How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

[ace80]

What's going on here!?! You folks are making me fear logging-in for catching this motherboard-killing disease!



My attempts at pencil-mod got me 1.4V max which got me 879HMz top gaming stable speed and that was with stock cooler @ 100% fan speed. "The Haunted" got some wicked (do the kids still use that word?) voltage with this pencil-mod.

It depends on the type/softness of the pencil lead, your technique and your PATIENCE!

Been having the problem for a couple of months now, its been posted in the asus forums quite a bit regarding this mobo, i've rma'd it twice but it works when they get it!

I'll try the pencil mod when i get back from work tommorrow, as i can find no damn pencils just biro's coming out of my ears.
A quick oc sesson just now netted me 877mhz stable through 3d06 90% fan speed never broke more than 50°c

 

[barr3l rid3r]

i looked at your bios ace.. its version 075 but its only 61 k in size.. the ones without the 860 problem are all 64 k in size.. it seems u have the early one even thow the version is higher..

i use winflash.. many times over.. but i recon u might get the sub system mismatch message.. error..

your bio has many differences compared to the other ones.. similar to the gecube bios..

odd they havnt gone for the bigger 64 k bios with such a late release card..

the problem u have is the different none stock cooler requires different fan speeds setting and such..

trog

I've got a Gigabyte 3870 w/ DDR3 and it comes w/ ver 70 64k bios and it's locked I've changed for Sapphire 3850 ver 71 61k bios and now it's unlocked (895Mhz)


So u are wrong...

 

[sneekypeet]

I've got a Gigabyte 3870 w/ DDR3 and it comes w/ ver 70 64k bios and it's locked I've changed for Sapphire 3850 ver 71 61k bios and now it's unlocked (895Mhz)


So u are wrong...

So you took a HD3850 bios and put it on a HD3870 GDDR3???????

I dont think its trog that is wrong here...also he is describing issues with the HD3870 GDDR4

 

[trog100]

I've got a Gigabyte 3870 w/ DDR3 and it comes w/ ver 70 64k bios and it's locked I've changed for Sapphire 3850 ver 71 61k bios and now it's unlocked (895Mhz)


So u are wrong...

i occasionally am..

trog

 

[sneekypeet]

i occasionally am..

trog

Wasnt your comment directed to a guy (ACE) with a HD3870 GDDR4 version?....also why is this kid saying you are wrong when he is on a different type of card ,trog?

 

[trog100]

Wasnt your comment directed to a guy (ACE) with a HD3870 GDDR4 version?....also why is this kid saying you are wrong when he is on a different type of card ,trog?

its in his nature probably.. he he

but most of my observations (3870) were arrived at some time ago.. back then there were only the two bios.. the 67 (61k) which was locked and the 71 (64k) which wasnt..

several weeks have past and things are different.. he seems to be saying he has flashed a 3870 ddr3 card with 3850 bios.. interesting if he has.. ??

trog

 

[barr3l rid3r]

its in his nature probably.. he he

but most of my observations (3870) were arrived at some time ago.. back then there were only the two bios.. the 67 (61k) which was locked and the 71 (64k) which wasnt..

several weeks have past and things are different.. he seems to be saying he has flashed a 3870 ddr3 card with 3850 bios.. interesting if he has.. ??

trog

Actually I was just posting an observation cause the size wasn't related w/ the fact of unlocked or not bios.

I just use 3850 bios in a 3870 DDR3 cause I couldn't find any other 3870 w/ Qimonda DDR3 and it worked... @ 900/2100Mhz now...

I'm not a kid, I'm 26 Yo and has been the first in orb w/ 9500Pro for a quite long time, since that I've been overclocking Radeons using Air cooled bizarre solutions.

 

[trog100]

yes it seems all sorts of variations on a theme are appearing.. i never knew there was such a thing as a dd3 3870 card.. lets say my observations used to be true when the cards first came out.. now six weeks down the line with many more cards out there things have changed.. i have lost touch with current changes and available cards..

trog

 

[ace80]

I'm back, damn this pc.
My pc not posting issues seem to have gone and were replaced by some other niggling probs.
And hows this for a close shave, reflashed vid card bios other night, restarted got to windows POWER CUT!!

Anyway with my down time i've performed the pencil mod and hooked up my tumble dryer hoses for cooling, so far i'm at 1.41v (will oc in a bit)
I'm using the 830/1200 bios fan @ 95% idle temps 26°c, loaded through atitool after 5 mins jumps between 36-41°c.

 

[Lillebror]

Anyone know whats the best air cooler for the 3870 is? cause ive ben looking around, and i can't find any information

 

[barr3l rid3r]

@925/2150Mhz No vgpu yet

 

[ghost101]

Ive now hit the 857.25 limit. Is there an unlocked BIOS out there which works with powercolor hd3850 256mb cards?

Thanks.

 

[Random Murderer]

Ive now hit the 857.25 limit. Is there an unlocked BIOS out there which works with powercolor hs3850 256mb cards?

Thanks.

not that i know of, but i don't own a 3850.

 

[Source]

Guys whats the best bios for the HD3870 unlocked and with the fanfix ? Sorry I havent posted a while or had time to look, been working on my new mobo and memory compatibility issues. Please post a link please please please....

