==How to Flash the BFG6800GT OC into an Ultra in a safe way==

No that is not what i meant. What i mean is that every time i run the benchmark my card slows down a little more. If i run it in a loop it will score lower each pass until it stops at a certain point. I am going to do some more testing tonight, but if anybody has any experience wihth a problem like this please let me know.
 
One more question, i think part of the cause may be that i do not use driver cleaner utilities, does anybody know any good ones?
 
Captain_Insano said:
One more question, i think part of the cause may be that i do not use driver cleaner utilities, does anybody know any good ones?
Click to expand...
Yes, that could be a problem. I would suggest Driver Cleaner.
 
No need to flash, guys imho.
IF you can run 3DMark05 without crash your card is stable and thus u do not need higher voltage (higher temps).
 
i've had problems overclocking my GT from the get go.. it detects the optimal frequency at 377mhz/1.01ghz. when i try to manually overclock it, the ceiling seems to be right at 438/1.03, do you all think i should try to do this flash procedure or would it be too risky...
 
If it overclocks that poorly, flashing it to an Ultra will probably only result in your card being unusable.

If you're going to flash to an Ultra, you need to make sure that your card will run stable at Ultra clock speeds first. If it can't do that, it probably won't survive on an Ultra BIOS.
 
Butter Bandit said:
If it overclocks that poorly, flashing it to an Ultra will probably only result in your card being unusable.

If you're going to flash to an Ultra, you need to make sure that your card will run stable at Ultra clock speeds first. If it can't do that, it probably won't survive on an Ultra BIOS.
Click to expand...
I was just about to say that...
 
rexgremlin said:
No need to flash, guys imho.
IF you can run 3DMark05 without crash your card is stable and thus u do not need higher voltage (higher temps).
Click to expand...


thats not true.... one 3dmark os not enought to prove stability...i can run 3dmark05 450/1200, but it will crash after about an hour of BF: Vietnam... and god know how fast doom3 wou;d crash it, if i still palyed that game...
 
I didn't see anywhere on these pages about fixing the low end(cold) core slowdown. I'm running a pelt and when it runs for a while the video card will get in excess of 24oC. At below 25oC it send the card into a new scale, and 24oC is in the danger zone. So it throttles when it gets to 25oC, so I was wondering if anyone found this value(please give me a post count if you did cuz I def. didn't see it)?
 
Here were my results when I upped the 3d core voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 on my BFG 6800 GT OC:

With more voltage, you can SET much higher clock speeds (I used Coolbits 2.0) and have them pass "Test Changes." I was able to set my clocks as high as 450/1.15 (!!!).

Problem is, these higher clock speeds weren't even close to stable... I couldn't make it through a single run of Aquamark 3 without massive screen corruption. Temperatures weren't a problem, I have an NV Silencer 5 on the card and they only went up a couple degrees (and were still much cooler than the stock cooler gave at stock clock speeds). So I gradually reduced the clock speeds, until I hit my maximum stable overclock...

Which was EXACTLY the same as my maximum stable overclock at 1.3 volts, 435/1.15. Since my stable overclock didn't change, and it just made my card run a little hotter, I went back to 1.3V.
 
Questions. I flash my bios with an ultra bios and it still shows up as a GT. Wassup with that? Am I just not understanding something? Card is in my sig... Thanks. I have built computers for years but this whole bios flashing oc'ing thing is a little bit new to me so I want to be sure I am understanding...the bios was the standard 6800 ultra bios from nVdia...If someone could supply me with an updated eVga ultra bios that would be better... :D :D :D
 
The, "type," of card is not detected from the BIOS, but a set of bridges on the card itself. Don't worry about this, as it does not affect the function of the card, just what you see in the software. There's a tutorial I saw some place on how to change that if you really, really wanted to, but I don't have the link at the moment; it's an article on changing 6800 to 6800 Ultra and 6800LE to 6800GT etc. etc...

-Ed
 
Optimummind you are golden, your Leadtek Ultra BIOS got rid of my crappy BFG 6800 GT 390/1200 bottleneck, now I've tested 400 to 425 core w/ 1100 mem and everything seems perfect!

Thanks,

Pawel.
 
devilhood said:
Optimummind you are golden, your Leadtek Ultra BIOS got rid of my crappy BFG 6800 GT 390/1200 bottleneck, now I've tested 400 to 425 core w/ 1100 mem and everything seems perfect!

