X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

ShadowFlare · Dec 1, 2005

Newegg's new stock of Sapphire X800 GTO2 cards are unlockable, though. I just ordered one last week and received it Monday. It is the full retail version, so you get 4 games to try out for an hour each and get to have the full versions of two of them.

I noticed the resisters and stuff like that are arranged the same, but are a different color than previous versions (yellow instead of black). When I put in the card, I immediately saved a copy of the bios and looked through it. They put a newer bios on the full retail version, dated 9/15/2005. Fuses data is the same as all other GTO2 cards. I modded the bios that was on it to 16 pipes and flashed the bios and it unlocked just fine. The one I received can overclock to at least 540/600 stable, but this one seems like it could go higher if I installed better cooling - if I test at higher speeds while the temps are lower rather than letting it gradually get to that speed, it doesn't get artifacts as soon.

Migons · Dec 1, 2005

More info about Connect3D GTO: in ATITool's Substrate_Fuses parameter:

0xFFFFF71F = bridge not cut
0xFFFFF71E = bridge cut

Like you all know, if the parameter ends with F, softmod should be possible.

sc00by71 · Dec 1, 2005

Another failed Connect3d x800 gto. Purchased from Newegg 11/23/2005. I am replacing it with a Sapphire x800 gto2 will see how it does when I get it next week.

RatusNatus · Dec 2, 2005

I'v just order my C3D last week... I DONT BELIVE THAT!!!

Looks like this is the END of C3Ds Mods!

DanishDevil · Dec 2, 2005

Dynamic said:
Another thing that i've noticed is that some of these GTO2 from Sapphire are coming with different Model Numbers, "SAPPHIRE 100130SR Radeon X800GTO2". I don't remember seeing SR, but i'm guessing this will still work since some of you dudes have bought recently from Newegg.com and unlocked successfully right? This is it right here....for $240.

Note:Yeah, it used to have an "L" instead of the SR. Weird?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102634

I wish Sapphire had a more . . . user-friendly website (tho I'm no noob . . . it's just a pain in the ass to find anything on that site). Here's what I found:

This is the page with all Sapphire's X800GTO series cards, including our favorite, the X800GTO2.

RADEON X800 GTO
400MHz Engine Clock
Memory Clock Speeds of 490MHz (256MB version),350MHz (128MB version)
FireBlade Edition offers possible memory clock speeds north of 560MHz (depending on system conditions)
256-bit memory interface
Available in 256MB or 128MB models
PCI Express / AGP (Standard 256MB X800 GTO)
VGA + TV out + DVI
2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz (VGA)
1024 x 768 (TV out)

This "FireBlade" edition would be interesting to obtain. It says that it is capable of high clock speeds, but probably no mod. If anyone would be willing to nab a "FireBlade" edition and do some comparisons, that would be great! I would if I was on the Sapphire review team.

As is seen here, there are three different X800GTO cards. The one on the left is the one we want.

No part numbers here! Can we get confirmation from someone who got the Sapphire X800GTO2 (100130SR) succesfully modded?

satans_pet_penguin said:
Am i right in thinking the C3D GTO unlocked to 16 pipes is identical to the x800XL? I searched for the XL speeds and they appear the same as the GTO (400/490) the only difference being pipes. I admit it would be nice to go higher and maybe get the X800XL PE speeds (520/560) if my card is able to get that high or near (and i will lower the max speeds by about 10% or so just to be safer) and only run those speeds in-game (usually 2 hours at a time is the max im on a game) then use stock speeds when on my desktop, do you think that would atleast give me a years use out of it?

I am running my card at 520x580EMT 24/7. This card will last me about 2-3 years at least. OCing shortens the life of your card, but ATi products are so well built, that if you take care of them (especially heat-wise) they will last for over 5 years stock.

ShadowFlare said:
Newegg's new stock of Sapphire X800 GTO2 cards are unlockable, though. I just ordered one last week and received it Monday. It is the full retail version, so you get 4 games to try out for an hour each and get to have the full versions of two of them.

I noticed the resisters and stuff like that are arranged the same, but are a different color than previous versions (yellow instead of black). When I put in the card, I immediately saved a copy of the bios and looked through it. They put a newer bios on the full retail version, dated 9/15/2005. Fuses data is the same as all other GTO2 cards. I modded the bios that was on it to 16 pipes and flashed the bios and it unlocked just fine. The one I received can overclock to at least 540/600 stable, but this one seems like it could go higher if I installed better cooling - if I test at higher speeds while the temps are lower rather than letting it gradually get to that speed, it doesn't get artifacts as soon.

