# Sapphire X1800GTO2 512MB



## PooPoo (Jun 27, 2006)

Guys,

Have you guys heard anything about the Sapphire X1800GTO2 512MB? It has 16p with 1.2ns GDDR3 memory and running @ 500/1000


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## sleepeeg3 (Jun 28, 2006)

So it's an X1800XT that didn't make the cut?


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## POGE (Jun 28, 2006)

If it has 1.2ns GDDR3, 512mb of ram and 16 pipes at stock it should flash to x1800xt no problems...


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## PooPoo (Jun 28, 2006)

Yes, the review from the computer mag tested which could run in XT speed. It should be selling for around $260... which is a sweet price for 1800XT 

It's worth to upgrade from X800GTO2 @ 850XT speed? Heard DirectX 10.0 is coming soon, should I wait for the new cards or forget about video card and upgrade to AM2 platform instread?


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## bcracer220 (Jun 28, 2006)

im waiting for dx10 cards. plus, what game can the card u have not handle?


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## PooPoo (Jun 28, 2006)

bcracer220 said:
			
		

> im waiting for dx10 cards. plus, what game can the card u have not handle?



Hehe, you might be rite. I should wait for DirectX 10... Actually I did experience same lags when I played HL: Lost Coast & Fear running @ 1024*768 w/ no AA turned on... I concentrating WOW now... did get some lag from flight plans, but I bet there is something to do with the server lag also... plus I notice the graphic isn't as sharp as my friend's GF 6800GS... I wonder why?


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## bcracer220 (Jun 28, 2006)

PooPoo said:
			
		

> Hehe, you might be rite. I should wait for DirectX 10... Actually I did experience same lags when I played HL: Lost Coast & Fear running @ 1024*768 w/ no AA turned on... I concentrating WOW now... did get some lag from flight plans, but I bet there is something to do with the server lag also... plus I notice the graphic isn't as sharp as my friend's GF 6800GS... I wonder why?



to be honest my x800gto, now an x800xt plays HL2: Lost Coast and Fear on 1280by 1024 with no lag. u should do a defrag and run spybot or ad-aware, also waht kind of proc do u have? and in regards to ur friends being "sharper", it all comes down to a matter of opinion between nvidia vs. ati image quality. i prefer ati, but u may prefer nvidia. in the future i would suggest an nvidia card for u then, as u find their image quality better. good luck and happy gaming


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## PooPoo (Jun 30, 2006)

bcracer220 said:
			
		

> to be honest my x800gto, now an x800xt plays HL2: Lost Coast and Fear on 1280by 1024 with no lag. u should do a defrag and run spybot or ad-aware, also waht kind of proc do u have? and in regards to ur friends being "sharper", it all comes down to a matter of opinion between nvidia vs. ati image quality. i prefer ati, but u may prefer nvidia. in the future i would suggest an nvidia card for u then, as u find their image quality better. good luck and happy gaming



i am always an ati fan since my 1st 8500. i love ati..i have a64 939 3200+ @ 2.5ghz.. 1gb ram... etc. i do maintain my pc pretty well, so i guess i really have to check my settings.. which driver do you use?


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## _33 (Jun 30, 2006)

My X800GTO2 lags hugely in Oblivion, I bet a X1800GTO2 will be the solution for that game.

EDIT: X1800GTO2 available in stores 219 euros, but says GDDR2???


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## _33 (Jul 2, 2006)

How about this!

From the specs, it seems to be the same as the Radeon X1800XL.


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## warup89 (Jul 2, 2006)

i bought a x1800xl 512mb (which i think is the same as the x1800GTO2) and i flashed it to XT PE with no probs, and my current clocks are 700/800


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## _33 (Jul 3, 2006)

349$ CA

Flashed BIOS with one of the X1800XT = 9370 3Dmark05 instead of 7787


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## Azn Tr14dZ (Jul 3, 2006)

Are you gonna get that X1800GTO2  _33?


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## _33 (Jul 3, 2006)

Azn Tr14dZ said:
			
		

> Are you gonna get that X1800GTO2  _33?



For my birthday!!!


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## jakax (Aug 2, 2006)

i kno everyone is talking about flashing the bios but i have tried a lot of times but it wont work


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## wesleysnipes (Aug 7, 2006)

*x1800GTO2 modded bios*

Say, can anyone tell me where to find these modded bios'? I'm looking far and wide for a bios to upgrade my Sapphire x1800GTO2 to a x1800XT. Voltage and clocks would be helpful also after modding the card. THANKS!!!


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## Sound_Card (Aug 8, 2006)

wesleysnipes said:
			
		

> Say, can anyone tell me where to find these modded bios'? I'm looking far and wide for a bios to upgrade my Sapphire x1800GTO2 to a x1800XT. Voltage and clocks would be helpful also after modding the card. THANKS!!!





++++++++++++++++111111111111111111111111111111111

I'm in the same boat as him. I have a x1800gto2, I would like it very much if someone would be kind enough to point out the right steps.


 


I love Sapphire and their gto2 series.


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## wesleysnipes (Aug 8, 2006)

Sound Card... After I downloaded the ATI Tool (ATITool_0.25b14), I discovered my card was already unlocked with all 16 pipelines enabled! Download this tool... click Settings, change Use Device dropdown to:    0x7109: R520, Bus: 1,Dev:0     then scroll down and it will display your Active Pipelines. Maybe yours is already unlocked too? Bought mine (Sapphire X1800GTO2 512mb) from Newegg about 2 weeks ago. Once you have it unlocked, check this info that was provided to me earlier:

Ok, at 1.42V (WITH PROPER COOLING!) I can almost run at 700/750 no problem. Its the heat I'm worry about. Currently I have it set to 675/700 and its running fine. Max temps at 700/750 were 90C! My max temps at 675/700 are in the low 70's, which i feel more comfortable with. 

Personally I am being a chicken right now and only running 550/600 with Voltages of: 1.250 for VGPU (graphics core) and 2.113 (memory core) for MVDDC. If anyone has some Awesome Core and Memory clocks they would like to share while running the stock cooler, that would be cool!  Hope this helps.


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## savor_of_filth (Aug 8, 2006)

PooPoo said:
			
		

> plus I notice the graphic isn't as sharp as my friend's GF 6800GS... I wonder why?



I think ATI graphics are better than Nvidia...


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## Sound_Card (Aug 8, 2006)

wesleysnipes said:
			
		

> Sound Card... After I downloaded the ATI Tool (ATITool_0.25b14), I discovered my card was already unlocked with all 16 pipelines enabled! Download this tool... click Settings, change Use Device dropdown to:    0x7109: R520, Bus: 1,Dev:0     then scroll down and it will display your Active Pipelines. Maybe yours is already unlocked too? Bought mine (Sapphire X1800GTO2 512mb) from Newegg about 2 weeks ago. Once you have it unlocked, check this info that was provided to me earlier:
> 
> Ok, at 1.42V (WITH PROPER COOLING!) I can almost run at 700/750 no problem. Its the heat I'm worry about. Currently I have it set to 675/700 and its running fine. Max temps at 700/750 were 90C! My max temps at 675/700 are in the low 70's, which i feel more comfortable with.
> 
> Personally I am being a chicken right now and only running 550/600 with Voltages of: 1.250 for VGPU (graphics core) and 2.113 (memory core) for MVDDC. If anyone has some Awesome Core and Memory clocks they would like to share while running the stock cooler, that would be cool!  Hope this helps.




