Just modded two 6800GTs to 6800 Ultras

Matt Simis

FYI, dont bother throwing money away on 6800 Ultras, get the cheaper GT instead, its an easy process:

I initially tried the eVGA bios, it doesnt work (black screen, but PC operating normally). I then found the REV03 BFG Ultra BIOS here:
http://www.mvktech.net/

Great site, tons of BIOS's and utilities. The cards were Galaxy 6800GT cards (EUR430 on www.over-clock.co.uk). They now operate at and above the BFG 6800 Ultra speeds (EUR550?). The nVidia "Autodetect" utility detects "safe" core frequency at 440MHz, this is from a card nVidia specs as only 350MHz core. :eek: The main reason for this increase from only a BIOS change is the increase in VCore voltage (to Ultra level) that it features.

Obviously you can only do this on 6800GT cards, vanilla 6800 cards are only 12 Pipeline and probably dont work (perhaps pipelines can be reopend ala ATI cards?).


Matt

Matt Simis

Just tested Doom3, no tweaks or anything changed:

Athlon64 at 2500MHz, 512MB DDR440
1024x768 High Quality Timedemo demo1
95fps on second run...

This is literally twice the speed of the overclocked FX5950 I had before.
The 6800 was running at 450MHz core for that test (no artifacts in Doom).



Matt

RuggieBear

Matt Simis wrote:

Just tested Doom3, no tweaks or anything changed:

Athlon64 at 2500MHz, 512MB DDR440
1024x768 High Quality Timedemo demo1
95fps on second run...

This is literally twice the speed of the overclocked FX5950 I had before.
The 6800 was running at 450MHz core for that test (no artifacts in Doom).



Matt

Sweet!

-oRnein9-

Yeah i was reading up on it today in work as I am ordering a pny 6800 gt from jes next week, there is an interesting thread on overclocking gt's to and beyond ultra's here http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=785299
Looks like i'll be giving it a shot
Richy

BloodBath

Yah I think I'm going for the Galaxy Glacier 6800gt myself. That just re-inforces my decission. Nice one.


BloodBath

Ciaran500

I've heard alot of people who have bought their Galaxy cards were DOA with bad memory.

Venom

Ciaran500 wrote:

I've heard alot of people who have bought their Galaxy cards were DOA with bad memory.

Well mines working like a dream

Azza

Yeah I may opt for that card as well but was looking into the galaxy ones before this was known as well.

Azza

Emm if I'm not mistaken I believe the bfg and the galaxy cards are pre-overclocked to 370mhz anyway.

Venom

Azza wrote:

Emm if I'm not mistaken I believe the bfg and the galaxy cards are pre-overclocked to 370mhz anyway.

Aye it comes as 370mhz/1000ghz but after I installed Coolbits and went to optimal overclock it went up to 399mhz/1.05ghz

Its also completly soundless which is always a bonus lol.

BloodBath

I've heard alot of people who have bought their Galaxy cards were DOA with bad memory.

I seriously doubt they are shipping loads of dud cards. They are tested before packaging and shipment.

Probably just a couple of unlucky people like any card company.


BloodBath

Matt Simis

BloodBath wrote:

I seriously doubt they are shipping loads of dud cards. They are tested before packaging and shipment.

Probably just a couple of unlucky people like any card company.


BloodBath

Funny that was mentioned, the first Galaxy 6800GT card I got had to be returned with faulty memory. However, www.over-clock.co.uk were great and forward replaced it, got the replacement two days later. Highly recommend them.

There seems to be different revisions in Galaxy cards too, the first card we got was in a massive black box, very stylish but doesnt overclock that well. The second (well third as the real second one was faulty) one overclocks great and was in a more standard box.



Matt

Azza

Vemon what are these coolbits you refer to?

Venom

Azza wrote:

Vemon what are these coolbits you refer to?

Its a reg hack that open up new options in the nvidia driver panel so you can oc your card

Ciaran500

Azza wrote:

Vemon what are these coolbits you refer to?

http://oc3dmark.octeams.com/tip02.html

EDIT: Venom bet me to it

Venom

That bios flash works is a little gem

Getting a very yummy 12171 in 3d mark 03 and 60,992 in Aquamark

Cheers Matt :cool:

Azza

Wonder will the bios flash and the hack work in conjunction.

Venom

Azza wrote:

Wonder will the bios flash and the hack work in conjunction.

Hell yeah it does

Tho you do need to underclock a tad. I had to go to 402/1.05 to get a stable overclock but considering your getting Ultra speed minus the overclockability for GT prices I dont see how anyone can complain.

Azza

So its not stable at 440mhz core speed?

Venom

Azza wrote:

So its not stable at 440mhz core speed?

Nope.

Matt Simis

Azza wrote:

So its not stable at 440mhz core speed?

Of the two cards I have here, one is like Venoms (around 400ish core) and the other goes upto 440MHz. I think 400ish is more normal, however the faster card is in my Mach II (phase change CPU cooler) system, so there is no CPU heat being generated at all, the only "hot" part is the GPU, so all system fans work to keep it cool. Even at 425 core, it doesnt get over 65C running Doom3 for 5hrs straight!

I did a few other things to the card to improve heat, but I imagine the cpu cooler does a lot.



Matt