- Oct 8, 2004
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Originally posted by: Lordicus
I have the Leadtek 6800nu.
I tried RivaTuner, and like Megatomic, my items were hardware masked. Read something briefly about risk of damage, so I stopped right there.
If anyone will take the time to clarify the severity of the risk I'be be interested in knowing.
Originally posted by: stelleg151
I am having similar dilemma, except wondering about waiting for nforce4 and going 6600gt PCIe, or getting 939 AGP now and getting 6800nu. An OC'ed 6600gt does very well against a 6800nu, and with allll that upgradability a big part of my brain tells me to wait for NForce4, as does my wallet that says 190 is a lot cheaper than 270. (<-- Pricewatch prices)
Originally posted by: stelleg151
I am having similar dilemma, except wondering about waiting for nforce4 and going 6600gt PCIe, or getting 939 AGP now and getting 6800nu. An OC'ed 6600gt does very well against a 6800nu, and with allll that upgradability a big part of my brain tells me to wait for NForce4, as does my wallet that says 190 is a lot cheaper than 270. (<-- Pricewatch prices)
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Lordicus
I have the Leadtek 6800nu.
I tried RivaTuner, and like Megatomic, my items were hardware masked. Read something briefly about risk of damage, so I stopped right there.
If anyone will take the time to clarify the severity of the risk I'be be interested in knowing.
AFAIK, almost all of them are hardware masked? Nonetheless, my hardware masked 6800NU runs 16/6, 350/800 just fine.
Originally posted by: SniperWulf
Originally posted by: Rollo
Originally posted by: Lordicus
I have the Leadtek 6800nu.
I tried RivaTuner, and like Megatomic, my items were hardware masked. Read something briefly about risk of damage, so I stopped right there.
If anyone will take the time to clarify the severity of the risk I'be be interested in knowing.
AFAIK, almost all of them are hardware masked? Nonetheless, my hardware masked 6800NU runs 16/6, 350/800 just fine.
How did you get around the mask Rollo?? I couldn't figure out how to get mine to work
1) Run RivaTuner and look at the main tab. You?ll see your current graphic processors configuration and amount of active pixel / vertex units in device status string, for example: NV40 (A1,12x1,5vp).
2) Click ?Customize? button located at the right of device status string to activate device customization toolbar.
3) Click ?Graphics subsystem diagnostic report? button in device customization toolbar to activate RivaTuner?s diagnostic module.
4) Scroll down ?Report categories? list and tick ?NVIDIA VGA BIOS information? report category.
5) Click ?Capture report? button in the ?Report preview? window to refresh report.
6) Scroll down ?Report preview? window and find ?NVIDIA VGA BIOS information? manually or simply double click ?NVIDIA VGA BIOS information? category name in the ?Report categories? list to automatically navigate to ?NVIDIA VGA BIOS information? in the ?Report preview?.
7) Look at line displaying ?GPU units mask?. If you see 16x1,6vp there, it means that VGA BIOS allow activating all non-hardware masked GPU pixel/vertex units, so your configuration is determined by chip capabilities and you may forget about softmodding because your chips is 100% not softmoddable. If you see something different there (for example, 12x1,5vp) ? you have chances to unlock some units. Take a note that only ?GPU units mask? is important for board softmoddabbility detection. So don?t mix it with the current GPU configuration displayed in ?Graphics core? line in ?NVIDIA specific display adapter information? report category.
8) Click ?Low-level system settings? button in device customization toolbar to activate ?Low-level system tweaks? panel.
9) Select ?NVStrap driver? tab.
10) Press ?Install? button if you never installed the driver before. If you already have it installed after the previous version of RivaTuner, ensure that you have pressed ?Reinstall? button to update the driver. This step is very important!
11) Select ?Custom? in the ?Active pixel/vertex units configuration? list to activate the ?Customize? button, then click it to activate ?Custom graphics processor configuration? dialog.
12) Tick all disabled pixel and vertex units and click ?OK?.
13) Reboot system when prompted.
14) Start RivaTuner and look again at your current graphics processor configuration and amount of active pixel / vertex units in device status string. If you see no changes there ?the units you tried to unlock are masked at hardware level, so you may uninstall NVStrap and forget about softmodding. Otherwise, enjoy free performance boost.
Important note for users / display adapter sellers / reviewers testing many NV4x based boards in succession: If you?re experimenting with NV40 softmodding, please ensure that you?ve uninstalled NVStrap or set ?Active pixel/vertex pipelines? to ?determined by VGA BIOS? before replacing an adapter with new one. Otherwise you?ll see the pixel/vertex units configuration set by NVStrap instead of hardware default configuration. If you forgot to do it before installing new adapter ? simply uninstall NVStrap or click ?Reset to default? button in the ?Custom graphics processor configuration? dialog then reboot the PC to see hardware default configuration for new display adapter.
Originally posted by: nitromullet
Originally posted by: stelleg151
I am having similar dilemma, except wondering about waiting for nforce4 and going 6600gt PCIe, or getting 939 AGP now and getting 6800nu. An OC'ed 6600gt does very well against a 6800nu, and with allll that upgradability a big part of my brain tells me to wait for NForce4, as does my wallet that says 190 is a lot cheaper than 270. (<-- Pricewatch prices)
You consider this option? Instead of going A64 socket 939, go with an A64 socket 754, save a few bucks and move up to a 6800GT AGP.
The price difference between an A64 3400+ (s754) and an A64 3500+ (s939) is about $50 on newegg, the price difference between the A64 3200+ for these sockets is almost $80 for the retail version, and the socket 754 motherboards are generally cheaper as well. It depends on what type of upgrader you are. If you plan on upgrading the rig piece-by-piece over time, you might want to wait for nForce4, if you just want a fast rig at a good price now that will be replaced in its entirety next time around, socket 754 might be the better option. A 6800GT would outperform a 6800 even if the 6800 was in the overall faster computer, and it completely destroys the 6600GT.