How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

[DanishDevil]

That's definitely an improvement It looks like my HIS has given the least performance increase from this mod

 

[Steevo]

Tried that new BIOS Trog, works a charm. Stable and cool at 875 core, and the fan isn't so loud that I notice it. The only downside COD2 has artifacts at anything above this, no other game does so, nor 3D06. Reps anyway.

 

[DanishDevil]

Did anyone end up trying that clear nail polish over the pencil mod???

 

[eidairaman1]

Well it seems I am tapped out. I set the pencil to her one more time and got the resistance to 0.998 and put her in. Booted the ATItool cube and saw 1.51V to the core. That is another tenth since yesterday , and all I could produce was a 931 core.

Not sure what to try as temps are ok ...bearly breaking the low 60's.

Any ideas other that more voltage to stabilize this core?

Better cooling, either modifying the Heatsink or getting a new one, warning modifying heatsink could cause void in warranty.

 

[DanishDevil]

I already lapped it and ran it at 100%

 

[eidairaman1]

how about the Fan Shroud Trick CPU mag did to get a few more clocks out of the 2900XT

 

[DanishDevil]

Linky?

 

[sneekypeet]

Did anyone end up trying that clear nail polish over the pencil mod???

I did test it to see if it was conductive...which it isnt!

But I didnt find the need to drop it on the card yet as my pencil doesnt seem to be wearing off yet!


eidairaman1...you really think 60*c is too hot to clock any further?

 

[trog100]

Tried that new BIOS Trog, works a charm. Stable and cool at 875 core, and the fan isn't so loud that I notice it. The only downside COD2 has artifacts at anything above this, no other game does so, nor 3D06. Reps anyway.

just bear in mind the core clock actually jumps in 13mhz increments.. quite a large jump..

its works this way.. the core is at.. 850.. 864.. 877.. there are no in betweens.. only the three core speeds.. with the CCC overdrive at 870 or 875 the core is still at 864..

with the overdrive at 880.. the core jumps to the next speed.. 877.. your card wont do that..

artifacts are usually memory overclocks too high.. core speeds too high mostly cause a driver crash or lock-up..

also for people who aint gaining much from volt increases.. i think its PCB design.. ten layer.. eight layer or praps even six layer on the cheaper cards.. cross chatter at the high speeds these chips are running at can play a part.. it aint just down to how fast the gpu will go..


trog

 

[Steevo]

Same clock on the memory as before, but it seems to have little effect, so I will try with lowering the memory setting.

 

[SpookyWillow]

found out the way to do triplex 3870 after shading a resistor here and there

initial resistance is 7.14 ohms across R650, volts were 1.30. dropped resistance to 7.00 and volts went to 1.37.

cod4 and dirt no longer crash with driver stopped responding error

so whats the max voltage for these cards under water?

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Glad you found one. Did you get a resonse at XS? I saw your post threre...

For me and my stock reference cooler @ 100%, I don't have any issues running 1.56V for hours.

But you must consider the quality of parts (PCB, RAM, capacitors) that Triplex is using in order to produce a lower priced card, and determine how hard you want to push them vs. how long you need your card to live.

Certainly, water will help keep the core temp down, but other component generate heat at increased voltages as well. Consider investing in some tiny heatsinks for exposed ICs and running a fan across the PCB if you are going to apply more volts via a pencil mod. There is no on/off adjustment.

 

[SpookyWillow]

nah no response at XS so i messed about myself as i couldn't wait any longer as it wouldn't run dirt or cod4 at stock speeds.

got the voltage at 1.44 now but it can only do 810 or so at that. 1.5v or more gives a black screen due to OCP so thats my next point of call, any idea how to do it?

yeah i know its a cheap card (thought they sent me some crap X600 or something when i saw it lol ) but i got it as an RMA replacement for an x1950pro so im not too fussed lol

 

[Random Murderer]

nah no response at XS so i messed about myself as i couldn't wait any longer as it wouldn't run dirt or cod4 at stock speeds.

got the voltage at 1.44 now but it can only do 810 or so at that. 1.5v or more gives a black screen due to OCP so thats my next point of call, any idea how to do it?

yeah i know its a cheap card (thought they sent me some crap X600 or something when i saw it lol ) but i got it as an RMA replacement for an x1950pro so im not too fussed lol

even being a crap card, that's a hell of an upgrade from a 1950pro!
my crossfired 1950pro's couldn't even score as well as my single 3870, let alone play actual games as nicely.

