Anyone unlocked a 6800XT?

[>HyperlogiK<]

I have heard of some people unlocking 6800XTs, not sure if they are pci-e or agp versions, but since the 6800XTs have GDDR3 memory shouldn't they be unlockable to 6800GTs (for the NV41 cores) and 6800GS/GE (for the NV42 cores)? Has anybody unlocked one, and if so how well do they overclock?

[homer77]

I am looking into helping my friend unlocking his 6800XT as well. I found some information online regarding unlocking 6800XT.

Here is the sucess story (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1757577&enterthread=y) and guide on how to unlock from FiringSquad (http://firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_6800_unlocking/) .

Going to try this out on my friend's card sometime this weekend.

Hope this helps.

[>HyperlogiK<]

Thanks, what model is it? if it's the 256MB GDDR3 version then I'm excited, cheap 6800 Ultra SLI for all :)

[homer77]

I think it's the AGP version...

[>HyperlogiK<]

ah, the 128MB ddr or the 256mb gddr3?

[~(o)-(0)~]

yeah I would also like to know what version it is, because I have aPCI-e XFX 6800XT with 256mb of Gddr3 and I"dlike to know if this works or not.

[~(o)-(0)~]

Ok, so update:

The AGP version uses the NV40 core, and te PCI-e version uses the NV41 core, the NV41 cores come stock with 12 pixel pipelines and 5 shaders. The pci-e xt comes with 4 pixel pipelines disabled, and one vertex shader. Using rivatuner I've managed to enable teh 4 missing pixel pipelines and the missing vertex shader. I don't know at thispoint if it has given me any performance boost but I' puttin it back to stock and running 3dmark as soon as it's downloaded

[>HyperlogiK<]

hang on NV41 is the 6800GS core, the GPU should overclock very well indeed.

[icedragn]

I don't think any of the nvidia pci-e card's are unlockable, only the agp versions of the 6800+6200 series, maybe the 6600's too? i dont remember but i know the 6200's + 6800's can, providing you don't have one with the newest core with is hardlocked, meaning unlockable.

[almstsobur]

I unlocked the pipes on my Asus 6800XT 128mb AGP version (NV40 core). It came stock at 8/4 I unlocked it to 16/6 with no problems at all using rivatuner. 3dmark 03 scores jumped from 6840 to just under 10k.

but now I know it's stable and all is working right, I would like to flash the card with the pipes opened permanently. Does anyone know of an Nvidia BIOS editor that will allow you to make pipe adjustments?

Otherwise I was thinking about flashing it with a 6800GT bios and just using Xbios to lower the clock speeds.

sugestions?

[>HyperlogiK<]

I think the NV40 6800XT cards are just rebadged 6800LEs, so it's not suprising that they mod.

I don't think you can do it just in BIOS, there was a quite simle hardmod where you moved a couple of resistors on the bottom of the card. It was here:
http://www.blogmore.net/index761.php?domain=pcunleash.com but just recently that link has gone dead.

I tried archive.org and it has the page, but firefox and ie display it funny linky:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050305102658/http://www.pcunleash.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=MyItemReview&no=39

if somebody fancies going through that and saving the useful text as a *.txt they can, but i'm far too busy atm.


edit! found another copy of the mod:

Picture of the important contacts:
http://short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=12553&d=1097909546

It seems that on a 6800 NU they will look like this:

each O represents a contact and the = represent resistors:

O O O = O
O O O = O
O = O O O

and for an ultra they should look like this:

O = O O = O
O O O = O
O O O O

you then have to flash the bios for 6800GT/Ultra or whatever.

taken from: http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21881

[almstsobur]

Good info, but I wonder why you would need to make a hardware change like that when riva opens it up just fine as a software only mod.

just by logic that doesn't make sense. It is working now, my scores and riva show that, I just don't like to depend on startup software apps for OC'ing once I know what the system can handle, I would prefer to hard code the mods.

[>HyperlogiK<]

I can't remember why exactly, it's something to do with there being some registers that store the cards hardware id apart from the bios chip, riva tuner's nv_strap driver sits in the middle and passes back the wrong info when the video drivers request it (something like this anyway).

I went through the original softmod guide and edited out the crap, I think that this plus the picture

http://short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=12553&d=1097909546

should be enought to do the mod. Just to note that the pins are

A B C D
E F G H
X Y O P

[Beginner]

i have a few modded bios's to fully unlock throught the bios, its based on an asus bios.

[>HyperlogiK<]

really? I didn't think that was possible. What cards has it worked on?

[almstsobur]

Yea, I am pretty sure it can be done. I have done similar things to other cards, I think the idea of the hardware Mod is to make the drivers see the card correctly. But the Nvidia/forceware one driver fits all does not really have an effect on performance, it's just more of a recignition thing I think.

here is a thread I have going on a forum specifically about video BIOS flashing.

http://www.mvktech.net/component/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,34/func,view/id,30124/catid,13/

[>HyperlogiK<]

I was under the impression that the hardware mod had been developed largely because some cards coulsn't be unlocked using Riva tuner.

[almstsobur]

I was under the impression that the hardware mod had been developed largely because some cards coulsn't be unlocked using Riva tuner.


That could also be true, or maybe the hardware mod we pre-NVSTRAP driver Rivatuner.

Update on my card, I changed the timings of a GT BIOS to match the original timings on my card, then I flashed it with the ASUS GT Bios and I hosed it.

I hd to do a blind flash to recover it, kind of a sccary few moments... so, for the time being I'm going to stick to the soft-mod until I can confirm a working BIOS with the pipes open.

[bfmctango57]

I unlocked my card and I have the AGP with 128mb's. It works perfectly. I scored 4000 points more on the 3Dmark 2001SE.