X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

[XeoNoX]

ok, i guess, i just freaked out when the tape said "please refer to the getting started guide for installation instructions" i was like wtf, i didnt get a guide, and made me think it was an open box. I guess its not, well my results were not all that great, i guess thats why im kinda pissed, im getting about 4fps less than what i got before with my x700 and i can only overclock the card to 495 core and around 580 mem running stable after doing the mod, if i up it by any more than 7 on either them memory or the core it starts to freeze, so right now i figured i wasted 250 and should have stayed with my x700. i guess i got a bad batch, go figures with my luck, let me know what you get unregistred person since you too bought the lite boxed version, im starting to wonder if maybe it happens to the people that bought the lite retail boxes.

 

[Smultron]

Biosmodded Connect 3D X800GTO VIVO, R423, 2ns Samsung, 16pipes, @582MHz core / 582MHz mem, default vcore and cooler.

 

[Trevor]

ok, i guess, i just freaked out when the tape said "please refer to the getting started guide for installation instructions" i was like wtf, i didnt get a guide, and made me think it was an open box. I guess its not, well my results were not all that great, i guess thats why im kinda pissed, im getting about 4fps less than what i got before with my x700 and i can only overclock the card to 495 core and around 580 mem running stable after doing the mod, if i up it by any more than 7 on either them memory or the core it starts to freeze, so right now i figured i wasted 250 and should have stayed with my x700. i guess i got a bad batch, go figures with my luck, let me know what you get unregistred person since you too bought the lite boxed version, im starting to wonder if maybe it happens to the people that bought the lite retail boxes.

Get a better cooler, it'd work wonders.
And, did you actually unlock the pipes?

 

[Blackadder]

ok, i guess, i just freaked out when the tape said "please refer to the getting started guide for installation instructions" i was like wtf, i didnt get a guide, and made me think it was an open box. I guess its not, well my results were not all that great, i guess thats why im kinda pissed, im getting about 4fps less than what i got before with my x700 and i can only overclock the card to 495 core and around 580 mem running stable after doing the mod, if i up it by any more than 7 on either them memory or the core it starts to freeze, so right now i figured i wasted 250 and should have stayed with my x700. i guess i got a bad batch, go figures with my luck, let me know what you get unregistred person since you too bought the lite boxed version, im starting to wonder if maybe it happens to the people that bought the lite retail boxes.

Re-install yer drivers. Run some tests. I was only able to get mine safely to 510/590. But...
3dmark05 - unlocked default 400/490 i got 5000
3dmark05 - unlocked 510/590 i got 6000
I have a zalman gpu fan - it increased my core by 7pts (maxed at like 522)

I didn't buy the card for any reason myself = i just wanted to do this mod.
Keep trying things, you might get some improvement by doing some things.

 

[ShadowFlare]

I've read about quite a few people having fan problems when using the X850 XT/XT PE bioses. I've tried using one of those once and when I opened up ATITool, it showed a fan speed of less than 10%. I wasn't using the stock cooling, I was using a Zalman VF-700AlCu at the time I tried it. That fan doesn't get its power through the card, so it won't be affected by having the bios set weird fan speeds. That's part of the reason why some people have had no problems with using those bioses.

[SIZE="+2"]In short, for everyone who is using stock cooling, a cooler by Arctic Cooling, or any other fan that gets its power through the connection on the video card: DO NOT use the X850 XT/XTPE bios on your card![/SIZE]

It will only cause fan problems, so don't do it!

If you are using a Zalman fan or any other one that does not use the video card's power connection, your fan will be unaffected. If you are flashing back to your original bios before restarting, then using the X850 XT/XTPE bios is just fine. Just make sure you flash back to your original bios before you restart! (or if you are using the modded bios, you can leave it at that if you want)

 

[Unregistered]

I've read about quite a few people having fan problems when using the X850 XT/XT PE bioses. I've tried using one of those once and when I opened up ATITool, it showed a fan speed of less than 10%. I wasn't using the stock cooling, I was using a Zalman VF-700AlCu at the time I tried it. That fan doesn't get its power through the card, so it won't be affected by having the bios set weird fan speeds. That's part of the reason why some people have had no problems with using those bioses.

[SIZE="+2"]In short, for everyone who is using stock cooling, a cooler by Arctic Cooling, or any other fan that gets its power through the connection on the video card: DO NOT use the X850 XT/XTPE bios on your card![/SIZE]

It will only cause fan problems, so don't do it!

