X800 Pro VIVO to XT PE Bios Mod

[k800]

BERY BERY GOOD CHANCE U HAVE ON-DIE locked, or 'laser-cut' locked pipes. IF you have really read this forum you should know what to do.. here's a reminder:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=5367

using this as a reference:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=724

^ if you don't have an 'F' in the fifth character after the 'x' on the CONFIG_DIE_FUSES (i.e. 0xXXXXFXXX) line then you have on-die locks for which so far there are no solutions and your stuck with overclocking.

if you don't have an 'F' in the final character of the CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES line then you have a laser-cut on the chip which needs to be connected, called by some a laser-lock.

You may have a combination of locks, any of which will prevent solely a bios flash from unlocking the extra pipes.

 

[Bull_Mastiff]

Will check...didnt see this info...thanks for the help.

Moochose grassy azz amigo

 

[ShaTR]

OK, so i in all these 63 pages of discussion, has anyone successfully modded an X800 Pro VIVO PCI-E card?????????????????????

Please, somebody give me good news

 

[djbbenn]

Very and I mean very few have. And the ones that did get them unlocked, where on the first PCI-E cards. All the new seem to have on-die locks.

-Dan

 

[ShaTR]

well, i got my refurb off ATI, so it might be an old one. so ill give it a shot still. thx for the reply djbbenn

 

[lazyparrott]

Awesome


You gotta love ATI for allowing this to even be possible, and thank you very much for showing us how to do this awesome mod TechPoweUp! I got my ATI Radeon X850 PRO turned it into an X850 XT! I put a blower under the card which helps cooling a lot, keeps it on 38C on idle and no more than 60C full load on a warm day. 3dMark03 on the Pro - 10656 and on the XT - 12025. Thanks again! ATI 4 Life!

 

[Unregistered]

Problem

Ok Here is my issue i check to make sure my sapphire x800 pro would run at 800 xt pe speeds and it did so i did the flash and to gigabyte first for the 16 pipelines and it worked then steped it up to the x800xt pe and again sucess. got a 71,000 on auqa mark and a 6000 on PC mark 05. It was great for bench marks. Then i started to play my games i play a MMOPG and i have to run to instence of the game at one time on my computer well i could play for 15 minutes and then the video card would crap out. I figured this is understandable at the speed i had the card at so i tryed to trun down the GPU and MEM using the ATI tool. Well it droped me down to 45,000 on aquamark where before i did anything to my card i was getting 65,000 so i was like hmmm..... i will reflash my bios and go to a x800xt or a x800pro with 16 pipelines flash. I tried this frist flash for the x800xt and my computer would boot, post, begin loading windows, and then hand up and restart. i have since tried everything from the gigabyte flash, x800xt pe, and the backup.bin i made as well. Any one have a sugestion? this is confussing and hopeing im not out a card ;-/ Let me know what you think. Thanks

 

[lazyparrott]

Ok Here is my issue i check to make sure my sapphire x800 pro would run at 800 xt pe speeds and it did so i did the flash and to gigabyte first for the 16 pipelines and it worked then steped it up to the x800xt pe and again sucess. got a 71,000 on auqa mark and a 6000 on PC mark 05. It was great for bench marks. Then i started to play my games i play a MMOPG and i have to run to instence of the game at one time on my computer well i could play for 15 minutes and then the video card would crap out. I figured this is understandable at the speed i had the card at so i tryed to trun down the GPU and MEM using the ATI tool. Well it droped me down to 45,000 on aquamark where before i did anything to my card i was getting 65,000 so i was like hmmm..... i will reflash my bios and go to a x800xt or a x800pro with 16 pipelines flash. I tried this frist flash for the x800xt and my computer would boot, post, begin loading windows, and then hand up and restart. i have since tried everything from the gigabyte flash, x800xt pe, and the backup.bin i made as well. Any one have a sugestion? this is confussing and hopeing im not out a card ;-/ Let me know what you think. Thanks

OK, in your post u stated u have a Saphire card, then inputed a Gigabyte bios...... honestly im not an expert but that doesnt sound safe. I heard using empty.bin then inputing your backup bios solves issues and puts the card back in its original state. Well goodluck. If anything, if u can try sending the card back to the store or site u got it from for another one, just act dumb like u dont know why but its not workin right. I know for a fact BestBuy has a 14 day return policy and will exchange the card with no probs, i know cuz i messed up my first X850 pro -_-, but got a new one ^_^. if all fails and the card still acts up after using empty.bin then inputing the backup bios u made, send it to ATI with the backup bios in it. well goodluck again!

