Unlocking 6800 pipelines with RivaTuner

Recently started using RT and I've got a question regarding OC'ing thru it and it's HW monitor... Neither rthdribl nor CS:Source seem to be switching the card to it's "performance 3D" OC setting... The card doesn't seem to be displaying any artifacts or the sort, and it passed Prime95 + rthdribl for over 14 hours... It locked up a few times in CS:S when I started playing it though (was set at 400/800, HW said it was going 350 all the time though)... I've been trying to play with the OC settings but I can't tell if they're not taking or what the heck...

Edit: I've ran some tests and the card does switch just fine to it's 3D settings, RT's HW monitor is just not reporting it correctly though, no clue why. The lock-ups I mentioned above were unrelated to the video card btw, it was actually a mem timing issue.
 
OK I only glanxced at all of the posts here so bare with me.......


My impression of this is that only certain Vanilla 6800 cards will have success at unlocking the additional pipes? Is this true and if so what would all of the success story holders recommend?

I notice PNY gets mentioned alot! I just hope there are 6800 Vanilla AGP vanilla cards floating around out there!
 
It is a total gamble if they will unlock or not. There isnt a brand preference as far as the mod goes. It would seem the latest batch of cards coming out are less succesful than the earlier versions. This is pure speculation however, but a trend I have noticed.
 
Well thats a trend worth keeping in mind then if one is considering getting a 6800 vanilla card for the purpose of Unlocking those pipes. Good call!
 
I've unlocked my MSI 6800 to 16 Pipes and the extra Vertex Shader, the card is very stable and ran 3dmark 2005 all night without crash. The 16 pipes seem fine, but with the extra vertex shader i get red/green dots on textures. is this a bad shader, is it worth re-locking it? or will driver updates help this?
 
Sounds like a bad VS. I would lock it and be happy with the 16 pipes. The in-game results with a bad VS are horrible.
 
ROFL I read the thread title and thought to myself, "You know, I wouldn't mind stumbling upon 6800 extra pipelines on a card...let's have a look." ;) :p
 
what about pci-express users? Is there any card out there that we can buy cheap and unlock for big dollar performance?
 
strider610 said:
what about pci-express users? Is there any card out there that we can buy cheap and unlock for big dollar performance?
Click to expand...

To my knowledge the PCI-E cards are built on different cores that do not have any extra pipes.
 
Anyone having issues with RivaTuner's Hardware Monitor? It reports my temps and mem clock fine but it always reads the core at 350MHz, even when I've got it OC'd and I know it's working since the 3dmark score jumps noticeably... The only rare times where I've seen it budge from 350MHz was when I ran the OC test while changing the OC settings, odd part is that it'd then proceed to stay at the tested OC sometimes even if I was merely testing settings for Performance 3D (it didn't really as far as I can tell, HW Monitor just reported it that way). Seems fairly unreliable... Dunno why.
 
Great guide. This is the first comprehensive guide I've seen that covers both unlocking and overclocking using Rivatuner. A must see for every 6800nu owner.
 
Chaballaman said:
350mhz is prob ur 2d speed. :)
Click to expand...
Duh, but shouldn't it detect the core ramping up to my determined 3D speed when I run 3dmark or even a game? I've let it running in the background while I gamed/benched and when I came back the graph read 350mhz the entire time every time. And like I said, I know the OC is working since the 3dmark scores prove it. Maybe there's some obvious setting I'm missing in RT but it's really got me so far...
 
Oh Man!

I got soooo close. Unlocked and everything, but I get some nasty artifacts in HL2/CS:S

Also, I think I might have fucked something up. When I unlocked them, and went to CS:S I played Aztec and the green "grass" had some NASTY white artifacts all over it. Then Steam updated itself, then I set my Card back to defaults, everythign Stock again, and uninstalled RivaTuner. Launched CS:S every level fine, but then I went to Aztec again and the Artifacts were still there!! They were never there before, prior to Unlocking. Did I mess my card up? Everything else works fine, and I get no artifacts anywhere else. Just that level, just that ground.
 
Seriously doubt any harm was done to your card, just sounds like your map files for Aztec got corrupted for w/e reason (may not even be related to this). Delete them and have them re-DL them once you join a server that's running Aztec.
 
Impulse
I have expirienced the HW monitor issue you are speaking of and cannot explain it. Sometimes it works correctly for me and others it doesnt. Minor issue overall though.
 
well, i unlocked the extra pipelines for my bfg 6800 oc and my 3d mark score jumped 600 points. i now get a 9,900. but the problem is now i cannot overclock it at all! if i overclock it 3 mhz it says:

"The driver failed to pass internal test with the clock frequencies you are about to set. Please decrease clock frequencies and try again."

wtf, has anyone else experienced similar results?
 
Make sure you have no corruption in any games or benchmarks. If there is no corruption then disable the internal clock test and proceed to OC. If you have any corruption it is likely that the pies or VS are damaged.
 