If you are using a Zalman fan or any other one that does not use the video card's power connection, your fan will be unaffected. If you are flashing back to your original bios before restarting, then using the X850 XT/XTPE bios is just fine. Just make sure you flash back to your original bios before you restart! (or if you are using the modded bios, you can leave it at that if you want)

Ok so in short.

You can pretty much use any bios if you use an external fan.
You should NOT use the x850xt bios for fans connected to the power on the card.
You can use any fan if you use the modified bios.

and to clarify even more...

External powered fan = X850XT/XTPE bios, Original X800 GTO2 bios, Modified X800 GTO2 bios
Internal (on card) powered fan = Original X800 GTO2 bios, Modified X800 GTO2 bios

An example... I have a Zalman VF700-Cu connected to case power supply
Therefore I can use the X850XT/XTPE, the original GTO2 or the modified GTO2 bios.

 

[Blackadder]

oops

^
|___ Oops that was me...

 

[ShadowFlare]

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

Just to clarify one more thing, this kind of command sequence that I posted earlier for flashing the bios is still OK when you are using stock cooling:

atiflash -s 0 x800gto.bin
atiflash -f -p 0 x850xt.bin -newbios
atiflash -f -p 0 x800gto.bin

Since that does preserve your original bios, except for the number of pipelines. Because you don't restart while the x850 xt bios is on the card, it doesn't start using the very low fan speed before you go back to the orignal bios.

 

[mrmemnoch]

I tried to read most of this thread and many others, but I can't find people with my same problem. I can't find my card in DOS. I have tried an MS-DOS boot disk, Windows Recovery Console, and an actual installation of DOS. With the boot disk and The dos installation I can run the flashrom, but it can't find the adapter. In the recovery console I can't even run the flashrom. Please Help.

 

[Blackadder]

I tried to read most of this thread and many others, but I can't find people with my same problem. I can't find my card in DOS. I have tried an MS-DOS boot disk, Windows Recovery Console, and an actual installation of DOS. With the boot disk and The dos installation I can run the flashrom, but it can't find the adapter. In the recovery console I can't even run the flashrom. Please Help.

What are system specs... Hardware etc etc.

Are you using Atiflash - have you tried Shadowflare's method? Are you creating a boot disk from within windows xp?

atiflash -s 0 x800gto.bin
atiflash -f -p 0 x850xt.bin -newbios
atiflash -f -p 0 x800gto.bin

What flash software you using and what error is it giving you specifically.

 

[mrmemnoch]

Well I am not at home, but I can answer some of those questions, I am using a Foxconn NF4PIK8AA-8EKRS Socket 940 with an fx-53. I am creating the boot disk from within windows XP. As far as the error goes, it keeps telling me adapter not found. I tried the -i subswitch, but it says there is no ati adapter found. No I haven't tried atiflash, only the modified flashrom.

 

[Blackadder]

Well I am not at home, but I can answer some of those questions, I am using a Foxconn NF4PIK8AA-8EKRS Socket 940 with an fx-53. I am creating the boot disk from within windows XP. As far as the error goes, it keeps telling me adapter not found. I tried the -i subswitch, but it says there is no ati adapter found. No I haven't tried atiflash, only the modified flashrom.

Try the atiflash way - see if it works there. You sure you have an ati video card?

 

[mrmemnoch]

LOL, Yes I am sure, unless the Nforce chipset is working some kind of mojo on my poor gto2. I'll try the ati flash when I get home. Thanks.

 

[Blackadder]

LOL, Yes I am sure, unless the Nforce chipset is working some kind of mojo on my poor gto2. I'll try the ati flash when I get home. Thanks.

Any special settings in yer motherboard bios. might wanna make a note of those settigns and then default it and try again - or try flashing mb bios - id still try the atiflash before any of the other stuff.

 

[XeoNoX]

Get a better cooler, it'd work wonders.
And, did you actually unlock the pipes?

Yes, i reinstalled drivers and then i double checked to make sure the pipes said 16, i guess im just outta luck, im not gonna bother with another fan, by the time im done if i bought another fan, i would have spent nearly $300 on the card, at that rate i would have been better off getting a different card.

 

[XeoNoX]

NEW CATALYST DRIVERS!! version 5.10 wdm is out final! https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=293

 

[DanishDevil]

Testing now. I prefer DNA Drivers, but I'll try the original out for a while.