 

[bobyjo]

It doesn't matter which bios from which make card you use as long as it matches the card you wish to flash.
If you were able to run these benchs with no problems, then there should have been no problems in games.
Benchmarks is where the problems usually become visable. If the benchmarks do well, there is not a reason that the games do not run.
Did you go into the game settings and make sure that they were set properly?
It does not matter on iota if you have a Sapphire card and flash it with a Gigabyte bios.
I would have used the Sapphire bios since they have more bios than anyone else.
Sapphire makes virtually all the ATI video cards anyway.
Flash back to the origianl bios, check the card and see if your games will play properly. Then go to the Sapphire bios and pick out a X800 XTpe bios that matches your card.
I did this and I have no problems at all.
My original bios was 55kb. I matched this with a Sapphire pe bios of 55kb and flashed using that bios, both were for 1.6 memory chips.
As far as I know these are the only checks that need to be made.
There are several persons that flashed from a 55kb bios to a 57kb bios and all is working well.
I am just telling you what I do before I flash.

Since you flashed from the OEM bios to a 16pipe bios, then up to the pe bios, this may be a problem. If I were you I would only flash one time to what you want to run.

 

[lazyparrott]

well I guess it is logical for it to be possible to be able to put a Gigabyte bios on a saphire card. But at the same time, why bother having different bios' from and for different brand cards? Not to say your wrong, I do agree with your theory, but at the same time its best to be safe. But if it is infact perfectly healthy and harmless to grab one bios from one brand like Gigabite and slab it on a Radeon or saphire per-say, this can open doors to other possibilities now and maybe in the future. Very interesting......

 

[bobyjo]

Since Sapphire is the largest mfg of ATI video cards, yes he could have found a Sapphire bios for X800XT pe bios and flashed that bios to his card.
As long as he matches the bios to his card.
This is not saying the Gigabyte bios would not work.
I think he should read my prior post and pay close attention to what I asked and stated there.

 

[bobyjo]

well I guess it is logical for it to be possible to be able to put a Gigabyte bios on a saphire card. But at the same time, why bother having different bios' from and for different brand cards? Not to say your wrong, I do agree with your theory, but at the same time its best to be safe. But if it is infact perfectly healthy and harmless to grab one bios from one brand like Gigabite and slab it on a Radeon or saphire per-say, this can open doors to other possibilities now and maybe in the future. Very interesting......

The simple fact is that some cards do not have a X800 XTpe bios listed by thier mfg.
My Xtasy card is made (sold under the Visiontek brand)
There is no pe bios listed for this card.
So I must have to find a bios that will match my card.
It was just that I picked the Sapphire bios for my card.
I could have picked any of a large number of other cards.
I just preferred the Sapphire due to the fact they make such a super product.

 

[lazyparrott]

Cool, i totally understand now, and WOW you respond faster than lightning crashing! And i figured out that its nice to have every bios from every manufacturer posted on this site, becuz of the old "I lost my backup.bin" lol, anyways awesome replys and learning somehting new every now and then is nice.

 

[sniviler]

check your memory timings on the card before and after you flash, also try unpluging the comp after the flash.

 

[zOaib]

Asus Vivo X800 Pro 256ddr Agp

has anyone here flashed an asus x800 vivo to xt pe speeds , and unlocked the pipes , sorry i am totally new to this just wann get some info , since i have one and also would like to know how i save my original bios for the card before doing so , thx a lot in advance

 

[djbbenn]

Yes, it doesn't matter the make of card. As long as its a X800pro Vivo AGP. Just make sure the card can handle XT PE clocks before you go flashing it. To save your orignal, use Atitool and dump the bios. Or when you are in the dos prompt with the flashing tool, you can use this command, "flashrom -s 0 backup.bin"

-Dan

 

[zOaib]

Yes, it doesn't matter the make of card. As long as its a X800pro Vivo AGP. Just make sure the card can handle XT PE clocks before you go flashing it. To save your orignal, use Atitool and dump the bios. Or when you are in the dos prompt with the flashing tool, you can use this command, "flashrom -s 0 backup.bin"

-Dan

thx man ! also my AMD 64 is a clawhammer core , whats the diff b/w your san diego core and mine , just curious ?

