What's this about modding an x800 Pro to an XT?

R

Rucku§

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I'm new to these forums, I hope to hang around some. I'm not as inexperienced as I might sound, but I've never even thought it was possible to make an x800 Pro into an x800 XT.

I thought that would only be possible IF all x800 Pro cards were made with X800XT chips but flashed to be seen as only x800 Pro cards with 12 pipes.

AND if all the ram were the same speed rating in terms of ms and MHz'age.

Any info is already appreciated. :)
 
the same GPU is used with x800pro as the XTs, the only difference is that one of the 4 pipeline sectors is shut down, as of right now there isnt a softmod, the only way to do it is to connect one of the bridges, i am going to be doing this soon
 
anybody have any linkage to how this is done?

too cheap for an x800 pro, but the idea is certainly cool, like the 9500 -> 9700 pro days
 
There is a softmod to make the x800 into an x800xt. I did it myself today. The catch is that you need to have an x800 that has VIVO. I bought the Sapphire x800 here in Japan.

I then followed the instructions here:http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33766704

I flashed the bios then booted up and have 16pipelines (checked with ATItool) available and my card is running perfect at x800xt speeds. I've played a bunch of games and everything seems great. Far Cry at 1600x1200 with 2x AA and 8x AF is sweet.
 
I wonder if it's worth the risk.....I don't think it is, at least for now. So how is it cheaper for ATi to make a card with the same amount of pipelines, just not conected? i've never figured that out..

@Rucku[s?]..........you wouldn't happen to be a member of the GCAdvanced forums, would you?
 
It's not about the risk it's about demand. It doesn't cost ATI anymore to make an XT core vs an non XT core. It's all done on the same wafer. They just handpick the ones that *could* be XT's.

If a customer like Sapphire orders 500 XT cores and 1000 non XT cores and you have 1500 cores made what are you going to do? So to fill that order you label 500XT's and 1000 non XT's. Order filled and money made.

Could they have made more money if they waited to sell those XT cores? Yes but then they wouldn't have been able to fill Sapphire's order completely. Bad business there.

I'm sure someone wiser than myself can add a few details to that summary.
 
hmm.....so they just charge us for the performance, not for something that costs more or anything......
 
Well it does cost them more in a way. For example they go to TSMC and say 'We want 1 wafer (let's say there are 1000chips on a wafer). TSMC says "ok' and makes the wafer. ATI finds that 300 of those chips are capable of doing XT speeds. 700 aren't. So if they have an order for 600XT chips they have to go back to TSMC and order another wafer made up.

Now the reason why ATI"s business model is better than Nvidia's in this round of graphics chips is simple; less waste. Nvidia is counting on both the GT and ultra to have 16 fully working pipelines otherwise they have to make it into a standard 6800. ATI is only counting on 12 pipelines and some getting to 16.

Nvidia is going to be standing up to their waist in silicon unless someone is very very efficient at prodocing those chips, methinks.
 
So you can only softmod an x800 pro into an XT PE if it's vivo...that doesn't make any sense :-[ Damned frustrating, too.
 
I've been hearing that the success rate for this mod isnt too great.

fact or fiction?
 
I'm not sure. I posted the link to the info from over in the rage3d forums. I bought a Sapphire VIVO card myself based on that info. I installed the bios in about 1 minutes work. I now have an XT. I hope it works for a lot of other people.

The main reason I did it was because I couldn't find a Geforce 6800GT anywhere here in Japan. Backorders for like 3-4weeks. Stores saying they have no idea when they'll get them in stock. At the same time I could see Saphirre's X800 card, Gigabyte's X800 card, Galaxy X800 card and bulk brand X800 cards in just about every shop I went into. I just got tired of waiting and thought what the hell.
 
Seems hard to find a Vivo model anywhere. So far it looks like a pretty high success rate from the forums on rage 3d. Except for one poor guy who had a vivo and the laser cuts....prolly could still be hard modded..
 
In the US its very difficult to find a real VIVO, newegg has a mislabled Sapphire "TVO" care marked as a VIVO :mad:
 
advanced101101 said:
In the US its very difficult to find a real VIVO, newegg has a mislabled Sapphire "TVO" care marked as a VIVO :mad:
Click to expand...


Thats what its looking like. I keep searching but the few I've found are from hole in the wall websites charging 500 bucks for a pro.... :rolleyes: I can't believe its cheaper to buy a card at a B&M store than online. I think thats a first..... BB has the XT on sale but you cant pre order it :(
 
Well...heres the deal... you have a higher OC with a 12 pipeline Pro then a 16, so you can OC your 12 pipeline card to perform competively with the 16, but the 16 will perform noticably better. Just slap some better cooling on that sucker and your ready to go.
 
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