How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

The Haunted · Feb 20, 2008

asb2106 said:
thats impressive! It really took 1.66 volts to hit 1000mhz, wow!

Less than that... I can bench my card at 1026mhz and it "only" require 1.6 volt.
and at 1.7volt 1080mhz is the limit. Didn't tried higher voltages, don't want my card to end up at the same place as your's. :rolleyes:

Random Murderer · Feb 20, 2008

The Haunted said:
Less than that... I can bench my card at 1026mhz and it "only" require 1.6 volt.
and at 1.7volt 1080mhz is the limit. Didn't tried higher voltages, don't want my card to end up at the same place as your's.

roflcopter. his ended up dead because he screwed up with the multimeter and broke a component.

barr3l rid3r · Feb 20, 2008

The Haunted said:
Less than that... I can bench my card at 1026mhz and it "only" require 1.6 volt.
and at 1.7volt 1080mhz is the limit. Didn't tried higher voltages, don't want my card to end up at the same place as your's.

Is it watercooled? Mine is on air...

Random Murderer · Feb 20, 2008

barr3l rid3r said:
Is it watercooled? Mine is on air...

yes, haunted's is water cooled, it's in his specs.

Reset · Feb 21, 2008

Random Murderer said:
The BIOS editor does work, I have used it with great success.

RM, do you think the hard volt mod will work on my MSI card with 100k ohm VR? I said 500K ohm before. :banghead:

I tried the modded bios and it didn't seem to take the new voltage settings, so I am ready to hard mod.

EDIT: Never mind, I already hard modded it and it worked fine. Now on to testing what I can get out of this card. Im not sure what the maxed out volt should be on this one though since it started at 1.27v running FUR.

Poulpy · Feb 21, 2008

The Haunted said:
Less than that... I can bench my card at 1026mhz and it "only" require 1.6 volt.
and at 1.7volt 1080mhz is the limit. Didn't tried higher voltages, don't want my card to end up at the same place as your's.

I havent been able to bench the card at 1100 or even at 1050.
1.7volts 3D or 2D ?
At 1.7v i still get VC driver reset (unresponsive) and if i increase the voltage to try to stabilize it, then before i can reach a stable state the computer reboots like if the cards didnt like the higher voltage.
So it seems like 1000 is the max i can reach and that with less than 1.60volts.

Did you do anything else to be able to bench at 1080 ? I dont really care about temps as both my VCs are on watercooling and dont go over 50°C even on full load at 1Ghz.

Help me get past 1000Mhz and i will brake the 20k barrier at 3DMark. 19800 right now...

Random Murderer · Feb 21, 2008

This is sort of off-topic, but keep an eye out for my next guide:
How-to: Turn your Creative sound card into a studio-grade card on-the-cheap!
I've completed half the mod on my card as well as Cold Storm's, we're just waiting on some more parts before the mods are completed. At this stage, the sound has already changed dramatically, and it sounds much better, all for $1.20 USD plus soldering time.

Poulpy · Feb 21, 2008

Random Murderer said:
This is sort of off-topic, but keep an eye out for my next guide:
How-to: Turn your Creative sound card into a studio-grade card on-the-cheap!
I've completed half the mod on my card as well as Cold Storm's, we're just waiting on some more parts before the mods are completed. At this stage, the sound has already changed dramatically, and it sounds much better, all for $1.20 USD plus soldering time.

Hum interesting....which creative sound card are you talking about ?

Random Murderer · Feb 21, 2008

Poulpy said:
Hum interesting....which creative sound card are you talking about ?

Mine is an Audigy 2 ZS, Cold Storm's is an X-Fi Xtreme Music, but the mod should be the same for all X-Fi's and most Audigy's.

Deleted member 24505 · Feb 21, 2008

I'll be waiting on the details of this random,i will try this on my x-fi then.

Random Murderer · Feb 21, 2008

tigger69 said:
I'll be waiting on the details of this random,i will try this on my x-fi then.

