Sapphire X800 GTO AGP pipe unlock

[dolf]

Ok, should I use the trixx oc utility from sapphire, or ATITool to oc it?

I would use both but probably ATITool will be better (I will suggest you older version).

 

[jephph]

What the crap!? My card just got destroyed by ATITool. I ran "Find Max Core" and it started lowering the clock (below default) and I came back and it was down to like 50 core and my screen started messing up, and I turned off my comp. Now it won't even start up with that card in it.

 

[overclock[r]]

Ok. It's a Sapphire, and I got it from Newegg, so I'm pretty sure it's really R480. So stock cooling should be sufficient to oc it to 500 core?

dont say ur pretty sure
take the hsf off and see what it says
mine said r480 though ati tool said r430

 

[Theseas]

Here is the bios Dolf:

Is there anyone who could help me? I attempted to test the card with ATItool (all versions that i could find: 21, 24, 25b14 and 25b15). What i got in every case was the symptom with the black screen that i listed in aprevious post. After rebooting the computer and restarting ATItool a small window informed me that ATItool did not shutdown properly, the last settings were .......
Are these the numbers that i can take as the last stable clock? Is this how the testing goes? I looked at the instructions on this forum and while they are helpfull in developing a general understanding of the steps they may be outdated. They depict ATItool 21 while this particular version is no longer available for download. I found one in another site which seemed to me very different than the one depicted in the instructions. Anyway please someone help me understand what to do and what ot look for. Thank you.

 

[dolf]

Is there anyone who could help me? I attempted to test the card with ATItool (all versions that i could find: 21, 24, 25b14 and 25b15). What i got in every case was the symptom with the black screen that i listed in aprevious post. After rebooting the computer and restarting ATItool a small window informed me that ATItool did not shutdown properly, the last settings were .......
Are these the numbers that i can take as the last stable clock? Is this how the testing goes? I looked at the instructions on this forum and while they are helpfull in developing a general understanding of the steps they may be outdated. They depict ATItool 21 while this particular version is no longer available for download. I found one in another site which seemed to me very different than the one depicted in the instructions. Anyway please someone help me understand what to do and what ot look for. Thank you.

That are your absolutely maximums (after that you already know what happens ). If you want to use these absolute maximums you have to know that it is good idea to downgrade your core with 10MHz that the absolute max. and the memory with 10-15MHz. If your card is stable at these new max. clocks keep them if not continue to decrease in steps of 5MHz until you find stable clocks.

 

[mregg]

Can all 16 pipes be unlocked? Thanks.

 

[Theseas]

That are your absolutely maximums (after that you already know what happens ). If you want to use these absolute maximums you have to know that it is good idea to downgrade your core with 10MHz that the absolute max. and the memory with 10-15MHz. If your card is stable at these new max. clocks keep them if not continue to decrease in steps of 5MHz until you find stable clocks.

Thank you Dolf.

 

[Hagar]

Sapphire 800 GTO mod is screwy

I got a new Sapphire 800 GTO. Checked the fuses and lo and behold, it has the proper fuse sequence and 12 pipes running. So I dinked around got a blank screen once. Typed in the dark and flashed backed to the saved bios. Praise be and I got it back then I tryied the modded bios.bin posted here and now I got 16 pipes but now instead of showing a R480 as it did before I started this fisaco, now it says R430. Which way am I better off?

Can this be fixed?

Oh ya, I can't run the ATI tool as something to the video card not be selected or something.

Think I'll go back to the old bios for now.

 

[Toona]

thanks Dolf again for the help !!!!

 

[dolf]

I got a new Sapphire 800 GTO. Checked the fuses and lo and behold, it has the proper fuse sequence and 12 pipes running. So I dinked around got a blank screen once. Typed in the dark and flashed backed to the saved bios. Praise be and I got it back then I tryied the modded bios.bin posted here and now I got 16 pipes but now instead of showing a R480 as it did before I started this fisaco, now it says R430. Which way am I better off?

Can this be fixed?

Oh ya, I can't run the ATI tool as something to the video card not be selected or something.

Think I'll go back to the old bios for now.

It is normal the card to be recognized deppending of the flashed BIOS. You flashed R430 BIOS and the card is recognized like that. Blue or red is your card and please be more precise and clarify PCI-E or AGP is your GTO. If it is working now open ATITool and test for max. core. Post here the result (If you wonder why - it is needed to determine what exactly core you have R430 or R480?)
Post your original BIOS here.

