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Get the KO Edition for $35..

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dominick32

dominick32

Senior Solid State Aficionado
​
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Location
New York
Well, about 2 months ago I purchased the evga 7800GTX w/ACS3 470/1200 stock speeds. <---- 1 Model under the KO Edition w/ ACS 3 490/1300 Stock

I paid $459, vs. the $579 for the overpriced KO edition. I just learned today that for $35 evga introduced a KO upgrade kit for regular users like myself. The only difference between the KO and Regular is the cooling and bios. How in the world can they charge over $120 more for a card that needs simply better cooling and a bios upgrade. Here is the link to the so called "+1 cooling" http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=202-F1-EV46-01

Please note, there are two cooling upgrades evga is offering:
1 - A cooling upgrade for pre- ACS3 regular users that gives them my current cooling solution.
2- A "+1" cooling upgrade that takes current ACS3 edition users, like myself up to a KO edition cooling solution.

Here is my plan: 1. Put on a maze 4 water block on my evga7800gtx
2. Update to the 7800GTX KO Edition bios.

Boom, for the price of a water block, $44 I now have a KO Edition.

Dom
 
sounds like a plan, make sure to get some nice copper ramsinks for that memory. Also, make sure your card will run at KO speeds before you flash the bios. I am curious if the bios adds any voltage or if its just clock settings.
 
I think the KO verison comes at a higher pre-OCed speed. Also the KO edition has the heatsink and everything installed and flashed, for the people who don't know or rather not want to do something like that, they pay the extra cost to have eVGA people do it.
 
custom90gt said:
sounds like a plan, make sure to get some nice copper ramsinks for that memory. Also, make sure your card will run at KO speeds before you flash the bios. I am curious if the bios adds any voltage or if its just clock settings.
Click to expand...

I tested my card w/ stock cooling at the KO speeds of 490/1300 and it ran excellant, picked up 500 3dmarks in 3dmark05 and until I started playing call of Duty 2 for longer than 15 minutes did not artifact. Load temp was reaching 68*C easy when overclocked so I took it down to stock 470/1200 again. So, yes my card is stable at idling KO speeds. I just need the water cooling block/ram heatsinks and KO bios flash. :cool:
 
sounds like a good deal. If you have both your stock bios and the KO bios I'd like to take a look at them.
I've been looking into getting that same 7800gtx that you have (friend wants my current GT).
 
custom90gt said:
sounds like a good deal. If you have both your stock bios and the KO bios I'd like to take a look at them.
I've been looking into getting that same 7800gtx that you have (friend wants my current GT).
Click to expand...

When I get my dangerden water cooling setup in the mail next week and install everything I will send you both versions of the bios. Just PM me in a few days and make sure I remember.

Also, this card kicks *** bro. I just couldnt see myself spending an extra $120 for the KO edition which is the same exact card. This was definitely the best and most dramatic purchase I ever made in the computing world. Completely stock on my x2 4800+ the first time I ran 3dmark 2005 she pulled around 8100 3dmarks. <--- I am not even running a single core FX-57, this is on a dual core 2.4Ghz system. I was shocked to say the least. You wont be dissapointed with this card.

Dom
 
I have 2 of these GTX AC3 cards in SLI...I can't keep it from artifacting more then 4-5% above stock...I wonder if this would help.
 
fatguy said:
I have 2 of these GTX AC3 cards in SLI...I can't keep it from artifacting more then 4-5% above stock...I wonder if this would help.
Click to expand...

These cards run hot as hell man. Anything over 65*C my card artifacts after 15 minutes of gaming when OC'ed high on air. Two things to consider - If you have a 7800 GTX SLI stack in your case on air cooling, you are lucky to get a 4 to 5% overclock on each card. I bet you anything the load temps are approaching 70*C on each gpu. Go water cooling or some sort of high end passive setup, thats the first thing I would recommend otherwise you wont get any kind of decent OC out of these cards.
BTW- You have my ideal "Kick *** Setup"(Dual SLI 7800GTX's) , nice rig man.

Edit** Also, I would not recommend flashing the KO bios without a full out stability test to make sure your cards can run stable at 490/1300 otherwise you will be screwed.