YES!!!! I know the card is unlocked already, but I thought swapping the bios for xt would be eaiser than oc'ing and messing the voltage. O well. I will have to go out and get me a Accelero X2. then start OC'ing like a mad man.


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## wesleysnipes (Aug 13, 2006)

*X1800GTO2 BIOS Flash to X1800XT Here*

Anyone who wants the bios for Sapphire X1800GTO2 -> X1800XT   Post a reply! It defaults to 600/700 clocks. The bios just doesnt show fan settings, and I assume they are 100% now.


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## kadinho (Aug 19, 2006)

I want that bios plz....


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## Sound_Card (Aug 19, 2006)

wesleysnipes said:


> Anyone who wants the bios for Sapphire X1800GTO2 -> X1800XT   Post a reply! It defaults to 600/700 clocks. The bios just doesnt show fan settings, and I assume they are 100% now.




Wait, I won't be able to change the fan settings?

Oh well, hit me up with the bios. Also, tell me the steps you need to do to swapp it. thanks alot.


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## Leprechan (Aug 20, 2006)

I would like to have the bios.


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## mestizo (Aug 24, 2006)

hey I have been reading these threads about flashing an x1800gto2 to an xt or and xt pe. I tried this tonight but didnt get the results i was looking for. When I flashed the xt bios i couldnt get into the CCC anymore, but I was able to run 3dmark06 with no problems. Next I went to the xt pe bios and was able to get into CCC but I couldnt make it thru 3dmark. Now I flashed my card back to it's stock gto2 bios so that I would be able to run both CCC and 3dmark. Anyone else have issues with flashing their card like i did? The bios files I used were from here in the ati bios section, and I followed the how to guide from here as well. Any help would be great! thanks


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## mestizo (Aug 25, 2006)

Anyone?


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## Tcracker (Aug 28, 2006)

I want it to please. 
AIM: Suidakraband
yahoo: TcrackerX


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## Star (Aug 31, 2006)

i've had some major issues overclocking this card. stock bios it wasn't even stable at 600 mem. after XT flash it got 700 with 2.1v for a little while, but now locks up. previous one i RMA'd only hit about 625 w/ stock bios. ati drivers won't even install with any of the bios' i've flashed, says INF error. i had to manually force load them in device manager. oh and rivatuner doesn't work with it either. worked fine with the old bios. unfortunately i didn't back it up. could anyone post the stock bios for Sapphire x1800gto2? thanks

Edit: well, some progress. 
after a failed attempt at flashing XTPE bios w/ lower clocks, i had to flash it from DOS back to x1800XT. this time windows detected it properly and ati drivers install properly. ATiTool also now gives me voltage and fan settings, and rivatuner's hardware monitoring works again. 

i've got the mem stable at 684 (1368) but at a whopping 2.2V i don't know how safe that is. core is also at 684 and 1.4V (will hit higher but temps cause the fan to be loud and unbearable)

 getting a zalman VF900-CU tomorrow so i'll see if temps are holding the mem back at all. core i'm not too concerned about. still a bit disapointed in this card though.


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## cisco kidd (Aug 31, 2006)

The Zalman VF900 is not good for the X1800GTO2, neither is an Accelero 2. I tested both units and if you search around forums you will see the stock sink is the best.

Reason for this is it removes the hot air out of case. This card runs hot as it is, VF900 does not remove the hot air it leaves it within case , I did not find the Accelero 2 to do any better than stock cooler when I had a true 1800XT

I have ordered one of these X1800GTO2 from newegg and expect it next week to my USA addy. I am not banking on it flashing obviously these did not make the cut to X1800XT or PE cards thus they are downclocked and sold as is thus the varying success.

Personally if I can up the mem voltage a tiny bit and get 700 out of it I am good to go with core at 600. But I can tell you stock cooling is the best just remove it and lap it and add AS5

I will post back once I have tried the flash and see where I end up, it is a crapshoot but a decent enough 512DDR3 card to hold one off till DX10 and then I will see what the cards are like and wait for revision 2 of DX10 cards.


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## g12rxz (Aug 31, 2006)

I helped a kid out last night who i guess was soliciting peoples advice via IM, he bricked his card last night, seems like these are the xt cores that cant handle the xt speeds.


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## cisco kidd (Aug 31, 2006)

g12rxz said:


> I helped a kid out last night who i guess was soliciting peoples advice via IM, he bricked his card last night, seems like these are the xt cores that cant handle the xt speeds.



I may not even bother with mine then, I may just leave it as is and work with overclocking it best it can do. Remember peeps there is a reason these cards are renamed and sold for a lower asking price

btw I pm'd you on the c3d gto


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## Star (Sep 1, 2006)

After some more testing, i still had bugs with anything above 575 core speed, nomatter how much voltage i used. running windows media player would cause my screen to go black and video card fan on full. Weird though how it passed artifact testing for 5 hours at 684mhz though.

The memory seems stable at 650/1300 with stock voltage but with a XT bios with higher latencies. Very disapointing. I've RMA'd this card to get a refund and i've ordered a x1900XTX instead. If i can't find the stock bios for this card i guess i'll just leave the XT bios and have it at 500/500. 

This is the card $150 mail in rebate!!! $276 after rebate. 

The sad thing is, after all this, this will be my 4th card. 2 RMA refund and 1 RMA replacement. after i get the $150 mail in rebate i will be down about $120 from all of this compared to the frist card i bought (HIS x1800GTO)  (so total of about $346 i've spent for all this and plus $38 for zalman hs/fan) but i rather return it now while i still can, then to spend a entire year with a card i'm unhappy with. Maybe i can sell my old c3d x800gto@XT for $100.

Oh and about the zalman cooler, yeah i thought about that. it's gonna push a lot of heat into my case but i leave the case open anyways. the main thing is it will be much quieter and i'm sure it will cool better with case open or even with a 120mm fan blowing on it. When i get a new case i will make sure it has a fan over the PCI-E slots.

BTW, no one can give me the stock x1800gto2 bios? i would like to reflash it to that before RMA'ing it.


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## pmrdij (Sep 1, 2006)

Star said:


> BTW, no one can give me the stock x1800gto2 bios? i would like to reflash it to that before RMA'ing it.



Star i can get you my copy of the stock BIOS once i get home this evening (sometime after 6 PM PST).  tell me where to send it.  

i've been able to get my card (from Newegg) to 650/700 with 1.325v/2.225v using W1zzards ATI Tool. ATi CCC only provides 575/550 as the max OC's if i remember correctly. at any rate i looped through FEAR, Doom3 and 3DMark03 "Nature" tests and never saw a temp higher than 58C last night (it was cold indoors to begin with - maybe 23C).