Kckazdude said:
Impulse
I have expirienced the HW monitor issue you are speaking of and cannot explain it. Sometimes it works correctly for me and others it doesnt. Minor issue overall though.
Click to expand...
I just went in and did a little more testing (despite my deep-rooted loathing of excessive rebooting :p ), it seems that unlocking the pipes is the root of what's messing the HW Monitor up. When they're locked it works fine and core speed monitoring is very accurate, when they're unlocked it goes haywire... Oh well, not like I really have much use for it, 'least it's nice to know what seems to be causing it now though.

redrooster1, once you unlock the pipes you gotta OC via RT since Coolbits will always pop up the test... You can disable the test in RT by going to the Power User tab, then open the RT \ NVidia \ Overclocking line, and click on DisableInternalClockTest (setting the bulb on and the value to 1). It still makes you run some sort of test when you change the OC values (dunno what's the difference, think it just ignores errors instead) but it'll allow you to proceed with your OC.

My self-tester didn't seem all that reliable anyway, said the optimal settings were somewhere around 363/730 yet the card can run rthdribl for hours on end with the memory at 800 and seems stable in games/3dmark at 400/800. I might start running 375/800 just in case as I haven't done a looped-3dmark test to see just how reliable it is (I gotta fork over some dough for that don't I?).
 
Couldn't enable the vertex but I did get all 16 pipes.

3dMark05 scores:

Stock: 3,400
16 pipes: 3,700
16 pipes 375/800: 4,220
 
Is it possable for a pipe to break after its been unlocked?

because, for what ever reason. i unlocked the 4extra pipes and all was well. ran 3dmark overnight with no problem. came to my computer last night and i've got red/green dots all over the screen(in 3dmark 2005) If i re-lock the pipes it's fine.
 
Some cards can't handle the pipes being unlocked, you are one of the unfortunate ones. Did you unlock both the extra pipelines and the 1 vertex shader? If so, you might want to try with unlocking just the pipeline and see what happens. Are you overclocking also? If so, I would test it with just unlocking first and go from there.
 
the VS didn't work properlly, so i re-locked it and had it running at 16,5 for a few days without problem, i then decided to overclock my graphics card a little bit, rebooted and got the above problem, removed the overclock and softmod. rebooted and everything was fine, re-unlocked the pipes and left VS locked. Problem started again. Very frustrating.
 
I need some help unlocking all 16 pipelines on my 6800 GTO. I downloaded Riva Tuner 15.3 intstaled Nvstap enabled the masked pipe's and vertex's. Rebooted my computer and got a black screen. I was able to set it back to stock in safe mode. It will work with the vertex's enabled but not the pipelines any more suggestions? It is a PCI Express. Basicly a 6800 GT with 12p and 5v. Here is a link on it. http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/gto/

PLEASE HELP ME!!! :confused:
 
If you read the thread you would notice that the PCIe 6800s are actually built on a different core and unmasking them isn't possible at the moment. There is a long long thread with a lot of success stories regarding the unlock on the AGP 6800 GTO here though, might want to search thru it to see if anyone had a PCIe one.
 
Were did you here that there is a APG 6800 GTO? The GTO is a DELL OEM version of the 6800 GT PCI Express but for some reson Dell locked 4 pipelines and 1 vertex shader(which i can unlock very easly). When I would boot into safe or vga mode after unlocking the pipelines it read NV40 16x1,6VP so it is unlocking them right? I thought that the NV40 was the won that works but not the NV41(which i don't have). Here is a link were many people with the same card and computer as me have unlocked the masked pipelines and vertex shaders to gain 1000 or points on 3dMARK 03.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=1395372

I am getting 10350 on 3dMARK 03 STOCK (350/900).
With it overclocked to 400/1000 i get 11400.(that is good right?)

Again were did you here that there is a APG 6800 GTO?
 
jmgak47 said:
Were did you here that there is a APG 6800 GTO? The GTO is a DELL OEM version of the 6800 GT PCI Express but for some reson Dell locked 4 pipelines and 1 vertex shader(which i can unlock very easly). When I would boot into safe or vga mode after unlocking the pipelines it read NV40 16x1,6VP so it is unlocking them right? I thought that the NV40 was the won that works but not the NV41(which i don't have). Here is a link were many people with the same card and computer as me have unlocked the masked pipelines and vertex shaders to gain 1000 or points on 3dMARK 03.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=1395372

I am getting 10350 on 3dMARK 03 STOCK (350/900).
With it overclocked to 400/1000 i get 11400.(that is good right?)

Again were did you here that there is a APG 6800 GTO?
Click to expand...
Hmm, I thought all PCIe 6800s were built on the NV41 core or whatever... Rather confused now, but if you'd just search for the thread I'm sure you can get some clarification. It was a rather long thread regarding Dell's 6800 GTO in general and the unlocking of it. I fully understand what the GTO is though, was discussed at lenght in that thread, just never paid any attention to whether they were all PCIe (you may be right) or if some were AGP.

If you've managed to unlock it and run 3dMark what's the problem though? I thought you were getting a black screen?
 
If the card you have is built using the NV40 core then you have a chance of unlocking them. The NV41is the normal PCI-E core that was manufactured with only 12/5. Seeing as you tried and got a black screen I would say your pipes are damaged and are not able to unlock.
 
