X800 GTO² to X850 XT BIOS Mod

[The_NME]

Pics:

Note that the PN on the card is 109-a49001-00, possibly indicating R423

 

[ShadowFlare]

...

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.

1) The -p option is to tell it to program the flash memory; without it, you haven't really told flashrom to do anything! I've seen that some people have been mixing up the -p and -f commands here.

2) What Catalyst version are you using? Below 5.9 will usually identify it just as an X850 series card.

3) Pros compared to flashing with the 3 step method? 2 less commands, that's it. Cons? You don't keep your original bios, so if your card's one is a little different, then you get a different bios and could possibly have some problems. Using the 3 step method is basically guaranteed to not mess up your card as long as your card doesn't have severely malfunctioning pipelines, since you will always end up with a compatible bios.

4) Comparing ATITool and TRIXX, TRIXX's automatic determination of the maximum overclock would not get even close to finding my real maximum overclock. It stopped about half-way.

5) Your max core overclock is pretty good. While mine is artifact-free at 540 and some unknown amount above that, anything much higher than 520 will make it lock up in a few minutes. As for the memory, around 600 is fairly common with this card, since the chips are rated for that. It mainly varies depending on how good of cooling your case has. On mine, it reaches 604.

 

[Trevor]

Can I get a w00t?
While not quite '630' I managed to hit a respectable 580 core, and the mem is going up and up, (It's at 594 now... and still rising.)

--604.

Wait.. 608..


610...


612..

WHEN WILL IT STOP!?
(Never =D)

Also, what would you guys consider 'too hot' temp wise?

Alright, 579/618
Not too shabby, considering I don't have ramsinks on 4 of my chips... 2 top, 2 bottom) and the thermal compound hasn't quite broken in yet.
=D
(And there's a crap amound of airflow..)

Now, anyone want to run me through flashing?
I tried throwing the 'Firm' (from bootdisk.com) on a disk, (CD), but it gave me some weird error.
Can anyone give me a bit more exact instructions on how to flash via a CD (Meaning, how to make a bootable CD =P)

 

[Unregistered]

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

connnect3d's are the only brand of GTO's that have been modded, if you search this forum for connect3d you will see that about 7 users unlocked them, im not sure if vivo works or not after flashing, im still waiting for mine, also as far as i know all have the r480 core even though ati tool tells you its a r423 or whatever, the only way to be sure is to take of the HSF and see for your self.

 

[Trevor]

Alright... I think I have it made. I'm going to go flash.. wish me luck.

 

[ryanmw]

Got mine in today

12p 400/490 - 4482
16p 400/490 - 4988
16p 525/565 - 6157


I must need better cooling :/.......i had it up to 537/568 before the flash...no it locks up around 530

 

[Dr.D]

Pics:

That Looks like a X800GTO2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?image=14-102-595-03.jpg,14-102-595-02.jpg,14-102-595-04.jpg,14-102-595-05.jpg&CurImage=14-102-595-02.jpg&Description=SAPPHIRE%20100130%20Radeon%20X800GTO2%20256MB%20GDDR3%20PCI%20Express%20x16%20Video%20Card%20-%20OEM

I have no idea because all of the cards that use that "thing" are new. Whats it say on the front?

Hey I found your post in FatWallet! Did you see this post:

ordered the x800gto2 lite-retail card from ATACOM on Sunday 10/9 @ $219 + s/h. Called today and they are telling me that the item is not yet shipped b/c they got the wrong item from manufacturer and the next shipment will not arrive at ATACOM until next Wednesday. However, the rep assured me that the item will be shipped out.

 

[Unregistered]

I have a regular X800GTO and it has a heart shaped heatsink fan,
so yours doesn't look like mine (then again mine is for PCI-E).

 

[Unregistered]

If I flashed the bios of my regular X800GTO would it do any damage?,
b/c the Ati-tool does say it's an R480 chip.

