Radeon X800 Non-Pro/X800 XL/X850 Voltmods

[Urlyin]

QUOTE=Urlyin]Fire ... with decent Ram sinks you could run at 2.45v with 1.6ns mem ... but at 2.1 you're already getting 621mhz ... bump the VDD up to 2.20 and the VDDQ to 2.23 ... will get you to at least 630mhz ... unless the GPU will go higher, then any higher on the mem wouldn't do you much good in terms of OCing ... test those settings

semms to be the max. of My card, with 2.2VDD & 2.23VDDQ I can´t get higher
went back to 2.1 VDD 2.13 VDDQ
I don´t understan the "Phase change: ~1.85V"???

what do I have to do that I can use 1.85 on GPU???


cu fire113.

Have you done the IGPU or overvolt protection mod?

 

[fire113]

semms to be the max. of My card, with 2.2VDD & 2.23VDDQ I can´t get higher
went back to 2.1 VDD 2.13 VDDQ
I don´t understan the "Phase change: ~1.85V"???

what do I have to do that I can use 1.85 on GPU???


cu fire113.

Have you done the IGPU or overvolt protection mod?

Yes I did -20 on IGPU from 1400 to 1380. That is all??? I thought I have to change -to+ or vice versa or something like that. Yesterday I tryed 1,78 V but I was scared and went back to 1,667V.

Ok I don´t have to cahange anything? right --> I only have to do the IGPU mod? right???
then I can use up to ~1.85??? am I right?

cu fire113.

 

[Mussels]

"phase change" is cooling, its a type of cooler that runs sub-zero temperatures, below freezing point usually.

so 1.85V phase change means dont do this if you're on air or water cooling.

 

[fire113]

ok thanks a lot.

cu fire113

 

[danikd]

???

Hi, so nay functional pencil VGPU mod? Or still nothing? Thx

 

[fire113]

Hi @ all


...I can go up to 510 GPU & 625ram with~ 1,65V on GPU and ~2,1V on VDD/VDDQ
The Key is the Temperature!!! Outside we have ~8°C @ 22.45. My CPU is running @15C° Idle and 18°C on GPU. With load I have 31°C on GPU.

cu fire113

 

[Tijgert]

Hello there fella's, here's my report on the VoltMod.

I started out with a Club3D X800XL with 256MB of 2,0ns ram.
Standard the core would show artifacts at 450MHz, so I kept it at 440... but wanted more
The mem was of surprising quality and was running happily without any mods or cooling at 580MHz... I didn't hit the ceiling yet

So, the list-'o-facts:
Before the mod:

Vdd = 1.81 v
Vddq = 1.88 v
Vgpu = 1.41 v
RVdd = 1140 ohms
RVddq = 850 ohms
RVgpu = 436 ohms
RIgpu = 39.2 Kohms

After the mod:
Vdd = 1.952 v
Vddq = 1.999 v
Vgpu = 1.671 v

Below I will list only the value of the resistors that I added, you can calculate yourself what the actual resistance and Delta resistance on that spot is.

RVdd = 10.5 Kohms
RVddq = 14.45 Kohms
RVgpu = 2.29 Kohms
RIgpu = 250 Kohms

The Igpu resistor I left at 250 K because the GPU didn't crap out at 1.671 v.
Even adding the 250 K will lower the overal resistance so it nudged a little in the right direction anyway.

The pics!

Here it all begins, multimeter, tools, glasses and spare hard drives... just in case

Prepared the connectors for the resistors, so that they may be removed and installed when needed (I hate permanent solder mods).
In the top left corner you can see the WC blocks, ready for mounting when my Venice comes in .

Thos tiny little islands are too friggin... tiny!!!
But seemed to work...

Soldering to the chips was a lot easier, just hope no crap flowed under the chip...

This is how the connectors are mounted and how the resistors will be inserted into them.
You may wonder how I will keep them apart...

Well, like this! Some stripes to identify what goes where... simple as can be!

And this was the final setup.
Testing per resistor was easy, just put in little blue block, turn on pc and measure.
While the pc was on I adjusted the screw and saw the voltages change to what I wanted.

