FYI: AMD's latest cards have a VGA card version of their PSP Platform "Security" processor aka a DRM chip for hollywood which apparently refuses to power on the card if there is an unsigned/non approved firmware flashed to the device.
It would have been good if they added this but made it owner controlled and didn't just simply break a card if a non-standard firmware gets flashed, it should have just re-flashed the firmware unless you flipped a dip switch on the card itself to shut if off making it owner controlled and an actual security measure not simply DRM for hollywood.