How Do You Unlock Pipelines?

[Machine350]

Hey guys, I've heard that it's possible to unlock pipelines on the vanilla 6800's but I have no idea how? Any ideas?

 

[imported_Bleh]

Get Rivatuner 15.2 from http://www.guru3d.com/ then go to low level systems settings, under nvstrap click allow enabling hardware masked units,
then under pixel/vertex units click customize and click the ones that are hw masked. After that click apply, restart, then everything should be fine
unless you start getting artifacts.

 

[snerdini]

I just opened up 4 pipelines to end up at 12 (Gigabyte 6800 shipped w/ 8 enabled), and gained about 1300 on my 3DMark03 score. Is my card capable of 16? If so, will I see the same performance increase as I did going to 12?

 

[df96817]

Originally posted by: snerdini
I just opened up 4 pipelines to end up at 12 (Gigabyte 6800 shipped w/ 8 enabled), and gained about 1300 on my 3DMark03 score. Is my card capable of 16? If so, will I see the same performance increase as I did going to 12?

Huh? I thought the 6800NU is supposed to come with 12 pipes!

 

[Impostor]

I just opened up 4 pipelines to end up at 12 (Gigabyte 6800 shipped w/ 8 enabled), and gained about 1300 on my 3DMark03 score. Is my card capable of 16? If so, will I see the same performance increase as I did going to 12?

Yeah the vanilla 6800's are suppose to come with 12pipes, if yours only came with 8, then you got a bad one.


The 6600's are the ones that come with 8pipes correct??

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: snerdini
I just opened up 4 pipelines to end up at 12 (Gigabyte 6800 shipped w/ 8 enabled), and gained about 1300 on my 3DMark03 score. Is my card capable of 16? If so, will I see the same performance increase as I did going to 12?

I read somewhere that Gigabyte 6800 cards came "flawed" with 8 pipelines and you had to download an updated BIOS from the company's website to get full 12 pipes stock.

You might want to check into that.

 

[snerdini]

I have a utility that automatically checks to see if their is a new firmware update - it says no everytime I run it.

The remaining pipelines are hardware masked - should I open them up as well? From what I've heard, they are hardware masked because they are possibly defective, meaning I could get artifacts if I enable them.

Any insight?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: snerdini
I have a utility that automatically checks to see if their is a new firmware update - it says no everytime I run it.

The remaining pipelines are hardware masked - should I open them up as well? From what I've heard, they are hardware masked because they are possibly defective, meaning I could get artifacts if I enable them.

Any insight?

Download the A2 BIOS from Gigabyte and then reapply the RivaTuner mod.

- M4H

 

[snerdini]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: snerdini
I have a utility that automatically checks to see if their is a new firmware update - it says no everytime I run it.

The remaining pipelines are hardware masked - should I open them up as well? From what I've heard, they are hardware masked because they are possibly defective, meaning I could get artifacts if I enable them.

Any insight?

Download the A2 BIOS from Gigabyte and then reapply the RivaTuner mod.

- M4H

A2? All I see for my card is F2 - and I already tried that one. Screwed up my card - disabled the DVI port altogether, and crapped out as soon as the drivers tried to load. Had to boot in safe mode on the VGA port, and reflash the original BIOS. Lucky I backed it up...

 

[naddicott]

The 8 pipes to 12 pipes transition on the Gigabyte 6800 is pretty dramatic. Enabling hardware masked pipelines worked fine for me. You enabled the ones that just say "disabled" but not hardware masked?

 

[snerdini]

Originally posted by: naddicott
The 8 pipes to 12 pipes transition on the Gigabyte 6800 is pretty dramatic. Enabling hardware masked pipelines worked fine for me. You enabled the ones that just say "disabled" but not hardware masked?

Yep.

Tried the hardware masked ones tonight - bad news. ALL KINDS of artifacts everywhere. Oh well, at 12 pipelines and a little overclocking, I'm ~9800 3DMark03, which makes me happy

 

[The Green Bean]

stupid question but whats the success rate for unlocking pipelines?

 

[Avalon]

It's roughly 60% that everything works fine, 20% that you only can unlock either the pipes or the vertex shader by themselves, and 20% that you've got nothing to unlock.

 

[naddicott]

Little update: Turns out hardware masked pipes were creating noticable artifacts in World of Warcraft for me (Far Cry, HL2 and 3DMarks had been fine). Running great with the non-masked pipes unlocked. It's all about WoW looking good...