I'm sure the voltages can go higher with some fiddling and trying, but right now I'll leave it at a safe setting (at least I think it's safe ).
Benches will follow after all work is done
Until the WC and ramsinks will be installed I removed the resistors not to stress it too much, obviously I won't just leave it running with the mod 24/7 sans cooling

Oh, while you're at it, why not take a look at my WC setup!
It's at My WC project
Forgive the crappy HTML, modding is my game, not art

Qustions?

Urlyin: Sorry for not trying the graphite mod...

The next thing I am working on is to make the mod switchable!
I had a LCD display switchable with a signal from the printerport, but it's not stable or reliable enough to try it here, but a normal switch could do the trick! (switching 3 seperate rails with 1 flick of course)... working on it

 

[Urlyin]

Nicely done Tijgert .... especially the connectors for the VRs.... How come no one uses shrink tubing on the wires .... I think that would dress it up a little ....

 

[Tijgert]

Thank you. There's actually a very good reason not to use shrink tubing... Flexibility.

The contact points on the pcb are positively tiny and any error in soldering may be fatal.
Therefor the soldering needs to be of equal small and delicate size which means lesser strength than just dumping a big 'ol glob of solder on it.
Bending and pointing the second contact wire, when held together with shrink tubing, may overstress the contact of the other wire and break the solder.
The attempt to re-solder the island can be more difficult and will increase the risk of killing your card.

So, once a wire is connected, be gentle with it and isolate it from any stress as much as possible.

As far as protection against outside influences... there are none.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and having perfect parallel wires even around corners is as neat as this one gets.

 

[Urlyin]

Thank you. There's actually a very good reason not to use shrink tubing... Flexibility.

The contact points on the pcb are positively tiny and any error in soldering may be fatal.
Therefor the soldering needs to be of equal small and delicate size which means lesser strength than just dumping a big 'ol glob of solder on it.
Bending and pointing the second contact wire, when held together with shrink tubing, may overstress the contact of the other wire and break the solder.
The attempt to re-solder the island can be more difficult and will increase the risk of killing your card.

So, once a wire is connected, be gentle with it and isolate it from any stress as much as possible.

As far as protection against outside influences... there are none.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and having perfect parallel wires even around corners is as neat as this one gets.

I'm aware of all that .... But using an ovesized piece with a dab of hot glue helps hold it to the board to support the wires and protect the solder job. Also preventing the wires from snagging anything... just a personal preference..... or not use wires at all and solder the VR on top of the chip..

 

[Tijgert]

Oversized, i.e. non shrunk, it might indeed not look that bad if it's glued to the board.

 

[Urlyin]

Oversized, i.e. non shrunk, it might indeed not look that bad if it's glued to the board.

You know they have different color shrink tubing... and with a little dab of glue to hold it in place... anyway it's how it looks to you that's important... Don't get me wrong I think you did an excellent job .... I really like the connectors for the VR ... Thanks for taking the time to type in the before and after ohms measurements ....

 

[Urlyin]

Very un happy here,

no mod, 1,35 volt 450 Mhz
V mod 1,52 Volt 460 Mhz

Next time I pull the card i will remove it

LMP ... How did you test the card?

 

[Urlyin]

Ati tool, find max core

sometimes it's better to set the mhz using ATITool and then running a Benchmark or play a intense graphic game .... I would expect with that much of a vcore increase, it should have done better than 460 ... try 475 and then run 3dmark05 .... watch for artifacts or if it locks up ...

 

[Tijgert]

I find that Atitool may detect artifacts that no man alive would even detect.
Either that or it misdetects them sometimes.

I reached 580 on the mem without the tool and didn't see a single spot. Atitool claimed to be 'seeing hings' around 530 already. I'll go with 580 then!

Use the good 'ol eyes, they still work best.

 

[Urlyin]

evry vcore i set, no OC gain, really strange, I'm watercooled, should i try also IGPU tweak?

The IGPU is for overvolt protection which allows for higher voltage setting on the vcore... which isn't an issue in your case... your checking the voltage with a multimeter and it shows 1.52v ? Since you're watercooled you should be able to go higher ... Try 1.60v to see if it starts to take off some ... remember each card is different and each one will oc different but I would expect a little better return than that ... but you just might have a pain in the arse card ...