Could we possible get a picture of the board? I would also LOVE a copy of the BIOS. I just modded my own BIOS for my card (Memory Timings and Frequencies, etc.)

I'd like to do a comparison of Wizzard's BIOS and the one you are using. Maybe Wizzard could mod the new BIOS to 16 pipes and send me a copy?

omega_prime · Dec 2, 2005

DanishDevil said:
I am running my card at 520x580EMT 24/7. This card will last me about 2-3 years at least. OCing shortens the life of your card, but ATi products are so well built, that if you take care of them (especially heat-wise) they will last for over 5 years stock.

i run my card at stock clock as long as i don't play. i only o/c them with atitool, when i start a game.

Migons · Dec 2, 2005

A little corrective:

DIE_FUSES = ends with F if pipes are moddable, E if not moddable
SUBSTRATE_FUSES = ends with F if bridges not cut, E if cut

Both need to end with F to successful mod. I'm not 100% sure if hardmod is possible, when DIE_FUSES ends with F but SUBSTRATE_FUSES end with E... If DIE_FUSES ends with E, the modding won't work in anyway.

That's how I've understood it.

|EDIT| At great per centage, the hardmod is not possible - even if DIE_FUSES would end with F.

|EDIT 2| Sorry, in DIE_FUSES it's the fourth (4.) letter from right that needs to be F. Check the image:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/127/images/fuses.gif

HousERaT · Dec 2, 2005

satans_pet_penguin said:
Am i right in thinking the C3D GTO unlocked to 16 pipes is identical to the x800XL? I searched for the XL speeds and they appear the same as the GTO (400/490) the only difference being pipes. I admit it would be nice to go higher and maybe get the X800XL PE speeds (520/560) if my card is able to get that high or near (and i will lower the max speeds by about 10% or so just to be safer) and only run those speeds in-game (usually 2 hours at a time is the max im on a game) then use stock speeds when on my desktop, do you think that would atleast give me a years use out of it?

Some of the Connect3D cards come with the R430 core which is used on the X800XL however the flashable cards seem to use the R423 core which is used for X800XT cards. I've seen reports of flashed C3D cards clocking up to 580 on the core and XL cards couldn't do that in their wildest dreams.

ShadowFlare · Dec 2, 2005

DanishDevil said:
No part numbers here! Can we get confirmation from someone who got the Sapphire X800GTO2 (100130SR) succesfully modded?

The one that I posted about above is exactly that one; the one on Newegg.com right now is moddable. BTW, the price has gone up a little bit since I bought it a week and a half ago.

Could we possible get a picture of the board? I would also LOVE a copy of the BIOS. I just modded my own BIOS for my card (Memory Timings and Frequencies, etc.)

I'd like to do a comparison of Wizzard's BIOS and the one you are using. Maybe Wizzard could mod the new BIOS to 16 pipes and send me a copy?

OK, I'll take a picture of it with my digital camera while I'm taking pictures of the two I'm selling. I'll probably have the pictures up either later today or tomorrow. The one I'm keeping (the full retail one) is clearly superior to the other ones I have. It's max stable gpu overclock is about 20 to possibly 40 MHz higher than the other two (540 MHz, likely 560 or higher with better cooling).

I'll also post the bios, possibly sooner than the pictures. BTW, neither of the two bioses I have are exactly the same as the one W1zzard posted (one from OEM, one from full retail).

This "FireBlade" edition would be interesting to obtain. It says that it is capable of high clock speeds, but probably no mod. If anyone would be willing to nab a "FireBlade" edition and do some comparisons, that would be great! I would if I was on the Sapphire review team.

I only saw it mention something about the memory clocks. The GTO2 is already basically like a type of "FireBlade" edition, since like the FireBlade card, it is also guaranteed to have the 1.6 ns memory chips and has better cooling for the gpu than the standard GTO (although probably not as good as the FireBlade edition).

DanishDevil · Dec 2, 2005

That's what I though. So for those of you not following, it goes:

X800GTO
X800GTO FireBlade Edition
X800GTO2 Limited Edition

In order from worst to best.