***cooling information/rant***
i've got a Zalman VF900-CU on the GPU with some trusty old Tweakmonster Copper Nickel plated BGA sinks on the Memory. used the TM's because for the life of me blue Ramsinks DO NOT look nice on red PCB (wish Zalman considered this when putting such with the VF900-CU - i would have been a lot happier with aluminum sinks painted to look, and poorly, like copper) and on that same note, aesthetically speaking, the Ramsinks from both Vantec and Thermaltake have a goofy looking design and while i'm at it none of them can hold a candle to the Swiftech BGA Ramsinks but those are to tall to fit under the VF900-CU fins.
***end cooling information/rant***

so far my results are pleasing as i've seen about a doubling of my FPS with every title at the same AA/AF settings from my old X850 XT running at 580/594. i run 1280x1024@32 with 4xAA w/AAA Quality and 16xAF w/HQ AF.

i can confirm issues with flashing this card as i encountered the same problem where after flashing to the XT PE i could not install either the 6.7 or 6.8 Catalyst drivers due to an INF not found error.  another note for everyone out there --> after i flashed successfully to the XT PE and finding out that not a driver out there knew what to do with it going backwards to the XT BIOS or back to the GTO2 BIOS resulted in screen corruption after successful flashing (i flashed in DOS using the current ATIFLASH).  scared the @#%! out of me .

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Tatty_One (Sep 1, 2006)

In the UK, the GTO2 is only about £10 cheaper than the 1800XT so it aint worth bothering TBH.  If 650/700 is around what they can do it soes not come anywhere close to an XT so save some time and hassle if your in the UK and get the XT!!!


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## pmrdij (Sep 1, 2006)

Tatty_One said:


> In the UK, the GTO2 is only about £10 cheaper than the 1800XT so it aint worth bothering TBH.  If 650/700 is around what they can do it soes not come anywhere close to an XT so save some time and hassle if your in the UK and get the XT!!!



625/1500 is what you get when you buy the 512MB version of the 1800XT so with a little more tweaking i'll be there..  hassle yes but i consider my purchase a positive result considering my clocks and the price i paid ($209 USD after rebate).  here in the States the 512MB 1800XT has almost all but vanished and where it is available there is a significant price difference.  in some cases the 1800XL even sells for more than this card.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Tatty_One (Sep 2, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> 625/1500 is what you get when you buy the 512MB version of the 1800XT so with a little more tweaking i'll be there..  hassle yes but i consider my purchase a positive result considering my clocks and the price i paid ($209 USD after rebate).  here in the States the 512MB 1800XT has almost all but vanished and where it is available there is a significant price difference.  in some cases the 1800XL even sells for more than this card.
> 
> - Robert (PmR)DeathInJune



Thats why I said in the UK, but you are wrong if you think thats all you can get outta a 512Meg 1800XT, you can in fact get 750/900 with the right setup and there are a few that use these forums that can push to those clocks, if you are just talking stock speeds of course then yeah but your talking tweaking cards, here is one link to a thread that shows one such TPU Member who scores over 11000 in 3D Mark 2005!:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6192&page=77

I appreciate what you are saying cost wise and in the UK the card I was referring to was the one I have which is just the 256MB version but if performance is some peoples thing then they would perhaps rather have a 740/900 (in my case) XT than a 512MB GTO2 with some potential to unlock to 16 pipes that goes at 625/750 and cannot keep up performance wise for really no saving at all.


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## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

Tatty_One said:


> Thats why I said in the UK, but you are wrong if you think thats all you can get outta a 512Meg 1800XT, you can in fact get 750/900 with the right setup and there are a few that use these forums that can push to those clocks, if you are just talking stock speeds of course then yeah but your talking tweaking cards, here is one link to a thread that shows one such TPU Member who scores over 11000 in 3D Mark 2005!:
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=6192&page=77
> 
> I appreciate what you are saying cost wise and in the UK the card I was referring to was the one I have which is just the 256MB version but if performance is some peoples thing then they would perhaps rather have a 740/900 (in my case) XT than a 512MB GTO2 with some potential to unlock to 16 pipes that goes at 625/750 and cannot keep up performance wise for really no saving at all.



well i obviously have some more OC'ing to try out.  i've spent most of my time trying to find out what those in the know consider to be the highest volts i should attempt at the memory level as when i go over 700 i get artifacts even at 2.225v.  i'll have to review that link and see where the rainbow leads me .  for myself it was all about the extra 256MB.  so far 650/700 makes me quite happy as since day one of AA/AF implementation i've not enjoyed going below 4xAA or 8xAF for any reason and with some titles i've had to do that up until now with my Sapphire X850XT.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 2, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> Star i can get you my copy of the stock BIOS once i get home this evening (sometime after 6 PM PST).  tell me where to send it.



sent u a PM with my email.



pmrdij said:


> ***cooling information/rant***
> i've got a Zalman VF900-CU on the GPU with some trusty old Tweakmonster Copper Nickel plated BGA sinks on the Memory. used the TM's because for the life of me blue Ramsinks DO NOT look nice on red PCB (wish Zalman considered this when putting such with the VF900-CU - i would have been a lot happier with aluminum sinks painted to look, and poorly, like copper) and on that same note, aesthetically speaking, the Ramsinks from both Vantec and Thermaltake have a goofy looking design and while i'm at it none of them can hold a candle to the Swiftech BGA Ramsinks but those are to tall to fit under the VF900-CU fins.
> ***end cooling information/rant***


 blah, who cares anyways, when the card is installed it's upside down anyways


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## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

Star said:


> blah, who cares anyways, when the card is installed it's upside down anyways



not with my case --> V1000 from Lian Li is a pre-BTX experiment and as a result i see everything.  here's an image of my system back in 2004 when i got this case: 







funny enough i am seeing better temps than those i've seen posted as with the card not being upside down the heat travels easily upward through the heatpipes as would happen in nature (cold down/hot up).  anyhow email on its way in a few moments.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 2, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> not with my case --> V1000 from Lian Li is a pre-BTX experiment and as a result i see everything.  here's an image of my system back in 2004 when i got this case



 wow! i want! i absolutely love that case! i was looking at this case just a few days ago which is also a Lian-Li case. I love how the board mounts upside down and the psu on bottom. and the compartments. looks like a mac G5 kind of.  i like that window on yours, it's very tasteful and not too flashy. I don't see anything like that on newegg except the server version, but it's a v2000 i think. oh here is the one u have i think. awesome! it's cheaper too.

BTW, whats in ur case that is making that red glow? one of those cathode ray tubes or whatever it's called?


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## Star (Sep 2, 2006)

well i've just reflashed the card back to the stock bios. thanks pmrdij! 

i did notice something odd though. whenever flashing in ATiWinFlash after reboot, no drivers will install. maybe it's not programming the device ID properly or something. using ATiFlash in DOS worked fine though. 

your screen corruption may have been because you had ATiTool set to auto-overclock ur card on windows boot, and the stock bios has lower memory latencies, thus making ur card have severe artifacts when running at the same speed u had stable in the XT-PE bios.


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## 2r4z0r2 (Sep 2, 2006)

can someone send me the gto2 stock bios please

2r4z0r2@gmail.com is the address


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## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

Star said:


> wow! i want! i absolutely love that case! i was looking at this case just a few days ago which is also a Lian-Li case. I love how the board mounts upside down and the psu on bottom. and the compartments. looks like a mac G5 kind of.  i like that window on yours, it's very tasteful and not too flashy. I don't see anything like that on newegg except the server version, but it's a v2000 i think. oh here is the one u have i think. awesome! it's cheaper too.
> 
> BTW, whats in ur case that is making that red glow? one of those cathode ray tubes or whatever it's called?



it's a phenominal case.  kind of a pain when it comes to cable management and having hands the size of mine but aside from that it is worth every dollar you spend on it.  i see they've tweaked it some more after looking at the product link you provided to Newegg.  interesting.  the top fan idea actually seems like a good move as it would certainly further the lowering of temps at the Graphics area of the case.  can't seem to find a side panel like such to buy for my existing case...  damn.  as for the lighting those are cold cathodes from the original source of such (PCMods.com - now known as Directron).  almost five years old and still lighting up 2/3's of my apartment .



