X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

[DanishDevil]

So is Aluminum or Copper better for cooling?

This:
Copper
OR
This:
Aluminum & Copper

Copper by no doubt. For cooling a GPU, the most important thing to do it to get the heat away from the core. Therefore, copper works best.

 

[DanishDevil]

@DanishDevil U sold me on the Zalman vf-700-Cu. Sounds like a quality product and u got good results w/ it. Gonna grab a zalman soon.

@both Rubber bands rox. LOL

I used rubber bands to make my rendition verite v2100 hella fast w/ a pentium heatsink rubberbanded on. Used same trick to attach backside junker heatsink on celery 300A@450 to get 504mhz. Celery got too hot and broke my rubberbands. She never did 504mhz again, but I got smart and used some chic's ponytail hair bands. Given the speeds and heat of the GTO, I'll be forced to find another chic's ponytail hair bands.

I haven't gotten the ZALMAN yet, 522/618 is on stock cooling (my case temps are the same as ambient room temps because my computer is a friggin icebox). I'll be sure to post how much the ZALMAN helps though. Glad to hear about the Zalman, not so glad to hear about those rubber bands . . . BTW, why the hell would it be so hard to get a hair band? I'm friends with like 200 chicks at my school that would be glad 2 gimme one

 

[Dr.D]

I am gonna go for the Ati Silencer 5 (rev2) as soon as my freaking card comes in

 

[mascaras]

nothing its better than WC , 30c idle 37 load with a 30 dolars water block and 4 ramsinks of zalman and its ok with default clocks (500/500), wait more time and put a water sistem in you computer, with 150 dolars you can a good kit wc.

 

[Dr.D]

I dont have 150 and once I do it wont go to my comp

 

[DanishDevil]

I am gonna go for the Ati Silencer 5 (rev2) as soon as my freaking card comes in

Why? The Zalman will outperform it in EVERY aspect but ambient temperature.

 

[kotetu]

Yeah I have heard both sides as well, I think you just have to get lucky. Because ATACOM doesnt have my x800gto2 I am prolly gonna get the fireblade

I ordered from Allstarshop on the 24th and the card arrived today. Cost me $286US though. >_<


Oh well! With luck it will perform like it's $500 brother. ^__^

 

[Dr.D]

Why? The Zalman will outperform it in EVERY aspect but ambient temperature.

Because it pumps hot out OUT of the case thats kind of important especially with a hot dell

 

[DanishDevil]

Because it pumps hot out OUT of the case thats kind of important especially with a hot dell

Gotcha. With my computer, ambient temperature isn't a problem. I have a ThermalTake Armor, and . . . well, let's just let these picture speak for themselves.

http://www.nbpdexplorers.com/DANISH/TechPowerUp Pics/Comp Pix/

So hey, for me the Zalman is the best option. GL with the Arctic Silencer, and be sure to let us know how the experience works out for ya.

 

[Excalibur800GTO]

Directions for trying a new BIOS on X800GTO

Hi Guys,

Is it possible to try flashing other X800 GTO cards with modified BIOS? I am thinking of trying it on HIS Excalibur X800GTO ICEQ II card. It has R480 core and comes with a better cooler and can be overclocked.

Any suggestions about what BIOS I shall try?

Cheers

AP

 

[DanishDevil]

Find out the speed on the memory and I'll tell ya (1.6ns, 2.0ns, etc). This will tell you what the card is capable of reaching memorywise, and what other card it is closest to.

 

[DanishDevil]

I have done some research, and I can't find out what type of memory that is. 3DGameMan got it up to 515/575 if memory serves me right. That's a little under what I'm running. Of course, he didn't try the pixel pipeline mod.

My suggestion is: If you would be happy with that HIS card with 12 pipes, then go ahead and get it. Be sure to back up the old BIOS, and try the mod. I would try it with the X800GTO2 BIOS (R480 Core). Good luck to ya. Be sure to let us know how it went!