 

[Hagar]

Your the man Dolf

Well I did leave out some information didn't I. My lowly card is a AGP red card 256mb.

But after I posted, I found your fanatastic post on using a CD and several related BIOS's. I did as you said (which by the way was well written, even for me) and now shows glory to be,

800 GTO, 16 pipes and back to R480

Couldn't overclock it to the 499, 499 range so I used the standard unlock and then used TWIXX to clock it out to 492.5 mem and 398.25 VPU 45c. Maybe Atitool might clock it out higher, I don't know

You are somthing

Thanks
Dave

 

[Hagar]

Doesn't see my Sapphire card as a sapphire

If I might ask. How come my SAPPHIRE x850 XT with reference drivers from ATI isn't recognized as a SAPPHIRE card and won't run TWIXX. I just wanted to monitor temperatures to see what’s what.

hmmmmmm

Thanks
Dave

 

[aelfwyne]

Good and Bad...

I bought the open box "Open Box: SAPPHIRE 100131L Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM" from NewEgg.

Got it, put it in, ran the flash. System proceded to come up afterward and have perfectly fine text mode telling me my system CMOS checksum was bad.

Short version, the flash went fine as far as unlocking pipes and all that jazz. However, it wiped my system CMOS - which was NOT cool as I have a very complicated hard drive/IDE/SATA Raid setup that I had to rebuild.

I know it wasn't the fault of anyone here, especially those who put together the wonderful disk, but I just thought people might want to be warned that such things COULD happen.. For reference, my motherboard is an ASUS A8V Deluxe.

As far as the flash, I'm on 16 pipe goodness. Max speeds on this card are 428/558, so I'm running at the 418/526 that the flash offered, and then boosting memory to 550 for the harder games.

Thanks much!

 

[aelfwyne]

Whoo, 1803 3dmarks in 3dmark06! This is up from 1419 3dmarks stock (pipes + overclock, not just pipes alone).

Much improved from the 791 3dmarks that my 9800 Pro was cranking out. Now Oblivion in High Textures at 1280x960.... still pushing the edge in oblivion (occaisional slowdowns), but much better picture quality than the 9800 Pro did.

 

[whoisjosh]

Hello, I'm new to this whole flashing business, but from reading this thread I believe that I have the correct X800 GTO for the 16 pipe unlock. This is an AGP card, by the way. Is it possible to use WinFlash to do this? I don't have a floppy drive installed at the moment, but I suppose I could put one in if its a must. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aelfwyne]

Hello, I'm new to this whole flashing business, but from reading this thread I believe that I have the correct X800 GTO for the 16 pipe unlock. This is an AGP card, by the way. Is it possible to use WinFlash to do this? I don't have a floppy drive installed at the moment, but I suppose I could put one in if its a must. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know if Winflash will work, but the recommended (and safer) method is to boot to the flash. That's not a problem, even without a floppy, however, as all you need is a CD Burner. One of the members on this forum has provided a bootable CD image - I think it is on page 20 of this very thread. It is for Sapphire X800 GTO, if that isn't what you have you may need to ask someone here where to get the right bios.

 

[dolf]

You can use winflash but it can't open the pipes. Use the Automated Flash Utility:
http://www.savefile.com/projects/971168

 

[whoisjosh]

Thanks for the utility dolf, it worked perfectly. You truely are the man.

 

[desertjedi]

Another "Dolf-groupie" here! I used Dolf's utility on a red, retail Sapphire X800GTO model 100131L and it worked perfectly after I checked all the identifying info to make sure it was the right card. First time I ever flashed a video card though I wouldn't think twice about flashing a mainboard. Thanks Dolf! And btw, I snagged an open-box one at Newegg for $89 but it seems their supply of those is gone.

I actually found the stock cooler to be fine. 3D games took the core up to 48C max with the fan at the 54% stock setting. Fan noise is somewhat noticeable but there's no annoying whine or high-pitch to it - it's just "white" noise.

Overclocking the card was bitterly disappointing - almost useless. Highest clocks w/o artifacts were 415/525 which is barely over stock. Increasing fan speed to 100% didn't do much at all. I'm setting this card up for a friend to play GRAW but it averages about 30fps at 10x7 with everything either low or off. Even with 16 pipes it can't come close to my old 6800GT.