 

[pinball111]

if you unlock pipes or softmod a vid card, will that seriously increase the temp, where stock cooling wouldn't be enough, and you'd have to get a different heatsink or fan?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: pinball111
if you unlock pipes or softmod a vid card, will that seriously increase the temp, where stock cooling wouldn't be enough, and you'd have to get a different heatsink or fan?

It's possible.

- M4H

 

[Nuke Waste]

I'm a little worried about heat too, so I spent a couple extra bucks and bought the BFG 6800 OC. It comes factory OCd, but also has a gnarly nickel-plated, heat-piped, LED-ed, heatsink sitting on top. It's the same HSF used on their 6800 GT that runs at 370/1000(!!!!), so I'm not too worried about it. I'll let you know the temps after I get it (probably this weekend).

 

[konakona]

ok, i need a lil help here guys.

i did everything as your instructions and upon restarting, rivatuner says unsupported driver detected blah blah blah. there are no artifacts to speak of, but rivatuner sees it as 256-bit NV40(A1,12x1,5vp) with 128MB DDR. the card is BFG 6800 OC and i am using forceware 66.93 and rivatuner 15.2 btw.

 

[Theslowone]

VanillaH I think you need to go with older drivers such as the 66.81s.

 

[jedcred]

I know it's an old card, but anyone know if the FX 5600 Ultra had masked pipelines? Right now I believe it has 4, but I'd like to open it up to 8 if possible. Mine is from PNY, if that makes any difference.

 

[NoOzL]

Does unlocking pipelines void the warranty? Considering this is the first time i have done anything to a vid card but i think it needs it. Also it is the 6800LE (lite Edition). The LE comes with the 8 pipelines

 

[Nuke Waste]

Originally posted by: VanillaH
ok, i need a lil help here guys.

i did everything as your instructions and upon restarting, rivatuner says unsupported driver detected blah blah blah. there are no artifacts to speak of, but rivatuner sees it as 256-bit NV40(A1,12x1,5vp) with 128MB DDR. the card is BFG 6800 OC and i am using forceware 66.93 and rivatuner 15.2 btw.

That's exactly what I have and I have successfully unlocked everything (w/ artifacts unfortunately, but 10000 3D Marks!). This is how I did it:

[*]1. Open RivaTuner, ignoring any warnings, and click the arrow near "256-bit NV40..."
[*]2. Click the video card icon (low level system settings).
[*]3. Cruise over to NVStrap driver
[*]4. Click "Install" near the bottom (or reinstall, maybe yours got hosed somewhere.) and check the "Allow enabling hardware masked units" box.
[*]5. After rebooting (if asked) go back to that tab and, near "Active pixel/vertex..." select "custom" from the drop-down and click the "Customize" button.
[*]6. Here, select bit 03 to unlock the pipes, and bit 11 to unlock the extra shader. Do this one at a time so you know which one creates artifacts (if either do, you might get lucky!) Some people get both to work, others one, even more get none.

I actually got a steal on a second 6800 OC on eBay so I'm going to give that one a shot. Who knows, it may be the golden child! Good luck, and remember:

DON'T SUE THE NUKE IF YOU BREAK YOUR CARD!

 

[Nuke Waste]

Originally posted by: NoOzL
Does unlocking pipelines void the warranty? Considering this is the first time i have done anything to a vid card but i think it needs it. Also it is the 6800LE (lite Edition). The LE comes with the 8 pipelines

Yes, it does void your warranty (by running it out of spec.) and with the LE I think the best you can hope for is 12 pipes. If it's a Giga-byte brand, you can update the bios from their website to get the 12 for free. From there there's always a shot of getting 16.

 

[thegimp03]

google is your friend.

 

[Nuke Waste]

Originally posted by: VanillaH
i did everything as your instructions and upon restarting, rivatuner says unsupported driver detected blah blah blah. there are no artifacts to speak of, but rivatuner sees it as 256-bit NV40(A1,12x1,5vp) with 128MB DDR. the card is BFG 6800 OC and i am using forceware 66.93 and rivatuner 15.2 btw.

I just got my second BFG 6800 today and it unlocked like a champ! The other one's going back to Best Buy tomorrow. No artifacts and about 400 more 3dMarks! I haven't tried to OC it more, but there's always hope! Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.