 

[SpookyWillow]

yeah i know im quite impressed with it on some games but on some its just worse, i could play cod4 on my 1950pro on all high settings with 4xaa @ 1280x1024 and it would be smooth but on the 3870 s quite jerky and i rarely go above 40fps.

crysis is just as bad, too much stuttering compared to my 1950pro yet the fps are nearly anything from 50-100% higher.

does the 3870 use more power than the 1950pro? my cpu score has gone down in 3dmark06 from 2050 to 1889 since i put this card in and im wondering if my psu is struggling.

some crysis results at 775/1125

Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 27.81
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 20:44:52 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 28.585
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 20:50:37 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 21.595
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:05:34 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 23.085
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:23:08 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Overall Average FPS: 43.09
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:36:02 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1400x960 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Overall Average FPS: 35.395
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:41:24 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1400x960 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 27.06

NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 22:13:15 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 13.81

NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 22:23:25 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 13.85

 

[trog100]

yeah i know im quite impressed with it on some games but on some its just worse, i could play cod4 on my 1950pro on all high settings with 4xaa @ 1280x1024 and it would be smooth but on the 3870 s quite jerky and i rarely go above 40fps.

crysis is just as bad, too much stuttering compared to my 1950pro yet the fps are nearly anything from 50-100% higher.

does the 3870 use more power than the 1950pro? my cpu score has gone down in 3dmark06 from 2050 to 1889 since i put this card in and im wondering if my psu is struggling.

some crysis results at 775/1125

Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 27.81
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 20:44:52 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 28.585
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 20:50:37 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 21.595
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:05:34 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Overall Average FPS: 23.085
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:23:08 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Overall Average FPS: 43.09
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:36:02 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1400x960 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Overall Average FPS: 35.395
NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 21:41:24 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX9 1400x960 AA=No AA, 64 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 27.06

NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 22:13:15 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 13.81

NEXT BENCH RUN- 22/03/2008 22:23:25 - Vista 64


Run #1- DX10 1280x1024 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: VeryHigh ~~ Last Average FPS: 13.85

u need some more system ram.. badly..

trog

 

[SpookyWillow]

i have 2gb, forgot to update that when i did my card lol but yeah i could still do with more considering DX10 runs eat up 1800mb or so and it only stops at that cos theres none left

on a side note, i have noticed that Dirt is far moe sensitive to overclocking than 3dmark06 or crysis. i just ran 3dmark06 at 850 on the core just fine but Dirt wont even start unless its at 810 :/

 

[trog100]

i have 2gb, forgot to update that when i did my card lol but yeah i could still do with more considering DX10 runs eat up 1800mb or so and it only stops at that cos theres none left

on a side note, i have noticed that Dirt is far moe sensitive to overclocking than 3dmark06 or crysis. i just ran 3dmark06 at 850 on the core just fine but Dirt wont even start unless its at 810 :/

can u slow it down more.. stability is more important than the odd extra frame per second.. u are right about stability being different in different things.. i can run 2006 at higher clocks than i can game at.. i can run the furbench even higher.. in fact i recon near 50mhz difference between benching and stable gaming..

trog

 

[Random Murderer]

can u slow it down more.. stability is more important than the odd extra frame per second.. u are right about stability being different in different things.. i can run 2006 at higher clocks than i can game at.. i can run the furbench even higher.. in fact i recon near 50mhz difference between benching and stable gaming..

trog

actually, i found the same thing. my crysis stable clock(891) was significantly lower than my fur clock(945ish).

 

[eidairaman1]

if its not gaming or windows stable its not a True Clock

 

[SpookyWillow]

i do slow it down, but tbh i dont usually run overclocked while gaming, like you said, its only a couple of fps most of the time.

i've not finished with it yet though, i just got it a week or so ago but it wouldn't run at stock speeds on dirt and i couldn't rma it as it was an rma replacement that i managed to get in on the last day of its warranty and as the warrany goes off the original card it has now expired sadly. cant sell it unless someone wants a hard modded card (got to get some bits before i do it)

just trying to get past the OCP atm and i posted this over at XS but they dont talk to newcomers over there i dont think lol, can any of you guys help?

sorted the voltmod but the problem is im now stuck with OCP kicking in at 1.5v, i've never even tried to figure out how you guys work this stuff out but i have been reading up and from what i gather you have to reduce resistance between the pins VREF and OCP and according to the pdf for the nexsem chip that would be the resistor R659 (just 2 solder points on the pic ) http://www.nexsem.com/pdfs/2415DS.pdf

would i also have to do the OVP aswell? i think thats either R656 or R657.

if im way off the mark please tell me as im just figuring this stuff out for myself

 

[eidairaman1]

usually a Cards RMA lasts for 1 year, i assume that time has passed?

 

[SpookyWillow]

yeah i called the shop on the last day of the warranty and got my RMA number, thank god it decided to die then and not the next day

 

[eidairaman1]

oh your talking about the retailers RMA, i trust the Manufacturer more than the Retailers.

 

[SpookyWillow]

yeah i spose i could get away with sending it back to them