View Full Version : can someone confirm please
Postal Dude
09-19-2005, 10:32 AM
Im seriously considering a Vmod on my 6800GT. I kno modding the bios can cause death due to poor power management. Can a hard mod suffer the same fate? Or does it bypass the power management? :stick:
Postal Dude
09-22-2005, 01:30 AM
bump
kRaZeD
09-22-2005, 02:32 AM
of course vmodding can cause damage, but as you are willing to volt mod then you should be willing to lose your hardware too.
Postal Dude
09-22-2005, 04:31 AM
Yeha i kno my hardware is at risk. Vmodding comes with that. I jus wanted to kno whether failure could come from the same area? Sticking 1.8v thru my core is gonna fry it, no doubt. But i only want a hard mod of 1.4v. The power circuitry on the GT's aint all that great, and modding the bios can cause that to crap out. Will a hard mod be more effective? and remove or reduce risk of destroying the power management?
persivore
09-22-2005, 05:31 AM
Assuming the same voltage is set with either the BIOS mod or hard mod, the voltage regulator will be under the same ammount of load, no matter whether you set the voltage using a modded BIOS, or if you hardmod the card.
The MOSFETs on the card should survive temps up to 80*c+. Running them this hot will shorten their lifespan and could damage other areas of the card tho. I've been running my 6800LE at 1.35v (stock is 1.12v) for a few months now, and I've not had any problems. The Vgpu MOSFETs do get quite warm with no airflow, but they are cool to the touch with a fan blowing over them.
TBH, I haven't heard directly of people's cards dieing from increase voltage from a BIOS flash. I've only heard it rumoured from secondary sources. This doesn't mean that cards haven't been killed from BIOS flashing.
I would say that the risk involved when increasing voltage from a BIOS flash is greatly over exagerated, because there are a lot more people who have flashed their cards than have hard modded their cards. People who just flash the BIOS might not take the necessary precautions to ensure that their card doesn't die from the increased voltage (ie improved cooling).
As long as you are sensible about how much voltage you use and how you cool the card, I don't see why there should be any problem with increasing the voltage with a BIOS flash.
If anyone has any different opinion on this or have had their card die from a hard or BIOS mod, let me know and I might revise my opinion on this :)
Ugly n Grey
09-22-2005, 06:00 AM
Actively cooling power areas of the the already stressed card will reduce your risk greatly. Since we are not talking huge amounts of cooling, you can whip something up with mini fans that would be effective imo. I've taken this approach with other video cards to positive effect.
Postal Dude
09-22-2005, 06:33 AM
so a fan over the rear end of the card flowing over both sides would be enough? im lookin to upgrade to a 7800GT soon. But my backup card is a 5200. So id be pissed if i killed my card. AS the guy above said tho. If anyone has killed their gt with a 1.4v bios flash. Then please post here
zipp0r
09-24-2005, 12:09 PM
mod the bios to 1.4v, i did on my NU and it seems fine ?
Postal Dude
09-24-2005, 01:23 PM
how long ago did u mod it in the bios?
I've done the BIOS flash on my 6800GT for 1.4V and 6800Ultra speeds, I have an XFX and I saw good results from other xfx users, I never leave this computer on for longer than a few hours while I am gaming, and so far so good! I'll let you know if it dies on me any time.
Tulatin
09-24-2005, 07:19 PM
Usually having steady airflow within the case or a side panel fan over the videocard helps too, just not as much as focusses airflow. I remember a few years back somebody took a 9800 pro and slapped a 30mm fan on each ramsink, with good results too.
Postal Dude
09-25-2005, 04:36 AM
jus reflashed to 1.4. I get major artifacting when i use auto detect max OC or try to benchmark. Back at 1.3... card is probably very pissed off now
Jochenp
09-25-2005, 08:54 AM
Hey our systems are about identical, except for the case and watercooling and the fact that i have an inno3d 6800Gt
just wanted to say that in the biossection I made a thread about the safety of this 'biosvmod' and I wouldn't try it after reading all thease deaths.
Seems like the power circuit slowly dies, so the card seems ok for 1 months.
After 2nd month, overclock that previously was good, needs to be lowered due to strange artifacts.
3rd month, card gets random lockups and eventually dies.
This looks like a pattern I read everytime someone posts their 6800Gt with the biosflash.