How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

Source · Jan 11, 2008

largon said:
Source,
You need:
solder iron, 100kΩ variable resistor, 2 pieces of thin wire, multimeter

Here's what you need to do:
1. Solder one piece of wire on the middle leg, and the other piece on either of the outer legs.
2. Tune the resistance between the free ends of the wires to 100kΩ.
3. Solder the free end of either wire to a "mod solder point". (refer to the guide pics)
4. Solder the free end of the other wire to a ground. (doesn't matter what ground you use)
5. Done!

Thx bud, off to the store

Random Murderer · Jan 11, 2008

largon said:
Source,
You need:
solder iron, 100kΩ variable resistor, 2 pieces of thin wire, multimeter

Here's what you need to do:
1. Solder one piece of wire on the middle leg, and the other piece on either of the outer legs.
2. Tune the resistance between the free ends of the wires to 100kΩ.
3. Solder the free end of either wire to a "mod solder point". (refer to the guide pics)
4. Solder the free end of the other wire to a ground. (doesn't matter what ground you use)
5. Done!

Actually, I'll be using 500KΩ, 18-turn trimpots.

largon · Jan 11, 2008

500kΩ VR works fine too, though, it will have a bit rougher tuning granularity compared to 100kΩ which has just one (less serious) setback - slightly higher minimum voltage that is.

Random Murderer · Jan 11, 2008

largon said:
500kΩ VR works fine too, though, it will have a bit rougher tuning granularity compared to 100kΩ which has just one (less serious) setback - slightly higher minimum voltage that is.

Eh, I'm doing both the VCore and VMem mods, so I just ordered a bunch of the 500KΩ trimpots instead of 500KΩ and 100KΩ.

Rhinofart · Jan 11, 2008

Dmm

DMM works like a charm. I tested it with several other items of known voltage and its reading acurately. It had me scratching my head, so I did just that to test to make sure, and well, yup it was giving me 1.4 - 1.5 when running the Fur Benchmark.

reverze · Jan 11, 2008

got my ZALMAN installed...

stay tuned for my volt mod

trog100 · Jan 11, 2008

rhino.. now i know u are running amd i can be a little more accurate..

my 6000+ at 3.35 gig with one 3870 card at 840/1250 scored 11.000 in 2006

with two cards it scored 13000 in 2006..

in 2005 with one card 18.000... with two 19.000

dont compare your score with people running clocked intel systems.. at higher resolutions your crossfire gain will be way higher than with one card..

in 2005 fully maxed out 1608 x 1050 with full aa.. one card scored 11.000.. two cards went right up to 17.000.. things aint as bad as they seem.. at low resolution u are cpu limited..

trog

Random Murderer · Jan 11, 2008

Hard-mod underway. Expect good news soon!

trog100 · Jan 12, 2008

Rhinofart said:
DMM works like a charm. I tested it with several other items of known voltage and its reading acurately. It had me scratching my head, so I did just that to test to make sure, and well, yup it was giving me 1.4 - 1.5 when running the Fur Benchmark.

1.4 or 1.5 rhino.. the difference might not sound much but if measured correctly its massive.. 1.5 on my card gave me massive overheats and the poor old stock fan running at 85% sounding like a leaf blowing trying to keep the card at 102 C..

this was without much of an overclcock about the same as yours.. the votage should be steady.. and about 1.35..

u are either reading the wrong points or your volt meter is wrong.. something is wrong anyways..

trog

ps.. just for the record the 3d voltage can be measured while the machine is booting.. it dosnt drop till it gets to windows.. so there is no need to wait and run some 3d thing..

Reset · Jan 12, 2008

Rhino, maybe you should try a different ground on the case if you have the right test points. I got 1.35v on my card like everybody else.

Reset · Jan 12, 2008

largon said:
500kΩ VR works fine too, though, it will have a bit rougher tuning granularity compared to 100kΩ which has just one (less serious) setback - slightly higher minimum voltage that is.

Yes the 100 ohm pot would be more fine tuning than the 500 ohm, that is unless the 500 ohm pot uses more turns than the 100 ohm. Don't you think? That's why different pots have different amount of turns, depending on the accuracy you need.

