A Reddit user, u/noVa_realiZe, has successfully flashed the BIOS of a Radeon RX 9070 XT onto a PowerColor RX 9070 Reaper using an open-source tool from Overclock.net developed by Benik3. The result was a striking 25% uplift in synthetic benchmarks and an 8–12% boost in gaming performance, which left the user impressed with the outcome.
In testing, the non-XT RX 9070 originally scored 5,821 in 3DMark Steel Nomad. After flashing to the XT BIOS, the score jumped to 6,461, and with additional voltage and memory tuning, it reached 7,277. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p with ray tracing enabled, performance increased from 70 FPS to 78 FPS, with noticeable improvements in 1% and 0.1% lows.
The gains came from the XT BIOS allowing higher power delivery to the GPU, unlocking more performance. However, this tweak carries serious risks. Flashing a different BIOS can void the warranty, and errors in the process may permanently damage the GPU. “It feels like I got a new card for free,” said u/noVa_realiZe in their post.
Back in April, members of the PC Games Hardware (PCGH) community experimented with flashing the Asus Prime RX 9070 XT BIOS onto the standard model. That modification increased power limits from 220W to 317W, pushing clock speeds up to 3.1 GHz and improving benchmark scores by 15–20%. With additional overclocking, the modified non-XT card even outperformed the genuine XT variant.
These cases highlight the hidden potential of the Radeon RX 9070 when BIOS mods are applied. Still, they also underline the risks—higher power consumption, more heat, reduced stability, and the chance of hardware failure if cooling and power delivery are insufficient. Experts warn that while tempting, BIOS flashing should only be done by those willing to accept the consequences.