Star said:


> well i've just reflashed the card back to the stock bios. thanks pmrdij!
> 
> i did notice something odd though. whenever flashing in ATiWinFlash after reboot, no drivers will install. maybe it's not programming the device ID properly or something. using ATiFlash in DOS worked fine though.
> 
> your screen corruption may have been because you had ATiTool set to auto-overclock ur card on windows boot, and the stock bios has lower memory latencies, thus making ur card have severe artifacts when running at the same speed u had stable in the XT-PE bios.



actually i hadn't even bothered with installing ATi Tool until after i got the drivers issue situated..  i think i am calling Newegg on Tuesday and buying into a year of net replacement.  i remember the days where everything i bought could be RMA'd through them throughout the warranty period.  those were the days .



2r4z0r2 said:


> can someone send me the gto2 stock bios please
> 
> 2r4z0r2@gmail.com is the address



sent .

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## overclock[r] (Sep 2, 2006)

PooPoo said:


> Yes, the review from the computer mag tested which could run in XT speed. It should be selling for around $260... which is a sweet price for 1800XT
> 
> It's worth to upgrade from X800GTO2 @ 850XT speed? Heard DirectX 10.0 is coming soon, should I wait for the new cards or forget about video card and upgrade to AM2 platform instread?



u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
thats called a good deal LMAO


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## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

overclock[r] said:


> u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
> thats called a good deal LMAO



saw that, however, MSI and i fell out years ago when one of their KT333 boards, which supported the new Barton's at the time, fried my workstation video card and they refused to do anything despite my proving to them that by supporting the 333 speed they had neglected to lock the AGP to 66MHz.  upon first boot with my new CPU i saw the scolling progress bar on the WinXP splash screen replicated about 75 times all over the splash...  pulled my Matrox card and swapped in a Geforce 4 card from MSI, got into Windows without issue and checked the AGP speed and if i remember correctly it was somewhere in the 90's.  nice $$$ product that killed a $$$ product.  haven't gone back to them for anything since and likely won't regardless of the cost.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 2, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> i see they've tweaked it some more after looking at the product link you provided to Newegg.  interesting.  the top fan idea actually seems like a good move as it would certainly further the lowering of temps at the Graphics area of the case.  can't seem to find a side panel like such to buy for my existing case...  damn.



I actually like your version better even though it has less cooling, u can actually see ur video cards and stuff  



overclock[r] said:


> u no what, this is off topic, but newegg has the msi x1900xtx for 276$
> thats called a good deal LMAO



Yeah! i just bought one! can't wait to get it. comes next day from newegg usually, but because of dumb labor day i have to wait until tuesday. it's in the damn ups facility i work at too! sucks that i can't just find my box and walk out with it haha


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## OCcsdude (Sep 2, 2006)

I am considering whether I should get the gto2 or that x1900xtx.  Should I get the gto2 and wait out for the dx10 cards, or should I splurge on the x1900xtx?  Any thoughts?

Btw, these forums look great and I can see myself spending lots of time here.


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## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

OCcsdude said:


> I am considering whether I should get the gto2 or that x1900xtx.  Should I get the gto2 and wait out for the dx10 cards, or should I splurge on the x1900xtx?  Any thoughts?
> 
> Btw, these forums look great and I can see myself spending lots of time here.



so far after revamping my GTO2 BIOS i am up to 700/800 at 1.450/2.100.  bizarre outcome of such at the moment is that despite my BIOS having a profile for Overdrive i don't have access to the settings within it..  error comes up reading: "ATI Overdrive capabilities have not been properly initialized yet. Please try again later."

Tatty_One you wouldn't happen to know how the hell one would correct being disallowed access to the CCC Overdrive options?



Star said:


> Yeah! i just bought one! can't wait to get it. comes next day from neweg usually, but because of dumb labor day i have to wait until tuesday. it's in the damn ups facility i work at too! sucks that i can't just find my box and walk out with it haha



you'll love it .  that's flipping funny that you can't even pick it up yourself what with being employed there .

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## OCcsdude (Sep 2, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> so far after revamping my GTO2 BIOS i am up to 700/800 at 1.450/2.100.



That sounds very nice.  How do you think it would perform next to a x1900xt?


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 2, 2006)

OCcsdude said:


> That sounds very nice.  How do you think it would perform next to a x1900xt?



review: FEAR x1900XT/XTX and Doom3 X1900XT/XTX.  in comparison with my speeds Doom3 at 1280x1024x32 4xAA/AAA/16xHQAF averaged 101FPS and FEAR at 1024x768x32 4xAA/AAA/16xHQAF averaged 90FPS.  problem is there is no guarantees with OCing..  hell this ATi CCC Overdrive issue is driving me nuts...

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 2, 2006)

For those of you who are getting memory instability if you try going over 700, I am assuming you have raised the voltages but if you do, try lowering your MVDDQ voltages to around 2.010 and that will reduce your temps a little that may give you a little more play on the memory Mhz.


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 3, 2006)

Tatty_One said:


> For those of you who are getting memory instability if you try going over 700, I am assuming you have raised the voltages but if you do, try lowering your MVDDQ voltages to around 2.010 and that will reduce your temps a little that may give you a little more play on the memory Mhz.



problem is that the memory on this card has fairly lower latency timings than the XT PE and thus can't handle being clocked higher without more voltage or having the timings adjusted.  once i set mine to the XT timings of 12, 10, 6, 10, 14, 0x46, 0x26 i was off to 800MHz+v at 2.100v.  course then i done screwed things up and tried to change the default clocks back to 500/500 with the XT memory timings at the original stock GTO2 GPU voltage of 1.100...  after trying this the card has effectively been fried.  honestly i was thinking that this thing wouldn't last seeing as when the driver took hold of it either at stock or OC'd i saw strange behaviors of which made me think of returning it for a replacement to begin with.  in the end whenever i make it back to my desktop i've got a modified BIOS that let me hit 700/800 at the XT PE GPU voltage so when my replacement arrives from Newegg i'll reflash and call it a day .

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## Star (Sep 3, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> in the end whenever i make it back to my desktop i've got a modified BIOS that let me hit 700/800 at the XT PE GPU voltage so when my replacement arrives from Newegg i'll reflash and call it a day



IF your next card doesn't SUCK like both of mine from newegg did.


----------



## Star (Sep 3, 2006)

OCcsdude said:


> I am considering whether I should get the gto2 or that x1900xtx.  Should I get the gto2 and wait out for the dx10 cards, or should I splurge on the x1900xtx?  Any thoughts?



get the x1900xtx it's not that much more after rebate. getting these x1800gto2's is quite a gamble i think. as long as u can wait 6-8 weeks for rebate though.


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## pmrdij (Sep 3, 2006)

Star said:


> IF your next card doesn't SUCK like both of mine from newegg did.



yeah well the prayers have been spoken already asking for forgiveness from Hardware Gods and for them to smile upon me with a suitable replacement .  "it won't happen again!"  anyhow like i said once you alter the memory timings you can break 700/800 at the stock memory voltage.  GPU has to be moved up to 1.425 in ATi Tool but that's because such is the same voltage XT PE's have when clocked to 700MHz..



