Turn X800 Pro into X800 XT PE with Bios Flash

[ponyo]

Sorry I was speaking for myself when I said $450 was too expensive. BTW, I also think $500 and $400 is too much for 6800 ULtra and 6800 GT respectively. The only reason I even have 6800 GT is because of the BB Hot Deal. No way I would have bought it if I had to pay MSRP or over MSRP for the card.

As for X800Pro VIVO modding, considering the card cost almost as much as MSRP x800xt, I really don't see the point. 9500NP mod was different as the price was less than half of 9700 Pro.

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous

I'm surprised anyone would flash the X800 Pro...its like a $400 card. If its disposable to you why not spend the extra $100 and get a XT?

The XT is quite hard to find.

ahhh...true. I confused it with the PE, which costs even more. Still, at $400 I don't think I'd risk it. I wouldn't even try it on the $300 6800 16 pipe soft mod. If $400 was that disposable to me, I would have gotten the PE or Ultra in the first place.

 

[Alkaline5]

Originally posted by: Naustica
As for X800Pro VIVO modding, considering the card cost almost as much as MSRP x800xt, I really don't see the point. 9500NP mod was different as the price was less than half of 9700 Pro.

While the price is far from being a deal, I think the draw of modding an X800Pro is that it's currently the ONLY WAY to get a 16-pipe X800 at all. Sure the XT is supposed to be $500, but good luck finding one. Besides, everybody likes getting something extra for nothing.

 

[ScrewFace]

I bought a 256MB Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro VIVO with 1.6ns Samsung GDDR3 and I flashed it using www.overclockers.com bios files and I now have a full-fledged X800 XT PE that runs completely stable at XT PE speeds of 520MHz core and 560MHz (1120MHz DDR) GDDR3. I don't have to do a volt mod as mine is a 1.4 volt GPU.

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: ScrewFace
I bought a 256MB Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro VIVO with 1.6ns Samsung GDDR3 and I flashed it using www.overclockers.com bios files and I now have a full-fledged X800 XT PE that runs completely stable at XT PE speeds of 520MHz core and 560MHz (1120MHz DDR) GDDR3. I don't have to do a volt mod as mine is a 1.4 volt GPU.

NICE! :beer:

 

[imported_Shizen]

Hi there guys. First time poster, long time lurker. I was a little down when my brand new GeCube x800 Pro VIVO (one of the cheapest x800 Pro cards i found, and I'm in the Philippines) wasn't "all that it could be" when it came to playing Doom III. It's not the only new game out there, but I'm pretty sure that there'll be a lot of upcoming games that'll license id's new engine.

While browsing around some forums (trying to find performance tweaks), I chanced on some posts regarding this procedure to mod an x800 Pro to a top-of-the-line XT PE. Of course, the first how-tos I came across involved taking out the card's heat sink and fan, and some minor silicon surgery had to be done. I didn't really want to risk my new investment by physically tampering with it... and I never hard-modded any CPU/GPU before (fat shaky fingers = potential damage to my hardware).

I decided to search some more, and with the help of good old Google (Search: x800 Pro VIVO -> x800 XT PE), I stumbled into the AnandTech Forums, and onto MegaWorks' post. Thanks dude, even if you just quoted it from someone in Tom's Hardware Forums (MegaWorks' post was the first result in Google).

I followed the instructions to the letter, and was ecstatic to find myself to be a proud owner of an ATI video card that wasn't even commonly available from where I am. I am fortunate that this particular card could go all the way to 520Mhz Core/560Mhz Memory (and sixteen-pipeline goodness) without instability or artifacts, but seeing the heat levels after playing a 3D game (it reached 80 degrees Celsius, hot hot hot!!!), I decided to "underclock" it to 510Mhz Core/540Mhz Memory until I can get some better cooling for my software-modded x800 XT PE.

I'm currently looking into getting an Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 4. If you guys have any practical experience or know of any reviews, please share. I'd love to ramp my card back up to "full" speeds
once again without worry of meltdown.

My thanks goes to W1zzard (ATITool), AnandTech Forums, and MegaWorks. You guys rock.

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: Shizen
Hi there guys. First time poster, long time lurker. I was a little down when my brand new GeCube x800 Pro VIVO (one of the cheapest x800 Pro cards i found, and I'm in the Philippines) wasn't "all that it could be" when it came to playing Doom III. It's not the only new game out there, but I'm pretty sure that there'll be a lot of upcoming games that'll license id's new engine.

While browsing around some forums (trying to find performance tweaks), I chanced on some posts regarding this procedure to mod an x800 Pro to a top-of-the-line XT PE. Of course, the first how-tos I came across involved taking out the card's heat sink and fan, and some minor silicon surgery had to be done. I didn't really want to risk my new investment by physically tampering with it... and I never hard-modded any CPU/GPU before (fat shaky fingers = potential damage to my hardware).

I decided to search some more, and with the help of good old Google (Search: x800 Pro VIVO -> x800 XT PE), I stumbled into the AnandTech Forums, and onto MegaWorks' post. Thanks dude, even if you just quoted it from someone in Tom's Hardware Forums (MegaWorks' post was the first result in Google).

I followed the instructions to the letter, and was ecstatic to find myself to be a proud owner of an ATI video card that wasn't even commonly available from where I am. I am fortunate that this particular card could go all the way to 520Mhz Core/560Mhz Memory (and sixteen-pipeline goodness) without instability or artifacts, but seeing the heat levels after playing a 3D game (it reached 80 degrees Celsius, hot hot hot!!!), I decided to "underclock" it to 510Mhz Core/540Mhz Memory until I can get some better cooling for my software-modded x800 XT PE.