 

[Random Murderer]

Guys whats the best bios for the HD3870 unlocked and with the fanfix ? Sorry I havent posted a while or had time to look, been working on my new mobo and memory compatibility issues. Please post a link please please please....

it really depends on the card. you want what you want, nobody else knows. my advice is to grab the fanfix bios and modify it yourself to the clocks you want.

 

[Reset]

I was wondering if anybody can confirm whether the volt mod points are the same for the MSI RX3870-T2D512E-OC as my Sapphire HD 3870. The MSI card comes with the clocks at 800x1126 and the GPU reads 1.27v running Fur. So I am a little worried it is not the same as my Sapphire that has the volt mod and ran stock GPU at 1.35v. The MSI hardware looks pretty much the same though. Anybody know whether it is the same or not?

 

[Random Murderer]

I was wondering if anybody can confirm whether the volt mod points are the same for the MSI RX3870-T2D512E-OC as my Sapphire HD 3870. The MSI card comes with the clocks at 800x1126 and the GPU reads 1.27v running Fur. So I am a little worried it is not the same as my Sapphire that has the volt mod and ran stock GPU at 1.35v. The MSI hardware looks pretty much the same though. Anybody know whether it is the same or not?

any chance you could get a high res pic of the back of the card?
also, try measuring the resistance of R1222.

 

[Reset]

any chance you could get a high res pic of the back of the card?
also, try measuring the resistance of R1222.

The resistance of R1222 was 2.36K ohm.

This is the best pix I could make with my old camera.
RX3870-T2D512E OC

 

[Random Murderer]

The resistance of R1222 was 2.36K ohm.

This is the best pix I could make with my old camera.
RX3870-T2D512E OC

Thank you. It looks like a reference pcb, and judging by the increased resistance of R1222, 1.27v sounds about right. Either MSI screwed up R1222 or you have a cherrypicked core that requires less voltage.

 

[Reset]

Thank you. It looks like a reference pcb, and judging by the increased resistance of R1222, 1.27v sounds about right. Either MSI screwed up R1222 or you have a cherrypicked core that requires less voltage.

So do you think this board will use the same volt mod points and a 500K ohm VR as my Sapphire? Or would I need something totally different? I got this MSI card at Newegg for $230 open box. All I could see it was missing was the Crossfire ribbon. I had two of those anyway.

Also, what do your mean by Reference circuit board?

 

[Wile E]

So do you think this board will use the same volt mod points and a 500K ohm VR as my Sapphire? Or would I need something totally different? I got this MSI card at Newegg for $230 open box. All I could see it was missing was the Crossfire ribbon. I had two of those anyway.

Also, what do your mean by Reference circuit board?

It uses the ATI designed circuit board, therefore it's called a "reference board". Some manufacturers don't use the ATI design, and stick the gpu on a board of their own design.

By having a reference board, the mod should be the same.

 

[barr3l rid3r]

Ok I've found a solution for Gigabyte HD3870 512MB DDR3 Qimonda.... System setup

VGA Gigabyte HD3870 512MB DDR3 Ultra-Durable vGPU + CoolerMod AiR
Default 780/1900Mhz @ 1000/2150Mhz
Intel 975xbx BadAxe 417Mhz fsb
Core2 Duo 6600 @ 3.8GHz Single
2x 2GB (4GB) Corsair 667Mhz @ 700Mhz

1 - Original Ver 70 locked bios 1.22V @ 1.34v 3D

maxed out at @859/2100Mhz (11800 Marks 3D06)

2 - Used a Sapphire 3850 512MB DDR3 Qimonda Bios
Ver 71 Unlocked Bios 1.22V ( http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/2347/Sapphire.HD3850.512.071108.html )

+ Editor to set 1.32V 3D And now I got 1.38V in Multimeter
@895/2100Mhz (12200 Marks 3D06)
( http://www.computerbase.de/download...n/ati/computerbase_ati_bios-editor/?url=17592 )

Original

Moded

3 - @ 1000Mhz/2150Mhz - 1.66v Unlocked Sapphire Bios - (13261 Marks 3D06)
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=5333029

UPDATED

 

[asb2106]

UPDATED

thats impressive! It really took 1.66 volts to hit 1000mhz, wow!

 

[Reset]

It uses the ATI designed circuit board, therefore it's called a "reference board". Some manufacturers don't use the ATI design, and stick the gpu on a board of their own design.

By having a reference board, the mod should be the same.

My original bios rom had a setting of 1.3v high power clocks. I am wondering if I should bump that up to 1.327v with Computer Base ATI bios editor v0.91 beta? I don't know if this editor works for sure, do you?

If this editor works then I should try this before I try a hard volt mod. I am a little worried about the hard volt mod since the board is a little different than my Sapphire.

My cards are water cooled BTW.

Original MSI RX3870 bios -- this bios also runs the fans much faster than the Sapphire did, so it may be a good bios to modify:

 

[Random Murderer]

My original bios rom had a setting of 1.3v high power clocks. I am wondering if I should bump that up to 1.327v with Computer Base ATI bios editor v0.91 beta? I don't know if this editor works for sure, do you?

If this editor works then I should try this before I try a hard volt mod. I am a little worried about the hard volt mod since the board is a little different than my Sapphire.

My cards are water cooled BTW.

Original MSI RX3870 bios -- this bios also runs the fans much faster than the Sapphire did, so it may be a good bios to modify:

The BIOS editor does work, I have used it with great success.