New Graphics card the DiabloTek GeForce 6800 GS / 512MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x Question!

[HairRazor]

Got a question, I just bought this card today on the 8th of march will be here tomorrow, and I was wondering is there a way to unlock the 16 pipelines?? or is the 16 PPL even there? I was looking through your forums and ran across the one with OCing your nvidia Geforce 6800GS. then I stumbled upon someone saying that you cant unlock the pipes on the card.. if this is true I guess this is fine, but in stead how do I massively OC the card.. I am replacing my ATI x850xt Plat card with this.. reason is because for one it does not support SM 3.0 and it does not have 512mb or ram. now the 512mb geforce I am replacing it with I would like to also know the core/mem speeds on it which I cant find I guess because it is newer.. but it would be great if someone could let me know all of this information, and IF I made a good move to this other card because I want SM 3.0 and the 512mb or ram.. if you want my system specs are as follows:

OS: WinXP Professional 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build #2600)
Bios: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Bios Date: 08/28/2003
Bios Version: 6.00 PG
Mainboard: AT7-MAX2(VIA KT400-8235)
Mainboard Manufacturer: Abit
Mainboard Version: 1.x
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (Barton) , 2.16 GHz
CPU Count: 1
CPU Details: Type: 0 Model: 10 Family: 6
CPU Architecture: x86
CPU Socket: A
L1 Cache: 64 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
Video: Plug and Play Monitor on ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum 256mb (1280x1024x32bpp 60Hz)
Sound: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [A000]
Memory: Used: 505/2048MB
Total Memory Slots Used: 4/4
HD: [C:] 168.81/223.57 GB
HD Count: 2 120 GB HD's running Raid 0 SATA 150
Connection: VIA Compatable Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport @ 100.0 Mbps



umm, also I would just again like to know how to get more power out of this GS card then the ATI one I have now, and if you could let me know IF its at all possible to get better frames out of the nvidia over the current ATI I have...

NOTE: I would think it could because it has more memory..

If anyone would like to IM me my MSN S/N is
xXHair_RazorXx@hotmail.com


Thanks!!

[Favu]

Hmm I don't think that your card is likely to be fast enough to make use of all the RAM it has. But I'm no expert.

In other news I remember a few threads around a while back saying that the 512Mb GS or maybe another model couldn't be unlocked due to it being a different core version.

There are a few how-tos on overclocking floating around here, look for monkeyman's I think that is one of the best and it's in this topic too. Handy!

[HairRazor]

ok I will look for em, bit if like links could be put on the page here that would make it a bit easier for me.. I like looked at 4 different topics and got confused really, im just hoping I made a good choice as far as switching cards!

[Favu]

A LINK TO MONKEYMAN'S GUIDE

enjoy

[HairRazor]

I hate to be an annoyance but I don't that that guide is for a 512mb card..

thanks for the link though!!

[Favu]

The same guide applies to almost all nVidia cards. The methods are pretty much universal. But yes, you're right different models will have different pipe numbers etc

[HairRazor]

SO if I am reading this correctly then I CAN open up the other lines on the card BUT that does not mean they will work and if they do they COULD cause artifacts correct? if so then thats fine so all I really want to do is OC it and open the pipes up and it should be more then good enough!! but I was wondering also what was the one thread about where they was flashing the bios on the card! if OCing it and opening the pipes works good then why flash the bios? what does that have to do with performance other then making it ABLE to OC by enabling it in the bios to make it work.. correct me if I am wrong !

[cadaveca]

If the card has been a pipe-disabled gpu, sometimes voltage is all that is needed to get the bad set performing. Sometimes they simply disable the set of piplines maybe because power-consumption was too high...not that it artifacted...sometimes they have excellent yeilds and an excess of gpu's so higher-performing parts are sold as lesser parts...


See, nVidia seem to have this bad habit of selling failed parts by simply re-labelling. For example, the 7900GTO...no longer to be found...7900GTX's w/ a bad batch of Samsung memory and a lower-clocked bios is what it really is...(new working units have infineon ram, AFAIK...may have changed since)...

6800GS i think had issues with capacitors? Black-screening or something?

Irregardless, it's hard to know what to do in terms of modding without knowing what gpu is under the heatsink, either using software or by physical indentification.

[HairRazor]

that is the link to the card that I just bought today again will be here tomorrow, umm is there a way that we can find this out ahead of time?? maybe I can help get this information so I can see what I will be working with..



well it wont let me post the link of the card I bought so IU can show u and maybe get some good answers as far as what I am working with, any ideas on how to get the info to u guys?

[HairRazor]

hey! ok I got my card and, it seems a lot more powerful then the ATI even though I have slower clock speeds, now I have a problem which I beleave I read somewhere that it kept shutting down with no error or nothing it just restarts the computer, and now I have that problem and I wondered how I can go about fixing it, is it because of the drivers I am using which are the latest nvidia drivers... any ideas or any place I can go to find a fix??

[robbie]

Try a bigger power supply maybe?

[captinhector]

Yes, all new graphics cards will suck power like a monster..... You should at least be running a true 450w or a decent 550 watt. My oc's actually improved when I got a better psu, so you may want to bite the bullet and get a better psu than you were looking @(if you were at all).

[SPQQKY]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

If the card has been a pipe-disabled gpu, sometimes voltage is all that is needed to get the bad set performing. Sometimes they simply disable the set of piplines maybe because power-consumption was too high...not that it artifacted...sometimes they have excellent yeilds and an excess of gpu's so higher-performing parts are sold as lesser parts...


See, nVidia seem to have this bad habit of selling failed parts by simply re-labelling. For example, the 7900GTO...no longer to be found...7900GTX's w/ a bad batch of Samsung memory and a lower-clocked bios is what it really is...(new working units have infineon ram, AFAIK...may have changed since)...
6800GS i think had issues with capacitors? Black-screening or something?

Irregardless, it's hard to know what to do in terms of modding without knowing what gpu is under the heatsink, either using software or by physical indentification.

Not true. There was nothing wrong with the cores and the memory was clocked down, but timings were tighter, so when everyone tried to OC the memory to 7900GTX speeds, it killed the RAM. Those who successfully flashed the BIOS to 7900GTX (which loosened the timings), didn't have the failure like the others (some MSI were still crapping out I think). People assumed that eVGA just rebadged failed 7900GTXs because they just put a sticker on their 7900GTX boxes (to save cash), when the new boxes came out, everyone assumed that they were improved, but they hadn't changed at all. My eVGA 7900GTO's RAM ran at 880MHz without a BIOS flash and never had a problem, it was good RAM and could take the speeds and the tighter timings.

Now as far as the 6800GS......I would have spent the money on a 7800GS AGP, my local bestbuy has about 4 of them on the shelf for only $171. Cheaper and faster than the 6800GS.

[cadaveca]

OK, if ya think so. But do me a favor, and check into that exact time period...samsung has bad ram...7900GTX cards switched to infineon ram...7900GTX becomes 7900GTO...the GTO wasn't a "special edition"...they didn't make those cards specifically for that SKU....the SKU was created to offload the failed cards. No two ways about it.