Star said:


> get the x1900xtx it's not that much more after rebate. getting these x1800gto2's is quite a gamble i think. as long as u can wait 6-8 weeks for rebate though.



no can do as my hatred for MSI is that great.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 3, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> yeah well the prayers have been spoken already asking for forgiveness from Hardware Gods and for them to smile upon me with a suitable replacement .  "it won't happen again!"  anyhow like i said once you alter the memory timings you can break 700/800 at the stock memory voltage.  GPU has to be moved up to 1.425 in ATi Tool but that's because such is the same voltage XT PE's have when clocked to 700MHz..



i thought i had modified the timings already by flashing a XTPE bios on it but maybe i didn't. with the stock bios you sent me, i can't seem to get over 684 memory just like the XTPE bios. when i opened the XTPE bios in rabit, it was showing the XT timings. maybe it's an issue with ATIWinflash, just like the INF issues. the core will hit 700 stable on 1.4v though. but very hot and loud.

EDIT: i tried reflashing to XT bios from a floppy, after verifying in rabit the timings were different, but i still can't get over 700 mem stable (even on 2.225v) so i flashed back.

this card is officially poop


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 4, 2006)

Star said:


> i thought i had modified the timings already by flashing a XTPE bios on it but maybe i didn't. with the stock bios you sent me, i can't seem to get over 684 memory just like the XTPE bios. when i opened the XTPE bios in rabit, it was showing the XT timings. maybe it's an issue with ATIWinflash, just like the INF issues. the core will hit 700 stable on 1.4v though. but very hot and loud.
> 
> EDIT: i tried reflashing to XT bios from a floppy, after verifying in rabit the timings were different, but i still can't get over 700 mem stable (even on 2.225v) so i flashed back.
> 
> this card is officially poop



by the sounds of it that card is infact "poop" .

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## cgraham54 (Sep 4, 2006)

*Stock BIOS Needed*

Hey star or robert, would you send me the stock gto2 bios? thanks, email is sent to your PM


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## Star (Sep 5, 2006)

cgraham54 said:


> Hey star or robert, would you send me the stock gto2 bios? thanks, email is sent to your PM



sent.

w1zzard should post it soon on the bios page hopefully.


----------



## cgraham54 (Sep 5, 2006)

*Thanks!*

Got it, thanks Star


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## trog100 (Sep 5, 2006)

my 1900xtx lagged in oblivion if i didnt get the settings right.. so did my x850 they were just lower settings and resolutions.. 

if u insist on playing a higher resolution and settings than the card will handle.. lousy framerates are what u get.. its eye candy or frame rates even with a 1900xtx where oblivion is concerned the same applies to fear..

i put smooth frame rates above eye candy some perhaps dont.. but both games do allow lots of adjustments..

my monitor runs a native resolution of 1680 x 1050.. i cant run many games in that resolution thow.. even with a tweaked 1900xtx.. 

trog


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## Star (Sep 5, 2006)

This may be a bit off topic but... got my x1900xtx today and i got to try out the zalman VF900







cisco kidd said:


> The Zalman VF900 is not good for the X1800GTO2, neither is an Accelero 2. I tested both units and if you search around forums you will see the stock sink is the best.
> 
> Reason for this is it removes the hot air out of case. This card runs hot as it is, VF900 does not remove the hot air it leaves it within case , I did not find the Accelero 2 to do any better than stock cooler when I had a true 1800XT



Yeah this cooler does kind of suck. and not just because of the hot air being in the case. even with my case open and a 90mm fan blowing directly on it i'm getting very high temps, nearly 70c with core at 1.45v @ 700mhz. I'm gonna swap heatsink stickers with the x1800gto2 before i return it and try that with some AC5. (the stock stink on the XTX has a VERY poor lapping job, u can see and feel the ridges.) i just wish the stock cooler wasn't so darn LOUD.






oh and the mem on the XTX seems to be stable at 850 @ 2.2v w00t!!!

Edit: Sapphire sticker wouldn't come off without ripping so i pushed it back down before it was ruined. guess i'm stuck with this poorly lapped one.


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 5, 2006)

Well firstly for the whole day I had my Accelero 2 (had to rma it!) it dropped my idle temps by 7C and load temps by 12C, at 740 core on 1.5V I never went above 74C at load and it's like 10 times quieter than the stock cooler, I spose we all have differing experiences, I should get my replaced one this week and that might be a dog!


----------



## OCcsdude (Sep 5, 2006)

One thing I noticed about the msi card on newegg is that the core clock speed appears to be 25mhz less than a normal 1900xtx (according to newegg).  I wonder why this is?  Just a note.


----------



## overclock[r] (Sep 6, 2006)

OCcsdude said:


> One thing I noticed about the msi card on newegg is that the core clock speed appears to be 25mhz less than a normal 1900xtx (according to newegg).  I wonder why this is?  Just a note.



thats just the 2-d clocks i believe


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 6, 2006)

Star did you get your V1000 from Newegg as well?  were those the numbers within such?  i was using Artic Alumina with my VF900-CU and never saw numbers above 65C while looping 3DMark03 Nature tests at 700/800 1.425v/2.100..  

at any rate i sent my card back to Newegg today.  i had the same issue with the Sapphire sticker tearing apart during removal but as far as i am concerned if you are going to cover Ruby COVER HER.  i don't have a case window to look down at flaws in assembly.  if they reject the RMA on account of that i'll be shocked as Sapphire can easily slap a new sticker on it and maybe do it right this time.  can't believe they used such a shotty paper sticker to cover Ruby in the first place..

anyhow Tatty i am calling out to you for guidance as your post count implies that you've been around the block here.  can you please review this here thread and give me your two cents.  thanks.

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


----------



## Star (Sep 6, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> Star did you get your V1000 from Newegg as well?  were those the numbers within such?  i was using Artic Alumina with my VF900-CU and never saw numbers above 65C while looping 3DMark03 Nature tests at 700/800 1.425v/2.100..



no i just have a old case with the side panel open and a 90mm fan blowing on it. i can't put my core voltage over 1.35V on this GPU otherwise temps go above 65C and that seems to make it artifact slightly. maybe i didn't put enough AC5 on it. the VF900 had a really nice finish on the bottom so i smeared as little as i possibly could of grease on the GPU, but while still covering every inch.

Edit: OR... maybe x1900's get hotter?

oh btw i got 5966 3dmarks in 06


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 6, 2006)

Star said:


> no i just have a old case with the side panel open and a 90mm fan blowing on it. i can't put my core voltage over 1.35V on this GPU otherwise temps go above 65C and that seems to make it artifact slightly. maybe i didn't put enough AC5 on it. the VF900 had a really nice finish on the bottom so i smeared as little as i possibly could of grease on the GPU, but while still covering every inch.
> 
> Edit: OR... maybe x1900's get hotter?
> 
> oh btw i got 5966 3dmarks in 06



got to setup everything in your V1000 .  you'll enjoy a whole new world.  Lian Li is tops to me.  i have an Athlon XP 2500+ OC'd to 3200+ numbers (10x225) in a Lian Li PC70 and with just two 120mm fans that are virtually silent and the low noise Panaflo 90/80mm fans in PSU my chip never breaks 60C under Prime95 24+ hour load with nothing more than an external Innovatek Konvekt radiator.  i still can't believe i got this rad for $99 new and free shipping years ago.  great product that still sells for $150+ just about everywhere.  funny enough this particular system has a RAID 0 array as well, a Sapphire 9800 Pro XT (modded Pro) and 1GB Corsair XMS 3200C2.  all my girlfriend does with it is browse the web and watch movies from time to time.  can you tell that it was my last system before A64's??  if it weren't for my damn OC fetish i would downclock it but i think i am going to let it eventually die so that i can have an excuse to build her an AMD Macintosh system as i am tired of her complaining that my security measures prevent things from loading on MySpace...