Looking forward to the pics and BIOS.

mascaras · Dec 2, 2005

heres in portugal there are more GTO2 in the shops and less conect3d GTO , i find at least 4 shops with saphire GTO2 in stock -- 250€ and 255€ .

blsnelling · Dec 3, 2005

FINALLY!! I first tried a Sapphire X800GTO2 which unlocked but the core would only do 420. I then tried a X850 Pro VIVO which wouldn't unlock. I finally bought the el-cheapo Connect3D X800 and BINGO. It unlocked and does 567/567. 3DMark05 score is a sweet 6757. It wasn't my PS as some suggested. I'm a happy man. Who says you get what you pay for. Not this time. Go with the C3D and be done with it! I bought mine from NewEgg and used the BIOS in the article and the latest driver from ATI. BTW, this is on stock cooling with the fan at 100%. I have a ATI Silencer 5 I'm fixing to slap on. We'll see how that affects things.

blsnelling · Dec 3, 2005

The ATI Silenser's on and it's only been 30 minutes since my last post. Max temp with the stock cooler was 69C. I'm now setting at 52C. That's an insane difference. I'll retest for max stable OC and check back.

DanishDevil · Dec 3, 2005

Cool. Glad it finally worked out for ya!

VTwedge · Dec 3, 2005

geez i hate it when people slug the c3gto. whoput the fire blade above the gto as better? guys wake up i moded my gto when this article had like wot 9 pages long? and it worked as for the whose better thats completely objective! clock for clock the r423 is BETTER than the r480 u have on the saphire gto2 im running a sempron 3100 1.8 overclocked to 2.25ghz and my c3gto unlocked at 520/520 at stock cooling and i get 6166 at 3dmark 05. now someone get an athlon 3200 at 2.2 put their gto2 at 520/520 run the benchmark and come back at post their scores, currently waiting for my arctic cooling silencer 5 to overclock more..any takers on the bet that at the same frequency the gto2 is gonna score lower?when all else is the same?

nspot · Dec 3, 2005

Hi. I purchased my card, a C3D X800 GTO from Monarch Computer the first week of November. After running ATI tool, I get the following data:

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES = 0XEFF7FFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES = 0XFFFFFF9F
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES = 0X860
GB_PIPE_SELECT = 0X3FE4

After running the modded 16 pipe flash, the only thing that changed was that the rom fuses was 861. I read in earlier pages of this thread that as long as the first two fuses matched (F), then the mod would work? Does anyone have an explanation for my situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Kcomp · Dec 3, 2005

Hello nspot,
Have you tried uninstalling then reinstalling your video card drivers?

SorANET · Dec 3, 2005

I use Connect3D X800GTO. It can mod to 16pp.

But Anyone know. Can I flash it to X850 XT PE? Because My card work correctly at X850 XT PE speed (540/590) on Water Cooling.

Thank you.

skane · Dec 3, 2005

ShadowFlare said:
Newegg's new stock of Sapphire X800 GTO2 cards are unlockable, though. I just ordered one last week and received it Monday. ...

I noticed the resisters and stuff like that are arranged the same, but are a different color than previous versions (yellow instead of black). When I put in the card, I immediately saved a copy of the bios and looked through it. They put a newer bios on the full retail version, dated 9/15/2005. Fuses data is the same as all other GTO2 cards. I modded the bios that was on it to 16 pipes and flashed the bios and it unlocked just fine.

Hi, I just got a retail GTO2 from NewEgg on 11/30. How did you review and mod the bios? Did you do the 3-step save, flash to x850xt pe w/-newbios, and flash over orig w/out -newbios, or actually mod a copy of the stock bios? I've been reading through this thread and would prefer having a modded bios using the original bios from my card as a base, since it appears there are different versions of these BIOS for the card. I want to avoid having anything back-leveled using an earlier modded GTO2 bios, or having residue from a X850XT PE flash hanging around in the BIOS.

l33t_c0w · Dec 3, 2005

Migons said:
A little corrective:

DIE_FUSES = ends with F if pipes are moddable, E if not moddable
SUBSTRATE_FUSES = ends with F if bridges not cut, E if cut

Both need to end with F to successful mod. I'm not 100% sure if hardmod is possible, when DIE_FUSES ends with F but SUBSTRATE_FUSES end with E... If DIE_FUSES ends with E, the modding won't work in anyway.

