Guide to Radeon X800/X850 bios modding

[sy5tem]

here :: you can down clock to XT spd with RaBIt

this is a moded XT pe bios ?? so overdrive shud be enabled with this one?? just need to downclock to XT speed if i don't have a good heatsink i guess?

thank you

 

[Frogger]

i will oder it today.. i have the stock fan set to 100% withthe ATItool. When Im in windows .. Its about 35-40 and i game its 70-75.. After i get the other fan.. Would rigging up a fan on the back side of the card help any ? What would a h2o cooler bring it down to ?

the Silencer dumps all it's heat out the back of the case through a open pci slot [not in side the case So if you have good flow through the case {ie front in fan, back out fan} you should see a difference in over all case temp. the air movement around the back side of card should be fine

 

[Fischpo]

Strange thing....
I just successfully purchased a Powercolor x850pro AGP.
Promising it is equiped with GPU R481 and Fuse values show that it should be modable!
I followed your guide to manually change the corresponding bit in the ORIGINAL BIOS with a hex editor.
When I loaded the modified BIOS into Rabit I figured that its device ID 4B4B translates to Radeon x800 series (R420/M18).
Then when searching the .inf file in the driver installation folder - I used latest Omega drivers without former catalyst drivers beeing present - for a more suitable ID string I recognized that all strings that were listed are for PCI versions!

What has gone wrong here??
Am I right to assume that the driver installation did not really recognize my card??

For now I'll perform the mod without ID changes. But beyond this point I think I need further advice....

Attached are Rabit info and hex dump of already modified (only pipes) BIOS and cat.ini

Edit: Well, I checked 2 BIOS files for the AGP version of (Powercolors) X850XT-PE which have been succesfully applied for modding. They differ in Device-ID from mine - 4B4C instead of 4B4B and Descriptor: RADEON X850 XT PE = something you could read. This may not be of any matter, if the descriptor isn't used for the recognition of the card during installation, is it?
That would explain my above findings... what do you mean?

 

[mmx]

Why dont you download the bios from http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/ and flash it.
Ps. My bios from X800XL loaded in rabit shows R423 , but the card has R430.

 

[Fischpo]

Because I don't want to.
Modifying the original BIOS is the safest way, don't you agree?

EDIT: Just to confirm: 16p now!!

My mem clock cannot go so far - as long as the Arctic silencer is not attached.
Findings so far with 16p: core 580|mem 560.
Will test higher when the silencer is on.

Oh, and the fan control is obviously working...
Thanks alot for the guide!!

 

[cayers71]

Latency tweaking?

YES! I gained about 300 points in 3D05.

HOW HOW HOW did you do that? Are there any guidelines out there?

 

[Megatron]

I was reading a thread about someone complaining he had an "R430" gto2 which did 595core.

He mentioned he checked the core via ATItool.

Ive got a connect3d gto @ 16 pipes. When I checked with atitool what it reported my core as it reported R423. Im using a bios modded to 16 pipe from the original connect3d gto bios (by someone else). Working with this bios I edited the device ID and subsystem ID to numbers I found in the ati driver install file (that corresponded to a card which had R480):
"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_2160148C

So in RaBiT I entered the lime code for device ID and redcode for subsystem ID , and left subvendor ID alone (since that is always ATI as I understand it). Im not too sure about if the subsystem ID change was necessary and there was 8 digits and only 4 in radedit.

Anyhow it works and I had to reinstall my drivers since I had "changed my hardware". I forgot to do a 3dmark run before modding but the score does give an impression of improvement.

Added my modded bios if anyone wants it. Its now a built by ati card, I wanted to avoid fan problems by using an x850xt bios to get my R480 driver paths. I think the fan control is different for a different type of fan.

 

[ShadowFlare]

I was reading a thread about someone complaining he had an "R430" gto2 which did 595core.

He mentioned he checked the core via ATItool.

Ive got a connect3d gto @ 16 pipes. When I checked with atitool what it reported my core as it reported R423. Im using a bios modded to 16 pipe from the original connect3d gto bios (by someone else). Working with this bios I edited the device ID and subsystem ID to numbers I found in the ati driver install file (that corresponded to a card which had R480):
"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_2160148C

So in RaBiT I entered the lime code for device ID and redcode for subsystem ID , and left subvendor ID alone (since that is always ATI as I understand it). Im not too sure about if the subsystem ID change was necessary and there was 8 digits and only 4 in radedit.

Anyhow it works and I had to reinstall my drivers since I had "changed my hardware". I forgot to do a 3dmark run before modding but the score does give an impression of improvement.

Added my modded bios if anyone wants it. Its now a built by ati card, I wanted to avoid fan problems by using an x850xt bios to get my R480 driver paths. I think the fan control is different for a different type of fan.

There probably wasn't really any need to do that, since your card probably does not have the R480 chip. Eh, I guess as long as it is still working, there isn't really a need to change it back. BTW, post your fuses so that I can confirm whether it is R423 or R480, unless you've already taken the cooler off and seen which it is.

 

[infrared]

cool, there's a way to tell by the fuse data?