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 6, 2006)

don't have the v1000 yet, my bank account is looking very sad right now after all this so i'm waiting


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 6, 2006)

Star said:


> don't have the v1000 yet, my bank account is looking very sad right now after all this so i'm waiting



i know your pain .

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


----------



## popdiezel (Sep 7, 2006)

can someone tell me step by step on how to flash bios to make my x1800gto2 an x1800xt? ive been trying to do this for a really long time and now the card is popular sooooooo if someone could help me that would be great! thanks.


----------



## overclock[r] (Sep 7, 2006)

theres a thread for this im too lazy to linky so search urself lol
basically u want to flash to a x1800xl, 
if u have vivo, i think all x1800gtos have vivo, then flash to vivo bios, ask dolf for bios modding help


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 7, 2006)

overclock[r] said:


> theres a thread for this im too lazy to linky so search urself lol
> basically u want to flash to a x1800xl,
> if u have vivo, i think all x1800gtos have vivo, then flash to vivo bios, ask dolf for bios modding help



ok wait you're flashing the BIOS of a 256MB card on top of a 512MB card?

edit: son of a bitch these have gone out of stock already at Newegg...  wonder what is going to happen with my replacement situation .  looks like i am going to have to pull another hundred out of the pockets and just go to a 1900XT...sigh.

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## pmrdij (Sep 7, 2006)

card is officially no longer carried at Newegg according to their Radeon 1K choice list...  calling them to discuss moving on up to an x1900XT during my lunch today..

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## Star (Sep 8, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> card is officially no longer carried at Newegg according to their Radeon 1K choice list...  calling them to discuss moving on up to an x1900XT during my lunch today..
> 
> - Robert (PmR)DeathInJune



oh really... interesting. maybe sapphire ran out of refurbished/defective stock from ATi. or maybe too many returns from people like us? LOL  i sent mine back today so i should make the RMA deadline by 1 day. should get about $200 or something. they charged me $8 out of the restocking fee for that combo sapphire shirt that was free lol. bastards


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 8, 2006)

Star said:


> oh really... interesting. maybe sapphire ran out of refurbished/defective stock from ATi. or maybe too many returns from people like us? LOL  i sent mine back today so i should make the RMA deadline by 1 day. should get about $200 or something. they charged me $8 out of the restocking fee for that combo sapphire shirt that was free lol. bastards



well from the product reviews i read before the product was pulled entirely it seemed that a good many RMA'd the firt card due to problems even without them dorking around with the card.

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## OCcsdude (Sep 8, 2006)

The card is in stock as of the time of this post.  It's at $232.99 now though.


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## pmrdij (Sep 8, 2006)

OCcsdude said:


> The card is in stock as of the time of this post.  It's at $232.99 now though.



not at this minute it isn't.  only "GTO2" based cards available are all X800's.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


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## cgraham54 (Sep 8, 2006)

Ok now my gto2 is acting very strange.  It was that time for me to do my spring (fall?) cleaning and formated my HD.  After installing XP and installing the MOBO drivers, booting the computer works fine.  I then install the cats and I get the xp progress bar, but once it is suppose to go to the log in screen the monitor goes blank.  I boot into safe mode and unistall the drivers, it then boots fine.  Install drivers, no go again. 

Booted back into safe mode, uninstalled drivers.
Booted into normal xp, it auto installed the drivers and I then set the resolution to 1280x1024... monitor goes blank.

I'm using the stock gto2 bios.

Computer specs as follows:
AMD 64 4000+
EPOX EP-9U1697GLI ULI M1697
Corsair Twinx2048-3200c2 (2GB)
120GB HD
Antec SmartPower 2.0 500w

Any ideas?  I've ran the RAM through memtest no problems there.


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 8, 2006)

I have had similar kind of problems before but not specifically with the GTO2 of course.  It was a bit haphazard in remedying for me so won't necessarily work for you.  If I remember correctly on hardware installation i actually loaded the "standard Windows VGA driver", I could not go anywhere near ATI drivers or I had problems, so windows on statup at installation point detected a VGA card, I installed ther windows standard driver and I got in without problems.

I then ran the ATI driver/CCC setup which installed and all was fine.  At the time I read a couple of articles with people who had similar problems and they did not use the windoews standard driver but instead downloaded only the driver element of ATI Catalyist, not CCC or the other pile of you know what.  You can do a driver only download from a number of sites specialising in modded drivers like "extreme systems" just google "Modded ATI drivers".

Once downloaded you might as well try to install them straight from desktop and see if that works and it might, it did for some, if not delete all driver elements from windows using something like "Driver cleaner pro" then reboot and on VGA card hardware detection, having alread unpacked/copied the driver only to a floppy or CD, install just the drivers that way.  If that works you can then load the complete catalyst package should you wish.

I do think though that these problems occur for a whole host of reasons and sometimes it's as much by luck as anything else that we manage to solve them!


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## pmrdij (Sep 8, 2006)

Newegg just issued me a refund to my preferred card.  that should tell you something about this product.  it was on their site for what?  just over a month?

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


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## cgraham54 (Sep 8, 2006)

I've requested an RMA on mine aswell, will be sending it back very soon... I was able to get it to boot into windows.  Problem is it does not send a DVI signal once the drivers are loaded... Not cool...


----------



## noneed4me2 (Sep 9, 2006)

After a fresh XP install make sure your netframework is reinstalled and up to date. Newer versions off the CCC drivers require Netframework 2.0. If your Xp is "invalid" you can try and find a place hosting the files as MS update will block your attempts if it detects a non genuine copy.


----------



## tommyboy71 (Sep 10, 2006)

i flashed my gto2 with the xtpe bios...runs fine. but i had to force the x1800 series drivers throught the "ATI"/"support" folder and i'm only getting 7778 on 3dmark05.:shadedshu 
Is that cause of the driver? I've read of other peeps having this problem but ATI CCC gives me an INF error but I can't load the standard VGA driver to get passed it.


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 10, 2006)

tommyboy71 said:


> i flashed my gto2 with the xtpe bios...runs fine. but i had to force the x1800 series drivers throught the "ATI"/"support" folder and i'm only getting 7778 on 3dmark05.:shadedshu
> Is that cause of the driver? I've read of other peeps having this problem but ATI CCC gives me an INF error but I can't load the standard VGA driver to get passed it.



Ahhhh all these problems, in the UK I got my 1800xt for the same price as the 1800GTO2 a short while back and I am so glad!  Cannot understand still why anyone in UK would buy the GTO2 with XT's so cheap (if you know where to find them).


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 10, 2006)

looks like i am going back to my x850 XT this week as i now need to be heading to CA to visit a friend dying of cancer...  overall i was happy with my GTO2 but if that damn CCC Overdrive issue could have been resolved i wouldn't have goofed my card.  at any rate i will have to wait until the x2000's (i assume that will be the naming convention for the DX10 cards) come out before my next upgrade attempt as paying anything over $300 for DX9.0c support at this moment is absurd to me.

