6800GT > 6800 Ultra flash (successful, and details!)

I'm thinking Coolermaster CM Stacker + 2 x Ultra X-Connect 500 Watt PS (One for the video card alone) + Water Cooled 6800GT....mmmm I wonder what overclocks you could get with that setup...*dreams* :D
 
I flashed my eVGA 6800GT to the eVGA 68Rev 04 bios, and when I did "detect optimal speeds" I get artifacting. So I have to run my card at:

430
1.12

Does that seem pretty slow for using 6800U bios?

Also on the bios, does the Revision deal with the BIOS or the card? Does Rev04 mean that these bios have fixed problems with REv03, 02, and 01, or is 04 the rev of your card?

Also running 6800U bios on a 6800GT is fine right? I'm really confused if its safe or not. Are the 6800U bios just 6800Gt bios with more voltage and higher speeds?

Thanks.
 
I tried flashing to a 6800Ultra but my performance sucked when I used a XFX 680U bios, it is clocked at 425/1.2, and the problem is my 6800gt is faster at those clocks. Should I try a different Bios or what?
 
Flashed my OLD BFG 6800 GT (green PCB, 1 fan stock cooler) to the 6800U Bios. It had topped out after 2 hours of RTHDRIBL at 84C before, running 421/1140. It autodetected 438/1170 this time around, and hit 91C in the first 5 minutes before hard-freezing.

I flashed back to 6800GT bios, though I'll try again Friday, after my 480 Watt Tagan supply and NV Silencer 5 show up.

This run was with an Antec TruePower 330 Watt PSU, and stock HS, not even reapplied TIM.
 
Hmmm.. Use coolbits to run my GT at Ultra speeds....or void the warranty with a pointless BIOS flash to run at Ultra speeds. Decisions, decisions. LOL
 
actually even with using coolbits to overclock.. ur warranty is already voided ;) but i guess u can get away with it than doing a bios flash and messing up ur card.... wut they dont know cant hurt ;)
 
Right.. You might as well just tear up the warranty and toss it in the garbage if you flash the BIOS. There's no hiding that. lol
 
Huge waste of time...

I tried overclocking my BFG 6800 GT to the BFG 6800 Ultra and the flash went okay and everything worked fine. I ran driver cleaner and reinstalled the drivers for the 6800 Ultra.

I tried overclocking and noticed that my card couldn't even run the stock OC speeds (425 / 1100). After a few minutes of 3DMark, the entire screen would become artifacts.

I played around with the settings for about an hour and managed to get it to 420 / 1200 stable; however, my resulting score was only 11912 in 3DMark03, lower than the 12399 my GT would get.

Needless to say, two hours later, I'm back to my previous configurations.
 
Catiaudo said:
Do I backup my own copy of the BIOS or do I just download it off of the site if it gets messed up? :)

Do I need different drivers if the 6800ultra goes through? Right now I don't have that tab like you do for clock speeds or is that a different program I need to install? I was an ATI user until a week ago so I'm not too familiar with these cards :eek:
Click to expand...

backing up your original bios from the actual board you have is the better idea :cool:
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
Not true at all. The differences are more than you think. There are more caps on the Ultra's and the Ultra has a second molex connector. The BIOS and the cooling solution are different.

The cooling solution isn't a big deal. The lack of caps and second molex connector can be a problem in some cases. Nvidia stated that the Ultra really only needed one molex connector for stock speeds. We can certainly see that is the case alot of times as alot of our GT's OC to default Ultra settings without issue. According to Nvidia the second molex connector was necessary only to overclock the Ultra to any serious level, and that the card would need this to be overclocked past default Ultra speeds.

In reality this tells us that the second molex connector and additional mossfetts were most likely installed to ensure that the Ultra could in fact run at it's advertised clock speeds as we know some Ultra's can run with only one molex connector and the GT's success at overclocking to Ultra speeds also proves that the extra voltage is only required some of the time in some instances. But going past the Ultra's default clocks to any serious degree definatley requires more voltages.


The Ultra Extreme Edition is the same as the regular Ultra except for the clock speeds. The UEE version is nothing more than a factory authorized overclocked Ultra.
Click to expand...

Guess what those extra capacitors are for? You think that extra molex goes nowhere?
The extra molex is nothing more than nvidia's hack to achieve 100% stable Ultra Extreme speeds without modifying the PCB ;)
 
ben johnson said:
I flashed my eVGA 6800GT to the eVGA 68Rev 04 bios, and when I did "detect optimal speeds" I get artifacting. So I have to run my card at:

430
1.12

Does that seem pretty slow for using 6800U bios?