 

[Megatron]

I was reading a thread about someone complaining he had an "R430" gto2 which did 595core.

Shadowflair, my core does 550Max and in your own tutorial it says no R430 will ever reach 470. Im also on stock cooling and Im not particularly sure it has good contact with the core since the shim seemed to be getting in the way when I checked. I looked at the core, and it didnt say one way or the other.

This is what it said though:

215RBJAGARF
GG3885.1
0506AA

 

[Frogger]

So it has no R???ID on the chip like this one


has any body else seen these chips this is on a BBiat

 

[Megatron]

I was expecting it to say specifically R480 or R430 which it did not. Im pretty sure it didnt say x850 though, I didnt take any note of x800 which is probably what it said.

If it wasnt r480 then I should be getting artifacts since I dont have the right hardware which the driver is expecting, but I dont.

Im pretty sure its an R480 since it does clock to 550 and has no problem with using R480 drivers...

Ive not had an R430 but they are supposed to clock on average to 430core.

Edit I got this connect3d in Dec I heard later ones from the same place (www.savastore.co.uk) were not moddable.

 

[Frogger]

HEY MEGatron
I just came across this chip yesterday on a customers card was the first one I'd seen bios showed it as 481 but means squat
Yours is the first post I'v seen regarding this

 

[Megatron]

I had a powercolor x800gt for a short while (when I realised I couldnt unlock it). There was a bios released by powercolor which gave a performance boost. Im guessing that all it was is that the deviceID was changed to R480.

"Yours is the first post I'v seen regarding this"
Not sure what Ive brought to the table which is new. I was just following the guide which is in the first post of this thread.

Just thought I would leave my experiences after trying the mod and finding the complete picture was not there regarding the subsystem ID. I was afraid that the deviceID and subsystemID would need to match one of the strings in the driver file, and the fact that RaBiT has a 4 digit box for the subsystemID and the driverfile shows an 8-digit number.

I thought about modding it to R481 but decided against it in the end.

 

[Fischpo]

What would be the device_ID for R481 then?
4B4C is for r480, ok?

 

[Megatron]

[SIZE="+1"]Mod #2 - Changing the Name and/or GPU Type[/SIZE]


[*]Search the file for the desired name and proper GPU type. You may also search for an entry with the same SubVendor ID as your current bios. The entries are formatted as shown in this picture:

I have edited the subsystemID with the wrong half of the 8 digit code. Doesnt seem to cause any problems.

"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_2160148C

My subsystemID is 148C whereas it should be 2160 to match this string.

 

[Megatron]

What would be the device_ID for R481 then?
4B4C is for r480, ok?

If u look at the correct file in the ATI driver installation, then search for R481 and then use the devID and subsystemID in the boxes in RaBiT.

The file is :
C:\ATI\SUPPORT\6-2_xp-2k_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_30152\Driver\2KXP_INF\CX_30152.inf (for windows XP)


Any of these would do:

"RADEON X850 PRO" = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B4B&SUBSYS_00021002
"RADEON X850 PRO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_00021002
"RADEON X850 PRO Secondary" = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B6B&SUBSYS_00031002
"RADEON X850 PRO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D6F&SUBSYS_00031002
"RADEON X850 XT" = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D52&SUBSYS_03021002
"RADEON X850 XT " = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B49&SUBSYS_00021002
"RADEON X850 XT " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D52&SUBSYS_08121002
"RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition" = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B4C&SUBSYS_00021002
"RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4D&SUBSYS_08121002
"RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition Secondary" = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B6C&SUBSYS_00031002
"RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition Secondary " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D6D&SUBSYS_08131002
"RADEON X850 XT Secondary" = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D72&SUBSYS_03031002
"RADEON X850 XT Secondary " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D72&SUBSYS_08131002
"RADEON X850 XT Secondary " = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B69&SUBSYS_00031002


"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R430, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_554F&SUBSYS_09721462
"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_09721462
"RADEON X800 GTO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R430, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_556F&SUBSYS_09731462
"RADEON X800 GTO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D6F&SUBSYS_09731462


"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R423, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5549&SUBSYS_2160148C
"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R430, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_554F&SUBSYS_2160148C
"RADEON X800 GTO " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4F&SUBSYS_2160148C
"RADEON X800 GTO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R480, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D6F&SUBSYS_2161148C
"RADEON X800 GTO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R423, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5569&SUBSYS_2161148C
"RADEON X800 GTO Secondary " = ati2mtag_R430, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_556F&SUBSYS_2161148C


I highlighted the one I used, but there are some R481 device ID there too.

 

[ShadowFlare]

cool, there's a way to tell by the fuse data?

Yeah, dolf figured it out. What he said about it seems to be correct so far. I have an explanation of it in the first post, which I'm quoting a segment of below in my response to Megatron's post.

Shadowflair, my core does 550Max and in your own tutorial it says no R430 will ever reach 470. Im also on stock cooling and Im not particularly sure it has good contact with the core since the shim seemed to be getting in the way when I checked. I looked at the core, and it didnt say one way or the other.

