X800 Pro VIVO to XT PE Bios Mod

[W1zzard]

Introduction

ATI's X800 Pro, X800 Pro VIVO and X800 XT PE cards are all based on the same GPU Chip - the R420. As you all know the Pro series has 12 rendering pipelines while the XT series has 16. It wouldn't be cost effective to make two versions of the R420 chip, so ATI is disabling 4 pipelines on the chip after production, just like on R300 and R350 before.

On the R3X0 cores ATI used a resistor - on R420 a laser cut as shown in the following picture:


X800 Pro VIVO cores do not have the laser cut:


The X850 Pro VIVO can be modded the same way, you just need another Bios.

It is still running with only 12 Pipelines, even after flashing an XT Bios to it. The reason why the XT Bios does not unlock the additional pipelines can be found in the Flashrom flashing tool. It "preserves" certain ROM Bios settings when flashing another BIOS:


Several people have used a Gigabyte Bios and flashing tool to get around this, but for some reason you can not flash back to 12 pipelines with this method- if you have defective pipelines you keep them.

The method I present here uses a modified flashrom which does not preserve Bios settings.
This allows:

• flashing of any Bios
• going back to 12 Pipelines
• can not be detected

It will only work on the X800 Pro VIVO and X850 Pro VIVO. Manufacturer does not matter. It will not work on any non-VIVO cards.

The modified flashrom has been updated on Jan 03 2005 to support both AGP and PCI-Express X800 Pro VIVO cards. The mod is the same, just get a X800 XT PE PCI-E BIOS when flashing a PCI-E card.

If you flash a PCI-E Pro VIVO and the card is detected as "X800 SE" after flashing, you flashed the wrong BIOS.

Instead of the modified flashrom you can also use ATI's atiflash 3.xx. Just add -newbios to the command-line switches to disable "Preserve BIOS settings".

Rumor has it that Gigabyte X800 Pro VIVOs come with activated 16 pipelines out of the box.


All VIVO cards can be identified by this yellow CD-Audio connector near the power plug. If your card has not got this connector, it is not VIVO and can not be modded.

Performing the Mod

1. Download modified flashrom.
2. Download Bios from here.
   I suggest the latest X800XT PE Bios (or X850 XT Bios if you are modding an X850 Pro VIVO).
   A little sidenote: Many people complain that they get a "file not found" error when trying to flash the bios under DOS. The problem is that DOS does not know long filenames, so all files are truncated to some funky names like Powerco~1.bin. Either use the dir command, when in DOS, to find out the short filename or rename the file to something shorter while still in Windows.
3. Make sure the card can reliably run at the clock speeds of the new bios (with ATITool, for example).
   If you know your card can't handle the XT PE speeds you can download a modified X800 Pro VIVO Bios from the Bios Collection as well (ATI X800 Pro VIVO 16P). This bios is just 16P enabled and is detected as X800 Pro by the drivers - clocks are unchanged.
4. Make a backup of the existing Bios of your card. Yes, make a backup, do not rely on the Bios collection. The reason is that different pipelines could be disabled on your card than in the Bios from the collection. So if you want to flash back because of artifacts, the Bios from the collection might disable the working pipelines and leave you running with the bad ones.
5. Use the modified flashrom to flash the Bios to the card. More extensive flashing instructions can be found here. They talk about atiflash - you use the modified flashrom, usage is the same.
6. After bootup Windows should automatically install the X800 XT PE driver.
7. Verify the number of active pipelines using ATITool. Go to Settings -> Overclocking. The list there shows the number of pipelines the card is running with.

You can use this CD ISO Image (1.5 MB) to flash the 16P modded X800 Pro VIVO AGP BIOS to your card. After starting from the CD, a boot menu comes up. Please make sure you already have made a backup of your existing BIOS at this point.

If you want to remove all traces of previous Bios flashes (for example if you flashed the Gigabyte Bios):
Use modified flashrom to flash empty.bin (use "Save as..." if weird characters appear when clicking the link) to your video card, then flash the new Bios without rebooting. Be careful - if you don't flash a real Bios after flashing the empty Bios, your card will not work properly.

Jup i tried this mod too with succes!

transformed my sapphire x800 pro vivo into a full x800 xt pe
stable @ 520/560 stockspeed of the xt.
did not try to clock furter cause i'm stuck with the original cooling in my barebane.
no space for artic kinda stuff

ahh well happy as it is.. went from 11k 3dmark03 to 13k
doom 3 goes @ 1280/1024 high quality 4x fsaa and 8x asf. fps not getting under the 40
most of the time 60 fps limit in doom 3!