- Robert (PmR)DeathInJune


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 10, 2006)

pmrdij said:


> looks like i am going back to my x850 XT this week as i now need to be heading to CA to visit a friend dying of cancer...  overall i was happy with my GTO2 but if that damn CCC Overdrive issue could have been resolved i wouldn't have goofed my card.  at any rate i will have to wait until the x2000's (i assume that will be the naming convention for the DX10 cards) come out before my next upgrade attempt as paying anything over $300 for DX9.0c support at this moment is absurd to me.
> 
> - Robert (PmR)DeathInJune



IMHO sack the CCC all together, download the drivers mentioned in my spec., just google them and you will get to the site, you can download these rock solid stable as just drivers, with CCC, just with control panel or none at all plus these drivers will give you an extra 100+ in 3D Mark 2005.


----------



## trog100 (Sep 10, 2006)

i would do what tatty says.. the .net thing is just for ccc to run the drivers dont need it.. 

i use the ccc cos i need the overdrive part but otherwise i wouldnt.. i binned it with x850 card..

trog


----------



## tommyboy71 (Sep 10, 2006)

Tatty_One said:


> IMHO sack the CCC all together, download the drivers mentioned in my spec., just google them and you will get to the site, you can download these rock solid stable as just drivers, with CCC, just with control panel or none at all plus these drivers will give you an extra 100+ in 3D Mark 2005.



tatty one, are u refering to the omega drivers or dna? and will overdrive still work with those?
and 1 other thing (sorry to be such a newbe), could u email me the standard windosw vga driver, since windows can't seem to find it - even in safe mode.


----------



## pmrdij (Sep 10, 2006)

Tatty_One said:


> IMHO sack the CCC all together, download the drivers mentioned in my spec., just google them and you will get to the site, you can download these rock solid stable as just drivers, with CCC, just with control panel or none at all plus these drivers will give you an extra 100+ in 3D Mark 2005.



well problem is that it is the only known item (to me atleast) that appropriately switches gears between 2D/3D for ATi.  neither ATi Tray Tools or ATi Tool have ever done the trick for me on that front.  i simply don't want my card running clocks or voltages of which Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Director, Firefox, Trillian or whatever i've got open won't take advantage of in 2D.  sure it might result in some kick in performance with Maya or 3D Studio but still that's not likely enough to make me want to constantly run at a higher clock or voltage.  like with Trog i wouldn't use the CCC if it weren't for the Overdrive functionality.

btw who doesn't already know of Omega, DNA or NGOHQ drivers?  i know i do . 

- Robert (pMr)dEATHiNjUNE


----------



## trog100 (Sep 11, 2006)

atitool worked a treat with my x850 card.. the 3d detect worked a treat.. slow for 2d and whatever i wanted for 3d..

but.. with my 1900 card no joy at all.. which is why i use the ccc thing and its overdrive..

thow with any cats past 6.5 i cant use the overdrive to it full settings.. they all knock my selection back a bit for some reason as yet unknown to me.. before 6.5 i get what i ask for.. after 6.5 it gets lessened as soon as i hit apply.. quite clearly deliberate on the part of ati.. there is nothing written about it thow.. 

trog


----------



## boead (Sep 14, 2006)

wesleysnipes said:


> Sound Card... After I downloaded the ATI Tool (ATITool_0.25b14), I discovered my card was already unlocked with all 16 pipelines enabled! Download this tool... click Settings, change Use Device dropdown to:    0x7109: R520, Bus: 1,Dev:0     then scroll down and it will display your Active Pipelines. Maybe yours is already unlocked too? Bought mine (Sapphire X1800GTO2 512mb) from Newegg about 2 weeks ago. Once you have it unlocked, check this info that was provided to me earlier:
> 
> Ok, at 1.42V (WITH PROPER COOLING!) I can almost run at 700/750 no problem. Its the heat I'm worry about. Currently I have it set to 675/700 and its running fine. Max temps at 700/750 were 90C! My max temps at 675/700 are in the low 70's, which i feel more comfortable with.
> 
> Personally I am being a chicken right now and only running 550/600 with Voltages of: 1.250 for VGPU (graphics core) and 2.113 (memory core) for MVDDC. If anyone has some Awesome Core and Memory clocks they would like to share while running the stock cooler, that would be cool!  Hope this helps.



I just got an X1800GTO2 Limited, it was factory unlocked with 16 pipelines and all voltage settings available. 
Its doing 675/1300 out of the box easily. With better cooling it should do 700/1400 or close to it.

I’m building a new home office PC. Actually I’m building a few new PC’s for my office (Desktop Publishing, PostScript ripping and some video editing/converting for webcasting). I will be overclocking one of the new machines and water-cooling it for my home office use. 

I started with a Asus P5B and a Core2 6300 and a 2GB pair of Corsair XMS2 6400Pro. 

From fiddling around all day, between actually working! I found that the BIOS setting are finicky. With mostly keeping things on auto, I was able to run Prime95 (I let it run an hour then stopped it) at 7 x 400 5-5-5-15 and 7 X 425 5-5-5-15. Anything above 425 would run 3D Marks but not Prime for more then a minute or two before halting. If I turn the timing to 6-6-6 or 5-6-6 it won’t even boot! Lower worked worse then faster, actually anything besides 5-5-5-15 didn’t work well. This is Corsair XMS26400PRO, 1 GB stick. The second stick in the pair was horrible and I got a refund from Newegg.  

This is on a P5B. So, I ordered a P5B-Deluxe and a Scythe SCINF-1000 today. I also replaced (returned to Newegg) the Corsair XMS2 pair with (2) 1GB G.SKILL DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). We’ll see how it does. I hope I do better then the Corsair 6400Pro, if not I’m going to try the XMS2 1066 8500 but its priced near four hundred. 

This was done with a Core2 6300, I also have a Core2 6400 still new in the box that I have to try out still. I just realized too late that the P5B-Delux is the board to get, its got ALL the extreme voltage setting I need. I’ll be water cooling this system and I’m not planning on water cooling the NB. I was planning on water cooling the video card. The NB and SB coolers on the Deluxe look nice. I have a 120mm Zalman fan that mounts over the PCIe slots which will move air across the video card memory sinks and down onto the board. The LianLi case will have two 400GB Maxtor Diamond11 drives and two ROMS. There are two quiet 80mm fans pushing air through the two Swiftech radiators and another 80mm out the back as well as in the Antec 500w PSU. I use a 6-way fan controller to turn the fans up and down. I have a 400watt Zalman PSU right now but it wont’ work with the new board. 

Some results:

Core2 (i965p) 1866mhz (7 x 266) I’m getting with a PCIe X1800
3D Mark 2003 – 17600 at 675/1300 X1800 PCIe

Core2 (i965p) 2800mhz (7 x 400) I’m getting with a PCIe X1800
3D Mark 2003 – 19700 at 675/1300 X1800 PCIe
3D Mark 2005 – 10450 at 675/1300 X1800 PCIe

On my current P4e (i875) 3800mhz (253 x 15) with an AGP X800XT
3D Mark 2003 – 13200 at 520/1080 X800XT AGP
3D Mark 2005 – 6350 at 675/1300 X800XT AGP

That’s a 50% increase in 3D Mark 2003 performance and a 65% performance increase in 3DMark 2005. 