Thanks,

Pawel.
Click to expand...

cool to hear that.

Here's an update for my card. My card is currently flashed to the latest nVIDIA reference BIOS version v5.40.02.15.12 and it's still alive and running great. Remember, I flashed this card the day I bought it from Fry's Electronics back in July. It wasn't even brand new either. It was a returned product so I ended up paying only $403 after taxes. :D

I don't know why the person returned the card but it's stable and overclocks great.
 
My BFG 6800GT bios has my 3d running at 1.4V already, kinda explains my 410/1.08 autodetect stable clocks I guess.

I can push 1.15 and 430 with no artifacts, but temps are in the 90's at that point... need better cooling...

Also, running 1.5V 3D in bios caused my screen to go corrupt before rebooting on its own. Anyone else experience this where switching the voltage in your video card bios 3d to 1.5 and got major corruption?
 
Okay I read the whole thread, 10 pages, and my questions are ( I have a watercooled BFG 6800GT OC and I wanna go ultra!!!!)

1. Mixing bios from different manufacterers does not matter as long as its 6800 GT??

2. How many FPS are you gaining from stock BFG 6800GT OC to the maximum stable overclock.

3. My temperatures now hover around 46 degrees celc. idle after I attached a Swiftech MCW50 water block, those that watercool what are your idle/load temperatures. The reason I am asking is because I have no reference to know if my temps are low or high. To me they seem high bcz I was planning or reseating the waterblock before I do the bios flash
 
I have the same block on my 6800GT. Running at 400 MHz at 1.4V 2D/3D, 1.5V to AGP port, I get 38 degrees idle, 45 degrees load, so I think you are on the money. Plus, I got two 80mm Panaflos blowing air on the card from the outside. So that probably accounts for the difference.
 
What is going on, after putting my waterblock with tempertures of 45 degrees C., it wont even allow me to overclock, not even 380, ..."test did not pass.." I have tried both coolbits and rivertuner. Anybody...!!!!
 
mata2974 said:
What is going on, after putting my waterblock with tempertures of 45 degrees C., it wont even allow me to overclock, not even 380, ..."test did not pass.." I have tried both coolbits and rivertuner. Anybody...!!!!
Click to expand...
Have you BIOS flashed yet? I had this problem until I flashed to the nVidia reference 6800 Ultra driver, now it detects 410/1150 on average.
It's to do with your card voltage being the GT standard 1.3v instead of the Ultra 1.4v, it also has a lot to do with your PSU and how much stuff you have connected up inside your computer.
Make sure your PSU is atleast 430 Watts, with 20-30 amps minimum on the +12v rail.
 
well this thread was definitly an interesting read... i wish there was some way to check to see if the bios flash really did raise the core voltage without actually taking a volt-meter to the core, cause i dunno where to check the voltage at
before, 400/1.1 was really pushing the limits of stability, and i normally ran at 385/1.05 just to make sure it wouldn't crash (had some problems before, but i think it turned out to be a bad cpu oc, which has been resolved). the auto detect would put it at 407/1.13 quite consistantly.
now i flashed the newer gt bios (.02 instead of .01) with the 3d voltage increased to 1.4v, and it just autodetected at 419/1.15
i wish there was a program like prime to check the stability of the video card overclock. i guess i'll be playing doom3 a bunch tomorrow to see how it turns out
 
CastleBravo said:
Here were my results when I upped the 3d core voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 on my BFG 6800 GT OC:

With more voltage, you can SET much higher clock speeds (I used Coolbits 2.0) and have them pass "Test Changes." I was able to set my clocks as high as 450/1.15 (!!!).

Problem is, these higher clock speeds weren't even close to stable... I couldn't make it through a single run of Aquamark 3 without massive screen corruption. Temperatures weren't a problem, I have an NV Silencer 5 on the card and they only went up a couple degrees (and were still much cooler than the stock cooler gave at stock clock speeds). So I gradually reduced the clock speeds, until I hit my maximum stable overclock...

Which was EXACTLY the same as my maximum stable overclock at 1.3 volts, 435/1.15. Since my stable overclock didn't change, and it just made my card run a little hotter, I went back to 1.3V.
Click to expand...

