NEW BIOS FOR 3870 CARDS to fix 860MHz lock

[thilanliyan]

http://www.armada.fi/HD3870/HD3870_PLLVCO_v010.071.zip

From "The Stilt" at Xtremesystems.org

Another link:
http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/details.php?id=1000

Flash at your own risk obviously. I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Lol, unfortunately no flashing tool available yet.

Flasher may be available at Techpowerup soon.

EDIT: HERE IS THE FLASHING TOOL!!!
http://www.techpowerup.com/dow...ies/BIOS_Flashing/ATI/

I can't try it until tonight unfortunately.

EDIT2:
I flashed the BIOS and have it running at 890/1200 right now. Haven't tried any higher.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Well at least in this case we know the chicken came before the egg

 

[SniperDaws]

Nice one im looking forward to reading about how much faster they become.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Definitely, even a 2% bump will put it almost in a dead heat with the 8800gt on the whole

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
Definitely, even a 2% bump will put it almost in a dead heat with the 8800gt on the whole

3870 percentage of 8800GT speed. Figure 8800GT at 100%.

Game...........12x10 16x12 19x12 25x16

Bioshock........................84.4% 82.4% 87.9% 93.9%
Unreal Tournament ........87.8% 85.8% 89.6% 91.6%
ET: Quake Wars ...........80.5% 95.9% 96.8% 103%
Oblivion ........................66.7% 74.1% 74.4% 71.5%
Oblivion (4X AA) ............70.5% 77.7% 80.2% 82.6%
Half Life 2: Episode 2 ....101% 95% 91% 86.7%
World in Conflict ............81.5% 85.7% 84.9% 89.2%
Call of Duty 4 ..............103% 98.3% 92.3% 82.1%
Crysis .........................72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
Average .......................83.1% 85.3% 85.8% 87.6%

I'd say it's a "scootch" more than 2%

 

[AzN]

Considering 3870 stock clock is 775mhz a bump upto 860+ mhz will easily match a 8800gt for sure.

 

[P229SAS]

Well at 860/2400 I would hope it could match a 650/1900 8800GT

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

The cards can actually overclock to 860 mhz from 775? That's quite a jump.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: P229SAS
Well at 860/2400 I would hope it could match a 650/1900 8800GT

Wonder how 860/2400 HD3870 would compare to 700/2000 8800GT SSC or even higher that many people report hitting with these cards?

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: P229SAS
Well at 860/2400 I would hope it could match a 650/1900 8800GT

Wonder how 860/2400 HD3870 would compare to 700/2000 8800GT SSC or even higher that many people report hitting with these cards?

Probably a stock GT vs the Overclocked GT.

Real weakness is 8800gt's memory bandwidth I would think considering it's texture fillrate surpass 8800gtx. Overclocking the core would have minimal impact unless it was shader intensive game.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: P229SAS
Well at 860/2400 I would hope it could match a 650/1900 8800GT

Wonder how 860/2400 HD3870 would compare to 700/2000 8800GT SSC or even higher that many people report hitting with these cards?

I don't consider a 8800gt past 700 an average oc. You'd either have to replace the stock cooler or turn the fan up to dust-buster mode, neither of which is an appealing solution. If the 3870 can be oc'd to match a 700mhz 8800gt with stock cooling and fan speed, then it's a better solution.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Crysis .........................72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
I'd say it's a "scootch" more than 2%

From here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13479/4

The techreport article got 26.5fps avg at 1280x800 with 4AA (dunno what AF level they used though) and High settings:

I just ran the demo...with the same settings and got 27.58 avg...so it's not as slow as wherever you got those numbers from. Granted this is only one game...but one of the most demanding.

EDIT: Results at 850/1300...got 23fps at stock 777/1130.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: thilan29

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Crysis .........................72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
I'd say it's a "scootch" more than 2%

From here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13479/4

The techreport article got 26.5fps avg at 1280x800 with 4AA (dunno what AF level they used though) and High settings:

I just ran the demo...with the same settings and got 27.58 avg...so it's not as slow as wherever you got those numbers from. Granted this is only one game...but one of the most demanding.

Umm, I got the numbers from the AT review. Didn't you read the AT review?

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Not to mention how far the 3870 undercuts the 8800gt in price as well....

 

[MyLeftNut]

If this thing can get to around 900-920 I'm gonna pick this up over a 8800gt

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Umm, I got the numbers from the AT review. Didn't you read the AT review?

Yeah I did...but it doesn't even tell you what settings they used for Crysis. I just pointed you to a review which I could replicate and gave you my results...

 

[Keysplayr]

Ah. ok. Just wanted to make a note about that screenshot from TechReport in Crysis. Notice how the perimeter of the frame is blurry? This would indicate that the shaders slider was not set to max. When you turn down shaders in Crysis, almost everything not in your line of site gets blurry. I wonder why they didn't mention that.

