Change GPU?

[NullSubroutine]

This question is whether or not it is "possible" or "feasible" please say what you have in these terms, then give your opinion whether, in your opinion, if you think its a good idea (I doubt it will happen, but I didnt want someone just saying "stupid idea dumbass", giving me any real answer.)

I have a eVGA 6800GT OEM Special Edition, which from my best gatherings is a 6800 Ultra board, capacitors, dual power connectors, and of course GPU (I just put NV Scilencer 5 on there, and you could easily read 6800 Ultra on the GPU). Apparently, there was a flaw in the manufacturing which didnt allow the GPU to run right at 400mhz spec, so, since the 6800 line was just released, they lowered the GPU speed, which ran alright and sold them as 6800's and 6800GT's (just changed the bios's).

My question is, whether or not it is possible to buy and change out the GPU on the board; even at the current 350/1000 specs I still see some 'tearing' on textures every once in a while (especially on RTL Darkplaces). I forgot to see how soldered on the GPU was, but Id rather not ditch the card and buy a new one, just not worth it, but if it's possible to find and buy at a decent price, just a GPU, I wouldnt mind the chance to try it out, again if its possible.

Thanks for the help/ideas in advance.

 

[Cheesetogo]

Possible - probably. Feasable- you'd have to know a crapload of stuff to do it, certainly not somthing that your just going to be able to do. Overclocking is a much, much better soulution as far as ease and chances of working. Many gt's will run at the full 400mhz speed. Even if you were able to switch out the chips, you'd probably see minimal performance increase for your efforts. Overclocking or buying a new card are your only real options.

 

[gac009]

not a chance, cant do it.

edit
that is to say get your hands on a GPU. you could possibly switch gpus if you knew enough to do something like that that you prolly wouldnt be asking, know what Im saying.

 

[NullSubroutine]

One cant overclock, like I said, the GPU has flaw and can barely run 350 perfectly.

Two, one person says maybe, the otherone says impossible...lol. Who knows best?

 

[Falloutboy]

well if its having those problems at stock speed then you SOL (I would say RMA but since you have already replaced the HSF your warrenty is void)

 

[Xentropy]

The maybe part is the changing out the chip with a little soldering.

The impossible part is finding a 6800 Ultra chip sans PCB. You can't buy them in any normal channels, and I don't see why anyone would ever sell just their chip in the aftermarket, so... you're SOL there.

 

[Pete]

I don't even know how you'd find an Ultra to swap out GPUs (all I can think of is buy from Best Buy, steal GPU, return, which merits a --finding an honestly disabled Ultra has got to be rarer than rare). But for a measly extra 50MHz? Just enjoy the card as is. You probably even have Ultra memory clocks, in which case you're ahead of the game.

Even if you could find a "spare," 400MHz-capable NV40 GPU, would you be willing to risk damaging your board and spending what I imagine must be tens of hours to swap GPUs? All for an extra 50MHz, or 15%? I can't imagine that someone who had the money to pay for a GT in the first place would be willing to waste all that time for maybe five or ten more frames per second, and at the risk of the whole board.

Probably all 6800U/GT GPUs say "Ultra," b/c they're all the same. I don't think they print specific names on them after they've been tested.