[NemoNada]

I've been trying to buy an X800XT PCI-X card and I can't find one anywhere--not even ATI has one! First time in my life that I've had money and can't spend it

Anyway... maybe this would be a better answer (and cheaper) than waiting or doing without. Would the card being PCI-X affect any of the procedures?

Take care...

[Urlyin]

I did the BIOS flash from a Sapphire X800pro VIVO to an X800xt PE. The flash worked and I now have 16pipes. I used the Sapphire XT BIOS first and had lockup problems. Also the performance was still at the OC'ed pro speed. I then flashed to the ATI XT BIOS and what a difference. I now see XT speeds but all is not perfect. I tried ATITool to scan for artifacts and it locks after a few minutes. When I loop 3DMark03 VPU recover pops up. I would assume that I need a volt mod. It has been mentioned that some pros come with a 1.3 volt and not the 1.4 volt of a XT. I can still play Doom3 and PainKiller without any issues. I changed the stock fan to a Zalman ZM80d-HP running idle at 35c and 54c at the highest so far... I still like to see if I can change it back to 12 pipes but I'm enjoying the XT mod to much.. pencil time ...

[Urlyin]

The X800 series doesn't come in PCI-X... X600XT/X600pro and X300/X300se for ATI PCI-Express

[kovenant]

thanx w1zzard so much

this will help a lot of ppl here to beat the 6800gts...

hehe

kov

PCIe X800s are coming soon...

W1zzard, you're the man... even though I can't use this mod.

[Urlyin]

W1zzard I'm confused about the Gigabyte Flash to an XT. If you use the regular Ati flash tool and Gigabyte XT BIOS to mod. You then have broken pipes are you stuck with them? Can the Flashrom and Empty BIOS get you back to 12 (flashing original BIOS before reboot)?

Thanks for posting the files

[W1zzard]

use modified flashrom and flash your original bios back to get 12p

[Urlyin]

Excellent...

[NemoNada]

The X800 series doesn't come in PCI-X... X600XT/X600pro and X300/X300se for ATI PCI-Express

I couldn't believe that! I was sure I'd seen something somewhere...

Anyway, my apologies, you were correct and ATI has indicated they do not have a planned release date for the X800 as PCI-X.

I know this is not the correct thread but I can't make new ones yet and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me? Should I go w/the X600XT or something totally different. I'd also read that ASUS has made some modifications to their version of the X*00 cards. Do you know anything about that?

Thanks for your assistance (and straightening out! )...

Take care,

Jim

"Guam: Where America's Day Begins!"

[Urlyin]

Well you're right about them being made. Their just not available yet, read this review for some good info http://firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_x800_x600_xt/ .

ASUS doesn't put anything different on their boards than any other mfg (other than PCB color and HSF mfg specific). There is a difference between an XT and a XT Platium Edition, about 20mhz I believe. All XT's come with VIVO (ati rage theater chip)

Which brand might depend on the bundled software and price. Each card preforms differently. ASUS usually has a good software bundle but is priced 20 to 50 dollars more than say a Powercolor with a limited bundle or why get the ASUS if you already have the software. ASUS does throw in a videocam as well...

Also don't buy a high end card if you're running a low end system. The card will never reach it's potential...

[NemoNada]

Well you're right about them being made. Their just not available yet, read this review for some good info ...

Thanks Urlyin, that link you provided cleared up the last of my confusion and I can see now why I thought there was supposed to be PCI-X cards.

I couldn't get ASUS to answer me regarding when they were going to release the X800XT Platinum PCI-X and ATI just said they "had no date projected".

So I decided to buy the ASUS X600XT card for now. Doesn't have near the specs but it'll work for now. Plus I want to check out mod'ding the card to a FireGL version. I saw some info on turning the Radeon 9800 into a FireGL, so I'm sure something similar will apply to the X*00 series cards. I'm not a gamer and I use multiple monitors so the firegl card is more in line w/what I need.

I didn't notice anything on this site regarding the firegl mod'ding. Is anyone here familiar with it?

Also, will ATITool work w/PCI-X? Guess I'll find out soon enough...