I'm currently looking into getting an Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 4. If you guys have any practical experience or know of any reviews, please share. I'd love to ramp my card back up to "full" speeds
once again without worry of meltdown.

My thanks goes to W1zzard (ATITool), AnandTech Forums, and MegaWorks. You guys rock.

I love to here that. Enjoy it! :beer:

 

[BeTomXXX]

Would like to give it a try but I do not wish to overclock it.
Can you advice me wich bios I need, the gigabyte bios or the other one, I'm not sure.
I have an ASUS AX800pro

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: BeTomXXX
Would like to give it a try but I do not wish to overclock it.
Can you advice me wich bios I need, the gigabyte bios or the other one, I'm not sure.
I have an ASUS AX800pro

if your Asus is a VIVO, it will work. also check if your memory is the 1.6ns Samsung GRam if so you're fine.

 

[BeTomXXX]

Well it has an tv-out port (7pins). Is that it? How do I know it's 1.6 ns samsung ram?

 

[BeTomXXX]

I gues not

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: BeTomXXX
Well it has an tv-out port (7pins). Is that it? How do I know it's 1.6 ns samsung ram?

look at your vid ram, after the big code if you see -GC16 then you have 1.6 ns. If you see GC20 then you have 2.0 ns here's a link

 

[BeTomXXX]

I checked the package and website, and it is not a VIVO card.
Damn.

sorry for wasting your time.

Damn damn damn.

Mayby there will be a tool sooner or later wich make it possible. Let's keep hoping.

 

[MegaWorks]

sorry to here that, but still the X800 Pro is a fast card you should be happy with its performance

 

[BeTomXXX]

I am happy, 58 average frame rate in doom 3 @ high quality.

I need to show more respect to those who have less by beeing happy with what I have.

 

[imported_Shizen]

After I posted here, I checked the ATITool site ( http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/ ) and guess what, W1zzard just released a new version that'll allow you to control the fan speed on x800 cards! Happy days... just increased my core and memory frequencies to full x800 XT PE levels, and to make sure it doesn't get too hot, set the fan speed at a constant 69%. A couple of hours of gaming only raised the GPU temperature to near 72 degrees Celsius, a great improvement over 80 degrees with default fan speeds.

Life is good. I'll still be upgrading my GPU fan one of these days, for peace of mind. I hope other people will be able to soft-mod their x800 Pros all the way to XT PE specifications (or better). For all those who made it possible, thanks again.

 

[wiley1]

Great!!!
HIS Excalibur X800PRo with vivo now an XT Platinum.
with 16pipes.

using the default 520 core and 560 mem. ATI Tool had no errors @576 MHz mem

Now have 2x unknown devices related to the XT platinum primary and secondary, not sure what those are about yet. Installed the New Catalyst drivers.

Works Great. thanks

 

[ronnn]

I have read that it is as high as 100% success rate with the pro vivo flash. Congrats on a great card, I have been thinking the same thing. :beer::beer:

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: wiley1
Great!!!
HIS Excalibur X800PRo with vivo now an XT Platinum.
with 16pipes.

using the default 520 core and 560 mem. ATI Tool had no errors @576 MHz mem

Now have 2x unknown devices related to the XT platinum primary and secondary, not sure what those are about yet. Installed the New Catalyst drivers.

Works Great. thanks

good to see that it worked :beer:

 

[Mullzy]

Just curious as to the BEFORE & AFTER results you guys have had with this mod. Do you get 5, 10, 15% or better performance gains in bencharks (3DMark, Aquamark) and games (Doom3 Timedemo)?

I'd say it would be worth the risk for the 10% increase... Anything less might be a little iffy.

So lay the results in me!

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: Mullzy
Just curious as to the BEFORE & AFTER results you guys have had with this mod. Do you get 5, 10, 15% or better performance gains in bencharks (3DMark, Aquamark) and games (Doom3 Timedemo)?

I'd say it would be worth the risk for the 10% increase... Anything less might be a little iffy.

So lay the results in me!

can you guys plz show him your results after the transformation.

 

[RacerX]

before & afters going from a standard X800Pro --> X800XT PE

3dMark03 (DX9)
------------------
1024 resolution: 10,178 --> 12,149
1600 resolution: 6,366 --> 7,991
1280 w/ 4xAA: 4,984 --> 6,155

GLExcess (OpenGL)
----------------------
1024 32bit: 16,445 --> 19,711
1600 32bit: 10,252 --> 12,298

These scores were on the system in my signature below, using a Sapphire VIVO card (red pcb w/ 1.6ns ram)
The clock speeds were at defaults (450/475) 12-pipes --> (520/560) 16-pipes.

 

[MegaWorks]

thanx RacerX

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Childs

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous<BR>

I'm surprised anyone would flash the X800 Pro...its like a $400 card. If its disposable to you why not spend the extra $100 and get a XT?

<BR>The XT is quite hard to find.

<BR><BR><BR>ahhh...true. I confused it with the PE, which costs even more. Still, at $400 I don't think I'd risk it. I wouldn't even try it on the $300 6800 16 pipe soft mod. If $400 was that disposable to me, I would have gotten the PE or Ultra in the first place.

I thought Rivaturner was coming out with a way (patch) to softmod the 6800 to 16 pipes without a flash?

 

[islandtechengineers]

hey thats awesome! i was going to ask about the temps but i saw someone posted slight info already... any others willing to post their temps?