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X800 Pro VIVO mod 12P to 16P

NRP

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Hello,
I recently purchased a Sapphire X800 Pro VIVO card. I just read W1zzard's article on modifying the card's BIOS to unlock the extra 4 pipes, and I have a couple of questions.

First, how can I tell if I have successfully unlocked all the pipes?

Second, if I install the X800 Pro VIVO 16P 256 MB BIOS (I don't want to overclock the card), I understand that WinXP will recognize the card as an X800 Pro. Do I have to do anything special so that the Catalyst drivers (or games I play) recognize that the card now has 16 pipes instead of 12 pipes?

I apologize if these are dumb questions, but I'm new to vidoecard mods. Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 

W1zzard

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check with atitool ...

nothing special has to be done when using the 16p bios
 

NRP

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W1zzard,
Someone on another forum (Beyond3D) told me that the the X800 Pro VIVO 16P 256 MB Bios doesn't work with Sapphire cards, and many people are having problems (blank screens after flashing, etc) with this particular Bios on Sapphire cards. Have you heard of this problem?

If this is true what Bios should I use? I understand that installing an XT Bios sets the core and memory clock speeds to 520/560. I have a couple of concerns about installing an XT Bios: Will the stock cooling handle these speeds, and does the card have enough voltage to handle the core/mem speed increases (I heard that one can increase the card's voltage (something about a "pencil mod"?), but I have no idea how to do it).

All I really want to do is enable the extra pipes.
 

Urlyin

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NRP

I had the same concerns as you and the same card and did successfully flash it to a XT. I tried serveral BIOS and found the ATI XT BIOS worked best. I did do the pencil mod which helped with early instability I had. But if all you want is to enable the 4 pipes but not use the Pro 16 pipes BIOS then I would suggest first try to have an PCI card handy just in case. MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL BIOS. Next use the Gigabyte BIOS which will enable the 4 pipes then flash back to your original BIOS which should then still have the 16 pipies enabled... as for the stock fan I replaced mine with a ZM80D-HP Zalman. The stock HSF did reach 70c with ATITool... But with just the pipes enabled you should be okay...
 

NRP

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Urylin,
Thanks for the info. Do you know where I can find more info about the voltage modification for this card?
 

Urlyin

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NRP said:
Urylin,
Thanks for the info. Do you know where I can find more info about the voltage modification for this card?

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=817&s=1 is where I went... I also read the 9800xt vmod as well... on my card the voltage was 1.39 before mod and 1.45 after... I did use the 2b pencil and it only took a couple swipes to go from 418ohms to 400ohms( resistor resistance ) which is where I stopped ... the card can run at 526\573 but doesn't oc much higher... I thought it was easy enough to do if you have the digital multimeter and follow instructions ;)
 
S

Spooky_uk

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Hoping someone can offer ome ideas for me- I have flashed my sapphire x800pro following the article and everything is fone in windows etc. When loading a game however, it will get to the intro of whichever game it is then the monitor will switch off into standby and a reboot is needed to get the pc up and running again.

Any ideas ?
 
N

netranger6

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Power supply? Enough juice running to your card? Just a guess.
 

W1zzard

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spooky: you flashed a pro or a pro vivo?
 

PH8

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My VGA: HIS IceQII Radeon X800 Pro - VIVO 256MB

Ok, so I loaded up the Flashrom.exe (along with the other two files in the .zip) and the new HIS[1].X800XT.256.Samsung16.bin file onto a freshly formatted floppy... Correct way to proceed? Or does the Flashrom program need to be on a seperate disk to the new BIOS?

I am using Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2 so I went to the command prompt and changed to the A: directory and typed 'flashrom.exe'. I get the message: 'Please reboot to DOS and run again' I then rebooted my machine. Went into the system BIOS and selected 'Boot from floppy', thinking that this was what it meant by 'Booting to DOS'. Still no joy. I then rebooted into Windows Safe Mode with Command Prompt and attempted to run the flashrom.exe program again. Nope.

