eVGA 6800 need to unlock pipes

[Roadhog]

Any one know of a good link that has a mod to unlock pipes and o/c this card--I just got an eVGA brand, 6800(non GT, non Ultra, just the plain 6800).

I have been running an ATI 9500Pro for the last two years, and do not know of any good nvidia sites to try--please post if there are any good articles on what is needed to unlock extra pipes, and o/c, and test this eVGA card, and any thing else needed as a good read for this card.

Thanks -RH-

**Note: If needed, please move this thread to video cards. I posted here, as it is tech help(I think).

[Midknyte]

Look at the "Best of" Thread next time. I posted that a while ago.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=162277

Moved to video forum.

[Microchip]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=342919

You can also softmod voltage by editing BIOS with BIOS editing utility and then reflashing edited BIOS with NVflash utility.
This is extreme, but I did it to my card and it smokes. Only attempt if you are comfortable with this sort of thing.

[CrazyCrusher]

Know need to soft mod it if you have what Mid posted, softmoding it is unnecessary, to risky, its allot easier to change back if you have any problems after unlocking the pipes.

[Midknyte]

always test your pipes and VS with rivatuner before flashing with a different bios. it's hard to go back when you can't see anything on the screen. :eek:

[Microchip]

I agree, I voltage modded long after I unlocked the pipes and vertex shader. I was comfortable with going to the next step and I knew how to toubleshoot if something went wrong.
Don't even attempt it if you haven't done this type of thing before. You can damage your card!

[Roadhog]

Thanks for the help guys.

3DMark03 8550 at stock speeds.

Question--testing under rivatuner--can someone explain how to do this?

Used coolbits to over clock to 355/700, and does not seem to want to go above that, even though card is barely warm--seems like it is running very cool.

Used Rivatuner to unlock all 16 pipes. Included screen shot of rivatuner, as maybe some one can tell me if every thing is done correct?

10,096 on 3DMark03 No artifacts, and seems to run very cool, there is some heat by the power connector though, as resisters there seem a little warm, but not bad. My 9500Pro ran much hotter then this card. My 9500Pro mod to 9700Pro w/warp11, overclocked mildly ran 4274 3dMark03, so pretty big improvement.

-RH-

[Midknyte]

I'm not following. what do you mean that it does not seem to want to go above 355/700? is that in coolbits? you can do the test in the manual overclocking to get an estimate, then you can adjust from there. you can set it higher if you want, but the system may not be stable.

[Roadhog]

Yea, when I do the test setting, any thing above that, it says no, I did not know you could over ride it though. Not sure if I want to over ride, I am reading around, maybe I should be satisfied with the 3dmark03 scores I have.

BTW, when I tried to use riva tuner at first for the over clocking, it gave me a 325/700 as the top setting, that is why I went to coolbits. Now, I notice, riva tuner, sees the over clocking settings from coolbits, so I may be able to use riva tuner now.

As you can see, I have not been around Nvidia cards for awhile, so coolbits and rivatuner are new to me.

GPU temps are 58 deg at idle, so maybe the card is pushed far enough, will have to find out what temps these things run--

-RH-

[Midknyte]

ok, now I know more of where you are coming from. 58 is so-so for idle. My GT used to run in the mid 50s before I upgraded to a copper heatsink and put a blower fan behind the card.

It's strange that coolbits would limit your ram to stock speed. are you sure you're using the manual mode, then running a test everytime you adjust the speeds? oh well. it's all luck of the draw. at least your VS and pipes are ok. that makes a big difference.

[Roadhog]

I cloned over a fresh copy of windows, got rid of all the ATI drivers, and only installed rivatuner so far--it gives me the test settings under manual. I am going to install coolbits again, maybe it will allow me to o/c some more.

Is there any other o/c utilities for NVIDIA that I can try. I feel the card is not even breathing hard, as no artifacts at all? BTW, ran 3dmark05 and got 3471, which is so-so according to other bench results on the web.

As far as luck of the draw, I can take this card back, I have 30 days. I am happy that the pipes opened up, and a fair bench scores, but an thinking of an BFG 6800 OC mail order for about the same price. Reviews on Newegg, have this eVGA card rated 5 out of 5 for most users. Not sure what to do, but I have some time to play.

What, if any, would a bios flash give me? I did a bios flash on my old 9500Pro, and it just allowed me to overclock pretty well (with a VGA cooler Rev 3). The bios flash with warp11 was pretty simple, and would not mind doing a bios flash on this card, but since the pipes are open, not sure it would give me any thing?

-RH-

[Midknyte]

first of all, you should have used drivercleaner to get all the old ati stuff out. that's a necessity. it's a little late, since you did a reformat.
www.drivercleaner.net

you could increase the gpu voltage and hard set the pipes/VS to be on by using a GT core bios. The only thing is that the GT uses a different type of memory, so that could cause problems. Since you can do the softmod, the only thing you could gain would be gpu voltage. remember that will increase your temps. If you want to try flashing the bios, be sure to make a backup of your original first.

coolbits and rivatuner are the best for nvidia cards. I don't like powerstrip, but some guys use that. If you had a Gainward card, there is expertool.

manually try out overclocking with coolbits and see what you get.

[Microchip]

Are you sure that you increased your 3d clock in coolbits? It sounds dumb but make sure you OC your 3d and not your 2d GPU clock. If you did this already, then you would have to soft mod your 3d voltage higher to OC further.
My 6800nu is stable at 420\880 after v modding from 1.2 to 1.5 V.

[Roadhog]

I have strong doubts(lol), if I am using coolbits right.

Tell me how to use it, as I am lost. I went into the Nvidia 6800 setting for clock o/c. If you start cool bits and select gpu's--please explain

PS:

Another post. I did not reformat, I cloned a good image over in Gost. Then used drivecleaner and control panel to get rid of ATI drivers.

[Microchip]

Display > settings>advanced>Geforce6800>clock frequencies>manual overclocking. Under settings> 3D performance. Then slowly inch up a little at a time on your core and mem clock frequencies, each time, testing settings, then if new setting is accepted > apply . Once you are comfortable with your new settings, then make sure you click on apply new settings on startup so the settings stick upon reboot.
Is this what you want to know?

The main point is to make sure you click off of the default 2d performance and on to 3d perforance so that you overclock your card for 3d gaming etc.

[Roadhog]

I was doing it right.

Also found coolbits is included in rivatuner.

Again Thanks

[Microchip]

Also, in riva tuner, under power user> RT\nvidia\overclocking, I disabled daemon warning, int. clock test, and mem clock reset.

This allowed me to OC much further using riva turner which overrides coolbits in display.

[Microchip]

Remember, I also voltage modded by reflashing an edited BIOS which allowed me to OC higher with stability. Be careful. If you decide to reflash, turn off your extra pipes and vs first. to make sure you can boot after the Vmod. Then remod the pipelines and vs in rivaturner. Also, don't increase the 2d voltage, only 3d, throttle, and watch your GPU temps at all times.