GFX Softmodding

gobby

Hey all,

I was just wondering if anyone has heard of (or had) any horror stories about trying to softmod a 6800 by opening the 4 unused pipelines.

Im not sure if it is possible to damage a gfx by attempting a softmod but I'd sure like to know! (Guess who has a 6800 to mod )

Felstorm

Dont know about horror stories but supposedly it doesnt work on some cards where you get random artefacts ect.

gobby

Felstorm wrote:

Dont know about horror stories but supposedly it doesnt work on some cards where you get random artefacts ect.

Thats what Ive heard alright. However, what Im really curious about is if its possible to irreversibly mess up a card by attempting a softmod. I wouldnt think so being a softmod but I just want to be as sure as I can be before I try anything with my card.

WizZard

Do you mean flashing to a BIOS that has the pipelines unlocked? In theory it is possible to fcuk up a card but I've never done it. That's just my 2c

SirLemonhead

As far as I know it shouldn't cause problems (that is if you're not using a BIOS update to open the piplelines)

At least for my card ( A Radeon 9500 ) I use a modified driver file to open the pipelines. If it doesn't work, then reverting to a 'proper' driver should put things back to how they were.
I think at some point or other, anyone with a 9500 card tried the 9500 -> 9700 softmod, and I never heard anyone who failed the mod having any permenant problems.

gobby

Well Id be using the Riva Tuner. AFAIK that isn't a bios update. Must check that out though...

duridian

I stumbled across a good article on this subject on pcunleashed.com
Here's the link
Having read through all of that (and I must say the author is a very handy fella with gfx cards, although he doesn't seem to mind killing a few in the process) I reckon the best realistic(read 'safe') mod for your 6800LE would be to convert it to a 6800standard (12 pixel pipelines/5 vertex pipelines)and try to see if Rivatuner allows you to software unlock the remaining pipelines.

gobby

duridian wrote:

I stumbled across a good article on this subject on pcunleashed.com
Here's the link
Having read through all of that (and I must say the author is a very handy fella with gfx cards, although he doesn't seem to mind killing a few in the process) I reckon the best realistic(read 'safe') mod for your 6800LE would be to convert it to a 6800standard (12 pixel pipelines/5 vertex pipelines)and try to see if Rivatuner allows you to software unlock the remaining pipelines.

Thanks for the link. I'll give it a good reading tomorrow.

My card is an XFX Geforce 6800. Its not an LE card. It has 12/5 already enabled. All that remains is the extra 4 pixel and 1 vertex pipelines.

/edit. The card also has dual DVI's

madden

how many pipelines can i get if i got the 6800 ultra 2600 gs ? :cool:

gobby

madden wrote:

how many pipelines can i get if i got the 6800 ultra 2600 gs ? :cool:

Is the ultra not already using all of the pipelines?

airetam_storm

BE VERY CAREFUL

A 6800 cannot be modded to a gt or ultra due to no GDDR3

Neither can the 6600 be flashed to GT without WC

Rivatuner is the way to go

gobby

I've downloaded Riva Tuner and I've seen the method. I just want to know if it is possible to cause irreversible damage to my card by using only the Riva Tuner?

gobby

Well, I tried softmodding the other day and so far so good. I was scoring about 8700 on 3dMark2003 and now Im up to about 9500. I only have Doom 3 installed as far as games go (in the middle of final exams!) and I played for a while and no artifacts! Happy days

Now to buy an artic cooler and start overclocking the card...

WizZard

Great score gobby, congrats. Post in the 3dMark thread so we can see your ORB.

gline

i dont think it is possible to irreversibly damage a gfx with just rivatuner.

But flashing any bios for any hardware can damage it, it has never happened to me personnally but it is always a possiblility. Also u will be flashing ur gfx to settings it may not be able to handle, so there may be some damage done.

So my advise as always is go go go and do it, hehehee

only way to find out is to do. And they say high gpu voltage can damage it, bah.... LOL, mine seems fine (for now)

airetam_storm

Even after flashing the bios it is still not irreverseable cause it can be flashed back provided you backed up your original bios

And if you didnt...your stupid!

Forgot you could also download the old bios..

gline

if the flashing doesnt go correctly it is irreversible

padraigf

Yeah, if the flash is a dud good luck getting the system to boot to flash a working bios back on.

airetam_storm

padraigf wrote:

Yeah, if the flash is a dud good luck getting the system to boot to flash a working bios back on.

There is ways of wiping the bios and starting again, no?

gline

airetam_storm wrote:

There is ways of wiping the bios and starting again, no?

no

it genuinely does make it unuseable

duridian

In the event of bad flash making the card unusable, could the following procedure work? (AGP assumed but I suppose PCI express would be the same in theory)

1. Remove the card that's failed - temporarily.
2. Insert a PCI graphics card to one of the PCI slots.(was thinking along the lines of a Pentium 100 era graphics card, nearly everyone has one of these thrown in a box in the attic or somewhere like that, since it is less likely one would possess one of the more modern Geforce & Radeon era PCI graphics cards)
3. Boot up using the PCI card's display and in BIOS set primary graphics adaptor to PCI.
4. Put the one with bad bios back in.
5. (Hopefully)Boot up again with the system favouring the PCI card as the graphics adaptor but with failed card also present.
6. Attempt to reflash the failed card.

gline

as far as i kno, when a bios is badly flashed or a power failure occurs in the middle or some interuption then its not repairable

duridian

Well I hope none of us ever have the misfortune to wind up with an expensive but braindead gfx card to test out my theory with.
Actually tbh it isn't really my theory I just borrowed it after seeing someone elsewhere on the net talking about it, back in the time when making 5900nu into 5950ultra by bios flash was the most common flashing mod.