How do you get this to run? :confused:

Any help you could give would be, well, helpful :D
 

PH8

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I created the DOS startup disk and got the program to run, but I'm not at all sure what it means or how to go about it. I get the follwing information when I run the flashrom -i command and have no idea what it means:

ADAPTER: 0*
bn: 02
dn: 00
dID: 4A49
asic: R420/M18
flash: -
ID: -
Flash Type: ST M25P05/c
remap: -
lock: yes
ROM size: 0x10000

Maybe someone can tell me if flashing is possible, and if so, how to do it - I haven't attempted this before and am completely lost. I won't proceed unless 100% sure. I don't want to bugger up $900 worth of video card ;)
 

Urlyin

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PH8... did you verify that you card can handle the XT speeds?? Use the ATITool to set your core\mem to the XTspeeds of 520 core \ 560 mem and run some benchmarks to make sure card can handle the speeds before you flash it...
 

Quazi

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Urlyin said:
http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=817&s=1 is where I went... I also read the 9800xt vmod as well... on my card the voltage was 1.39 before mod and 1.45 after... I did use the 2b pencil and it only took a couple swipes to go from 418ohms to 400ohms( resistor resistance ) which is where I stopped ... the card can run at 526\573 but doesn't oc much higher... I thought it was easy enough to do if you have the digital multimeter and follow instructions ;)

Just FYI, I took the ohms down to 380. This gives me a voltage of 1.55 to my X800Pro. No problems.
 
R

ronsha

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HIS IceQII Radeon X800 Pro - VIVO 256MB

I did the bios flash and this happend !

In atiTool I still have 12 pipeline's
My default core is 520 / memory 560

After flashing I should have 16 pipeline's, or not?

By the way, I have the HIS IceQII Radeon X800 Pro - VIVO 256MB
Temp by idle is 42 degrees, under full load 60 degrees.

Benchmarks are doing fine, no problem with that!

Help needed, how can I fix this, for getting 16 pipeline's ?????

Thanks,

Ronshaundefined :confused:
 

PH8

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Urlyin said:
PH8... did you verify that you card can handle the XT speeds?? Use the ATITool to set your core\mem to the XTspeeds of 520 core \ 560 mem and run some benchmarks to make sure card can handle the speeds before you flash it...

Thanks for your help Urlyin ;)

Yeah, I didn't do that before, and it seems to be a good idea to check it out so I just used the ATiTool to see what's happening. Here's how it went...

I upped the core from 499.75 MHz to the required 520 (.71) Mhz. The memory I increased from 470 to 559.29 MHz. I used the 'Scan For Artifacts' option and had 'No Errors' for 1154 seconds. I stopped it at this point. If you let it go, does it stop at a set time or do you have to stop it manually? I noticed that in this test, the cube didn't spin. It remained stationary. Is this normal?

After Scanning for Artifacts, I then opened the '3D View' and had a 316 FPS average. I let this run for about 10 minutes and had no crashes or artifacts. The temperature got up to 66°C. Is this OK?

Awaiting your reply... :)

**EDIT**
I just completed a run of 3DMark2001 and scored a lower score than I had registered previously. WTF?? :confused: I had achieved a score of 16,676 but when I ran it with the XT clock/mem settings, I got 15,260. I know it's not a huge difference, but I'm just wondering why this may be...
 
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Urlyin

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Quazi said:
Just FYI, I took the ohms down to 380. This gives me a voltage of 1.55 to my X800Pro. No problems.
Quazi I think you went close to the max I think at 1.57 the card will shut off... the overvolt protection kicks in... there's a mod for that too ( W1zzard has X800pro vmods listed on the website)... don't quote me on that 1.57, just thought you'd like to know that it will shut off... watch the temp :)
 

Urlyin

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PH8 said:
Thanks for your help Urlyin ;)

Yeah, I didn't do that before, and it seems to be a good idea to check it out so I just used the ATiTool to see what's happening. Here's how it went...

I upped the core from 499.75 MHz to the required 520 (.71) Mhz. The memory I increased from 470 to 559.29 MHz. I used the 'Scan For Artifacts' option and had 'No Errors' for 1154 seconds. I stopped it at this point. If you let it go, does it stop at a set time or do you have to stop it manually? I noticed that in this test, the cube didn't spin. It remained stationary. Is this normal?

