Flashed xt850 to x850XT

[UncleCC]

Has anyone done this with good results?

[Midknyte]

You mean an x850pro? I don't see a plain x850 listed.

most of the 850s are lasercut, so flashing the bios may not re-enable the pipes.

[UncleCC]

Sorry,...yes...XT850 Pro...

From what i gathered online..some can be unlocked and some not..

Seems if you have a card that first came out and for a little while after you can unlock.

Some issues with Fan Control but there is a work-around for that also.

Like I said, has anyone done it? and if so any problems?

[Midknyte]

check on mvktech.net forums. if anyone has done it successfully, it would be there. You can try it but ALWAYS BACKUP THE ORIGINAL BIOS FIRST

[UncleCC]

OK..thanks..will take a peek there.

I did this with my 9800 pro and it went well.

But just only thinking about it with this card..

[Midknyte]

The 9800pro and XT were the same except for clockspeed. That's not the same case here.

[UncleCC]

Correct..

But, just a thought of trying..thats why I was asking if anyone here has done it.

[Midknyte]

Like I said, most of the X850pros are LASER CUT, not just a soft mod to disable the extra pipes. flashing the bios won't fix this. You can try, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. I haven't heard of too many people that were successful.

[Someone Stupid]

You can't flash back if it fails on the X850s - someone on OCforums found this little tidbit out the hard way. Make sure it isn't laser cut. I can't emphasize that last little point enough.

[UncleCC]

OK...I will be honest..I am chicken to try it..even though from what I have read my card is not laser cut and could be flashed.

BUT!!

What would the 4 extra "pipes" (and what are pipes) do..

I took off the stock cooler and replaced it with a Zalman VF700-CU..

So it may be safer to OC the card to XT and forget the "flash"..this way I can keep "fan control"..have heard if you flash up, you lose fan control.

Thanks...

[UncleCC]

Just one more thing....

I have noticed that most of the "HOW TO'S" mention to be sure to use the modified "flashrom"..What do they mean ?

Is this what "Someone Stupid" refered to in his/her reply?

[Midknyte]

What he is saying is that once you try to flash it, the card goes dead. This is similar to what happened with the first 6800NUs. Once you flashed it to 16 pipes, there was no way to "re-close" the 4 bad pipes properly.

pipes refer to pixel pipelines.

Remember that the main reason lower piped cards are sold is because there are some flawed pipes and ATI can't sell them as X850XTs. They're making lemonade out of lemons.

The X850XT rom might work, but you can also use Rivatuner to open pipes on the original rom. there is a scripts section in the startup menu of rivatuner.

[UncleCC]

That last part is out of my league..I know my limits.. :)

Maybe time to get into OCing...well just a little..

Thanks all..

:t