 

[djbbenn]

Clawhammer is 130nm, while San Diego is 90nm, so it has lower power consumption and heat output. The San diego has support SSE3 (kind of pointless really, nothing uses it), and an improved memory controller over the Clawhammer. With the new memory controller, you can run four moduals at 400MHz 2T command rate. And the San Diego's overclock very well.

-Dan

 

[lazyparrott]

Jus wondering if its recommended to mod the X850 PRO to XT PE, im really just afraid of over heating issues and reliability. My card is an X850 Pro modded to the XT, but not the PE. So far the XT speeds give me the same temp readings as when it was at stock Pro. And also since its already modded to the XT, would it hurt to mod it again making it a PE? Thanks, and WOW THERE ARE A LOT OF THREADS ON THIS TOPIC!

 

[bobyjo]

Jus wondering if its recommended to mod the X850 PRO to XT PE, im really just afraid of over heating issues and reliability. My card is an X850 Pro modded to the XT, but not the PE. So far the XT speeds give me the same temp readings as when it was at stock Pro. And also since its already modded to the XT, would it hurt to mod it again making it a PE? Thanks, and WOW THERE ARE A LOT OF THREADS ON THIS TOPIC!

I flashed my XT to pe and I haven't had any increase in core temps that are too high at all.
I have ATITool running always.
The temp of the VPU core is always on in "RED" inside the taskbar.
My card is running at 42c under heavy load, there is times that it will go higher if running benchmarks.

 

[Cally]

All I know is you helped me out and I really appreciate it. I rebooted uninstalled the drivers, booted into safe mode and used driver cleaner, rebooted and reinstalled the 5.9's. When the computer settled down I checked ATI Tool and it showed 16 pipes core running 520 memory running at 560. I checked CCC and it shows a X800XT PE card in the slot. The card temps are running 41 idle with the stock cooler on it. In 2 weeks I will install a better cooler and see what changes.
I never would have tried the mod without this forum. Modding is just not something I am even close to being good at. I get very nervous and tense when it comes down to actually doing the mod. Before that I had convinced myself I could pull it off. If I hadn't read all the positive posts by those that did the mod effortlessly I wouldn't have done it. But now WOW it is exhilarating to know that this can be done and what you have when you are finished. WOOT! Thanks again!

*Edit* I installed the Zalman 700VF CU cooler yesterday. My idle temps dropped to 35 and load to 53. I have the fan plugged into my MB and it runs as quiet as can be. When I pulled off the stock cooler I couldn't believe how much paste was on the chip. Boy they just gob it up on the chip. It was grey though so I am thinking it was AS5 which is what I used also.

 

[zOaib]

okay done saving the x800 pro bios , now which x800 xt pe bios should i get from the bios collection i am asuming the asus x800 xt pe bios since my card is an asus x800 pro vivio ????
thx

or any ati or saphire ones can work too ???

 

[djbbenn]

Any bios will work, but try the Asus one first.

-Dan

 

[zOaib]

please correct me about these steps , thx

- run card at 520/560 pe speeds (check)
- save original bios so u dont get screwed j/k (check)
- boot computer with either iso image cd or floppy
- flash the modified flashrom or asus xt pe bios ????? ( i am retarded here , plz help ) ????

 

[djbbenn]

Boot off the floppy or what ever with the flasrom and bios/backup bios on it, type the command line "flashrom -p -f 0 bios.bin". Put the name of your bios where it says "bios" in the command like. Ex: "flashrom -p -f 0 xtpe.bin" If it all goes well it will say varified 65473kb of 65473kb or something like that, then reboot. You may have to reinstall your drivers and/or Atitool to varify the pipes and card. If you get blocks or artifacts on your screen, flash to backup bios back. If you flash and then restart and get a blank screen, try to flash blind or use a PCI card to see. Good luck...

-Dan