My situation is very much like yours. I saved the link to this thread when it was first posted on the front page @ [H]. I got my BFG 6800GT OC from futurepowerpc.com about a month ago and just received an NV Silencer 5 from Newegg today. I was waiting for the silencer to come in so I could try this mod.

The card itself is (I guess) the newer BFG 6800 GT because it came with the blue PCB, copper heat pipe, blue LED's, etc. One curious thing is the stock BIOS is revision 5.40.02.15.05. Not the 5.40.02.15.01 mentioned and linked so much in this thread.

So before I flashed the BIOS, I read this entire thread and decided to just see what Coolbits 2 would get me before I flashed. After installing the Silencer, amazingly, idle temps stayed pretty close @ ~58º GPU/38ºC ambient (before Silencer) and ~57ºC GPU/35ºC ambient (after Silencer installed). The big gain, I believe is the load temps - before Silencer I would find my load temp up in the low 70º's C in the control panel. After installing the Silencer, I find it in the low 60º's C after a "workout". I have a well ventilated case which I'm sure helps ....

Anyhow, it's running 434/1150 apparently pretty stable with no volt mod/flash. It runs all the 3DMark's OK, Doom 3 OK, Far Cry, etc... but I need to check it over the long term. It autodetects @ 422/1100.

I did benchmarks before and after. They are from 3.0 ghz Prescott at the stock BFG settings (370/1000) --> Prescott @ 3.2 and vid card @ 434/1150. My PS is a 3 year-old Enermax 350 but, for the most part, brand new because it has been sitting unused all this time.

3Dmark 01 - 18223 to 19637
3Dmark 03 - 11317 to 12871
3Dmark 05 - 4672 to 5377
Aquamark (OC'ed only) - 61281 (61.3 fps)
Doom 3 (2nd run scores) - 71.1 fps to 76.2 fps

One weird thing is I swear I was getting 3Dmark 03 scores in the 15000's at one point during the OC'ing but I can't seem to get that high at present..... :confused:

So, I think I will be content where I'm at.... :cool:
 
I finally got around to flashing my XFX 6800GT today. It was getting max stable 415/1170 with stock BIOS. Cooling is NV-68 block, on its own loop.

With the 1.4 2D/3D and 1.5 3D BFG 6800 GT OC BIOS, I am able to get 435/1170, rock stable, no intermittent freezing like I did with stock BIOS.

I also have an OCZ PowerStream with the filtered molex line.

-Ed
 
I see you guys posting stable around 430 or so but as you all know that number is useless unless you give us the increase in FPS, 3DMarks or some benchmark, I dont understand why most dont report this, sometimes your score will degrade with a high chip speed
 
Optimummind said:
*DISCLAIMER: This flash will work on all brands of the 6800 GT series cards. In this guide, I'm using my BFG brand 6800GT. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Although the BIOS procedure is relatively simple and quick, not following the directions carefully may result in frying your card if you don't have adequate cooling.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a quick guide to what I did to increase the stability and overclockability of my retail BFG 6800GT OC card. (BTW, this flash guide pertains to other GT cards as well--not just the BFG brand.)

Before the flash, my card could go up 420/1150MHz. At those speeds, all games and benchmarks were stable (Far Cry, 3DMark03, etc). However, it wasn't stable in one game which was very annoying--Warcraft 3. The single player mode would run fine but my BNET connection would keep getting disconnected after 30 minutes or after an hour.


EDIT: Instead of using the Leadtek BIOS, I am now making my own custom BIOS files based on my BFG GT's rom. Here is the link to a page where all my BIOS creations are stored (about 23 dif kinds). Thx goes to [H]ard member Zok for hosting these!!

The BIOS were customized using HexWorkshop and NVCHK.

Remember to have good cooling in order to flash to this BIOS.

(3) I put the above 2 files in the same directory of my choice.

(4) Start-->Run-->cmd

(5) Browse to the folder that contains the flash tool and the BIOS rom.

(6) Typed this command in to backup my card's original BIOS:

nvflash442 -b mybios.rom

(The "mybios.rom" portion is arbitrary. You can name the BIOS to whatever you want.)

