAND NEW and EXPENSIVE graphics card!

If AMD doesn't release a new bios soon, the 7950 will be the last AMD/ATI product...

duk4ever

I also created a thread on this subject, but got no reply. It’s somewhat surprising that none of the ATI cards support Win 8. (Fast Boot is a default Win 8 setting)

Bump

 Sorry to bump this again, but seriously AMD, no response at all?

·         Can existing cards be upgraded?

·         If so will all series of cards be upgradable?

·         When might it happen?

This is a peer-to-peer gaming forum. if you want answers from AMD, then ask AMD. The contact information for your country/region can be found in the FAQ section.

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* A clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory *

I am looking into this for you folks.  When I have an answer to provide, I will post it up. 

;Marc

EDIT: To add to stumped's post - contacting AMD Customer Care directly is always an option too.

AMD Customer Care

The information presented in this document is for informational purposes only and may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions and typographical errors. Links to third party sites are for convenience only, and no endorsement is implied

As best I can, I will paraphrase the information that was given to me regarding this issue:

Through AMD's extensive testing, a significant number of existing platforms experienced compatibility issues with the UEFI specifications that were implemented with the Hybrid VBIOS AMD developed.  Users could experience boot failures on incompatible systems.  To ensure compatibility, the standard VGA VBIOS continues to be used, and we cannot transition with the partner manufacturers yet.  It is a System BIOS implementation issue that can be addressed with a System BIOS update.

This is not an issue on OE system builds (HP, DELL, etc..) or integrated graphics components (where VBIOS is implemented directly into SBIOS), because full UEFI compatibility is set from the ground-up.

Hope this helps to clarify the situation.

;Marc

AMD Customer Care

The information presented in this document is for informational purposes only and may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions and typographical errors. Links to third party sites are for convenience only, and no endorsement is implied

Thanks for taking the time to get some feedback Marc.

Can you please ask for a bit more clarification? For example what is meant by existing platforms? Does that mean non UEFI motherboards or does it include existing UEFI enabled motherboards?

If it is only an issue on non UEFI motherboards why not issue a BIOS update to owners that have a UEFI enabled board?

Alternatively why not post the bios update but only let it update if the system meets compatibility requirements?

By the way PowerColour say they are offering "UEFI ready" support for some of the 7 series cards.   

I received additional feedback based on your questions:

1) What is meant by existing platforms?   Existing platforms can include UEFI, and non-UEFI motherboards. The channel is very diverse, so this can include motherboards from years ago.

2) If it is only an issue on non UEFI motherboards why not issue a BIOS update to owners that have a UEFI enabled board?  A BIOS update could resolve the issue, but it would require the motherboard vendors to update the BIOS on all their motherboards - including legacy hardware. 

3) Why not post the bios update, but only let it update if the system meets compatibility requirements?  The issue is highly dependant on the specific implementations used by motherboard vendors in the SBIOS.  There is no way to confirm whether a motherboard will work unless it is tested with a graphics card using the UEFI or Hybrid BIOS.  There is no means to develop an automated checker. 

;Marc

AMD Customer Care

The information presented in this document is for informational purposes only and may contain technical inaccuracies, omissions and typographical errors. Links to third party sites are for convenience only, and no endorsement is implied

Something that may interest both users and AMD as well.

On 7th january Gigabyte released new bios for my HD 7970oc. I checked it with my previous bios. Both were marked as F72. However then are different. On line 10000 is much more code, most probably UEFI support.

I cannot update my card's bios because it say that I already have it. Version F72 was released on 23th november. Both bios versions are exactly same, but the newer one has much more code on line 10000

Screen 
http://slayershrine.wz.cz/bios.gif

Since I have non-uefi motherboard i dont care, but if somebody wants this bios but he used version from 23th november he might be screwed until next full bios update.

Xeon X3360, Asus Rampage, Gigabyte HD 7970OC, Corsair HX-650