My Core2 goal is 3400 to 3600 mhz.


----------



## cisco kidd (Sep 14, 2006)

Nice work with the 6300 on the Asus board, but personally the DS3 is an awesome board and it would be my choice or the DS4 outa UK,, DQ6 being the equivalent of the Asus deluxe P5B

I got this same X1800GTO2 512DDR3, mine flashed to the X1800XT bios , from what I have seen flashing to the XT PE bios will actually produce worse performance, further back I saw someone mention they flashed to XT PE and 3D05 was coming in at 77xx points. The timings on the XT PE bios are alot tighter and the mem and core need higher voltage. Also the temps on this card really skyrocket once you increase voice over 1.4

So far my card works totally as a X1800XT 512. I have not bother going further but I will make a couple of voltage changes very minor and watch temps then do some benches.


----------



## Tatty_One (Sep 14, 2006)

cisco kidd said:


> Nice work with the 6300 on the Asus board, but personally the DS3 is an awesome board and it would be my choice or the DS4 outa UK,, DQ6 being the equivalent of the Asus deluxe P5B
> 
> I got this same X1800GTO2 512DDR3, mine flashed to the X1800XT bios , from what I have seen flashing to the XT PE bios will actually produce worse performance, further back I saw someone mention they flashed to XT PE and 3D05 was coming in at 77xx points. The timings on the XT PE bios are alot tighter and the mem and core need higher voltage. Also the temps on this card really skyrocket once you increase voice over 1.4
> 
> So far my card works totally as a X1800XT 512. I have not bother going further but I will make a couple of voltage changes very minor and watch temps then do some benches.




Can I just ask, if your card works totally as an xt, what clocks and 3D scores are you getting?  I thought about getting the GTO2 a few weeks ago when I got my XT but the xt was actually cheaper than the GTO2 so went with that to save all the messing.

Am impressed that some are shipping with the full 16 pipes, are they morte exspensive?


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## tommyboy71 (Sep 14, 2006)

wow those are nice scores!!!
 i ran 3dmark05 (demo version) with an x1800gto2 flashed to xt and maxed out to 689/792.
i have an ecs nforce4-a939 motherboard and a an amd 64bit processor(i think its an atholon) 1.8 ghz/3000+ and 1 gig of ram. but for some reason im only scoring 7805. 
anyone have any clue why?
...tattyone, your right about the xtpe bios. i flashed to that first and i had to force the drivers(because of the 103 type bios) and i was scoring 7785. i hope that doesn't have anthing to do with it.. btw i was comparing the memory timing of the xt to the xtpe in rabit and they look the same to me.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 14, 2006)

tommyboy71 said:


> wow those are nice scores!!!
> i ran 3dmark05 (demo version) with an x1800gto2 flashed to xt and maxed out to 689/792.
> i have an ecs nforce4-a939 motherboard and a an amd 64bit processor(i think its an atholon) 1.8 ghz/3000+ and 1 gig of ram. but for some reason im only scoring 7805.
> anyone have any clue why?
> ...tattyone, your right about the xtpe bios. i flashed to that first and i had to force the drivers(because of the 103 type bios) and i was scoring 7785. i hope that doesn't have anthing to do with it.. btw i was comparing the memory timing of the xt to the xtpe in rabit and they look the same to me.




I think you are right but does the GTO2 have the 1.2ns memory?, I ask because when people say that they are getting XT performance etc are they really?, I am seeing memory speeds of under 800 whilst I can actually get 920 outta mine and on the core I have not even tried yet to go beyond 740 because of heat issues with the stock cooler, I just got the accelero x2 but didnt have the chance to push further as my PSU blew and took my mobo with it so will have to rebuild this weekend and then I can start pushing the card again.


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## boead (Sep 14, 2006)

WOW, 

Just got  P5B Deluxe-WiFi board and a Scythe SCINF-1000 today. I stuffed a stick of G.SKILL DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) on it with the same Core2 6300 and its doing 3150MHz (7 x 450) running Prime and 3D Marks in loops like an animal! 

Can someone suggest a cooler for this X1800GTO2LE card?


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## Tatty_One (Sep 14, 2006)

boead said:


> WOW,
> 
> Just got  P5B Deluxe-WiFi board and a Scythe SCINF-1000 today. I stuffed a stick of G.SKILL DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) on it with the same Core2 6300 and its doing 3150MHz (7 x 450) running Prime and 3D Marks in loops like an animal!
> 
> Can someone suggest a cooler for this X1800GTO2LE card?



depends how much U wanna spend really, the Artic Cooler Accelero x2 is pretty cheap, easy to fit (5 minutes) and dropped my GPU by 9C at idle and 15C at load over the stock cooling, in the UK I paid £14 which is about $23US, probably cheaper in the US.  Forgot to mention earlier, there are a couple in these forums who can get their XT's to 11000 3D Marks 2005 so I have a long way to go yet!


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## Tatty_One (Sep 14, 2006)

here is the cooler at Newegg, read reviews:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186002


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## ctown.myth (Sep 19, 2006)

hi, i just got my gto2, and im kinda new to this overclocking thing, but my friend had a x800 gto2 and told me that you could flash the bios to the xt speeds, can anyone tell me how? thx. and also if anyone has their gto2 default bios could you please send it to me ctown.myth@gmail.com. thx


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## Steky (Sep 19, 2006)

*X1800GTO2 BIOS Flash to X1800XT*

 I would like to have the bios.


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## cisco kidd (Sep 19, 2006)

Steky said:


> I would like to have the bios.



god you'd think people would be familiar with search function, 
http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/

use bios from date added Jan 29/06 the Sapphire X1800XT 512


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## Steky (Sep 19, 2006)

I have tried this bios (and the others from this page) a lot of times but it wont work. There is message in AtiWinFlash "version mismatch".


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## Steky (Sep 19, 2006)

*Please Help*

I have flashed bios X1800GTO2 to X1800XT with Winflash v.1.06 (forced). But grafic card is unstable. When I tried to flash my old bios, Winflash crashed. In the new version of Winflash isn´t the "force" option, and it´s only version I can run. Please Help!


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## syken (Sep 27, 2006)

*x1800gto2 Help*

I recently flashed my x1800gto2, to the x1800xt pe, i try running any game on the thing and it hard freezes, i then have to go into sleep mode and then get back into windows and end the game.   I was wondering if you guys have any ideas on to why it would be doing this, im going to flash the bios back to the gto2 just in case.


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## Tatty_One (Sep 27, 2006)

syken said:


> I recently flashed my x1800gto2, to the x1800xt pe, i try running any game on the thing and it hard freezes, i then have to go into sleep mode and then get back into windows and end the game.   I was wondering if you guys have any ideas on to why it would be doing this, im going to flash the bios back to the gto2 just in case.



Is the memory not totally different in the 2 cards?, I know that most stock cards cannot run their memory anywhere near as high as the xt's (I appreciate a few will) which in those cases would suggest that, if that is the case try downclocking your memory from the xt setting in the flash to what it was at stock prior to flash but keep the core up where it is, maybe that will help.


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## MoralesD66 (Sep 28, 2006)

Sorry i'm late to this post.. but i have a x1800GTo2,, just flashed to an XT PE last night.
And it works great, but CCC freezes when i hit the AVIVO tabs... bahhhhh
Gotta go home and go my homework. 

ANy info on how to resolve this?


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