Glad to hear you're already on board, lol.
I'm working on the images right now, expect the writeup today or tomorrow.

asb2106 · Feb 21, 2008

The Haunted said:
Less than that... I can bench my card at 1026mhz and it "only" require 1.6 volt.
and at 1.7volt 1080mhz is the limit. Didn't tried higher voltages, don't want my card to end up at the same place as your's.

hehe thanks! I should be getting my 3870 back in a week or so(hopefully!), and when I do Im going right for the hard mod. I have looked over the how-to probably 150 times now, and my goal is to hit 1000 - 1100 like you guys! Im thinking with water the temps wont get out of control, and Im excited to try and hit 15k!

Random Murderer · Feb 21, 2008

asb2106 said:
hehe thanks! I should be getting my 3870 back in a week or so(hopefully!), and when I do Im going right for the hard mod. I have looked over the how-to probably 150 times now, and my goal is to hit 1000 - 1100 like you guys! Im thinking with water the temps wont get out of control, and Im excited to try and hit 15k!

1000 shouldn't be a problem on water, 1100 is a bit iffy... When you reach a certain point, these cards need insane amounts of voltage to gain even a few more MHz.

Poulpy · Feb 21, 2008

Random Murderer said:
1000 shouldn't be a problem on water, 1100 is a bit iffy... When you reach a certain point, these cards need insane amounts of voltage to gain even a few more MHz.

I tried to give it even 2.0v+ but i get instant reboot when it starts the proxycon test in 3DMark2006.
So i think i am just gone stick to 1000Mhz as there i "only" need 1.55v and its stable.
I will try to squize a few more mhz from my CPU to break that 20k barrier...so close.....

Dr. Spankenstein · Feb 21, 2008

I too, am running into heat issues with my CF setup @ over 1GHz. But I am happy to report that I can reach those speeds with only 1.53V. The stock cooler can't keep up with voltages over that without introducing artifacts.

My problem stems from the spacing of the two cards on my board, they literally touch so the top card is "choked-out" by the constant stream of hot, slow-moving air.

I have rethought my mobo choices and will be going for an ASUS Maximus Formula purely to negate this issue.

BTW, I have been talking with the guy who programmed the Fur Benchmark he's been letting me beat test the new "FurMark" he is working on. It does work with CF but not as well as it could. CF @ 970MHz got me 3987 points. I'll keep you all updated...

asb2106 · Feb 21, 2008

Poulpy said:
I tried to give it even 2.0v+ but i get instant reboot when it starts the proxycon test in 3DMark2006.
So i think i am just gone stick to 1000Mhz as there i "only" need 1.55v and its stable.
I will try to squize a few more mhz from my CPU to break that 20k barrier...so close.....

Im thinking Ill be happy at the 1000mhz mark. And ~1.6 volts sounds doable! CANT WAIT TO GET MY 3870 back!!!!! :eek:

The Haunted · Feb 21, 2008

I don't think you can reach 1100 without changing some inductors and caps to higher rated ones (over current protection they say) :ohwell:

http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice
Way too hardcore for me, nearly killed my card soldering a simple wire...
I feel more comfortable with a hammer in my hand than a soldering iron :eek:

asb2106 · Feb 21, 2008

The Haunted said:
I don't think you can reach 1100 without changing some inductors and caps to higher rated ones (over current protection they say) http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice
Way too hardcore for me, nearly killed my card soldering a simple wire...
I feel more comfortable with a hammer in my hand than a soldering iron

that was one crazy read!

I would never get that crazy, if I maxed out at 950 even I would be happy, Ill do the hardmod(pretty good with a soldiering iron) (hopefully better than I was with a pencil

)And I will go from there

cdawall · Feb 21, 2008

The Haunted said:
I don't think you can reach 1100 without changing some inductors and caps to higher rated ones (over current protection they say) http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice
Way too hardcore for me, nearly killed my card soldering a simple wire...
I feel more comfortable with a hammer in my hand than a soldering iron

good god thats insane

sneekypeet · Feb 22, 2008

I will whore it here as well, Please look here and see if you can help the cause! :toast:

trovah · Feb 22, 2008

Cant you just remove the resistor and replace it with a 1kohm? Whats the size of the resistor? I could do this at work

Poulpy · Feb 22, 2008

The Haunted said:
I don't think you can reach 1100 without changing some inductors and caps to higher rated ones (over current protection they say) http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice
Way too hardcore for me, nearly killed my card soldering a simple wire...
I feel more comfortable with a hammer in my hand than a soldering iron

That would explain exactly why i get a reboot.
Mod doesnt look that hard to do, but it looks dam messy. Maybe i could try just removing the resistors to bypass the overvoltage protection without adding the extra capacitors. On the other hand it seems like passing 1Ghz for some reasons those cards need a loot of cooling.
Nope i think i will just stick to 1Ghz, already pretty dam good in my opinion and maybe i will try this mod one day when i am ready to change VCs.