Also on the bios, does the Revision deal with the BIOS or the card? Does Rev04 mean that these bios have fixed problems with REv03, 02, and 01, or is 04 the rev of your card?

Also running 6800U bios on a 6800GT is fine right? I'm really confused if its safe or not. Are the 6800U bios just 6800Gt bios with more voltage and higher speeds?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Not slow by any means :-D Default core speed for a 6800U is only 400mhz :)
 
ohgod said:
I tried flashing to a 6800Ultra but my performance sucked when I used a XFX 680U bios, it is clocked at 425/1.2, and the problem is my 6800gt is faster at those clocks. Should I try a different Bios or what?
Click to expand...

definately, you should also be able to clock higher
 
ScHpAnKy said:
Guess what those extra capacitors are for? You think that extra molex goes nowhere?
The extra molex is nothing more than nvidia's hack to achieve 100% stable Ultra Extreme speeds without modifying the PCB ;)
Click to expand...

I never said that it went nowhere. I know that its there for achieving higher speeds. I mentioned that in my orignal post.

My point is that the 6800GT is not the same as a 6800Ultra. The board is different. The PCB is the same, but there is physically things present on the Ultra that aren't present on the GT. The GT's generally reach Ultra speeds, but the Ultra's can likely go higher. I was responding to the statement that the two cards were the same except for a BIOS update. When that is NOT the case.
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
I never said that it went nowhere. I know that its there for achieving higher speeds. I mentioned that in my orignal post.

My point is that the 6800GT is not the same as a 6800Ultra. The board is different. The PCB is the same, but there is physically things present on the Ultra that aren't present on the GT. The GT's generally reach Ultra speeds, but the Ultra's can likely go higher. I was responding to the statement that the two cards were the same except for a BIOS update. When that is NOT the case.
Click to expand...

Yep, a lot of people think they are identical just because they are the same chip. Not true at all. Sure the ultra gpu is just a higher bin than the gt, but there is more to it than that. Additional power circuitry. You all know how fluctuating rails on your psu can affect your pc. Well, overloading the single molex, caps, and mosfets can cause them to work above their rated power. Now they might work just fine, they might start having problems and delivering noisier power. This can cause artifacting, instability, crashing etc. Not to mention they will burn out faster.

You guys go ahead and mod your bios, overvolt your card. I'll sit here with my 427/1120 on stock cooling and bios/voltage and be perfectly happy with my 5 or so less fps. This might be something worth trying when my card is near end of life and I want just a little more performance to hold me over until my next purchase. However it is not worth the possibility of voiding my warranty and harming my card when it is brand new and can easily handle all the games out with maxxed out effects.
 
You can add my name to the success list...

eVGA 6800GT flashed to 6800Ultra without a hitch...

Running 450/1.2 on an nVSilencer5 :)
 
Sir-Fragalot said:
I never said that it went nowhere. I know that its there for achieving higher speeds. I mentioned that in my orignal post.

My point is that the 6800GT is not the same as a 6800Ultra. The board is different. The PCB is the same, but there is physically things present on the Ultra that aren't present on the GT. The GT's generally reach Ultra speeds, but the Ultra's can likely go higher. I was responding to the statement that the two cards were the same except for a BIOS update. When that is NOT the case.
Click to expand...

What you are implying is that these two cards aren't the same, but in reality we have proven very much so that they are ;)

The only difference is a few capacitors to house an extra molex (that is used to power the ultra extreme more than it is used to further the Ultra) as for the Ultra overclocking further, that is not so true, the MSI 6800U's at work achieve the same results as the GT's.
 
Catiaudo said:
You can add my name to the success list...

eVGA 6800GT flashed to 6800Ultra without a hitch...

Running 450/1.2 on an nVSilencer5 :)
Click to expand...

yessir!
 
-freon- said:
Right.. You might as well just tear up the warranty and toss it in the garbage if you flash the BIOS. There's no hiding that. lol
Click to expand...
If your card is fried and doesnt work at all how are the going to find out what bios you have on your card? And if you have problems with the card you can easily flash back to the original bios and send it back.
 
ben johnson said:
If your card is fried and doesnt work at all how are the going to find out what bios you have on your card? And if you have problems with the card you can easily flash back to the original bios and send it back.
Click to expand...