BTW, you're correct about needing a system to support the X800XT type of card. I'm pretty sure I'll be okay w/a P4 550, ASUS P5AD2 Premium MB, and 2GB of DDR2-533MHz RAM.

Take care,

Jim

"Guam: Where America's Day Begins!"

Just making sure that does it matter if its something els too like "CLUB 3D RADEON X800 PRO VGA+DVI+VIVO" for example ?

[pablofrogo]

If it's VIVO, it will work. VGA and DVI are just different types of plug sockets on the card, VGA is the blue one, DVI is the round black one.

[Urlyin]

Cool... Glad I could help.
W1zzard should be able to help you with AtiTool...

I'd like to also note anyone doing the Pro to XT mod should seriously consider upgrading their stock HSF

I did the pencil vmod on my modded XT. It took longer to take off/on the ZM80D-HP than to do the vmod. I checked the voltage and it was 1.39 before the mod. The card out I then checked the resistance which read 418ohm. I dropped it down to 400ohm. With the card back in and running the voltage read 1.45. Now having done that I went straight to the AtiTool and scanned for artifacts(stock XT settings). No lockups

Didn't have time to run max core/mem ...

excellent work!!! did anyone hear anything about ati wanting to change that possible flash?

i used the modified flashrom to try and flash my Sapphire Pro Vivo to unlock the other 4 pipes. Everything seemed to go ok, and I used the ati x800xt bios. However, after i rebooted, my motherboard barks at me..

system failed vga test

F... any way to correct this other than getting a pci card?

Hallo Wizzard,

wie ich sehe bist du aus Deutschland, ich hoffe du kannst mir meine Frage beantworten.

Ich bekomme diese Woche noch eine HIS X800 Pro geliefert, kann ich die mit deiner Methode auch zu einer XT PE hoch"patchen"?

Ich denke schon, es steht ja zumindest hier in deinem Artikel, aber sage mir Bitte, man hat mir schon Hilfe bei dem BIOS flashen usw angeboten, dieses Verfahren für das man Disketten benötigt usw, leider ist mir dies nicht sehr geheuer ...

Ist deine Methode einfacher und löscht man damit nicht sein Normales BIOS? In meinem Falle ein MSI BIOS?

Lieben Gruß, Sven.

Ich nochmal:

Ich glaube so langsam bei deiner Methode geht es wirklich nur ganz konkret um das "Bios" der Karte nicht wahr? Das heißt selbst wenn es fehl schlagen würde, könnte man mit diesem Flash ROM das Alte Standard BIOS wieder draufladen nicht wahr? Habe nämlich Angst dass das BIOS des Boards flöten geht oder dergleichen, weil man ja bei der Anderen Methode ein ganz Anderes "Board Bios" laden muss gell?

Ciao

Huhu ...

ich mal wieder, kann ich mit dem hier: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=11

meine Karte flashen, wenn ich nicht diese ViVo habe?

Gruß.

[papashex]

Has anyone tried this on an AMD64 s939 system? I have found some tools do not work outside of windows, i.e. memtest86 and the Acronis trueimage restore CD will not boot the system.

Standard dos floppies appear to boot ok but I would hate to crash mid flash!

[W1zzard]

es geht nur mit einer Pro _VIVO_

ja es geht nur um das bios das du drauf flashst

[Urlyin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

i used the modified flashrom to try and flash my Sapphire Pro Vivo to unlock the other 4 pipes. Everything seemed to go ok, and I used the ati x800xt bios. However, after i rebooted, my motherboard barks at me..

system failed vga test

F... any way to correct this other than getting a pci card?

At this point the answer would be Yes you'll need a second card...
Did you use the BIOS from the link http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/ ?
Did you verify your Pro could run at XT speeds?
There's two ATI XT BIOS one is 520 and the other is 526. Perhaps it might be that your card is a 1.3v and not 1.4 as some people have noted.
Have you checked your voltage?
The memory is 1.6 right?
You did do the backup for original BIOS as per instructions...
Sorry the flash went bad... do you have a pci card?

Originally Posted by W1zzard

es geht nur mit einer Pro _VIVO_

ja es geht nur um das bios das du drauf flashst

So,

that means ... i only can flash up the card if it is an "ViVo" ???? OMG please don't tell me, that it is the truth ... to be honest ... then it would be 430€ for nothin' ...

I thought i can do it with an Normal Pro too?