X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

[DanishDevil]

VF700-CU. by a LONG SHOT. Only exception is if you have an EXTREMELY POORLY ventilated case (Pentium III 933 Dell with only a PSU fan), then the fact that the hot GPU air is being expelled out of the case, it will lower your other temps. If you have a crappy dell case with no cooling, then you are a very ignorant BIOS flasher and overclocker (no offense, but come on guys...)

 

[breethon]

I just built a new system (this is my second connect3d mod card). I had to flash the bios multiple times to get it to work. I first flashed it to the powercolor x800xt bios, then tried the unlocked connect3d bios in this article. I then flashed back to the powercolor with no change in pipes. I then tried the x800gto2 bios - got an error, so I flashed it back with the powercolor bios (one last time crap shoot) and it worked the last time. Not sure why, I flashed it the same way everytime. WEIRD? Any ideas? Sorry if this is confusing, but if you have tried to flash it and it didn't work, try, try again. You never know.

 

[ShadowFlare]

Yesterday I received the X800 GTO2 that I ordered from Newegg.com. It is the full retail boxed version.

It has the same fuses shown in ATITool as the other X800 GTO2s, so it did unlock to 16 pipes. Unlike my first which would quit above 520 MHz gpu, this one could at least achieve 540. Also, unlike the first, it would actually get to the point where it would get artifacts when going above the max stable overclock, not just crash. Max memory clock seem about the same (around 600).

Since this one can achieve X850 XT PE clocks and the other couldn't quite make it to that, I'll be selling the first one. I'm likely going to sell it on eBay, but if anyone wants to pay me about $260 or $270 for it, I'll just not put it up on eBay (actually, I might still put it up on eBay as a buy-it-now item and give the link to whoever it is that would want to buy it).

 

[sinner33]

High temps!

I've got temperatures of idle 40 and under load, 68 degrees celsius! I even switched the heatsink for the GTO2 with a zalman fatality700 (which is by the way the same copper one everyone is mentioning.)

I was wondering if maybe I didn't install it tightly enough or something? Cause at these degrees, I don't think i changed my temps a thing from stock. I'm running the card at 540/609 but the temps don't drop much even if I run at XT speeds.

Anyone's input to solve my troubles would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DanishDevil]

No, it is not the same cooler that everyboady has been mentioning. The Fatal1ty version is painted red, has red LEDs, and spins at a higher RPM for both "Quiet" and "Silent" modes, and therefore is louder.

Make sure you use Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste for the GPU. Use the supplied thermal tape for the RAM. Zalman's thermal paste isn't up to par with Arctic Silver's (about 7C difference).

Also, if your case has bad ventilation, that's the culprit.

GL,
Danish

 

[nanamiSpecial]

Hi, is it true the later connect3d gto´s not being able to unlock pipes ???

 

[DanishDevil]

I wouldn't say that. There have been a few accounts of possibly un-modabble cards, although this could always be due to user error. If it's in your price bracket, go for it!

 

[sinner33]

For process of elimination, I am using arctic silver, I am not using the power connecter to the vga card itself, but to a fan controller/monitor. My case has ventilation. I got an empty pic slot open for air intake directly beside the vga, and a antec vcool blowing outside air in on top the card, and an powercolor heatbuster exhaust to push out beneath the card.

I'm going to try skimming the amount of arctic silver for now... =/

 

[RatusNatus]

Hi, is it true the later connect3d gto´s not being able to unlock pipes ???

There's a lot of C3D unlockable reports in fuses data...

I'm geting mine in 10 days...

 

[Kcomp]

I received a locked C3D X800 GTO card this week. I made the mistake of ordering from somewhere that had just received fresh stock. It has the following fuse data:

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES 0xEFF37FFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES 0xFFFFF71E
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES 0x861

After flashing nothing happens except the 0x861 turns into 0x860.

In my opinion I would not recommend getting one from somewhere that has just got new stock in. If at all possible get one from somewhere that you know has had unreplenished stock for a while, or at least a place with a liberal return policy.

 

[HousERaT]

I received a locked C3D X800 GTO card this week. I made the mistake of ordering from somewhere that had just received fresh stock. It has the following fuse data:

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES 0xEFF37FFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES 0xFFFFF71E
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES 0x861

After flashing nothing happens except the 0x861 turns into 0x860.

In my opinion I would not recommend getting one from somewhere that has just got new stock in. If at all possible get one from somewhere that you know has had unreplenished stock for a while, or at least a place with a liberal return policy.