That's how I've understood it.

|EDIT| At great per centage, the hardmod is not possible - even if DIE_FUSES would end with F.

Interesting. Could anything bad happen from bridging the cut? (Assuming, of course, that it's done correctly

)

Also, it seems like the newer gto2 ending with 'SR' comes with two games, and the one ending in 'L' doesn't. Perhaps that's the only difference?

edit: I was unable to copy my bios before flashing, as i ran flashrom from a cd. Now I'm wondering if I should have. Are all the Connect3D GTO bios's the same? (I do have the one from the article)

Migons · Dec 3, 2005

nspot said:
Hi. I purchased my card, a C3D X800 GTO from Monarch Computer the first week of November. After running ATI tool, I get the following data:

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES = 0XEFF7FFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES = 0XFFFFFF9F
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES = 0X860
GB_PIPE_SELECT = 0X3FE4

After running the modded 16 pipe flash, the only thing that changed was that the rom fuses was 861. I read in earlier pages of this thread that as long as the first two fuses matched (F), then the mod would work? Does anyone have an explanation for my situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Oh, well, the X800GTO2 to XT PE article says 0xEFF7FFFF need to be F (bold letter), and that should be correct. And last letter from SUBSTRATE_FUSES needs to be F. And you have both F, so did something go wrong in flashing (wrong bios)?

Migons · Dec 3, 2005

l33t_c0w said:
Interesting. Could anything bad happen from bridging the cut? (Assuming, of course, that it's done correctly )

Propably not, I've heard bridging should restore the resistance values, but it doesn't help in unlocking the pipes ('cause they're locked inside the core).

dkdent · Dec 3, 2005

Hi you all,

i got a sapphire x800gto² graphics card and tried to do the flash, but after entering

'flashrom -p 0 newbios.bin' (the renammed file from the guide)

im getting a flashing red errormessage, that the SSIDs doesn't match
original SSID: 0x1600
new bios SSID: 0x0302

can anybody tell me what i have to do to solve my lil prob??

thx a lot,

dk

Kcomp · Dec 3, 2005

I think you need the -f switch in there too i.e. flashrom -p -f 0 newbios.bin

You might be better off getting 'Locutus12's' iso from here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17481933 which automates the whole process and works very well.

Ombracol · Dec 3, 2005

dkdent said:
Hi you all,

i got a sapphire x800gto² graphics card and tried to do the flash, but after entering

'flashrom -p 0 newbios.bin' (the renammed file from the guide)

im getting a flashing red errormessage, that the SSIDs doesn't match
original SSID: 0x1600
new bios SSID: 0x0302

can anybody tell me what i have to do to solve my lil prob??

thx a lot,

dk

You have to force flash flashrom -f -p 0 newbios.bin
I'm not trying to be rude but when you dealing with sensitive stuff like this you really need to read instructions thruly twice if you have to you dont want to loose your hardware cause you skipped thru some sentences...

Processor	Athlon 64 Venice 3200+ 2.0 GHz, max 2.6 GHz with Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu
Motherboard	EpoX 9NPA+Ultra nForce4 Ultra with Zalman ZM-NB47J
Cooling	All Zalman heatsinks (CNPS7000B-AlCu, ZM-NB47J, VF700-Cu)
Memory	1 GB (2x512 MB) DDR400 Corsair XMS C2 series, max 233 MHz @ 2-3-2-9 1T
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2 256 MB PCIe max 540/600, modded to 16 pipes
Storage	Seagate 80GB SATA, Maxtor 160GB PATA, Maxtor 200GB PATA
Display(s)	Dell 17" Trinitron CRT
Case	Lian Li PC-60B Plus
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Power Supply	Enermax Noisetaker EG495AX-VE, 485 watts, active PFC
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Storage	Seagate 7200.7 160GB + 80GB SATA 8MB
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Case	Antec Performance PlusView1000AMG
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Software	Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores	Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps \| Razer Deathadder Black

Processor	Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer
Motherboard	Asus A8V Deluxe Rev. 2.00
Cooling	Zalman CNPS7700-Cu
Memory	2x 512MB A-Data Vitesta DDR500
Video Card(s)	Club 3D GeForce 6200 128MB
Storage	Seagate 7200.7 160GB + 80GB SATA 8MB
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Case	Antec Performance PlusView1000AMG
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
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X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

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