X1800 XL 512mb Edition @ X1800 XT $199.99 at Zipzoomfly.com

[user0001]

I'm working on some clocks and benchamarks right now. Just waiting for XP to get done installing. Tests will be performed at stock 165 speeds so the numbers will actually be relevant to those running a similar proc. I'll try and note voltages as well.

 

[LordGestle]

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=338395

FYI:

I left it at what I believe is stock x1800XT speeds of 600/700. I was under the impression that XT's run at 600/750 but all the default x1800xt bioses that I found had 700 for memory and comparing to Orb it appears that 600GPU/700MEM is correct. Either case I plan to leave it at this level for a week to confirm stability but after an hour of ATI Tool artifact tester, some BF2, and 3dmark it appears I'm good to go.

Also I found the bios listed in this thread, as well as the ones on techpowerup and mvktech, appear to be black listed from the CC 6.5. An example is if you try to uninstall the video driver via add/remove programs, restart, and try to install the driver it will list unknown inf. You need to install the driver manually or revert back to the original bios.

I decided to go back to the original X1800XL bios to resolve this issue with the driver installation after cycling through 4 online X1800XT bioses and experiencing the same issue. Since the only thing that was different between the default X1800XL and the X1800XT bioser were with clocks and voltages I used Rabit.

I performed the following on the original bios with RaBIT:
1) I modded it to 1.32 volts on the GPU (default for the x1800xt). In RaBIT you need to modify in 10% increments and save/close/open to up it to 1.32.
2) Upped the mhz to 600 on the GPU
3) Modified the description so that CC would indicate the core mhz listings
4) I left the memory voltage the same since ATI tool was already listing 2.0 volts to the memory.
5) Upped the memory to 700mhz.

After those changes I'm good to go and the driver issue was resolved.

I could be wrong on CC blacklisting the online bioses but this is what in my opinion is happening. If you could get a MSI X1800XT, or any non-blacklisted bios, I'm possitive it would save all the steps above.

On my browsing around I did confirm that this model is using the new X1800XT circuit board:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20051229212113.html
Pn# on the board lists the matching 109-A52031-20 supporting 700MHz/1600MHz.

So that is my report. It will be interesting to see what others post but so far so good.

**Edit**
As far as my comment regarding blacklisting I believe it's more of ATI excluding the pn# in the inf file.
It could be as simple as modifying the inf by hand to include this flashed model. When I get some more time I will investigate further.

 

[ItsAlive]

:beer: This ones for you LordGestle . Thanx for the info. You might try the Omega drivers and see if that fixes the driver issues.

Oh yeah almost forgot. 600/700 mhz are the 2d speeds i believe. Once in a 3d app it raises speeds to 625/750mhz. Although, im not sure if that is hardware or software related or if it happens with the XL bios or not. Either way if the hardware is the same and the bios can be flashed to XT then it should work and throttle between 2d and 3d speeds accordingly.

 

[Jawadali]

This seems like the card with the best price/performance ratio out there right now, especially since there is no guesswork of unlocking pipelines.

I really want to jump on this deal, but I'm stuck on Socket A + AGP.

Now If I found a cheap PCI-E combo for under $100, I'd definitly go for it.

 

[CrazyHorse]

also the AMD single cores dropped bad in price so you can get a 3800+ for like 155

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Jawadali
This seems like the card with the best price/performance ratio out there right now, especially since there is no guesswork of unlocking pipelines.

I really want to jump on this deal, but I'm stuck on Socket A + AGP.

Now If I found a cheap PCI-E combo for under $100, I'd definitly go for it.

Well, don't plan on finding a S939 PCI-e MB/CPU combo for <$100. They do have S754 PCI-e boards so a Sempron/PCI-e MB might be found around $100, but a Sempron would probably bottleneck your VC making the upgrade pointless.

 

[EternalX]

so has anyone been able to get a MSI 512MB x1800XT bios? We need to find someone who has the card and steal his bios =D

 

[EternalX]

so has anyone been able to get a MSI 512MB x1800XT bios? We need to find someone who has the card and steal his bios =D

 

[LordGestle]

Originally posted by: ItsAlive
:beer: This ones for you LordGestle . Thanx for the info. You might try the Omega drivers and see if that fixes the driver issues.

Oh yeah almost forgot. 600/700 mhz are the 2d speeds i believe. Once in a 3d app it raises speeds to 625/750mhz. Although, im not sure if that is hardware or software related or if it happens with the XL bios or not. Either way if the hardware is the same and the bios can be flashed to XT then it should work and throttle between 2d and 3d speeds accordingly.

I did notice that when I flashed to the XT OC bios, with the driver already installed from the XL bios, that when I launched ATI tool it did indicate that "CC uses 2 different clock speeds for 2d and 3d." This message did not appear on the XL bios.
So it appears the last peice of the puzzle for me is the inf issue with the internet X1800XT bioses.

 

[ItsAlive]

Have you tried forcing the bios flash? I think you have to use Winflash to do it, but im not 100% sure. I know i read something about conflicting PN# and a force flash fixed it.

 

[LordGestle]

Yep. I was actually using the dos version atiflash and not winflash.
atiflash -f -p 0 newbios
It would confirm flash after the program.

