Graphics 6800 GT (and other Nvidia) bios modding tool

Has anyone used this yet? Backing-up and modding your existing bios should be far safer than flashing with another manufacturers/Ultra bios - many people seem to have had good results. I'm thinking of using it to increase the gpu voltage on my GT to 1.4v, But first I need to get myself a floppy drive before I can back-up my old bios and try it out.

here's a link to the thread at ocforums, and the link (v1.3 is the latest) is also on this page....

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=33437&page=5&pp=15

EDIT:

v1.4 now availible - by mavke and xtremetheme

Release 1.4
--------------
- added display of effective memory speed, as it confused some people
- added support for 6800LE, Quadro FX1000/FX2000/FX3000

http://www.mvktech.net/news.php

 

Going on previous experiences around the net BIOS modding is better only in theory, in practice the potential pitfalls are increased.

 

Hi guy!
i have Asus v9950/td/p/128m/a videocard, bios 4.35.20.21.as04
Its only work with Asus motherboards
I want flash new bios
Anybody, are you have its bios

 

Austin, generally I agree with your point - bios modding can be risky. However, this tool only allows the controlled modification of certain parameters from a GUI, not hex editing. From other's experiences it seems pretty reliable.

 

how risky can this be?

I have a Leadtek 6800GT and am considering Flashing to Ultra

- do I need a new (other than stock) cooling system?
- will the increase be worth the risk?

 

Sadly I haven't looked into it a great deal, can the BIOS editing tool get the card recognised as a 6800ultra? The ultra has dual power plugs etc so their BIOS' are unlikely to work in a 6800GT card AFAIK. In terms of the perf increase a stock 6800GT is a great performer and you should be able to achieve 6800ultra perf by simply o/c'ing with which there is virtually zero risks (if done carefully). Since it seems many people get their 6800GT to ultra speeds with stock cooling it seems it is up to it, so I wouldn't worry there. I guess it's up to you, GT is fast enough but if you want mroe speed you can try o/c'ing, editing or flashing, the choice is yours.

 

Buchans, from my limited readig on this, it seems some people have successfully flashed their GTs with Ultra bioses, however, it seems that others have had issues. This may be down to compatibility between various manufactor's GT/Ultra cards and bioses.

As Austin says, despite only giving 1.3v to the GPU (as opposed to 1.4v for the Ultra) most GTs will reach Ultra speeds with their original bios. If that isn't enough then you may aswell just backup, mod (to increase GPU voltage slightly) and reflash your cards original (but modded) bios to ensure compatibility. As far as I can see, apart from possible slower ram latency timings for the Ultra (which is hardly worth meddling with or flashing with an Ultra bios for), is the only difference as I see it - so why not just mod your existing bios?

 

Man, there's no need for this if you have a GT like mine. I have an eVGA 6800 GT. The stock speed is 350/1000 MHz...I have it at 420/1150 right now at good temperatures. If I increase it any more then the thermal throttling kicks in. I'm not gonna touch the BIOS with it already past Ultra speeds.

 

...but flashing the bios will enable more pipelines, right?

 

No, the GT already has 16 pipelines.

The only way I'd consider moddong a GT bios is to increase GPU volts to 1.4v (or 1.5 with better cooling), then it's getting the same voltage as the Ultra. Many GT's, including mine, reach above Ultra speeds with the deault Gt bios (i.e. 1.3v GPU), although the 1.4v bios mod will be of more use to those GT owners strugging to get 400mhz GPU, it will still be of some advantage to those with good 'clocking cards seeking even more speed.

 

When I installed my 6800gt (a pny) and then rebooted and went back into bios to check my settings, I noticed the agp voltage was 1.5

This isn't consistent with what I've seen posted about other people's GT's?

I clocked it up with powerstrip just fine, temps didn't change at all according to the cards own temp monitor, as well as my thermal lead.

At least that makes some sense, since the voltage stayed the same.

 

Was this in the mobo's BIOS? The AGP socket voltage is 1.5v for all AGP4x and AGP8x cards, AGP8x also uses the lower 0.8v for signalling. Increasing the AGP socket voltage is unlikely to do anything other than risk your mobo and gfx card. The voltage people talk about with 6800 cards is the voltage supplied within the card itself. In terms of temps, raising clock speeds should certainly increase temps a bit, but adding voltage does tend to increase temps far more significantly. Rem modern nVidia cards have seperate 2D and 3D running speeds so bear this in mind when o/c'ing and checking the temps.

 

Moviefreak, as Austin says, the above posts refer to the internal GPU voltage of the graphics card, not he AGP voltage (vagp) as controlled from the mobo bios.

Unless you have a 6800GT which overclocks to the limit of the chip's architecture with only 1.3v, increasing this internal voltage *will definately* allow for higher overclocks, temperature dependant of course. Remeber, Ultra's are 1.4v as standard, whereas GTs are "only" 1.3v.

 

That makes sense. Guess I'm to much of a noob to know about getting into the cards bios.

Anyways, for load I ran a 5 minute quake3 demo about 9 or 10 times while I was reading some other stuff.

Personally I saw very little difference in actual performance in my system, neither did I in doom3, except that on VERY rare occasions in doom3 I would get less hitching. I'm talking some of the most texture hungry sections of the game.

If nothing else, I've proven to myself the card is most assuredly worth it.

I'll upgrade to an AMD64 in the next couple of months, I'm sure that the difference will be more noticable then.