Random Murderer · Feb 22, 2008

trovah said:
Cant you just remove the resistor and replace it with a 1kohm? Whats the size of the resistor? I could do this at work

Yes, that would work, but it's tougher than simply shading a resistor with a pencil.
If you can do that, by all means, go ahead, make sure you give us pics.

trovah · Feb 22, 2008

Random Murderer said:
Yes, that would work, but it's tougher than simply shading a resistor with a pencil.
If you can do that, by all means, go ahead, make sure you give us pics.

Well it does sound like more fun to replace it though

I might even go for: http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice

Random Murderer · Feb 22, 2008

trovah said:
Well it does sound like more fun to replace it though

I might even go for: http://forum.foxconnchannel.com/Tit...MARS&Name3=3870+@+1200MHz+Core+w+just+Dry+Ice

That's useless unless you can keep the temperatures crazily low.

System Name	Slave
Processor	Core i7 920 @4.2 Lapped
Motherboard	Biostar Tpower x58
Cooling	Ek Supreme + Backplate, Thermochill 120.3, mcp655
Memory	6Gb Gskill Black Pi ddr3 1600 8-7-7-19 1t
Video Card(s)	XFX R9 290 (flashed to 290x) + DTek Fuzion block @1100
Storage	Samsung 840 evo, WD Black
Display(s)	Asus PB278Q 1440p
Case	p180b
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Extreme P.O.S.
Power Supply	Enermax Revolution 85+ 950watt
Benchmark Scores	i7 920 c0 @ 4.6ghz

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	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	Souleater
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 4.55Ghz stable
Motherboard	Maximus Formula
Cooling	Vapochill LightSpeed + 12mm watercooling (mosfets, NB, VCs)
Memory	4Gb OCZ Flex XLC@1000Mhz
Video Card(s)	2 * HD 3870 @ 1Ghz GPU and stock Memory speed
Storage	Main: Raptor 10k new gen 74Go + WD 160Gb + Samsung 500Gb + External WD 320 Gb
Display(s)	Samsung 226BW
Case	Thermaltake XASER VI
Audio Device(s)	Sound FX II
Power Supply	Gigabyte Odin GT 800W USB Controlled
Software	Windows Vista Business Edition
Benchmark Scores	19785 3D Mark 2006

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	File Server
Processor	2600k
Motherboard	idk
Cooling	H110
Memory	20gb of something
Video Card(s)	onboard!
Storage	2x120 SSD, (5x8tb)+(3x4tb) = 35 TB Z1 pool
Display(s)	couple 4k 32s
Case	cooler master something i think
Audio Device(s)	does anyone bother with anything but onboard?
Power Supply	Whatever OCZ PC Powercooling became. 1200 modular setup
Mouse	MX Master 2x
Keyboard	G710
Software	FreeNAS

Processor	Intel C2D E8500 @ 4.25GHz (1.36V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6
Cooling	(Temporary) Tuniq Tower 120
Memory	2GB Transcend aXeram 1200+
Video Card(s)	HIS HD3870 CF Volt modded
Storage	3 Seagate 320Gb Barracuda in an Intel Matrix Raid array
Display(s)	Sony GDM-FW900 24" Widescreen CRT (a.k.a "The Shiznotch")
Case	Ultra Aluminus Full Tower
Audio Device(s)	onboard Intel HD audio
Power Supply	PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Software	XP MCE + Vista (HP) dual-boot

System Name	All the cores
Processor	2990WX
Motherboard	Asrock X399M
Cooling	CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s)	(2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage	2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s)	Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case	Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s)	Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse	Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard	Keychron K8
Software	W10P

System Name	EVA-01
Processor	Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard	Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling	ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory	PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage	Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s)	Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case	Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s)	Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply	be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse	ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard	ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software	Windows 11

How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

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