I have a BFG card. My first card was defective, something wrong with memory that would only crop up on occasion. Now, after 5 minutes, they shipped me a new one, no problem. That's wonderful. I don't see the problem with sending the card back after overclocking with coolbits at all. However, if you overvolt your card, and you fry it, you can suck it up and by a new one. There is no justification for sending back a card you fried. I've been there, it sucks, but it's your problem, not theirs. Unless you bought it from fry's or something.
 
For those with a PNY GT, heres some info you might find helpful. I used the PNY Ultra bios I found on the website linked. After about 30-45 seconds into 3dmark05 it would freeze every time. Dissapointed I went to flash back to my original BIOS. THen I though WTF I'll try the evga bios that seems to be working for most. UNREAL, stable as can be! I now have an Ultra, gained about 600 3dmark05 points, and about 1100 03 points. I used Evga revision 4 ultra bios. If any other PNY users try this, let me know how it works for you.
 
I have problems with believing that you can flash the bios of the BFG 6800 GT to the Ultra.

First off you cannot mod a BFG 6800 to a GT .. one of the only line of cards that you cannot do this with because of the different PCB used for each.

Now it just seems weird that you would be able to flahs up to an ultra with a GT ?
If anyone has tried this and succeded (with a BFG 6800 GT OC) please post it in here. And let me know what type of cooling solution you used ? Im guesssing the NV5 ??

So i guess this could lend more support to the argument that 6800 GTs are just ultras underclocked if they have the same PCB and BFG is using a different PCB for the vanilla and not changing PCBS for GT / Ultra
 
I've flashed mine to serveral different BIOS's since a little over 2 months ago when I got it (started flashing the day after I got it), and they're all for the most part the same. There is a program found on Xtreme that you can use to edit BIOS's and set the core/memory speeds in stone, along with changing the voltage up to 1.5v (Ultra BIOS's only). But I would suggest flashing if you want the most out of your card, because it will give you a little extra speed.
 
I managed to flash my BFG6800GT with BFG Ultra rev.3 bios last night. I'm now running at 410/1,130 whereas before I could only reach 385 with any stability on the core. The boost to to 1.4v made all the difference. Its not 450, but I'm happy.
 
bonkrowave said:
I have problems with believing that you can flash the bios of the BFG 6800 GT to the Ultra.

First off you cannot mod a BFG 6800 to a GT .. one of the only line of cards that you cannot do this with because of the different PCB used for each.

Now it just seems weird that you would be able to flahs up to an ultra with a GT ?
If anyone has tried this and succeded (with a BFG 6800 GT OC) please post it in here. And let me know what type of cooling solution you used ? Im guesssing the NV5 ??

So i guess this could lend more support to the argument that 6800 GTs are just ultras underclocked if they have the same PCB and BFG is using a different PCB for the vanilla and not changing PCBS for GT / Ultra
Click to expand...

I don't think anybody is reading my update to the original post...
the GT is the base-line card, the Ultra is factory overclocked and over-volted.
For the exception of the extra molex circuitry, the PCB is EXACTLY the same between
the 6800GT and 6800 Ultra / Ultra Extreme

As for success for the BFG cards, check out the post I made on my mini-forum:
http://www.nervelan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=102

And you can mod a 6800 into a GT, but the success rate is low... there IS a reason for those extra 4 pipes being disabled.
 
I saw an article about modding a BFG 6800 to GT and they said it was not possible. I know many other brands are possible ... although sometimes with damages pipelines and broken extra shaders.

Also if the BFG 6800 GT is already OC ... can u mod it to BFG 6800 ultra OC ... or does it just come in around the Ultra speeds
 
bonkrowave said:
I saw an article about modding a BFG 6800 to GT and they said it was not possible. I know many other brands are possible ... although sometimes with damages pipelines and broken extra shaders.

Also if the BFG 6800 GT is already OC ... can u mod it to BFG 6800 ultra OC ... or does it just come in around the Ultra speeds
Click to expand...

BFG 6800GT, although already overclocked, CAN be modded to a BFG ultra OC, you're essentially doing the exact same thing that nvidia is by putting the ultra bios on your GT
 
ScHpAnKy said:
BFG 6800GT, although already overclocked, CAN be modded to a BFG ultra OC, you're essentially doing the exact same thing that nvidia is by putting the ultra bios on your GT
Click to expand...

We can mod it? How? Where would I get the capacitors, and where should I sawter them on? I have female molex connectors.
 