 

[Tijgert]

Ok, mod update time

As I said earlier, I wanted to make the voltmod switchable so that the videocard wouldn't have to endure the maximum voltage 100% of the time while it's needed maybe 5% of the time.

The original design called for a 4 rail switch to switch all 4 resistors simultaneously
I also wanted to make the mod switch off, regardless of the mod-switch position, if I would set the fans to low (7v).

So I took away the complicated 4 rail switch and I added a relais to the design, in series with a more simple 'master' switch, the fan switch and a little blue led to tell if it's working or not (and because blue leds are cool )

The mod was also designed to be added on top of the existing mod.
I refused to tamper with the installed mod to avoid breaking the solder and in case my mod-switching-setup not function as intended, I wanted to be able to just take it out and toss it into the corner without having to fix the old mod first.

As you can see in the first picture, I used two smaller relais instead of a single big one because I didn't want to stretch 8 wires all across the case and a bigger single relais wouldn't find enough grip on the video card.
I mounted them on the edges to avoid any interference from the field the coil generates so close the contacts. (it may be small, but can still interefere)

You may notice that it's now fully shrink tubed

Here you see the complete circuit.
The yellow lines indicate the fan switch wires that I didn't solder back yet (I lengthened them while I was working on it anyway).
The other side of the fan switch switches 12v to the led and on to the second switch, the mod switch.
From there it goes to the relais and back to close the circuit.

This is what the installed modded-mod looks like.
You may see a few changes on the final model compared to the previous pictures.
The two relais are now parallel as opposed to series because the voltage drop in series was too much to make them switch AND have a bright blue led in series as well.
Also the idiot at the hardware store was wrong about which pin was the common on the relais, so I had to resolder some of them.

The front view with the fan switch on theright and the mod switch on the left.
The mod is now switched off.

That's about it for now.
No benches yet, my Venice should come in very soon now and once that baby is installed I'll hook up the water cooling and a benchin' we will go!

 

[LMP]

1,594 V 465 Mhz... really a crappy card, been very unlucky this time.
going to remove vmod

 

[mikeguava]

are these vodsmods applicable to a X800 PRO PCI-E? I believe the PCI-E is different to AGP vmod guide

 

[Tijgert]

Yes, PCI-E only. Have no knowledge of AGP (trying to forget )

 

[Urlyin]

are these vodsmods applicable to a X800 PRO PCI-E? I believe the PCI-E is different to AGP vmod guide

The cards use the same IC chips but they are in different locations on the board and the PCI-E cards no longer use a parallel fixed resistor to create feedback voltage on the FC 5240 which renders the vcore pencil mod ineffective. However you can still use the steps provided in the AGP vmod guide, just the cards have different locations for measurements and mod locations.

 

[Tijgert]

the PCI-E cards no longer use a parallel fixed resistor to create feedback voltage on the FC 5420 which renders the vcore pencil mod ineffective

Wow, glad I'm just smart enough to follow some guys instructions 'solder this here, do that there'

 

[Urlyin]

Wow, glad I'm just smart enough to follow some guys instructions 'solder this here, do that there'

... I've been talking to ViperJohn to much

 

[mikeguava]

The cards use the same IC chips but they are in different locations on the board and the PCI-E cards no longer use a parallel fixed resistor to create feedback voltage on the FC 5420 which renders the vcore pencil mod ineffective. However you can still use the steps provided in the AGP vmod guide, just the cards have different locations for measurements and mod locations.

Thanks for the quick reply. I actually have a X850XTPCIE in front of me - the x800PRO appears to have a very similar layout. The PRO I have is a VIVO - the XT is non-vivo so I this might be the only cause for difference? ( can't get a good look on the X800PRO cause it is installed in the system with waterblock on)

 

[Urlyin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I actually have a X850XTPCIE in front of me - the x800PRO appears to have a very similar layout. The PRO I have is a VIVO - the XT is non-vivo so I this might be the only cause for difference? ( can't get a good look on the X800PRO cause it is installed in the system with waterblock on)

If the x800 pro is AGP then there is more of a difference than just the Rage Theater chip ... look at the pics here and the PCi-E on the first page of this thread .... you'll see the difference in the locations of the chips and measurement points ...