Pencil mods

[SunTzu69]

I am considering the two common techniques for volt-modding my X800XT-PE. I am wondering if a pencil mod can be relatively safe if done with alot of patience and caution. Also, is it possible to enhance the "permanent" aspect of a pencil mod by applying some sort of protection over the penciled area (electrical tape, hot glue, etc.)?

My only concern with the resistor mod is my soldering skills (even after reading alot of guides) and finding the proper quality of variable resistors, etc.

Thank you

[four4875]

pencil mods arent very consistant, and can vary alot by load and how they are applied to what surface... i personally wouldnt want something so trivial for an actual overclocking attempt. I would stick with practicing and doing it via pots.

[SolidxSnake]

pencil mods arent very consistant, and can vary alot by load and how they are applied to what surface... i personally wouldnt want something so trivial for an actual overclocking attempt. I would stick with practicing and doing it via pots.


Pencil mods are more dangerous than a proper solder job. They can vary the voltage dangerously, and that will kill any components if the variations are too large.

Definately listen to the above ;)

[four4875]

Pencil mods should be erased from the Internet...they are a very bad idea.
was that pun intended? haha.

I pencil modded the Vcore on my emachines celly 666 board, it got me from 750 to 830 mhz on it. not like im too concerned with the life of that board anyways tho. it was slopped on just to see how far i could take it. onboard video starts messin up after 83 fsb tho.

If you use a stick of lead out of a mechanical pencil and alligator clips, you can get somewhat consistant results with a home made variable resistor. I'm not sure how much current it would handle tho, i know ive burnt myself on one while playing around with it. just stick to carbon resistors and multi turn potentiometers.

[SunTzu69]

Thanks for your input guys, it is very appreciated. I will stick to a variable resistor mod. On an X800XT, do you guys believe that SMD Grabbers would do the job? I have only seen posts about Grabbers on motherboards up to now and I am wondering if they can also work on video card vmods (core, memory, overvold and vddq).

Thanks again

[SolidxSnake]

Thanks for your input guys, it is very appreciated. I will stick to a variable resistor mod. On an X800XT, do you guys believe that SMD Grabbers would do the job? I have only seen posts about Grabbers on motherboards up to now and I am wondering if they can also work on video card vmods (core, memory, overvold and vddq).

Thanks again


If you could do a pencil mod for the X800, you can't use SMD grabbers. SMD grabbers only work on legs of ICs, pencil mods only work on SMD resistors (I believe). Not positive on that.

Anyway, just solder it, or have someone do it (ViperJohn, hmm, who else, ME ;) )

[EvilCloudStrife]

thanks for letting me know guys.. i just bought a NF4 ultra-d modded with a pencil mod to be a sli, so i will take care of it asap :) will 90% alcohol work fine in cleaning it right up? or should i just use.. the eraser?

[SolidxSnake]

thanks for letting me know guys.. i just bought a NF4 ultra-d modded with a pencil mod to be a sli, so i will take care of it asap :) will 90% alcohol work fine in cleaning it right up? or should i just use.. the eraser?


thats different. Thats fine. That, if you have a different resistance, won't do anything i'm almost positive. Its like using a silver-conductive pen to connect it, your pencil just has high resistance compared to a silver-pen..

BTW< if you need to get rid of it (I don't see why), then use the eraser ;)

Pencil VOLTMODs are bad

[9mmCensor]

I use my pencils stock. They work fine. If I mod them, would they write faster, or even improve my hand writting?

Is it dangerous to mod a pencil?

Does modding a pencil void my warranty?

Is it ethical to RMA a pencil that has been modded, and broken?

[SunTzu69]

If you could do a pencil mod for the X800, you can't use SMD grabbers. SMD grabbers only work on legs of ICs, pencil mods only work on SMD resistors (I believe). Not positive on that.

Anyway, just solder it, or have someone do it (ViperJohn, hmm, who else, ME ;) )

I see. It is what I feared. Time to throw an old desktop pc off the roof and get some soldering practice parts from the parking lot. :shrug:

[EvilCloudStrife]

well there is one reason to undo the mod at that is if you are not using SLI you take a huge performance hit if you have a sli motherboard compared to a non-sli.. it takes cpu cycles to run it.. thats one reason i guess

[SolidxSnake]

I see. It is what I feared. Time to throw an old desktop pc off the roof and get some soldering practice parts from the parking lot. :shrug:


Like I said, if you dont have spare parts, you can send your card to someone to solder it. Some people will charge for parts, shipping and labor, some people only shipping! ViperJohn is a very respected person in this field, he makes crazy custom air coolers, and does all vmods to the cards.

[four4875]

I use my pencils stock. They work fine. If I mod them, would they write faster, or even improve my hand writting?

Is it dangerous to mod a pencil?

Does modding a pencil void my warranty?

Is it ethical to RMA a pencil that has been modded, and broken?


looks like we have a funny guy on our hands! haha.

you dont have any old liek cd roms or anytihng at all layin around to practice on? that is the best route in my opinion, as you gain the knowledge from it. and the skill to do it yourself, and the ability to do it for free (plus parts) instead of payin someone else to.

[9mmCensor]

looks like we have a funny guy on our hands! haha.
no. I am just a n00b. I have a Dell.

[four4875]

well, for those of us who dont know, a pencil mod isnt actually referring to modding a pencil, it means to use a pencil to perform a mod. they were extensively used back in the day when you could simply draw a line across the bridges on athlon CPUs to unlock the multipliers, and are used in volt mods to modify the resistive properties of the resistors in the PWM circuit. it lowers the resistance between ground and the reference point for the PWM, so more power is dissipated and the voltage at the point appears to be lower than the actual voltage being given to the card. and since the regulator now thinks it's putting out less voltage, it compensates untill it is reading that it is giving the correct voltage, when in reality it is giving more than it really is.

Graphite is electrically conductive, so by drawing lines of it on a resistor i provides more for current to flow through, and reduces resistance across the points. the problem is that it is very difficult to add or remove consistant ammounts of resistance, and they can fluctuate as graphite moves around on the resistor. wind can blow it away and that sort of thing, and can be affected from ehating and cooling cuased by the current flowing through it.