After Scanning for Artifacts, I then opened the '3D View' and had a 316 FPS average. I let this run for about 10 minutes and had no crashes or artifacts. The temperature got up to 66°C. Is this OK?

Awaiting your reply... :)

**EDIT**
I just completed a run of 3DMark2001 and scored a lower score than I had registered previously. WTF?? :confused: I had achieved a score of 16,676 but when I ran it with the XT clock/mem settings, I got 15,260. I know it's not a huge difference, but I'm just wondering why this may be...

Thank W1zzard for posting the tools and steps :D
Right now the max core\mem doesn't work correctly for the X800pro :(
So setting your core\mem( one or the other not both at the same time) speed then select scan for artifacts does run until you tell it to stop. What you look for is that the clock doesn't reset and start over. This would mean that an artifact was found ( you can check the log as well) or if the running time doesn't match the no errors for xx:xx.

As for the slower benchmarks make sure that the ATITool has set them and has not reset back to default. Which BIOS did you use? I noticed I get better benchmarks with the ATI BIOS and actually better all round performance/stability ... as for the temp ( someone correct me if I'm wrong) I would be concerned if it went over 70c but I have heard people with stock HSF running upwards of 77c ... hope this helps
 

PH8

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Urlyin said:
Thank W1zzard for posting the tools and steps :D

THANKS W1ZZARD!! :D

Urlyin said:
Right now the max core\mem doesn't work correctly for the X800pro :(
So setting your core\mem( one or the other not both at the same time) speed then select scan for artifacts does run until you tell it to stop. What you look for is that the clock doesn't reset and start over. This would mean that an artifact was found ( you can check the log as well) or if the running time doesn't match the no errors for xx:xx.

Yep, I checked the logs and there were no errors or artifacts found. As far as I know, I have set ATiTool to apply my 'XT Settings' (what I saved the profile as) at Windows startup.

Urlyin said:
As for the slower benchmarks make sure that the ATITool has set them and has not reset back to default. Which BIOS did you use? I noticed I get better benchmarks with the ATI BIOS and actually better all round performance/stability...

No, they are still set to 'XT Settings', it doesn't revert back to default.

Again, as far as I know, I'm using the standard BIOS that came with the card - I haven't flashed anything yet - so I guess it's the HIS[1].X800PROVIVO.256.Samsung16 BIOS. Is this what you mean?
 

Urlyin

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PH8... I saw W1zzards reply in which it seems we have a double thread going... but what he said was " set xt pe clocks and PLAY your favourite games .. that the best test imo .. atitool artifact detection on x800 isnt that great yet ..

should have no power/heat issues when going to 16p .. pro vivo is physically the same card as xt pe "

He would know better than me what works best... Sorry I had assumed that you had already did the flash... not sure why your score would get lower :confused: If you're not getting atifacts during 3Dmark or game play ( mine would reboot if I had the core set to high and artifact city if mem was to high) then your ready to do the flash... make sure you follow the instructions and if at all possible have a pci card handy...
 

PH8

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Urlyin said:
...then your ready to do the flash... make sure you follow the instructions and if at all possible have a pci card handy...

I need to refer you to an earlier post I made in this thread and it can be found here.

I get the above information when I run flashrom -i. I dont know what command to run to actually flash the card and the instructions that come with Flashrom are really confusing for me as I have never done this before. It says 'Lock: Yes' I was thinking that maybe the BIOS is locked and it can't be flashed. See? That's how lame I am at this.... :rolleyes:

If it can be - I need to know the exact command to do it. I have the new XT BIOS on the same floppy as the Flashrom program. Is this how it's done?
 

Urlyin

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PH8 said:
I need to refer you to an earlier post I made in this thread and it can be found here.