Any idea if it's core related? What core does it have? R423 or R430?

 

[Kcomp]

I am too chicken to take the heatsink off to look at the core since I am selling it (the person knows about the 12 pipes and is getting a bargain).

However, poster v7100, in another thread (post 488) has the exact same fuse data and has provided a picture showing a core like his showing it as a R430: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=5367&page=49

 

[nanamiSpecial]

thanks, any idea which vendors have older cards? monarch right??

 

[DanishDevil]

No clue. Toss them an e-mail and ask them. Either that, or go for the R480 X800GTO2

 

[l33t_c0w]

locked bios I guess

I seem to have gotten a card with a locked bios as well. I tried to flash it, seemed successful, rebooted, and ATITool is still showing 12 pipes. rebooted with the bootdisk again and did a "flashrom -l 0" and it said my bios was locked.

Fuse data thingies is:
CONFIG_DIE_FUSES 0xEFF3DFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES 0XFFFFF71E

I should have known better than to think I could get a spiffy neat deal like that. Got too excited.

edit: does that fuse data mean I've got an r430 w/ only 12 pipes? Or is there a chance I can do something to it to cause the bios to be flashable?


Green = fate
Yellow = me

 

[ShadowFlare]

I mentioned earlier that I had bought 2 X800 GTO2 cards recently, one from newegg.com (full retail) and one from someone selling on eBay (oem). Both were able to unlock to 16 pipelines, but the full retail one I got from newegg.com clocked higher on the core than the other I bought. Both would get memory speeds of at least around 600, but one could reach 540 without artifacts when the temperature was lower and could go up to almost 560 before it would crash; the other would get artifacts as it approached 520 and would crash at a little bit higher clock speed. With better cooling, that one may or may not be better than my original one that would never get artifacts before crashing and would eventually crash on any speed about 5-10 higher than 520.

If anyone wants either of the two ones that I don't want, let me know if you are interested in buying either of them. The original one I got has a Zalman VF700-AlCu on it and the ramsinks that come with it, so I will charge extra for that.

BTW, the one I bought from someone selling it on eBay seemed to have been flashed to the modded bios provided on this site. However, when I tried to run ATITool when the card had that bios, it would always crash and I could never get into it. I've never had that problem on any card in the past. I flashed the card to my own modded bios that I had been using and then ATITool worked just fine.

I'll probably later be installing a Zalman VF700-Cu on the card that I'm keeping (unless there is something better that someone would recommend and isn't too noisy). I'll post my overclocking results when I do. Since this one does get artifacts before getting to the point that it crashes (the artifacts appear at speeds that my other card couldn't ever run at), the max overclock probably will go up, unlike my previous one that never had artifacts on gpu overclocks and where the heat wasn't the limiting factor.

 

[DanishDevil]

I seem to have gotten a card with a locked bios as well. I tried to flash it, seemed successful, rebooted, and ATITool is still showing 12 pipes. rebooted with the bootdisk again and did a "flashrom -l 0" and it said my bios was locked.

Fuse data thingies is:
CONFIG_DIE_FUSES 0xEFF3DFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES 0XFFFFF71E

I should have known better than to think I could get a spiffy neat deal like that. Got too excited.

edit: does that fuse data mean I've got an r430 w/ only 12 pipes? Or is there a chance I can do something to it to cause the bios to be flashable?


Green = fate
Yellow = me

If your fuses don't match, then you can't perform the mod. The X800GTO from Connect3D is still a very good overclocker and a very good card. You are already getting all the performance you payed for, and you will get more with overclocking.

If I were you, and had an extra $50, I would return your Connect3D X800GTO and get a Sapphire X800GTO2

 

[l33t_c0w]

If your fuses don't match, then you can't perform the mod. The X800GTO from Connect3D is still a very good overclocker and a very good card. You are already getting all the performance you payed for, and you will get more with overclocking.

If I were you, and had an extra $50, I would return your Connect3D X800GTO and get a Sapphire X800GTO2

I can scrape together an extra $50, so I'll definately think about doing that. What of the attempted bios flash though? It said that it succeeded I thought. I'd feel sort of nervous returning a card to newegg that I'd tried to modify. Or is it a certainty that I failed to change the bios?