Dom
 
well I just bought a EVGA 527 gtx (the same as dominick32) and mounted my waterblock/ramsinks and hit autodetect optimal settings. The core jumped to 550 and the memory went to 1.35ghz. I'm pretty happy with this card so far, i've been playing quake4 at those settings without a hitch. I havent even tried to go higher yet, I've just been enjoying these speeds for the last couple hours.
 
custom90gt said:
well I just bought a EVGA 527 gtx (the same as dominick32) and mounted my waterblock/ramsinks and hit autodetect optimal settings. The core jumped to 550 and the memory went to 1.35ghz. I'm pretty happy with this card so far, i've been playing quake4 at those settings without a hitch. I havent even tried to go higher yet, I've just been enjoying these speeds for the last couple hours.
Click to expand...

Thanks for those excellent results. I cant wait to slap on my maze 4 waterblock!!

Dom
 
96s10 said:
I got my KO for 474 shipped off ebay still sealed.
Click to expand...

You sir, got extremely lucky. When I went shopping for a KO or ACS3 I couldnt find one retail store selling KO's for anything less than $569. I checked e-bay and found nothing else. I gave up, read some reviews on both of the cards and decided that $100 was not worth the simple 20 Mhz/100Mhz core/memory jump that I could do myself. Identical cards except for the bios and cooling. I decided on the ACS3 edition for $459. On a side note, thats awesome that you were able to find a KO for that great price.

Dom
 
dominick32 said:
Thanks for those excellent results. I cant wait to slap on my maze 4 waterblock!!

Dom
Click to expand...

yeah it seems to be a great card. I was able to get it to 560/1.45 without artifacting at all... One thing I did notice, on the heatsink setial sticker it says its a 527 where on the card itself it says 529 not sure what thats all about.
 
custom90gt said:
yeah it seems to be a great card. I was able to get it to 560/1.45 without artifacting at all... One thing I did notice, on the heatsink setial sticker it says its a 527 where on the card itself it says 529 not sure what thats all about.
Click to expand...

You bring up a great point: The two model numbers for the card:
256-P2-N529-AX - The KO Edition (Has the KO bios, upgraded heatsink and fan)
256-P2-N527-AX - The ACS3 edition (Has the original heatsink, fan)

So now you can blatantly see that these are almost identical cards. I am so pumped to get my Water cooling setup on the ground. You may have just made my day. lol

edit* I just read in your post that you got the card to 560/1450 with no artifacting. Thats absolutely incredible, I never thought I would get even close to that.

EDIT* This may be proof that eVGA is using the exact same card. Your cards serial number says 529 (That is the KO model) and your heatsink says 527 (That is the ACS3 Heatsink). This could prove the theory correct that evga is only using an upgraded cooling solution and bios flash. Talk about ripping off the public.

Dom
 
well its not the serial number that says 529 on it, there is a part number sticker on the PCB that says 529 on it. I believe they would use the same cards for the KOs that they use for the standard GTXs, they probably had this one marked as a KO but have more of a demand for standards...
I've been thinking about making my own bios for this card and adding a delta (this one doesn't have one) since its supposed to help with performance. I am a little worried however since this card is running so good like it is.
 
custom90gt said:
well its not the serial number that says 529 on it, there is a part number sticker on the PCB that says 529 on it. I believe they would use the same cards for the KOs that they use for the standard GTXs, they probably had this one marked as a KO but have more of a demand for standards...
I've been thinking about making my own bios for this card and adding a delta (this one doesn't have one) since its supposed to help with performance. I am a little worried however since this card is running so good like it is.
Click to expand...

Running good. Your card is performing like Kobe Bryant the last couple of weeks w/ his over 40 point games. Your card is kicking ***.

Dom
 
"ripping off the public"

you still dont get it, for people that arent knowledgable enough or are too scared to overclock themselves, they pay eVga to do it for them... nobody is making you pay them for the KO edition... just o/c ur ACS3 to KO speeds...
 
icedragn said:
"ripping off the public"

you still dont get it, for people that arent knowledgable enough or are too scared to overclock themselves, they pay eVga to do it for them... nobody is making you pay them for the KO edition... just o/c ur ACS3 to KO speeds...
Click to expand...

Dude, :)
Same card, without even overclocking the card, its a question of changing the fan/heatsink and a bios flash. I would have to assume most people purchasing an eVGA card of this caliber have some knowledge of hardware, software, and performance in the PC industry.

$459 vs. $579 for the same card, come on bro?

Dom
 
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