Holy cow... new bios is freaking cool...

[RainMaQer]

Just flashed my Gainward GF3 TI200 Golden sample from 3.20.00.19 to 3.20.00.20. Without changing ANYTHING except the bios flash... my 3dmark2k1 score went from 6093 to 6444!!! Now that is one HECK of an improvement. If you have the same card I suggest you go here and get the latest bios and nvflash.

Here's the links to my scores... NOTHING ELSE WAS CHANGED!!!

Before...

After...

 

[RainMaQer]

And now I know why... it changed the default speeds from 175/400 to 200/450 Man I should have checked that. Oh well... it did add a cool logo to the corner of the video bios init. during boot... now it says "Powered By Gainward" in the upper right corner... kinda cool

 

[NASsoccer]

you said if i have the same card go there but i have the regular old gf3 golden sample and was wondering if it had updates for the bios of this card??

 

[RainMaQer]

you said if i have the same card go there but i have the regular old gf3 golden sample and was wondering if it had updates for the bios of this card??

Whats the bios ID on your current one? I just checked and they have 3.20.00.10.00. I'm not sure if these are "Golden Sample" bios's but IMO that doesn't matter. The bios for the GS cards has a performance mode... mine had normal GF3 speeds for the performance mode. But I don't use gainwards tool to oc so I don't think its necessary.

PS... that site has bios files for ALL Nvidia boards seperated by manufactuar and then GPU.

 

[NASsoccer]

says the current version is 3.20.0010. and thanks for the info

 

[stereo555]

Nice site . Thanks for the info .....

 

[mdcomp]

I have kind of a stupid question...how do you flash you video bios?? Also is there a high risk that your video card will never work again if you do this wrong? (Wondering because I know it is risky to flash motherboard bios)

Does this really help you 3dMark score?

 

[The Modfather]

Ok, I'll be the ID-10-T here.....

I downloaded the ROM for my GF3 (Gainward GF3).....what do I use to flash it w/?

So sorry for my ignorance...<sigh>


EDIT: LOL I just saw the post above mine....phew, glad I ain't alone here.....

 

[RainMaQer]

Okidokey... a quick How-To on vid card bios flashing.
This is done at your own risk... It may be a good idea to have a pci video card handy in case anything happens.
1: Go find an updated bios... for ATI cards I'm sorry but I have NO idea where to look. Nvidia... go here and select your manufactuer and then GPU.
2: Get the flash utility: agian sorry not sure on ATI... Nvidia... NVFlash is what you'll need.
3: Make a boot disk.
4: Copy the files from the nvflash.zip onto the boot disk.
5: Copy the new bios file from the .zip file onto the boot disk. WRITE DOWN THE NAME OF THE BIOS FILE.
6: Restart the computer with the boot disk in the floppy drive.
7: At the prompt... type: nvflash.exe "biosfilename".rom (replace biosfilename with the name of the bios file WITHOUT THE QUOTES.
8: Follow the instructions on the screen.
9: The screen MAY go blank... and the lights on your keyboard will start flashing... this IS normal.

Thats it... all done. You may also need dos4gw on the boot disk as well. I think you may need to use the /s command when creating the boot disk in 98, 98se, or ME.

Good luck.

 

[mdcomp]

thanks RainMaQer for the guide.
What happens if you screw up?

 

[RainMaQer]

thanks RainMaQer for the guide.
What happens if you screw up?

If you screw up you do one of two things...
1: Get yourself a pci vid card... leave your agp w/messed up bios IN the system. Boot up with the boot disk with the vid card bios on it and reflash.
2: Go buy a new card

Try the first option BEFORE you go buy a new card... got a 90% chance of saving it.

 

[SickBoy]

Confirmation that Gainward knows there's more performance to be had from the Ti200 than nVidia specifies.....

Can't wait for my Ti200 card to get here now.... albeit it's the Abit flavor.

sb

 

[Krieger]

went to update the bios on my video card once... downloaded the wrong bios... flashed video card... great coaster... fortunatly I had a backup of the original or I downloaded the right one... made a boot disk with a batchfile that executed the flash then beeped. rebooted with out boot disk... card worked again... thank god...

 

[Malakai]

Confirmation that Gainward knows there's more performance to be had from the Ti200 than nVidia specifies.....

Can't wait for my Ti200 card to get here now.... albeit it's the Abit flavor.

sb

Sickboy, Gainward golden samples are THE BEST value card ever. i got mine to 240/550 with all stock un modded cooling, with some arctic alumina and bigger ramsinks im at 250/565.
MASSIVE o/c. Silvers is at like 270/600 with a bunch of custom cooling and a vmod. insanity.
And Ken, my card came with the 3.20.00.20 bios and it still boots at 175/400 at default. are u sure thats how the bios boots it or are u talkin about the performance mode in tne gainward o/c proggie. i just use nvmax
-Malakai

 

[RainMaQer]

Sickboy, Gainward golden samples are THE BEST value card ever. i got mine to 240/550 with all stock un modded cooling, with some arctic alumina and bigger ramsinks im at 250/565.
MASSIVE o/c. Silvers is at like 270/600 with a bunch of custom cooling and a vmod. insanity.
And Ken, my card came with the 3.20.00.20 bios and it still boots at 175/400 at default. are u sure thats how the bios boots it or are u talkin about the performance mode in tne gainward o/c proggie. i just use nvmax
-Malakai

Do you have the little logo in the corner during video bios initialization before POST? I couldn't figure out why my score went up so much after the bios flash... then I decided to unzip Rivatuner and overclock and see if anything was affected. Well I had it reboot to detect the speeds just in case because when I first looked at the info screen it said 199/450... sure enough it was running at Regular GF3 speeds. Go figure

 

[Malakai]

yea, mine always has had it, i bet that site goofed and put the regular gf3 gs on there for the ti200
-Malakai

 

[RainMaQer]

Nope... everything matched during the flash... and its still identified as a GF3 ti200... during the initialization it says ti200... I have no idea why its up to regular gf3 speeds now though. Thats odd that yours doesn't. Oh twell.. no biggy...

MINES BETTER THAN YOURS IS!!!

J/K bro

 

[Ozzman]

odd from what ive heard the gainward ti200 comes with 200 gpu speed.. also flashing a vid card is much like flashing a motherboard bios

well i just won auction for a PNY gf3 ti200 that was givin a new heatsink and was oced perfectly to about 255 gpu and 550 memory. came to the order of 139.50 total not bad i guess since its at gf3 ti500 speeds.. had my eye set on the gainward though but no biggy.. at least i also get dvi out and life time warrenty.. need to wait till about thursday though till i can put the sucker in and see how high i can push it...

 

[Malakai]

Rain, are u sere 230/501 is as far as the card will go?
i havent seen a gainward yet that cant hit 530 at least on the mem, u should try 4 higher, our systems are VERY similar now,
maybe a little too similar...............
edit: and oh, what stepping XP did u end up gettin?
LOL
-Malakai

 

[RainMaQer]

Urgh... That sucked... my isp went down last night... I didn't even get to veiw my last post up there

I've ran my other card (the rma'd one) at 250/450.... I've got better case cooling and some arctic alumina adhesive on the way so I should be able to go higher without a hitch.

The stepping on my XP is AKGKA "Y"... I think thats what it was... not the best but it'll do for now