X800 Pro Mod to XT PE -=- My Story

[Kent_Diego]

Hi All,
I just got my X800 Pro today. I got low cost Pricewatch seller
for basic Sapphire OEM.
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=vc-130-103

When card arrived, I noticed that it did not say Sapphire at all, ATI only.
I also found that it had the Rage Theater chip, yellow CD audio input
connector, and 4 connector VIVO cable. It also had the VIVO 1.6ns (600 MHz)
memory chips as well. I removed the heatsink and there was no laser cut
disabling the 4 extra pipe lines. I was shaking with excitement.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/rx800-3.html#p10
(do not try to bridge laser cut on non-VIVO cards as I have read that it
does not work, YMMV).

I installed card and WDM drivers were needed for VIVO video encoders and
away I went.

I used ATITool to find card's maximum potential. Core 521 MHz, memory 600
MHz, gave solid reliable performance. This verified the card could handle
the required 520/560 needed for XT Platinum Edition BIOS.

I saved the current BIOS image using ATITool. Now I flashed the X800XT BIOS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/100
It only took a few seconds. Upon re-boot, new hardware was detected, it was
a X800XT Platinum Edition! ATITool said the default speed was 520/560 and
all 16 pipelines were enabled.

But something was wrong. There was one or two icon texts with blotches. I
ran a 3D application and the dreaded checkerboard was present. two of the
newly added 4 pipelines were bad. Many web sites said once this happens you
are screwed; there is no way to go back to 12 pipes. They were wrong! After
much panic, I was able to use flashrom to restore my original BIOS. I did
NOT use the empty.bin to erase all settings. All is well with 12 pipelines.
At least the VIVO and 600 MHz memory speed takes away the sting of bad
pipelines.

If anyone has cure for checkerboard, please let me know.

Kent

 

[Glzmo]

Hi All,
I just got my X800 Pro today. I got low cost Pricewatch seller
for basic Sapphire OEM.
http://www.buyxg.com/store/item.asp?key=vc-130-103

When card arrived, I noticed that it did not say Sapphire at all, ATI
only.
I also found that it had the Rage Theater chip, yellow CD audio input
connector, and 4 connector VIVO cable. It also had the VIVO 1.6ns (600
MHz)
memory chips as well. I removed the heatsink and there was no laser cut
disabling the 4 extra pipe lines. I was shaking with excitement.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/rx800-3.html#p10
(do not try to bridge laser cut on non-VIVO cards as I have read that it
does not work, YMMV).

FYI, I bridged my X800 Pro (non-VIVO) card's lasercut with silver conductive
paint to enable the remaining for pipes back in summer and the card has
worked fine with 16 pipes ever since (didn't install the XT BIOS, though, as
the 16 pipes were recognized and properly working without it - including
speed gain - and I didn't want my card overclocked all the time and it
didn't overclock reliably anyway). My memory doesn't do full XT PE speeds
fully stable (it's only rated 2.0ns), but I have been running the card at
520/520MHz completely stable which is alright.

I installed card and WDM drivers were needed for VIVO video encoders and
away I went.

I used ATITool to find card's maximum potential. Core 521 MHz, memory 600
MHz, gave solid reliable performance. This verified the card could handle
the required 520/560 needed for XT Platinum Edition BIOS.

I saved the current BIOS image using ATITool. Now I flashed the X800XT
BIOS.
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/100
It only took a few seconds. Upon re-boot, new hardware was detected, it
was
a X800XT Platinum Edition! ATITool said the default speed was 520/560 and
all 16 pipelines were enabled.

But something was wrong. There was one or two icon texts with blotches. I
ran a 3D application and the dreaded checkerboard was present. two of the
newly added 4 pipelines were bad. Many web sites said once this happens
you
are screwed; there is no way to go back to 12 pipes. They were wrong!
After
much panic, I was able to use flashrom to restore my original BIOS. I did
NOT use the empty.bin to erase all settings. All is well with 12
pipelines.
At least the VIVO and 600 MHz memory speed takes away the sting of bad
pipelines.

Too bad it didn't work out for you. It truly seems some or all of the
originally disabled pipes on your card are defective. At least you were able
to restore operation to 12 pipes again, though, I hear others aren't as
lucky.

If anyone has cure for checkerboard, please let me know.

Nope, there is no cure, unfortunately. The pipes do not work, you are stuck
with 12 pipes. But with such mods, it always is a gamble. At least you can
overclock the card to higher speeds.

Greetings,

Glzmo

 

[fasteddy]

All is well with 12 pipelines.

At least the VIVO and 600 MHz memory speed takes away the sting of bad
pipelines.

If anyone has cure for checkerboard, please let me know.

Kent

Hi Kent

Did you try it with 16 pipes but with speeds underclocked?

Just out of interest, like...

At least you've still got a great card tho!!!
Cheers
Eddy

 

[Kent_Diego]

Did you try it with 16 pipes but with speeds underclocked?

Just out of interest, like...

Yes, underclocked too. I also tried the Gigabyte BIOS. The strange thing is
the defective squares had video information, just from the wrong part of the
screen, like the 16 pipelines were not being re-combined in the right order.
I wonder if I flashed the empty.bin erasing all information from card, and
then flashing X88XT bios would work? The empty.bin is twice the size as
normal BIOS, so must erase a lot of extra configuration stuff. I am too
scared of permanently ruining card to try. I would like it if someone else
would be that brave and report their success.

Any volunteers?
Kent