How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

[trog100]

the highest pencil mod reading i got was 2.2 volts.. any higher and the card wont boot.. i thought i had killed it.. a good wipe off and it went again..

i did do the pencil between the pins mod not the on top of the resistor one.. i got nowhere until i roughened the psb board surface slightly with a sharp pointed craft knife.. after that it was pencil then wipe off.. i got too much voltage the hard bit was not doing..

i gave up in the end cos it was too hit and miss.. i settled for 1.39 volts measured while the system was booting..

the method was two or three pencil strokes (old HB pencil) then a brush off with a small stiff brush then volt test.. without the brush off the volts were too high.. the brush off was the hit and miss part..

a small increase from 1.34 to 1.39 gave me a hefty core speed increase.. i could mess about again but cant be arsed.. he he

back then my card went better than most.. now it gets beaten with the 1000 core jobbies at higher volts.. 1.5 would give a 1000 core speed but my enthusiasm has kinda worn off. he he

trog

 

[Random Murderer]

any hd3650 mod guys? thx..

i have a high res image and pretty good hunches, but in order for me to say for sure, you'll need to be the guinea pig.
if that's ok with you, let me know and i'll tell you what points to measure and where to shade.

 

[asb2106]

hey there is alot of 3000 series cards here isnt there???

With all the OCing and moding here I bet there are some awesome results!

Please come post your 3dmark06 numbers over here

EDIT - please!

 

[Random Murderer]

hey there is alot of 3000 series cards here isnt there???

With all the OCing and moding here I bet there are some awesome results!

Please come post your 3dmark06 numbers over here

EDIT - please!

a lot of us already have

 

[asb2106]

a lot of us already have

cool, i didnt really compare names, but I knew this has been a long running thread,

thanks for your cooperation!

 

[ghost101]

Anyone have a problem in vista where the screen artifacts (becomes checkered) and the ati driver has to be reset? This happens to me now and again at 2d clocks.

At 3d clocks, atitool shows no problem and games run perfectly with no hiccups at 3d clocks.

 

[freaksavior]

ok, well i measured mine and it says 1.67 for his and 1.58 for the diamond.

 

[DanishDevil]

The HIS cards tend to run a lower core voltage it seems. I wonder if that holds true for the Turbo editions.

That's resistance, right freaksavior?

 

[freaksavior]

did it where the vcore is circled.

http://img119.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3870corecontrolfinalic3.jpg

 

[sneekypeet]

ok, well i measured mine and it says 1.67 for his and 1.58 for the diamond.

Those are your core voltages????? If so those cards should rock!

 

[freaksavior]

i think...hold on.

 

[DanishDevil]

Make sure you keep those cards cool. Are they on stock cooling? If they're on air, I'd add some additional 92 or 120mm fans blowing across the entire card (maybe place them where the power connector is facing the PCI slot brackets one on each card so it gets both sides.

 

[freaksavior]

Thats were i measured them and the mm showed 1.67 and 1.58

is that the right setting?

 

[sneekypeet]

And I thought mine had good voltage stock @ 1.4V are these modded?

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Are you getting those voltages out-of -the-box?

Mine were only 1.36 under 3D clocks-stock.

 

[freaksavior]

no, there not modded and thats with the fur bench running.

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

is that the right setting?

I don't think so, It should be on the 20V setting.

 

[freaksavior]

i ran 3dmark and they were 1.66 for his and 1.63 for diamond.

im afraid to pencil mod them now and i cant get past 837 and 1250 for them either

Dr. sorry for my incompetence but which one?

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

To the upper left in the section with the black "Vm". Set it on 20. Post back...

Black lead grounded to case, red lead check voltage point.

I thought those sounded more like resistance numbers. Otherwise, either you fan should be spinning like a banshee or the card would be smoking.

 

[freaksavior]

thats better.

1.24 for his and 1.22 for diamond.

sorry again for being retarded but the r1222....what do i do with that?

with bench running its

1.29 his

1.32 diamond

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

That's where you check for resistance.

You would want to shade to about 1.0 resistance to get around 1.4V core.

Keep us posted.

 

[freaksavior]

ok.

im shutting down and going to shad it i guess.....wish me luck

 

[DanishDevil]

What you want to do is set the multimeter to read the resistance (the omega symbol and I think the 2k though I don't remember which) and with very steady hands place the black and red tips at opposite ends of the resistor (lengthwise)

The resistor's kinda like this:

[]lllll[]

With the black in the middle. You want your probes where the X's are:

x[]lllll[]x

It takes some practice to measure it quickly.

One tip I have is don't hook up the PCI-E power completely until it clicks so you can remove the cards easily. Measure the voltage while the PC is booting (although in 3D mode I found that it actually hits .1V higher than in boot) and see what you get. Shoot for around 1.4. Don't go above 1.6.

Edit: Guess you'll see this once you give it your first shot GL!

 

[Dr. Spankenstein]

Just backing up DanishDevil. He is correct. Set MM to 2k ohm to measure resistance.

It is fidgity, but you'll do fine!

 

[freaksavior]

ok so this one and do i measure that with the card plugged in? im sorry for so many questions but imo RM wasnt very clear.