I get the above information when I run flashrom -i. I dont know what command to run to actually flash the card and the instructions that come with Flashrom are really confusing for me as I have never done this before. It says 'Lock: Yes' I was thinking that maybe the BIOS is locked and it can't be flashed. See? That's how lame I am at this.... :rolleyes:

If it can be - I need to know the exact command to do it. I have the new XT BIOS on the same floppy as the Flashrom program. Is this how it's done?
Yes the files needed are the bios and flashrom.exe on a Bootable floppy
The correct command is flashrom -f -p 0 BIOS.bin
Bios.bin being the name of the bios you are flashing with..
The -I display information ... more reading here http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34
 
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NRP

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I posted this in another thread, but, since I started this thread, I thought I should include it here.

My X800 Pro VIVO also locked up during benchmarks after the X800 XT Bios flash. I increased the card's voltage from 1.396V to 1.44V, which solved the lockup problems (Thanks, Urlyin).

However, my card still can't handle core/mem speeds of 520/560 - ATI Tool shows artifacts after about 2 minutes of "Artifact Scanning". Artifacts are also very noticeable in 3DMark03 at 520/560. I'm not sure if the artifacts are heat-related. With stock HSF it hits 84C during benchmarking (I've ordered a VGA Silencer 4). However, at 520/520, with stock HSF (and 80C+ GPU temps) the Artifact Scan runs 15+ minutes without errors (which W1zzard defines as a "stable" overclock). So for the time being, I am running at 475/450 with 16 pipes. Even at stock X800 Pro speeds the GPU still hits 80C+ during gaming and benchmarking, but no artifacts are present in either ATI Tool or 3DMark03. From others' reported GPU temps, I think mine is WAY too high. Nevertheless, I'm not even sure if better cooling will allow me run at 520/560. My card's components (it does have 1.6ns memory) might just be at the low end of the specification so it can't handle XT speeds, so they slapped an X800 Pro VIVO sticker on it.

It's still pretty freakin' fast though! The extra four pipes at stock X800 Pro speeds are worth about 5-7 fps in HaloPC and Doom 3 timedemos and about 1,000 points in 3DMark03. Now if W1zzard would just make an ATI X800 > XT Bios with 500/500 speeds I'd be set!

I have been playing with ATI Tool and found the memory speed seems to be the cause of the artifacts. The maximum stable memory speed for my card is 544.5 (the core seems to be stable up to around 550). If I go any higher on the memory speed I get artifacts after about 5 minutes.

Do you guys think that ram sinks would help to achieve stable operation at the X800 XT's default memory speed of 560? If so, what type(s) can you recommend? I've ordered a VGA Silencer 4 (not sure if it has ram sinks), so I may have some clearance issues on the GPU side of the board.

By the way, I thought I had ordered a Sapphire card, but I was sent a PowerColor X800 Pro VIVO. Oh well, no matter - I was able to successfully unlock 16 pipes and the card runs fine (if a little too hot). It would be nice to run at the default XT speeds, but overall I am quite pleased with the card's performance with 16 pipes at X800 Pro speeds of 475/450.
 

Urlyin

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NRP, Don't rely soley on the finding from the ATITool...W1zzard has noted that the ATItool doesn't work well with the X800pros... I would assume some of the issues are heat related. Did you flash with the ATI BIOS? Do you have any AS5(artic silver5)? The HSF may not have seated very well, maybe a new paste job would help until the VGA silencer comes in ... sometimes poor airflow in the case can cause heat problems... try it with the side cover off
 

NRP

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I installed the VGA Silencer 4 today - what a difference! My card now idles @ 41C and peaks @ 68C under extreme loads. This thing is virtually silent, even at 100% fan speed! I am very impressed - this is an excellent product!

However, the card still isn't stable at any memory speed over 544.5 (even with the VGA Silencer and an open case). I really think that some of my memory chips are at the low end of the manufacturing specification and just can't handle a 560 memory speed, and I'm certain that's why my card is a Pro VIVO and not an XT.

Therefore, I just used ATI Tool to create a custom profile that sets the core/mem speeds to 520/540 at startup. This configuration has been rock solid so far, and is only very slightly slower than XT speeds (11,595 3DMarks versus 11,695 for 520/560). I am also using the ATI X800 XT Bios.
 
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