Radeon X800 Non-Pro/X800 XL/X850 Voltmods

[VeDz]

^bump^

please help out

 

[infrared]

Yeah, 2.3v on the memory, when it's not being cooled is a little high, i'd drop back to 2.2v until you get a better cooler that cools the memory.

The gpu overclock is typical of an R430 core, even when you feed them more voltage, you don't gain a lot. I found i gained the most from keeping it cooler rather than increasing the voltage.

The 3dmark score could be a fluke, did you have any other programs running in the background?

 

[VeDz]

ah i c. i will try the 3dmark05 again.

but gettin around a 7mhz increase for increasing it to 1.53 sucks. I am just gonna put it back to normal again.

also ill put the vdd back to 2.2V but what about the VDDQ?

and if i do the VID Mod on top of all these things will I get atleast 30 more mhz?

one last thing. when I start my comp and the gpu temp is below 30 and takes a while for it to come, i can crank it up to 480core and 600 mem but as soon as it goes over 70 which is like 15 secs after the OC i get artifacts but for the 15 secs there were no artifacts even when the temp was 69. So i am guessing its all because of the cooling.

Would you mind recommending me a good air cooler for the card preferbly in the Canada region.

thanks

 

[regan1985]

can any1 tell me if the pencil mod will work on my x850xt pci, as i have tried to mod the gpu and didnt work and i have been told the only mod that will work is a solder mod?? is this true?

 

[Urlyin]

unless you have the resistor the pencil mod does not work...

 

[regan1985]

so i have to solder then?? is it a doable mod for some1 who hasnt got much soldering experience

 

[Urlyin]

so i have to solder then?? is it a doable mod for some1 who hasnt got much soldering experience

Try to practice an old mobo or vid card till you get the confidence to try it on your x800... there are soldering how-to's out there, maybe check one of those out, but until you get in some trial and error, I wouldn't attempt it ...

 

[UnexplodedCow]

I've been looking around on the forums, but can't find any info on how to mod my card. It's a blue Sapphire X800GTO AGP, R480 core, 256MB 1.6ns mem with a rialto bridge. thing is, none of the caps or resistors on the board are numbered, and I've been looking. at best, the polarity sign for the caps is present, and component layout shapes, but nothing else. I did manage to find my VDD and VDDQ thought, both being at 1.99 volts, which is a little low from what I've been reading, which would explain why my card won't do beyond 550 OC, and other times it might do 590 for a month, then croak at random. The core is dang stable, pushing 570 no problem. I run it @ 560 just to be somewhat nice. I'm not really interested in pushing the core more, but I was hoping to get the ram speed up....anyone have info on modding my kind of card?

 

[Muk]

Did this mod on my x800xl, great guide! Previously i could get 425/530 stable. Upped VGPU to 1.43 with VID mod (.3 overvolt) but didnt see much increase, about 5 mhz. Upped it to 1.58 with VID mod (using just a pencil, no conductive paint needed) and it went to about 450 stable. Works at 460 in some games. I am using the stock cooler but it is a pretty good copper and 2 heatpipe cooler. This is on the AGP version. Under 70 load.

The mem I was unable to raise above 2.06 using pencil mods. No matter how much pencil I put on, couldnt get the resistance lower than about 98 ohms. This didnt seem to help the mem OC. Upped VDDQ to the recommended 2.17. Didnt seem to help the OC by itself.

I am curious if lowering voltage, and thus temperatures, would help me OC better. I read about someone in here lowering core voltage, having difficulties doing so, but eventually getting it working. If you are still here, would you mind elaborating on how you were able to undervolt? I assume you can only undervolt the core?

 

[UnexplodedCow]

Well, lowering the voltage does lower temps due to less current leakage, but amperage needs climb. After so many amps the power controller on the card will go into lockdown, as far as I've learned, freezing the card, giving the checkerboard pattern on the screen. Volt modding, in my understanding, somewhat tweaks the voltage controller to provide more voltage, using less amperage, so it won't go into lockdown as quickly. As we all know voltage+amperage= wattage. While lowering voltage may lower temps, it won't help with overclocking. The best bet to lower heat is to just put on a good heatsink.

 

[ny_driver]

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

WOW,...nice mod!!! I wish I knew what I needed to do my card exactly like you did. I'm afraid I do not know how to figure the necessary things out( I'd be really happy if you would help me...looks like you really know what you are doing.

 

[UnexplodedCow]

Aye, that's a nice volt mod, man.

 

[Casheti]

Very nice indeed.

 

[ny_driver]

I guess I got it figured out on my own, but it would be a waste of time with my current MOBO, CPU, and PSU. I'll get back to this project in a few weeks when I can afford to replace the aforementioned components.


Happy New Year everyone