• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

How-to: Pencil mod your HD 3870!

sneekypeet

not-so supermod
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,542 (4.36/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11
Tigger ,no BIOS mods correct ...to help Coldstorm answer his question ....this is all just Ocing with ATItool or Rivatuner, correct?
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
Oh, I believe you all the way tigger that you did it and its at what it is... i'm just asking the reason on the jumper.... and if it was removed would the video card post or not... and we all have the right to do how we feel to our stuff. I'm just asking so in the future, if I wanted to do the same thing, then I know what would happen in case A and then case B..
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
It would still post with the jumper off,posting with the jumper off would just mean the card boots with stock 3d vgpu.Without the jumper,it would not oc higer then a voltage stock card.The core will only run the higher speeds because it is been fed 1.36v and not the stock 1.24v.

And yes,oc'ing with riva(ccc wont go over 770 and i dont trust atitool on the 38xx yet)
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
thanks Tigger, thats all I wanted to know. And I'm with you on not trusting ati tool.
 
D

Deleted member 24505

Guest
no problem :) its best to know what your doing before you try this.

For anyone who wants to try it,make SURE the trimmer is set on FULL resistance,100kohms before you boot up.Check the vgpu as it posts,it will be at full 3d voltage when it posts,if its too high,turn off.Make sure you know the correct position for the wire on the board,also you can use a ground connection from the black pci-e power connections.
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
Yeah, thats why I had rm do it.. but we didn't have the bios at stock, so it didn't work...
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
Yeah, thats why I had rm do it.. but we didn't have the bios at stock, so it didn't work...

No, it didn't work because I broke a resistor, remember?
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
I thought we also needed to have the bios at stock???

Nah, I thought that was what the problem was until I realized that a resistor broke...
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
all right... then i'm wrong on that... so even with the modded bios, it will still work? I'm asking the questions that I hope noobs should ask...
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
all right... then i'm wrong on that... so even with the modded bios, it will still work? I'm asking the questions that I hope noobs should ask...

Yes, it will still work, but it would be best to perform the mod on a stock BIOS and then flash a modded BIOS after you're sure the mod works...:banghead:
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
So, if you for instance, have a pencil mod on the card, and wanting to do this Vcore, GPU mod, you want to erase the pencil mod before doing this, and flashing the stock bios back?
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
So, if you for instance, have a pencil mod on the card, and wanting to do this Vcore, GPU mod, you want to erase the pencil mod before doing this, and flashing the stock bios back?

Close, you would need to reflash the stock BIOS before removing the pencil mod, then you could safely remove the pencil mod and perform the hard-mod.
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
now, why doing that first??? because to flash it to stock, why would you have to do the bios before taking off the mod???
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
now, why doing that first??? because to flash it to stock, why would you have to do the bios before taking off the mod???

These are some good questions, the kind I was hoping for when the thread started!
OK, you need to make sure you flash back to stock while the pencil mod is still "active" because if you remove the mod before you flash to the stock BIOS, the core will not get enough voltage to boot at the clocks of the modded BIOS.
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
all right... I get that... Now, this is one for both you and tigger... what types of wires do you use in the gpu and v core mod? Whats the wires that you aren't suppose to use?
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
all right... I get that... Now, this is one for both you and tigger... what types of wires do you use in the gpu and v core mod? Whats the wires that you aren't suppose to use?

I used 24AWG stranded...
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
but, is there anything that you should not use??? and why did you use 24? not besides the fact that its what you had... can you use smaller gage wire or what?
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
You can test the resisters by putting the pos. lead on one side of the resister, and the neg. on the other side.. or thats how we did it for the pencil mod..
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
What about voltage?

Also, is measuring resistance potentially dangerous with the wrong components since it sends a tiny current across the leads.

For measuring the voltage, ground the negative lead to your computer's chassis and touch the positive lead to the measure point.
This will not damage anything, since it is only measuring the difference in electrical potential.
 

Random Murderer

The Anti-Midas
Joined
Dec 6, 2006
Messages
6,974 (1.07/day)
Location
Florida, A.K.A. the Sweatbox
System Name TOO MUCH RADIATOR! | The TV Box a.k.a. The Shoebox
Processor Core i7 4930K @ 4.5GHz | Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz
Motherboard Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Asus Z170i Pro Gaming
Cooling Custom water on CPU and GPU, dual 360mm radiators | Corsair H80i
Memory 4x 8GB G.Skill TridentX DDR3-1600 | 2x 4GB G.Skill RipJaws 4 DDR4-3000
Video Card(s) Sapphire AMD R9 295x2 | PowerColor AMD HD7970
Storage Samsung SSD 830 256GB, various others | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID1
Display(s) Dell U2713HM 2560x1440 IPS | Panasonic TC-L32E5 1080p IPS TV
Case Thermaltake Suppressor F51 (stripped down to hold two radiators) | Cooler Master Elite 130
Audio Device(s) RM-DAC -> Xiang Sheng 708b -> Sennheiser HD650 | HDMI sound device on 7970
Power Supply LEPA G1600-MA 1600W | Corsair CX750M 750W
Software Win 10 64
Benchmark Scores over 9000 BungholioMarks, "Bitchin' Fast"
but, is there anything that you should not use??? and why did you use 24? not besides the fact that its what you had... can you use smaller gage wire or what?

I used 24AWG stranded because it's all I have.
I would have preferred to use 28AWG Kynar or even wire-wrap(really freakin' small wire), but I'm broke and can't afford it... :ohwell:
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
I used 24AWG stranded because it's all I have.
I would have preferred to use 28AWG Kynar or even wire-wrap(really freakin' small wire), but I'm broke and can't afford it... :ohwell:

all right, well where can you go to buy those?? at radio shack or home depot??? Got to tell us where to get the tools we need!
 

Cold Storm

Battosai
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
15,010 (2.41/day)
Location
In a library somewhere on this earth
System Name Haro
Processor AMD 1700x
Motherboard AsRork x370 Taichi
Cooling EK Custom Loop - CPU only
Memory 32gb G-Skill Trident Z
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 Superclock 2
Storage Too Many
Display(s) Viewsonic VX2450WM-LED 24" & LG 32 IPS
Case Cooler Master Cosmos II
Power Supply Cooler Master V1000
Mouse SteelSeries Rival 500
Software Win10 Pro
Benchmark Scores i5 750 4.62ghz pi runs // Evga FTW p55
Chesters Electronics (on Missouri) - confirm with RM

I know where to go here.. I'm asking as if a noob needs the advice... Giving out questions that a noob would ask.. But thanks anyway man!
 
Top