Can anyone provide some important info?

How many degrees C did your GT go up at load using the Ultra BIOS? Does the fact that voltage is increased 0.1V in the Ultra BIOS increase heat in the core/mem modules (assuming clock speeds are the same as you were running using GT BIOS)? For those with badass new OCs using the Ultra BIOS, what was your max before the flash?

Some numbers would really help to get an idea of what benefits/downsides there are to flashing up to Ultra BIOS.
 
I think I'm going to be the first to flash a MSI card.

I have an Arctic Silencer on mine so I'm not terribly worried.

What's interesting about the MSI 6800GT 256s is the box.

The box shows this
"Dynamic Overclocking Technology"
-2%~10% /6-scale
Dynamic Overclocking Performance
-AUTO OVERCLOCKING-WISE
-Easiest way to otimize the GPU and Memory Speed for Maximum Performance
-Smartly detects and saves GPU from overheating and overspeeding (OVERSPEEDING???)

LOL the best part is the nomenclature of the percentiles.
Overclocked 2% = Private
4% Sergeant
6% Captain
8% Colonel
9% General
10% Commander (it shows the commander level breaking the 13000 3DMARK03 level)

This is some funny shit.
I'll post my findings once I dig up a floppy drive.
 
The cards are different hardware wise, but it still seems to work fine. Just remember you're taking a risk. There's a reason why there's and ultra and GT card, they are different.
 
ben johnson said:
The cards are different hardware wise, but it still seems to work fine. Just remember you're taking a risk. There's a reason why there's and ultra and GT card, they are different.
Click to expand...

*Nods and understands*
 
Alright, finally got a good test with a Silencer.

With stock bios, max was: 421/1140, 77C
With 1.4V modded GT Bios: 429/1200, 81C.

Oh, I'm defining a good test as 1 hour of RTHDRIBL with no artifacting whatsoever.
 
Hi Guys

Just joined (new to this, ish, so go easy on me) and i'm wondering if its worth doing for me? I recently swapped my XFX 6800 for a XFX 6800 GT. Im currently running my GT at 428/1150. Standard temps are at GPU 43deg and 26/28 ambient. After running 3dmark05 GPU is still showing under 60deg. I've just been playin doom3 for the past 2 hours and after exiting it still showed 60deg at these specs and ran no problems! All this is at stock cooling by the way but i dont know how to bench it and check the temps at the same time. This does however seem to be more than other people are experiencing. Would it be worth doing this mod and pushing it more?

3dmark05 Score
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=169572 5443

Cheers in advance!
 
Sorry, forgot to say, i've got an NV5 silencer comming tomorrow as well to get the temps lower.
 
Nookster said:
Hi Guys

Just joined (new to this, ish, so go easy on me) and i'm wondering if its worth doing for me? I recently swapped my XFX 6800 for a XFX 6800 GT. Im currently running my GT at 428/1150. Standard temps are at GPU 43deg and 26/28 ambient. After running 3dmark05 GPU is still showing under 60deg. I've just been playin doom3 for the past 2 hours and after exiting it still showed 60deg at these specs and ran no problems! All this is at stock cooling by the way but i dont know how to bench it and check the temps at the same time. This does however seem to be more than other people are experiencing. Would it be worth doing this mod and pushing it more?

3dmark05 Score
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=169572 5443

Cheers in advance!
Click to expand...


You have the same card as me! GO FOR IT!!!!
 
Elias said:
Can anyone provide some important info?

How many degrees C did your GT go up at load using the Ultra BIOS? Does the fact that voltage is increased 0.1V in the Ultra BIOS increase heat in the core/mem modules (assuming clock speeds are the same as you were running using GT BIOS)? For those with badass new OCs using the Ultra BIOS, what was your max before the flash?

Some numbers would really help to get an idea of what benefits/downsides there are to flashing up to Ultra BIOS.
Click to expand...

the heat increase is minimal, if any, the difference in voltages is too small to warrant any mass headache, but if you have an after-market cooling system for it, than you're all set!
 
Circuitbreaker8 said:
My card maxes out at 420/1150, would flashing to ultra cause any problems?
Click to expand...

If by "problem" you mean "overclocks like hell, and noticed an immediate speed difference", then... yes, you will have problems ;)
 
etruscan said:
We can mod it? How? Where would I get the capacitors, and where should I sawter them on? I have female molex connectors.
Click to expand...

no need for all that, just flash it :)
 
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