(7) With my BIOS backed up, I proceeded to flash to the new Ultra BIOS. I typed:

nvflash442 -p -u -2 ultra.rom

(The "ultra.rom" portion of the code is also arbitrary. Whatever the Ultra BIOS name happens to be, you'll be typing in that name.)

(8) The flash process took a while for me--like 1 minute. When I saw the flash successful confirmation message, I rebooted my computer.

(9) Once I reached the Desktop, WinXP detected my "new" GeForce 6800 Ultra. It asked for drivers so I installed the newest official one--the 61.77.

EDIT: If you flashed your card using one of my modified BFG GT BIOS, your WinXP won't detect the "new" Ultra. nVIDIA driver control panel will say it's a BFG 6800 GT card.

(10) Installed Coolbits 2 and verified that the clock speeds weren't altered. I slowly OC'ed my card until I reached a satisfactory level.

EDIT: The core and memory speed will be different depending on which BIOS file you used to flash your card with.

That's it! It was safe, quick, and too easy to be true.

Just like how I used to flash my 9800 Pro that I sold through this forum, the process is simple and effective as long as you pay careful attention to the details and directions.

Just make sure that you have a sufficient cooling system in place to buffer the extra heat your card will generate after the voltage increase. My idle temp went up from 51 C to 53 C.

EDIT: Now that I have a DangerDen NV-68 block on the GT on its own water loop, my idle temp is 51 C for the core and 32 C for the ambient idle (card is running at 430/1150). For more details, you can check my DD NV-68 project log. .

Good luck and have fun and be careful about your temps! Once again, thx to member Zok for hosting all those files!

-Optimummind
Click to expand...

After eliminating the issues of heat or inadequate PSU, I concluded that the issue must've been with the voltage being supplied to the core. My research online revealed that the GT cards receive a voltage between 1.3 V to 1.33 V. The Ultras, on the other hand, receive v1.4 V.

So, I searched for a BIOS rom that would increase the voltage to my card to 1.4 V yet not mess with any core and memory speeds and timings. After I found such a BIOS, I flashed my card with it. As promised, the BIOS didn't alter any core and memory speeds (checked with Rivatuner and Coolbits 2).

Well, how do I know the voltage changed? Although I don't have the physical tools to measure the voltage running across the board, I did notice the improved stability of my card after this flash. My OC has increased to 440MHZ stable and War3 doesn't disconnect me anymore.

Here are the steps I used:

(1) Download the nvFlash utility. I used version v4.42.

(2) DL'ed the specially modified Leadtek GeForce 6800 Ultra with voltage of 1.4 and no changes to core and memory speeds. You can find it here.


I tried your mod, the update works but when I play Doom3 my card crashes completely were all I see is garbage on the screen and have to do a hard reboot of my rig. I pinpointed the probem to the fact that my card cannot handle the 1.4v setting, I am one of the unlucky few were the card cannot handle the extra .1 volt, I can overclock to 420 / 1150 with the 1.3 volt setting with no problems at all, as soon as I put in the 1.4v bios and wham crash every time even at 400 / 1100 1.4v setting. So I am leaving my card at 1.3v and 415 / 1150 to be safe.

:( :confused: :mad:
 
mata2974 said:
I see you guys posting stable around 430 or so but as you all know that number is useless unless you give us the increase in FPS, 3DMarks or some benchmark, I dont understand why most dont report this, sometimes your score will degrade with a high chip speed
Click to expand...
Increase of ~2300 in 3DMark2001, ~700 in 3DMark03 and ~900 in 3DMark05.

The reason why 05 increased more than 03 is because the score is not indicating a realistic amount of gain; while in 03, the FPS is increasing, for example, from 100 to 110 avg FPS, with 05, like in Test One, the part where the door to the shuttle opens and the attacking group disembarks, framerate increased from 15 to 17fps, which is still not playable, but results in a seemingly huge increase in performance, %age-wise.

I would not claim an improvement unless the benchmark numbers were higher; however, the difference in performance is not particularly noticeable, either--I wouldn't claim a serious improvement unless it's noticeable.

Happy?

-Ed
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
i wish there was some way to check to see if the bios flash really did raise the core voltage without actually taking a volt-meter to the core, cause i dunno where to check the voltage at
Click to expand...

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=926&s=1

the voltage is fairly easy to check. it's on the back of the card, near the rear.

i wish there was a program like prime to check the stability of the video card overclock. i guess i'll be playing doom3 a bunch tomorrow to see how it turns out
Click to expand...