 

[Dynamic]

So now some of these C3D GTO cards are going to be like this eh? That's so messed up dudes. I got mine at MonarchComputers.com like about 2 months ago and it's been working just fine with the opened pipes. I'm sorry to hear about the users having problems with theirs. I guess Connect3D ran out, and now are using the R430 instead of the unlockable R423, BOOOOO!

 

[Dynamic]

Another thing that i've noticed is that some of these GTO2 from Sapphire are coming with different Model Numbers, "SAPPHIRE 100130SR Radeon X800GTO2". I don't remember seeing SR, but i'm guessing this will still work since some of you dudes have bought recently from Newegg.com and unlocked successfully right? This is it right here....for $240.

Note:Yeah, it used to have an "L" instead of the SR. Weird?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102634

 

[satans_pet_penguin]

Today i built my new pc and managed to unlock to 16 pipes on my Connect3D card. Bought the card from ebay.co.uk, btw (new not used) not tried overclocking yet, doubt i will actually, it's a really nice card just at stock with 16 pipes, running all the new games just fine. Don't see the point shortining it's life until its really needed

 

[Dynamic]

Today i built my new pc and managed to unlock to 16 pipes on my Connect3D card. Bought the card from ebay.co.uk, btw (new not used) not tried overclocking yet, doubt i will actually, it's a really nice card just at stock with 16 pipes, running all the new games just fine. Don't see the point shortining it's life until its really needed

In the benchmark world you're only gaining 900 points increase from 12pp to 16pp in 3DMark03. Also an increase of almost 600 points in 3DMark05 just with the extra pipelines. Now if you were to overclock that card w/16pp to lets say 540core/565Mem you'll gain almost 2000 points more in 3DMark03 and 1200 points more in 3DMark05. I know you're concerned about the life of your product, but by the times if even you notice any problems you would have enough money for something much better and faster that will be needed for your future games anyway. Besides, why don't you do this, just use the 3D Detection on ATI TOOL .24 and configure your games to run on the overclock frequencies and when you're on your desktop or browsing the net use lower frequencies. Much smarter i think, then running your frequencies at full blast all day everyday right? Just a thought in the pond for you users worried about things like this. I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[satans_pet_penguin]

In the benchmark world you're only gaining 900 points increase from 12pp to 16pp in 3DMark03. Also an increase of almost 600 points in 3DMark05 just with the extra pipelines. Now if you were to overclock that card w/16pp to lets say 540core/565Mem you'll gain almost 2000 points more in 3DMark03 and 1200 points more in 3DMark05. I know you're concerned about the life of your product, but by the times if even you notice any problems you would have enough money for something much better and faster that will be needed for your future games anyway. Besides, why don't you do this, just use the 3D Detection on ATI TOOL .24 and configure your games to run on the overclock frequencies and when you're on your desktop or browsing the net use lower frequencies. Much smarter i think, then running your frequencies at full blast all day everyday right? Just a thought in the pond for you users worried about things like this. I hope this helps and good luck.

Am i right in thinking the C3D GTO unlocked to 16 pipes is identical to the x800XL? I searched for the XL speeds and they appear the same as the GTO (400/490) the only difference being pipes. I admit it would be nice to go higher and maybe get the X800XL PE speeds (520/560) if my card is able to get that high or near (and i will lower the max speeds by about 10% or so just to be safer) and only run those speeds in-game (usually 2 hours at a time is the max im on a game) then use stock speeds when on my desktop, do you think that would atleast give me a years use out of it?

 

[Dynamic]

Am i right in thinking the C3D GTO unlocked to 16 pipes is identical to the x800XL? I searched for the XL speeds and they appear the same as the GTO (400/490) the only difference being pipes. I admit it would be nice to go higher and maybe get the X800XL PE speeds (520/560) if my card is able to get that high or near (and i will lower the max speeds by about 10% or so just to be safer) and only run those speeds in-game (usually 2 hours at a time is the max im on a game) then use stock speeds when on my desktop, do you think that would atleast give me a years use out of it?

If you take a look at my specs, i got mine @16pp 550Core and 565Mem with a Zalman VF700-Cu at 10v (Full RPM). I'm using the 3D Detection as well because there is a problem with my motherboard and this GFX for some reason. I'm not sure how long the card will last, everything is different remember that. Some cards will last longer then others, i don't know. I think you should overclock it to get the best out of it. Hope this helps, good luck once again.

 

[W1zzard]

based on the last three or four "failure" emails i'm getting it seems that newegg has new stock of c3c gto's which can not be modded .. if this trend continues i will put up a notice on the main article