 

[nubian1]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
Definitely, even a 2% bump will put it almost in a dead heat with the 8800gt on the whole

3870 percentage of 8800GT speed. Figure 8800GT at 100%.

Game...........12x10 16x12 19x12 25x16

Bioshock........................84.4% 82.4% 87.9% 93.9%
Unreal Tournament ........87.8% 85.8% 89.6% 91.6%
ET: Quake Wars ...........80.5% 95.9% 96.8% 103%
Oblivion ........................66.7% 74.1% 74.4% 71.5%
Oblivion (4X AA) ............70.5% 77.7% 80.2% 82.6%
Half Life 2: Episode 2 ....101% 95% 91% 86.7%
World in Conflict ............81.5% 85.7% 84.9% 89.2%
Call of Duty 4 ..............103% 98.3% 92.3% 82.1%
Crysis .........................72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
Average .......................83.1% 85.3% 85.8% 87.6%

I'd say it's a "scootch" more than 2%

Without the driver revisions listed with the above results & the tested clock speeds of the compared cards how can we even interpret the above results??

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: nubian1

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
Definitely, even a 2% bump will put it almost in a dead heat with the 8800gt on the whole

3870 percentage of 8800GT speed. Figure 8800GT at 100%.

Game...........12x10 16x12 19x12 25x16

Bioshock........................84.4% 82.4% 87.9% 93.9%
Unreal Tournament ........87.8% 85.8% 89.6% 91.6%
ET: Quake Wars ...........80.5% 95.9% 96.8% 103%
Oblivion ........................66.7% 74.1% 74.4% 71.5%
Oblivion (4X AA) ............70.5% 77.7% 80.2% 82.6%
Half Life 2: Episode 2 ....101% 95% 91% 86.7%
World in Conflict ............81.5% 85.7% 84.9% 89.2%
Call of Duty 4 ..............103% 98.3% 92.3% 82.1%
Crysis .........................72.4% 73.3% 75.5% -
Average .......................83.1% 85.3% 85.8% 87.6%

I'd say it's a "scootch" more than 2%

Without the driver revisions listed with the above results & the tested clock speeds of the compared cards how can we even interpret the above results??

I'm pretty sure those are the AT results...go look at the review for your answers.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Avalon
I'm pretty sure those are the AT results...go look at the review for your answers.

Yeah Keys said those are the AT results.

 

[bryanW1995]

yes, those are the AT results. of course, nvidia is now 7% slower in crysis and amd is faster by 5-10% after their most recent updates. from what I've read the 8800gt is far better at older games and a little bit better at newer games. let's face it, we're not buying either card to run kotor. well, most of us aren't. we're looking for solid performance in the latest titles and future titles, so 8800gt doesn't have quite as much of an advantage as many think. plus 3870 should be easier to oc (if they ever fix that stupid bios block grrrrr) b/c it's got a better hsf and it is 55nm instead of 65.

 

[nubian1]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
yes, those are the AT results. of course, nvidia is now 7% slower in crysis and amd is faster by 5-10% after their most recent updates. from what I've read the 8800gt is far better at older games and a little bit better at newer games. let's face it, we're not buying either card to run kotor. well, most of us aren't. we're looking for solid performance in the latest titles and future titles, so 8800gt doesn't have quite as much of an advantage as many think. plus 3870 should be easier to oc (if they ever fix that stupid bios block grrrrr) b/c it's got a better hsf and it is 55nm instead of 65.

Here are the drivers used for the test we mentioned in this thread and this is what is very important..

Video Drivers AMD: Catalyst 7.10
NVIDIA: 169.01

The AMD Crysis driver patch (7.11 preview??) combined with Nvidia coming clean, with the improper rendering (Water) for increased performance of driver 169.01, and releasing 169.09 which resulted in a 7% drop of 8800GT performance brings these cards much closer.

Add to this the ease at overclocking the 3870 & things are not so cut & dry.

P.S. It been reported that the bios lock has been fixed with a mod bios release.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Azn
Considering 3870 stock clock is 775mhz a bump upto 860+ mhz will easily match a 8800gt for sure.

Oh yes makes perfect sense... a 9% boost to core clock and core clock only is CERTAIN to have a 15+% boost to overall performance.

 

[mitch3ll]

would you have to buy an aftermarket cooler to do this? man newegg has been oos on all the 3870's for awhile now, today they had a bunch of 8800gt's though

 

[taltamir]

Get over a 90mhz/9% boost to clock speed? yes you probably will need an after market cooler...

This will be really useful if you have watercooling or cascade/liquid nitrogen/phase change cooling... For everyone else this is pointless.