 

[ItsAlive]

hmm hopefully a fix will arise.

 

[g0dMAn]

i can't believe we haven't found the msi x1800xt bios yet...

 

[ItsAlive]

I posted thread in Video section. Hopefully someone will have it and respond.

 

[LordGestle]

Success!!!
I recently unlocked 16pipes on a X800PRO to an X800XT and I remember seeing something about a modified flashrom used to clear the old bios of the entire configuration. I went to the article on techpowerup and noticed there was a hidden command "-newbios" if you are using atiflash.
I was using atiflash -f -p 0 newbios. This does not flash everything and the same for winflash.
To truly flash the card you need to use atiflash -newbios -f -p 0 newbios.bin.
Instructions found here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34

After that I'm now able to install drivers using the ATI CC and the card is now a true X1800XT.
Time for some benching and I will report back in this same thready.

***Edit***
I'll start posting my results in that thread you started here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1868758&enterthread=y

*** Edit 2****
I posted in the other thread but I have one pending issue. I'm having trouble getting the memory to pass =>750. 725 is good. I'm still testing and will post results.

*** Edit 3****
It appears the default memory timings are tigher on the XL compared to XT. I will verify this and relax them and retest.
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=13011&page=5

*** Edit 4****
If you want to flash back to your saved original bios or to another XT bios perform the following:
1) Use oveclocker tool to set 2d GPU/Mem to 500MHZ.
2) Use winflash to flash back to the original XL bios of 500/500.
3) Reboot when prompted and use the flash method above again with the default or new XT bios.
Not doing so will cause a screen corruption and flash failure. The flash failure locks up your machine but does not bork your card at least in my experience.

 

[ItsAlive]

Super KickA$$. Is that the same as flashing to the empty bios like i said? Cause I remember something about when flashing it can leave residual stuff in the bios. As with flashing an x1800gto to the XL bios you needed to flash to the empty bios to clear everything or else the extra pipes wouldnt unlock. Now that i think about it was the -newbios command also.

These are the commands i have set up in my flash.bat file. They have just been sittin on my desktop waiting to be used ever since i ordered the card....LOL. These are to flash to XT PE bios tho.

atiflash -s 0 original.bin
atiflash -newbios -f -p 0 sapxtpe.bin

 

[Zauber]

I just bit on this deal, we shall see how it goes

Thank god I no longer have to agonize about buying a 7900GT and doing the multiple RMA shuffle with it.

 

[Cardio]

I just ordered one, so it seems to still be available. $1.99 2day FedEx

 

[StormSide]

Just ordered one! Nice deal!!

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Here's a good review of the MSI RX1800XT-VT2D512E Videocard which includes some nice photos so you can compare if it's the same card as this X1800 XL. Nice deal if you can get it to run XT! I think I'll hold off and until I can get a 7900GT for $250...

 

[isekii]

can some more people who purchased it chime in and let us know how the flash went ?

 

[freddyK]

Originally posted by: LordGestle
Success!!!
I recently unlocked 16pipes on a X800PRO to an X800XT and I remember seeing something about a modified flashrom used to clear the old bios of the entire configuration. I went to the article on techpowerup and noticed there was a hidden command "-newbios" if you are using atiflash.
I was using atiflash -f -p 0 newbios. This does not flash everything and the same for winflash.
To truly flash the card you need to use atiflash -newbios -f -p 0 newbios.bin.
Instructions found here.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34

After that I'm now able to install drivers using the ATI CC and the card is now a true X1800XT.
Time for some benching and I will report back in this same thready.

***Edit***
I'll start posting my results in that thread you started here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1868758&enterthread=y

I used LordGestle method flashed the card to a Sapphire X1800XTPE. The card is runing 100% stable with 2+ hrs of 3Dmark06 test. Thanks LordGestle!!!

P.S. I recommend not to use the Windows version Atiflash, you won't get a true X1800XT. and you will have problems with installing both ATI CCC and Omega driver

 

[nealh]

damn it..I need bootable cd with these files on it

 

[Esquire]

ATI CCC and Omega driver

what is this

 

[Jawadali]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: Jawadali
This seems like the card with the best price/performance ratio out there right now, especially since there is no guesswork of unlocking pipelines.

I really want to jump on this deal, but I'm stuck on Socket A + AGP.

Now If I found a cheap PCI-E combo for under $100, I'd definitly go for it.

Well, don't plan on finding a S939 PCI-e MB/CPU combo for <$100. They do have S754 PCI-e boards so a Sempron/PCI-e MB might be found around $100, but a Sempron would probably bottleneck your VC making the upgrade pointless.

Yeah, I know that the 939 stuff is still pricy. I had used stuff from the FS/FT section in mind as well when I was thinking of this. Almost anything is an upgrade from an Athlon XP 2500+; something around 3Ghz/3000+ should be good enough.


Back to the card; this may sound dumb, but has anyone tried to e-mail MSI and ask about the X1800XT BIOS (you don't have to mention you have an X1800XL)?

I guess we have found a work-around here, but it never hurts to ask.

Additionally, check Rage3D.com's forums. They are mainly ATI-focused, so they may have some additional info/tweaks. It was very helpful for me when I was doing a Radeon 9700 > 9700 Pro BIOS flash (that card died recently ).