I know it is a NV40 and there is no such thing as a 6800 GTO APG card. To clear something up my 3dMark 03 score that is with 12p 5v and just a minor overclock. I tryed unlocking the pipes again today and took more note to what happens. I am able to unlock the vertex shade fine 12p 6v (nearly no performance incr.) . But when i unlock the pipelines and reboot i get a black screen with my mouse in the middle of the screen it moves as normal. Werid Huh? Every so often it will show the login screen but only for a split sec. and after 30 sec. i get a blue screen that says infinet display loop (the same thing people get when the do to big of a overclock on the GTO).

JUST a note it will run in 16p 6v with 640x480 and 8 bit color no artifacts. if that means any thing.

Should i just let it rest ( i has looked at ever thread about anything like this no luck) isn't 11400 on 3dMark 03 pretty good? I don't know i am just a power freak i guess. LOL
Sucks when you think you are getting a 6800 GT and get a GTO.(should have read better)
:(
 
jmgak47 said:
. LOL
Sucks when you think you are getting a 6800 GT and get a GTO.(should have read better)
:(
Click to expand...


LMAO
That almost happened to me with the Asus 6800 GT. Thankfully someone saved me from that mistake. Now I am on my to getting a BFG 6800 GT and have fun with that. Also, your 3DM2k3 score is fine I guess. Dont know the rest of your system specs but it beats mine.
 
Yeah, doesn't sound like you'll pipes will unlock, there's really not much to it... Either they work or they don't. Make sure you have the very latest version of RT though (v2.0 RC 15.3 New Year edition), it helped some people that could previously not unlock their extra pipelines.

Also not seeing a performance increase by just unlocking the extra vertex shader is normal, it doesn't make a lot of difference, some 6800nu's even come with it unlocked for no reason whatsoever (Leadtek's and umm... I forget).

Sorry about the 6800 GTO mixup earlier, didn't quite remember they were exclusively PCIe. And yea, Dell does kinda deceive the customer with the naming scheme there, I agree.
 
Thanks for trying to help guys. It isn't that bad of a card. I guess i will just wait for the prices to come down on the x800 XT or 6800 Ultra .
On the a better side of things just got Doom 3 (great game!) it is runing perfect (no lag) at 1280x1040 with 4x AA and 8x AF. I am very happy :D !!!

You can see my system spec's under my profle.
 
Guess what. Someone just informed me of yet another way RivaTuner can enable those pipelines. Apparently it has some nice little patch scripts included to patch a PROPER bios image to remove those shaders. This worked for me when flashing to a GT bios and back didn't! Optionally, the script can enable only those pipelines that are enabled in RivaTuner. Well, no more relying on RivaTuner to keep up with nvidia for me. Remember to check to be 100% certain it can handle those pipelines being opened before doing this. I don't think it can undo it either, just like the bios trick was supposed to be. The difference is, this way you can avoid flashing to a dangerous unstable bios and you can enable only the pipes that work. You can find the script in this directory:
\rivatuner\PatchScripts\NVIDIA\NV40BIOSSwUnitsMaskElimintor

Thank you RivaTuner team!
 
jmgak47 said:
I need some help unlocking all 16 pipelines on my 6800 GTO. I downloaded Riva Tuner 15.3 intstaled Nvstap enabled the masked pipe's and vertex's. Rebooted my computer and got a black screen. I was able to set it back to stock in safe mode. It will work with the vertex's enabled but not the pipelines any more suggestions? It is a PCI Express. Basicly a 6800 GT with 12p and 5v. Here is a link on it. http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/gto/

PLEASE HELP ME!!! :confused:
Click to expand...


have u tried flash bios or [h]mod? i posted some details on end of page2.. (this thread)
 
You know, you can't always enable all the pipelines... Er, if you can open a vertex shader, but, get problems when you open the pixel pipeline, I'm inclined to say it's because it's a damaged pipeline and perhaps you shouldn't be opening it...

I strongly recommend against opening the pipelines in hardware until you have verified they actually work. You will end up with a screwed up card and having to rma it or close the pipelines manually with rivatuner (making it potentially unstable to do things such as reinstall...)
 
It am not that dareing to hard mod or flash the bios with a diff. one.
I was only intersted in soft modding it because it is the safest way. Also i have found out why my soft mod isn't working, it is because Dell is hard modding the GTO (in a way) so when riva tuner has opened the pipelines you get a black screen.
The GTO isn't bad so i am fine with stock.
:)


P.S. it overclocks great!!!
:D
 
Kick ass post. I have an EVGA 6800 that i got at circuit city $299.00 with $50.00 mail in rebate. Rivatuner worked great.
 
Tried the latest Rivatuner on a 6800 GTO (received in December), after unlocking the pipelines, I got artifact running in DX9 benchmarks and games. Although DX7 and DX8 works with no problems. If only the vertex shader is unlocked, the card works in everything.
 
Apparently mine works fine with both the extra pipelines and vertex shaders unlocked, however I recently (after a month or two or running with everything unlocked just fine) encountered the "infinite loop" error, which caused me to reinstall due to me not being able to figure out how to fix it.

So I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. :cool:
 
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