Now let me get my cheap butt back to searching these old circuit boards for a decent VR.

Random Murderer · Jan 12, 2008

Ok, the mod is DONE!
I dodged a major bullet in the process though, one of the legs broke off of the memory voltage IC, though I managed to make one with solder.
Pics will be up soon, and then on to testing!

Source · Jan 12, 2008

Random Murderer said:
Ok, the mod is DONE!
I dodged a major bullet in the process though, one of the legs broke off of the memory voltage IC, though I managed to make one with solder.
Pics will be up soon, and then on to testing!

Awesome, can't wait bud. Make sure we get some nice CLOSE UPS !

Random Murderer · Jan 12, 2008

Source said:
Awesome, can't wait bud. Make sure we get some nice CLOSE UPS !

Here ya go!

Now to get my hands on some dry ice and set some records!

Wile E · Jan 12, 2008

How many watts is your iron, RM?

Random Murderer · Jan 12, 2008

Wile E said:
How many watts is your iron, RM?

No idea, lol, it's a butane iron. :banghead:

Wile E · Jan 12, 2008

Random Murderer said:
No idea, lol, it's a butane iron.

AH, OK. I have a 30W iron. I was just wondering what everyone else uses.

Source · Jan 12, 2008

Random Murderer said:
Here ya go!

Now to get my hands on some dry ice and set some records!

So is all that just for the Core volt, or also the mem volt mod ?

EDIT: nvm I see the marker labeling M and C. So it must be for both.

DaMulta · Jan 12, 2008

Wile E said:
AH, OK. I have a 30W iron. I was just wondering what everyone else uses.

I have no idea, but this is it.

Deleted member 24505 · Jan 12, 2008

Mines a 75watt antex gascat 75p butane iron.

Nice mod random,would this work on a 3850? same points for the vgpu and vmem pots?

ace80 · Jan 12, 2008

On wednesday i should be getting myself the His 3870xt with stock speeds of 850/2350.
Anything i can do to find out why this card is different such as taking pics, measuring voltages, uploading the bios etc.

Source · Jan 12, 2008

Hmmmm odd thing. While waiting for RM and his mod I have been trying to flash the latest bios on my mobo. It came with 1.0 and it is now at 1.6. But 1.6 wouldn't boot neither would 1.5, 1.4, 1.3 not 1.2,

Only 1.1 would work out of the new bios. Very weird.

Gonna have to email tech support at MSI.

Source · Jan 12, 2008

ace80 said:
On wednesday i should be getting myself the His 3870xt with stock speeds of 850/2350.
Anything i can do to find out why this card is different such as taking pics, measuring voltages, uploading the bios etc.

What vendor puts one out at those speeds ?
Is it a stock fan?

Just curious, I know the stock fan can kick speeds of about 900

ace80 · Jan 12, 2008

His are the vendor, they use the iceq3 cooler just like on my x1800gto.
I'm geting it through ocuk but stock doesn't arrive till tuesday.

Random Murderer · Jan 12, 2008

Source said:
So is all that just for the Core volt, or also the mem volt mod ?

EDIT: nvm I see the marker labeling M and C. So it must be for both.

It is for both.

System Name	The Punisher
Processor	Intel Q6600 @ 3.6 1.382v
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula (Rampage Mod)
Cooling	Kandalf VD4000 LCS
Memory	4x1024 Ballistix Tracer DDR2 4-5-4-12 1066MHz 2.12v
Video Card(s)	Diamond HD3870X2 1GB
Storage	74G Raptor 740GD 8MB \| 500G WD5000AAKS 16MB
Display(s)	24" Westinghouse L2410NM & 19" Dell 1907FP
Case	Kandalf VD4000 LCS
Audio Device(s)	Supreme FXII 8.1 \| Audio FX Pro 5.1 Headset
Power Supply	Ultra X2 750W Modular PS
Software	Windows XP Pro x64 SP2

System Name	TOO MUCH RADIATOR! \| The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor	Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz \| Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard	Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme \| Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling	Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators \| Corsair H80i
Memory	4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 \| 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 \| PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage	Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others \| 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s)	Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS \| Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case	Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) \| Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s)	RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 \| HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply	LEPA G1600-MA 1600W \| Corsair CX750M 750W
Software	Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores	over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"

System Name	Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor	R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard	HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling	Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory	2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s)	RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage	Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s)	HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case	Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX860i
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard	Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software	W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores	It does boot up? I think.