 

[The_NME]

That Looks like a X800GTO2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?image=14-102-595-03.jpg,14-102-595-02.jpg,14-102-595-04.jpg,14-102-595-05.jpg&CurImage=14-102-595-02.jpg&Description=SAPPHIRE%20100130%20Radeon%20X800GTO2%20256MB%20GDDR3%20PCI%20Express%20x16%20Video%20Card%20-%20OEM

I have no idea because all of the cards that use that "thing" are new. Whats it say on the front?

Indeed it does, except for the molex power connector and the extended PCB. The brown box it came in says x800GTO AGP on it, but whats confusing me is that a) no one sells a x800GTO AGP and b) my packing slip says x800GTO2 AGP

 

[Unregistered]

1) The -p option is to tell it to program the flash memory; without it, you haven't really told flashrom to do anything! I've seen that some people have been mixing up the -p and -f commands here.

2) What Catalyst version are you using? Below 5.9 will usually identify it just as an X850 series card.

3) Pros compared to flashing with the 3 step method? 2 less commands, that's it. Cons? You don't keep your original bios, so if your card's one is a little different, then you get a different bios and could possibly have some problems. Using the 3 step method is basically guaranteed to not mess up your card as long as your card doesn't have severely malfunctioning pipelines, since you will always end up with a compatible bios.

4) Comparing ATITool and TRIXX, TRIXX's automatic determination of the maximum overclock would not get even close to finding my real maximum overclock. It stopped about half-way.

5) Your max core overclock is pretty good. While mine is artifact-free at 540 and some unknown amount above that, anything much higher than 520 will make it lock up in a few minutes. As for the memory, around 600 is fairly common with this card, since the chips are rated for that. It mainly varies depending on how good of cooling your case has. On mine, it reaches 604.

1) Right, I meant -f, why did I need to use -p and -f when -f was not mentioned in the original article.
2) Also right, I meant x850 Series not 850xt. Truthfully, I don't even know if I'm running Catalyst. I only installed the ATI drivers, according to the properties, its driver version 8.162.0.0
3) I think my real question is what is the modified bios linked to the original article? I thought it would be the GTO2 bios modified for 16p but it obviously isn't based on my version of Sapphire's GTO2.

 

[Trevor]

I get an error code every time I try to flash (even with -f).
And yes, I used -p.

"File Open Error" every single time.
Just unarchived them, going to see if that helps.


(This is after I type type the flashrom.exe -i command... it says 'locked' on the far right.)

 

[Trevor]

Uhoh.. It's reading pipes as 8 =/
DID get it flashed though..

Looking at ATi tool, it's bonkers.

0C temps, no clock speed..etc.

Meep.
Went down to 4...(after uninstalling drivers)
Jumped back to 12 after I reinstalled them.
Back to square 1.

 

[Unregistered]

If I flashed the bios of my regular X800GTO would it do any damage?,
b/c the Ati-tool does say it's an R480 chip.

if u have the r480 chip then it can be unlocked to 16p try flashing the x800xl bios, is that a connect3d u have?

 

[Dijital]

OK guys here are my specs, please recommend what you think I can run my card at and still be stable and not cause anymore heat problems than I already have.
Intel Pentium 4 3.4GHz HT LGA775
Intel D915PBL Motherboard
2x512 PC5400 DDR2 Corsair XMS2 RAM
Gigabyte Rocket 3D Cooler Pro Heatsink
Thermaltake BWA3000
Thermaltake 480PSU Silent

The thing that concers me is heat all around what are stable settings for my GPU, and what clock, along with my CPU, or shouldn't that rise much. Should also note that right now I have a stock fan on my GPU for now..... Currently under load my desktop hits about 60C. Any recommendations?

 

[Unregistered]

To all the users of Connect3d X800gto's who have successfully modded them into 16 pipes can you please tell me which online store you bought them from, beacuse theres a version of R420, R423 and even R480; it depends on which chip the vendor wishes to use. so please help me out, i want to get the r480 core!

 

[Unregistered]

I have the Sapphire card, but the ATI-Tool says it has a r480 chip (I guess it could be wrong?).

if u have the r480 chip then it can be unlocked to 16p try flashing the x800xl bios, is that a connect3d u have?