 

[mrmemnoch]

I tried atiflash and it still could not find the card. I then reset defaults on my motherboard and tried both flash roms again...No luck. Has anyone else had my problem?

 

[ShadowFlare]

If you have another system to install the card in to do the flash, maybe it will work. Other than that, I can't think of anything else to try.

 

[Unregistered]

My results and a request for opinions

Can I get some opinions?

Here’s the background – I ordered a GTO2 from Page Computers on 9/29, they cancelled on 10/4 saying they were OOS, but were still listing them for 40% more at exactly the same time. (I’ll never deal with them again, and don’t recommend them to anyone else). Anyway, I immediately ordered one from AllStarShop for $218, and received it in 36hrs – the service was well worth the additional $20. (I’m in CA, so with tax and shipping, it came to $241). I ordered the Retail Lite and it came in a bright Sapphire box with cables and CD but no manuals. After installing the card and drivers, my computer (a Dell 8400) id’s the card as a GTO (not GTO2).

Using Flashrom and the original modified bios in the tech article, enable 16p but had to use the –p option. My system now thinks the card is a 850xt. Then using ATItool, was able to take core clock over 550 (I manually stopped it, no artifacts were ever seen), then holding core clock at 540 got the memory clock to 580 before artifacts were detected.

With 3D05, using stock cooling (which seems to adjust speed and everything just fine) benchmarks were as follows:

12P/400/490 – 4303
16P/400/490 – 4809
16P/520/540 – 5554
16P/540/580 – 5784

So here’s my questions:
1) Why did I need to use the –p option with Flashrom?
2) Is the card being identified as a 850xt when using the modified bios correct?
3) What are the pro and cons with Flashrom and the modified bios, verses the 3step ATIflash method?
4) How about the pro and cons of ATITool verses TRIXX for overclocking?
5) Any opinions on my max clock rates and benchmarks?

Thanks.

 

[The_NME]

Already then. Ordered 3 of these cards from Atacom. PCI-E in the title, description, invoice. Got 3 cards today. Are they PCI-E? HECK NO! Instead I received 3 AGP cards which look identical (still sealed in bag) heatsink wise. However, it does have a molex power connector instead of the PEG. In fact, now that I take a closer look at the card and bag, there are two of the STOP stickers sealing the bag. One is broken (its been opened before) and the top one is untouched. Very fishy... I dont think I'll be opening them unless someone confirms the mod works for these AGP versions - that and I want PCI-E cards anyway darn it!

 

[Dr.D]

Already then. Ordered 3 of these cards from Atacom. PCI-E in the title, description, invoice. Got 3 cards today. Are they PCI-E? HECK NO! Instead I received 3 AGP cards which look identical (still sealed in bag) heatsink wise. However, it does have a molex power connector instead of the PEG. In fact, now that I take a closer look at the card and bag, there are two of the STOP stickers sealing the bag. One is broken (its been opened before) and the top one is untouched. Very fishy... I dont think I'll be opening them unless someone confirms the mod works for these AGP versions - that and I want PCI-E cards anyway darn it!

Crap! I order from ATACOM and I am waiting for it to get here

 

[Unregistered]

I have sapphire x800gto with an r480 core (I checked),
any chance this would work?,
I checked and the red numbers are 7 and E (instead of the F's).

BTW what resolutions did you do your bencharks at?

it does not work on the gt as far as i know

 

[GreenBaron]

GTO Brands - part 2

Can I get some opinions?

Here’s the background – I ordered a GTO2 from Page Computers on 9/29, they cancelled on 10/4 ... After installing the card and drivers, my computer (a Dell 8400) id’s the card as a GTO (not GTO2).

Using Flashrom and the original modified bios in the tech article, enable 16p but had to use the –p option. My system now thinks the card is a 850xt. Then using ATItool, was able to take core clock over 550 (I manually stopped it, no artifacts were ever seen), then holding core clock at 540 got the memory clock to 580 before artifacts were detected.
.

This is my previous point. SOME people can get SOME GTO cards to work as flashed XT. I've resigned to get a GTO instead of the GTO2 -- way too many ordering glitches and unreliable sellers since newegg ran out of the $199 stock.

So what is the better brand GTO board? Connect3D or Sapphire? Any chance of one versus the other being able to mod better than the other?

For those who modded the Connect3D GTO board, did any of you have a R480? Did the VIVO still work?

-Green Baron

 

[Trevor]

Uhoh?

Edit:Scratch the above. Forgot to press Shift. xD