 

[mascaras]

the HIS card have 1.6ns memorys for me its de best GTO card (with no MOD) , already have a UV vga silencer , you can try the GTO2 bios , maybe like in GTO fireblade, the card acept the bios but dont unlock the pipelines but for those ppl who dont want MODS the HIS card its a excelent choice, here a pic of HIS x800GTO with UV vga silencer >>>

 

[ShadowFlare]

You said your card has an R480 chip. Did you find that by using a program or did you actually take the heatsink off? If you took off the heatsink to find that, but the software says it is an R423, then flashing to the GTO2 bios would likely help with performance. If the software alreadys says it is an R480, the only thing flashing could do is possibly unlock pipelines (if they are unlockable).

Post a picture of the fuses data in ATITool.

 

[mascaras]

the HIS card have the r480 but the saphire fireblade also have the r480 and with the MOD dont unlock the pipelines but the card acept the bios , like i said before try the MOD with GTO2 bios and see if the card acept it , if not flash back again to the original bios.

 

[thetoad30]

Hi all, it's me again!

Ok, I RMAed my last card and got a cross-ship. I now have another GTO2 and I have left everything stock. I immediately put the memory up to 591 since I know the card can handle that.

I let ATI Tool do the "Find Max Core" and it got up to 605 with 12 pipelines!!! MUCH BETTER than the 462 I was getting with intermittent lockups.

So ATI Tool told me after the reboot that the max working speed was at 589. I have currently backed the card down to 576/591 so that I can have some headroom.

I have been running the scan for artifacts now for 15 minutes and no problems at that speed.

Here's my question: Can a bios flash cause the card to immediately become unable to clock above 450 or so? Or is it more possible that my last card was just bad?

When using flashrom to go back to the 12 pipelines from my backed up bios, could it have left the other 4 pipes on but not used in the bios? Could that have caused my problem if one of the pipes wasn't up to snuff?

I ask this because stupidly I never tested the OC of the first card at stock cooler and bios before flashing.

Thank you

 

[pkilway]

Hi;

I got the Sapphire X800GTO2 'Retail Lite' version. If I try to flash up to 16 pipes (using Sapphire.X800GTO2_16p.Samsung16.bin and flashrom16) I get:

BIOS DEVID= 0x5D4F
ASIC DEVID= 0x5D4F
Exsisting SSID= 0x1600
New SSID= 0x0302

and says I would need to force the flash.

Is it supposed to do this? (the article doesn't mention needing to 'force' the flash). I don't see anyone else mentioning this problem flashing their GTO2 cards.

Is this because it's a 'retail' instead of EOM card? Is it safe to force the flash?

Thanks;

I forced the flash last night myself. Was successful, then booked into XP to see only 8 pipes show up in the ATITool. Reboot then double check, and all 16 pipes showed up then.

 

[jtf2]

i have a quick ?.is this mod meant for the pci version of the sapphire cards or will the agp version also be moddable
thnx

 

[DanishDevil]

As far as I know, there is no AGP version of the card.

 

[jtf2]

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16647&vpn=SP-X800GTO256E-OEM&manufacture=SAPPHIRE
is this not the card

 

[DanishDevil]

Guess so, but the fact is, if that card needs the extra molex power to run with 12 pipelines at stock speeds, will it be enough with pipelines unlocked and overclocked (if the pipelines can even be unlocked). If it has an R480 Core, try it. If it has an R423 core, try it. If not, it's most likely not gonna unlock.

 

[jtf2]

thnx for the info,afaik i have yet to see an ati card that has required 2x molex connectors,
nvidia cards i have seen but not any ati

 

[DanishDevil]

Yeah, well the fact is, the nVidia 6800GT and 6800Ultra GPUs are power hogs. This required the AGP versions to be supplied with dual molex power. ATi went ahead with its PEG Power Connector for its PEG cards, and nVidia followed.

 

[Dynamic]

Is anybody using the PCI-E power connector that came with their video card box? I'm using the PCI-E power connector that came with my PSU. I mean when i looked at it, only two wires available for the C3D GTO? Is that good enough, a yellow and black wires? So who's using what and have they seen any power issues or what not?

 

[Megatron]

Ordered a connect3d, will post results when I get the card.