System Name	TOO MUCH RADIATOR! \| The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor	Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz \| Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard	Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme \| Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling	Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators \| Corsair H80i
Memory	4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 \| 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 \| PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage	Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others \| 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s)	Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS \| Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case	Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) \| Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s)	RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 \| HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply	LEPA G1600-MA 1600W \| Corsair CX750M 750W
Software	Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores	over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"

System Name	Primary Gaming System
Processor	Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition
Motherboard	Gigabyte MA790FX-DQ6
Cooling	Swiftech H20-220 with Storm Waterblock and 2 DangerDen Maze5s
Memory	OCZ Platinum XTC DDR2-800
Video Card(s)	Diamond Viper Radeon HD3870 x 2
Storage	Segate Barracuda 500Gb x2 Segate Baracuda 320Gb x1
Display(s)	Dell FP2007 (Primary), Daytek 19" (Secondary)
Case	Lian Li PC-60 (heavily modified by me) The Dremel IS your friend.
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-FI Prelude
Power Supply	Corsair 620 Watt
Software	Windows XP Pro x64, Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit
Benchmark Scores	She's so new I haven't tweaker her yet for benchies.

Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE Deneb @ 3.7GHz
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P
Cooling	ZALMAN CNPS9700 CPU Heatsink
Memory	OCZ 4GB DDR3 1600 @ 7-7-7-24 1.85v
Video Card(s)	ATI Sapphire OC 7850 1200c/5800m @ 64c Full Load
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB + Western Digital 1TB External Drive
Display(s)	SAMSUNG ToC T240 24'' LCD
Case	Silverstone FT01-BW
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	ZALMAN ZM-750
Software	Win 7 x64 SP1

System Name	money pit..
Processor	Intel 9900K 4.8 at 1.152 core voltage minus 0.120 offset
Motherboard	Asus rog Strix Z370-F Gaming
Cooling	Dark Rock TF air cooler.. Stock vga air coolers with case side fans to help cooling..
Memory	32 gb corsair vengeance 3200
Video Card(s)	Palit Gaming Pro OC 2080TI
Storage	150 nvme boot drive partition.. 1T Sandisk sata.. 1T Transend sata.. 1T 970 evo nvme m 2..
Display(s)	27" Asus PG279Q ROG Swift 165Hrz Nvidia G-Sync, IPS.. 2560x1440..
Case	Gigabyte mid-tower.. cheap and nothing special..
Audio Device(s)	onboard sounds with stereo amp..
Power Supply	EVGA 850 watt..
Mouse	Logitech G700s
Keyboard	Logitech K270
Software	Win 10 pro..
Benchmark Scores	Firestike 29500.. timepsy 14000..

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

System Name	Work in progress
Processor	AMD 955---4Ghz
Motherboard	MSi GD70
Cooling	OcZ Phase/water
Memory	Crucial2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-16000
Video Card(s)	CrossfireX 2 X HD 4890 1GB OCed to 1000Mhz
Storage	SSD 64GB
Display(s)	Envision 24'' 1920x1200
Case	Using the desk ATM
Audio Device(s)	Sucky onboard for now :(
Power Supply	1000W TruePower Quattro

System Name	The Beast
Processor	Core i5 2500K
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling	Custom Water Cooling
Memory	2x2Gb Gskill Ripjaw X @ 2133mhz 9-11-9-28 1T
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD6950 2Gb no unlock :-(
Storage	3x500Gb 1x80Gb
Display(s)	LG W2486L 24" LED Backlit 1920x1080
Case	Hiper custom Osiris mid tower
Power Supply	Hi-power modular 900W
Software	Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit

How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

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