Anyone know if increasing voltages helps? BTW, I haven't found any utility that will change this card's voltages. I have a Zalman VF700-AlCu for it but I don't think it will help much unless I can up the voltages. As I said, the card's stock cooler seems adequate.

Thanks again for your work Dolf.

 

[Devil_Inside]

OK I got the card...now what?

Hi guys! I am a newbie in the whole overclocking thing, so please try to forgive me for my stupidity... I've read at least 300 posts and now I am more confused than before I started...If somebody can help me I would really appreciate it. Here is what I know:

I have an Ati Radeon X800GTO by Sapphire
The chip name is R480
The card itself is red color...

I tried to follow the instructions provided bu dolf, but I couldn't actually find how to "dump the bios" using ati toools...can't see that option anywhere.. and the other thing is that if somebody tried to unlock the pipes on that particular model and it was unsuccessful I'd better stay off.. I posted some pictures, please let me know if you need more info.

Thanks in advance

 

[blacktruckryder]

Hi guys! I am a newbie in the whole overclocking thing, so please try to forgive me for my stupidity... I've read at least 300 posts and now I am more confused than before I started...If somebody can help me I would really appreciate it. Here is what I know:

I have an Ati Radeon X800GTO by Sapphire
The chip name is R480
The card itself is red color...

I tried to follow the instructions provided bu dolf, but I couldn't actually find how to "dump the bios" using ati toools...can't see that option anywhere.. and the other thing is that if somebody tried to unlock the pipes on that particular model and it was unsuccessful I'd better stay off.. I posted some pictures, please let me know if you need more info.

Thanks in advance

I don't think you can unlock your card. But it should overclock real well.

 

[dolf]

I agree that the only chance for more performance is the overclock. It means NO MORE pipes but with R480 you can overclock it probably to 500 and more MHz.

 

[Devil_Inside]

Well too bad for the pipes I was hoping that there is atleast a hardware unlock hidden somewhere on the board...

It does overclock pretty good though...I was able to clock the memory to 567MHz and the GPU to 489MHz (I am not in fron of my PC and I am guessing the numbers but I remember that the first one was very close to 600 and the second to 500) When I get to my PC I will post the exat frequencies I ran a 2005 3D mark test and I got 4130 points...whatever that is

The negative side is that the GPU is running kind of hot - arround 60-70 degrees celsium which, I guess is not very good. Does anyone know what is the maximum temperature on the GPU before it burns? I hope I am not too close. Now I am considering an aftermarket cooling fan, but that card is HUGE and my motheboard is a Micro ATX. When I installed the card, I already blocked one of my PCI slots and I can't touch the memory without removing the VGA first Now I imagine what will happen with an aftermarket cooler...probably I am going to loose another PCI slot (I have 3 total)...

Another question that I have, I am not sure how connected is with the topic so please forgive me - How can I ensure that my PSU is working properly? I mean the computer is working fine, but that VGA is sucking a lot of power from what I've heard and I am affraid that my PSU might not be powerful enough...is there a way to check except measuring the voltage w/ a multimeter?


M/B http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128262

PSU http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817182006 (please don't laugh)

VGA http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102609

[/off topic]

I've posted another thread for overclocking AMD 3400+...if somebody could help me with that aswell I would really appreciate it!

 

[Mikachu]

Hey Dolf, I just ordered a Sapphire X800 GTO and it came in the mail today. I got it from newegg as well... ok well I determined that my situation is exactly like this guy's:

I got my x800 GTO today.

Here is the info on it:

How does it fare? Seems different than most others.Dolf?


Thanks for any help.

My card has those exact same specs. Now, I realize that I can't unlock the extra pipes, but I saw that he managed to OC his card to about 579/579. I decided to try it too, and to my surprise, mine went up to 607/604 without going over 70C according to ATITool (and stayed closer to 68C most of the time). I stopped it there because I was afraid I might be doing something wrong, since I've never OCed a video card before... so I was wondering, should I stop there, or could I keep going until around 75C? Or is this too high and I should lower it?

 

[dolf]

It is absolutely possible to reach 600+ MHz on R480 (for the 2.0ns memory it sounds little bit more than normal but it is possible). Check your memory chips because it is possible to have 1.6ns memory instead 2.0ns.

Overclock it at 580/590Mhz for instance and test with the 3DMarks (look for artifacts and other visual corruptions. If your card is stable you can prepare custom BIOS 520/540MHz, 520/560MHz, 540/590MHz and to hlash your card with it.