 

[Unregistered]

The only thing is in the article it says the red letters have to be F's,
but in my card the red ones are a 7 and E.

I have the Sapphire card, but the ATI-Tool says it has a r480 chip (I guess it could be wrong?).

 

[Unregistered]

Should I try Modding it anyway (even though the red letters/numbers aren't F's)?,
Since ATI-Tool does list the chip type as R480.

 

[Unregistered]

This thread is getting so long i can't find what i'm looking for...

All i want to know is can you Re-Lock the pipelines if you get a bad quad? Going back to 12 pipelines. I remember with the pro once you enabled them you couldn't turn them off.

-TBi

 

[Mistral]

The "F" letters show that your card actually has the physical connections needed for the extra 4 pipes to work. If you don't have the "F"s, you can't softmod it.

I have the Connect3d and it uses the R423 core. It's easily moddable, since it seems the cheapskates at C3D didn't actually bother to sever the pins. Mine runs rock stable at 530/530. Going over 540 with the core leads to black screens. Going over 550 with the memory leads to visable atrifacts, though ATItool does not report them. Keep in mind though, that I have a crapp OKIA power suply. When and if I change it, I'll post new results.

VIVO still works, used the 3 step procedure here. Don't know if that makes a dif, but I used the Powercolor 800XT bios before flashing back, since the Powercolor card has VIVO as well.

 

[Blackadder]

Yesterday I did some tests.

Intel 915G Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 630 3ghz
Corsair Value Ram 1gb Dual Channel (512x2)
GTO2 (A) my friends GTO2 unlocked
GTO2 (B) my GTO2 unlocked


Results using 3dmark05
GTO2 (A) 16pipes - 400/490 - 4756
GTO2 (A) 16pipes - 540/590 - 5838
GTO2 (A) 16pipes - 610/630 - 5840

GTO2 (B) 16pipes - 400/490 - 4750
GTO2 (B) 16pipes - 510/590 - 5737
GTO2 (B) 16pipes - unable to go higher

I will try my video card (hopefully) tonight on an amd x2 64 3800+

 

[ShadowFlare]

1) Right, I meant -f, why did I need to use -p and -f when -f was not mentioned in the original article.
2) Also right, I meant x850 Series not 850xt. Truthfully, I don't even know if I'm running Catalyst. I only installed the ATI drivers, according to the properties, its driver version 8.162.0.0
3) I think my real question is what is the modified bios linked to the original article? I thought it would be the GTO2 bios modified for 16p but it obviously isn't based on my version of Sapphire's GTO2.

1) If it won't flash without -f, the card must be identified differently in that version of the bios.

2) I have Catalyst 5.9 and it shows up as 8.172, so you must have Catalyst 5.8 or earlier. It won't show up as an X800 GTO on that version. (BTW, to people who have asked about this; no, it never detects it with the GTO2 name)

3) It must be a little different. Either something else was modified on it, too, or it is a different bios version than the cards come with now.

...

VIVO still works, used the 3 step procedure here. Don't know if that makes a dif, but I used the Powercolor 800XT bios before flashing back, since the Powercolor card has VIVO as well.

The bios you flash to before flashing back doesn't need to have VIVO, since the one you are flashing back to does have it.

I get an error code every time I try to flash (even with -f).
And yes, I used -p.

"File Open Error" every single time.
Just unarchived them, going to see if that helps.


(This is after I type type the flashrom.exe -i command... it says 'locked' on the far right.)

You need to give the file a shorter name in the form of 8 characters, period, then 3 characters. Any longer than that won't work with the flashing program. Also, none of those 11 characters can be a period or space.

 

[Unregistered]

Alrighty.. flashed to 16 pipes. Yay.
Problems...
My overclocks can't even TOUCH where they were. (I was 575/608... I crash instantly even approaching those.)
Any ideas?

 

[Trevor]

That would be me above.
I finally managed to actually get the 16 pipe config working, but and now that ATi tool reads the card accurately, it won't overclock for crap. (I can't even get the artifact scanner RUNNING.)

(Even at stock)