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

use the artifact checker of ATiTool.
 
uBAR!!!

Flashed my MSI 6800GT (non-oc) that did 421/1.15 successfully with the stock bios

Temps with the msi bios(420/1.15) - 49 idle/59 load
Temps with the leadtek ultra bios(440/1.21) 52 idle/ 64 load!

This is all on the stock cooler!!!!!!!

this is AMAZING, over 20 more mhz and 60 on the memory! totally stable with no artifacts after 10 hours of 3dmark05 demo!

Just thought id let ya know of the success, thank you !!
 
Holy cow you got more on the memory, too?!? Is there a place to control the memory voltage? Or could it be that the BIOS you flashed with has looser memory timings?
 
Thanks !
( means alot, since i dont post much )

Elsa 6800GT, omni and Nib reported my Bios is 1.3
even trying to detect frequenices, it would crash.
and report stock cpu speeds
self testing anything over 370 cpu, i would get stuttering.
( ram didnt have any effect )
( fast writes off )
have 90mm fan blowing over vid card, stock cooler...
watching it.

used same bios, and modded voltage to 1.4V
Flashed.

now detect frequencies actually works, and
says 424/1150

Im impressed,
550 watts sparkle putting out 30A+ on all Lines.
and withing .02 of rails, so i know it wasnt Ps.

Now lets see if its stable, in games, and no stuttering when OC'd.
( 73C with 1 round 3dmark05 , Clean, no OC's )
 
just to up date.. excuse me while i pick up my jaw.
stable, looping 3dmark05, playing farcry, and doom3,
420/1150 ( same results w/ memory, but that gpu !!! )
NO stuttering, before anthing over 370 i would get stuttering
in 3dmark, now not a glitch.
its reaching max temp so far of 83.

Im using the same elsa bios, just modded the voltage.
I'd recommend
If you have no problems Oc'ing/ stuttering in games ... dont touch.
If both bios editors report 1.4volts as VID.. dont touch..
but if like me. they report 1.3V
and you cant OC much, without stuttering... you might get lucky.

Edit, just realized its a 50mhz difference... Nice,
 
Just a update note, added a NV5 Silencer to my MSI 6800GT(Flashed with the leadtek bios). The card before with the stock cooler auto detected 421/1.4, and ran it successfully at 70C (load). Added a NV5 Silencer today, now the card auto detected 450/1180!! and to boot 63c under extreme load!(no artifacting after 10 hours of 3dmark01 nature scene)

I was a Die Hard ATI fan, but now after this card, nvidia has proven me that they still can make a kickass card!.

<3 nvidia!
 
SexyPapa said:
is this really safe? anyone ruined his card wif this method yet? :cool:
Click to expand...

So far, so good for me. My card has been flashed now for the last 4 months (since the day I bought it) and I haven't had a problem yet.
 
Optimummind said:
So far, so good for me. My card has been flashed now for the last 4 months (since the day I bought it) and I haven't had a problem yet.
Click to expand...
sounds good... my card was delayed... and suppose to arrive tomoro...

i'll try this method n cornelious0_0 method n see... hope it works :p
 
interesting.

@1.4V, speed detection works, at 1.3V doesnt.
also at 1.4V @ 400mhz i get lockups, overheating( playing for hours, and turn off the AC)
so i went back to the 1.3V

also i think i found my problem.

I was using a zalman fan bracket, w/ a 90mm fan using 3 pin motherboard header,
and without thinking, plugged the fan into the fan header by my agp slot.
DFI 250gb
when i removed the fan, no more stuttering@ 1.3Vs @ gpu 400mhz
so i think on the dfi, that agp header if powering off the agp line perhaps, or related.
I also have 2 power supplies, tested with both, same results.
400watt sparkle, and 550watt sparkle.

so lesson learned... never plug fans into onboard fan headers...
 
Okay, I've been working on this all day, searching here, there, and googling till I'm . I can't seem to find a way to do this without a floppy boot disk. I do not have a floppy (nor access to one) and do not seem to be able to flash my bios to 1.4v via windows xp nor create a bootable dos CD (instead of a floppy).

Can anyone help me out here????

I'd just as soon flash from XP if possiable.

Thx
 
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