BIOS Flash your 5900 into a 5950

[Lewiser]

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?s=&threadid=233967

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=4045

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=4058

I just bought a 256meg Gainward 5900 for $500AUD, so I'll try it out and get back to you all.

Ryan.

 

[larva]

What would be the point of doing this? All it's going to do is set the default clock levels up, and likely to a level the ram or gpu on the standard 5900 isn't going to operate at. Who cares what the default is?

 

[Steven4563]

What would be the point of doing this? All it's going to do is set the default clock levels up, and likely to a level the ram or gpu on the standard 5900 isn't going to operate at. Who cares what the default is?

when he goes to sale it again he will tell the buyer its a FX 5950 like i would for my 9700pro

 

[Axis]

I have a 128meg 5900. It's GPU core is 400 instead of 240 like the Ultra. Anyone know of a BIOS for the 128meg version of the Ultra? I would like to flash mine to that.

 

[larva]

The main bios of 5900s does not contain the memory logic, so you can use a 256MB bios on a 128MB card. The point is why? Just use the coolbits registry modification to enable the clock speed adjustments built into the nvidia driver, and set the clocks wherever you need.

 

[Axis]

The main bios of 5900s does not contain the memory logic, so you can use a 256MB bios on a 128MB card. The point is why? Just use the coolbits registry modification to enable the clock speed adjustments built into the nvidia driver, and set the clocks wherever you need.

Really just obsession. Can't stop tweaking because I love to learn.

 

[Lewiser]

Well, from what I've herd there have been some minor improvement to the core via software enabling.

What you could do to see if it actually works. Is overclock to 5950 speeds. Benchmark. Then do the flash and benchmark and see if there is a difference ?

Ryan

 

[ZightZar]

3 quick questions

1.) whats is the default speed for a 5950?
2.) since you flash the bio and you made a backup of the bios, is it possible to reflash it to the original incase it messes up something?
3.) is there anyway to overclock past 1ghz for the memory if you dont have the krusty/bart registry?

 

[Lewiser]

1. 400/700
2. Yeah, but you won't be able to use your AGP card if you **** up the BIOS. You will have to boot from a PCI card and flash back. Or type blind and know when to wait.
3. I'm new to this. But wouldn't RivaTuner allow for it ? Or PowerStrip ?

Ryan

 

[ZightZar]

why is the speed much lower on the 5950?? my 5900non ultra is clocked at a stock of 405/810.... wouldnt that make the flash pointless? i have rivatuner, but like coolbits, it wont let me oc past 1000mhz on the mem frequency which really sux :/.... oh and btw, i have a backup gf4 420 pci card, so i could probably reflash it like that if something went wrong (also i can flash it blind cause i've timed how long it takes to flash the bio on my mobo, so i dont think it'll take too much longer for the vc to finish)...

 

[primetime2]

anyone know where to find evga bios's?

 

[Lewiser]

I think that all you need to do is find a generic BIOS program like ATiFlash had for Radeons and get the BIOS from the 5950 variant of your brand of card and flash it to that.

Am I wrong ?

Ryan

 

[YellowDart]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=232417&highlight=hardware+overclock

Check this thread out. It's got some great info on flashing your nv card's bios. I haven't heard of any nVidia card having the same results as the ATi cards regarding flashing your card w/ a better card's bios to achieve a better oc. I think that's pretty much an ATi thing. The thead I linked to provides all of the resources you'll need to back up your bios, edit it, and flash your video card with the new clock settings. Great read!

BTW: There's also a sticky that is very similar to the above thead. It's @ the top of the nVidia forum. I found this thead to be a little more current than the sticky though.

 

[blurry]

The default speed for a 5950U is 475/950.

 

[sandman001]

Yea, I was going to say 400/700 is wrong.

Over AT XS there was asimilar topic, and in there it was said that it raised the GPU and memory voltage by a bit.......

 

[ZightZar]

do you need a floppy drive to flash the bios of the videocard? or can i just burn a boot CDR somehow (with the files needed on it) and do it of that cd? cause i'd really hate finding my damn floppy ribbon, floppy drive, hdd rack and all that other stuff :/

lol, i got rid of my floppy and junk to try and clear some room up in my case....

 

[Lewiser]

Yeah I can't see a reason why you can't.

Just make a bootable CD-R

Ryan

 

[ZightZar]

ok, on to my next question.... how do you make a bootup cd? lol... i used to make bootup floppys with no trouble, but i dunno how to make a cdr bootup....

 

[Lewiser]

I've got no idea on that.

I think Nero can do it though.


Maybe just burn the files that would go onto a floppy onto a "multi-session" cd so that you can add updated files later on ?

Ryan

 

[saulin]

Flashed my Gainward 5900U to the 5950 bios and my core overclocks to 560Mhz

Before it would die at 528mhz or so with extreme air cooling. Like air conditioning plus 2 big as$ fans on the card.


Now with just the fans and no air conditioning blowing on the card it hits 560Mhz so this software mod sure helps a lot.