This is what it said though:

215RBJAGARF
GG3885.1
0506AA

The max clock speed wasn't the only part of it, though. The fuses information shown in ATITool is also an important part of it. According to what yours shows, it is R423. Quoting that section of the guide:

"... look at the fuses data in ATITool that shows up when you hold shift and click on settings. If it is R480 or R430 then CONFIG_DIE_FUSES will look like 0xFFFF?FFF and CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES will look like 0xFFFFFF9? where the "?" can be any digit. After you determine that it is R480 or R430, to distinguish between the two you can check how high the GPU can be safely overclocked. Many (or most) R430 chips cannot reach 450 MHz and all (as far as I know) cannot reach 470 or above. If your's exceeds what the R430 is capable of and matches the pattern above, then your card very likely has the R480 GPU."

This information is mostly only useful for PCI Express X800 GT cards, since if they are still going to be called by the X800 GT name they can only say they have R423. Of course, in the case of the X800 GT cards, the second part of those two conditions above is automatically met because of the default clock speed, so they can never be R430.

In general, the X800 GT's are the only X800 series cards that sometimes lie about their chip type. The X800 GTO/GTO2 cards are the only other X800 series cards that sometimes have R480 chips, and they never need to lie about their chip type since each card maker is allotted R423, R430, and R480 entries for their GTO cards in the driver's .inf file. There is only one X800 GTO I know of that lies about its chip type, which is the dual DVI + VIVO X800 GTO2 that says it is R430 when it is actually R480.

 

[Megatron]

There is only one X800 GTO I know of that lies about its chip type, which is the dual DVI + VIVO X800 GTO2 that says it is R430 when it is actually R480.

The connect3d is also mentioned in the same artical as being unlockable to 16 pipes and is the reason I bought it! So it would seem more than a coincidence if the connect3d gto also lied about its chip type.

Im not sure what the point of arguing if my card is an R480 or R430 knowing that my card overclocks to 550Mhz core which no R430 could do.

My card doesnt follow the pattern either:

The pattern:
CONFIG_DIE_FUSES will look like 0xFFFF?FFF

My card (as seen in screenshot on page 19):

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES will look like 0xEFF7FFFF

Although substrate fuses do match.

 

[ShadowFlare]

The connect3d is also mentioned in the same artical as being unlockable to 16 pipes and is the reason I bought it! So it would seem more than a coincidence if the connect3d gto also lied about its chip type.

Im not sure what the point of arguing if my card is an R480 or R430 knowing that my card overclocks to 550Mhz core which no R430 could do.

What I was saying is that the bios didn't lie about the chip type; it is R423. The number of pipelines is more about chip configuration than chip type.

 

[Megatron]

Im not sure what point you are trying make. Is it that I have an R423 chip which does 550Mhz core? I was not aware that a core made before R430 would exceed its capabilities. Also the date of manufacture is 2005, june; Im guessing no R423 were made then?


Some 9800pro came with R360 cores (9800XT) and were flashed from R350 to R360 but it was important you had the correct core (not R350) since it would give some artifacts due to not having the correct hardware path the driver was interfacing with. Im guessing that R430 to R480 would be the same.

 

[ShadowFlare]

Im not sure what point you are trying make. Is it that I have an R423 chip which does 550Mhz core? I was not aware that a core made before R430 would exceed its capabilities. Also the date of manufacture is 2005, june; Im guessing no R423 were made then?


Some 9800pro came with R360 cores (9800XT) and were flashed from R350 to R360 but it was important you had the correct core (not R350) since it would give some artifacts due to not having the correct hardware path the driver was interfacing with. Im guessing that R430 to R480 would be the same.

The R423, although it has a lower number than R430, is actually a higher-end chip. It is used in the X800 Pro, X800 XT, and X800 XT PE. I think I remember reading that on average, they usually have max clocks about 20 MHz lower than R480 chips, so they are still able to get high clocks. Makes sense since the max default clock of a card with R423 (X800 XT PE's default speed of 520) is 20 MHz lower than the max default clock of a card with R480 (X850 XT PE's default speed of 540).

 

[Frogger]

ID for R481 is[4B4B]

 

[Fischpo]

ID for R481 is[4B4B]

Nah, not that easy. This seems to relate to PRO version.
If you look up the table in megatrons post you'll spot two other choices concerning the x850 series... 4B49 (XT) and 4B4C (XT PE).
Though in the 1st case (4B4B) mine has been recognized as x800 series during driver setup...

 

[dolf]

The first two digits (4B) are indentification of the core (card's) type (it can't be overriten during the BIOS flash). The third and the fourth digit can be changed durin BIOS flashing and are responsible for the PRO/XT indentification.

If you want your card (R481 core) to be recognized like X850XT Platinum Edition instead of X850 Series you have to edit the BIOS and to change the following:

Device ID: 4B4C
SubSystem ID: 0002
SubVendor ID: 1002

With these ID's it will be recognized like "X850XT Platinum Edition". In principle you should have coincidence between the 3 parameters assigned in the driver's CX_xxxxx.inf file and in the card's BIOS in order to be recognized "correct". For example: "RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition " = ati2mtag_R481, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4B4C&SUBSYS_00021002