Help with Voltmod on Radeon 9700

[Stinger]

I follow the guide here at xtremesystems and I have a few questions. In the pictures they connect pin 5 and pin 18 on different vr 10k and 20k but ground are taken from the IC is that a must? cant I connect it to any ground? where do I messure the volt for the gpu and memory?

[BladeRunner]

I was going to post the same topic :)

I can help you on where to measure the VPU Voltage (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/guides/R9700_Vmod_1.html), it also shows how to do it grounding to the fan header, and no soldering on the card.


Ram volt mod and other interesting findings

Sent a mail to MrIcee asking, as I also need help on the ram voltage measuring, no reply yet, he maybe busy. In the Xtreme v mod article the page 2 image from Manoj Mahtani there is a connection in the top left of the card that I guess is for monitoring the ram voltage? if so Mine is only reading 1.38v? the other connection he has on his card is for measuring the VPU voltage and I get a reading that makes sense on that one currently 1.80 with a 10k variable @ 452mhz

In an unrelated check on the core voltage when benching I touched the heat spreader plate and found It was almost as hot as the ram chips were when I got the card. As a temporary solution I put this Zalman chipset cooler on the plate just placed on it with some standard thermal paste on the base. I then positioned a fan in front of it and tried again.

http://www.zerofanzone.co.uk/pictures/jpg/r300wc100s.jpg (http://www.zerofanzone.co.uk/pictures/jpg/r300wc100.jpg)

The max overclock I could now get stable without artifacts after 5 3dmk runs is 452 VPU, (@ 1.80v underload), and 364mhz ram. Note I still haven't done any ram volt mod at this point, and the ram would artifact at anything above 330mhz at some point before cooling this plate, even though the ram was effectively cooled by waterblocks. This could have been the reason for my poor ram performance all along, and I don't know why I overlooked the plate. I guess as I'd checked it in the beginning when in windows and it was cool I just forgot about it. Not sure if I've found something, maybe the clock gen is under that plate or the power for it? anyway might be interesting to have this confirmed by others with similar low or no flow cooling set-up's that are overclocking or v moding

more details about it all in my posts in this Topic (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=1331575611#post1331575611)

[PimpJack]

blade: My r9700 is not vmodded but oced to a stable 391/341 using rage3d. My plate gets HOT AS §§§§!!!!!! It is scorching especially after some benchies. If u get this confirmed i will definately get some cooling for it!!!

What do u use to oc your card?

[dmitriyaz]

Originally posted by BladeRunner
In the Xtreme v mod article the page 2 image from Manoj Mahtani there is a connection in the top left of the card that I guess is for monitoring the ram voltage? if so Mine is only reading 1.38v?
i had the same problem.
this "image" below in the PCB.
the red dots are where you measured.
the blue ones are where the correct measurement points are.
they look exactly the same as the ones you tried, except positioned vertically :)
............................................
.......*........*.............*..........
............................................
................................*..........
............................................

[BladeRunner]

dmitriyaz

thanks for that :)

I think I understand it's the two points I've circled in pink in this image?

http://www.zerofanzone.co.uk/pictures/jpg/r9700vmem.jpg

Wonder why he has a connection to the other two pins in on his card though?

If you can confirm I now have pinpointed the correct pair, because unfortunately they are under my ram waterblock, so Ill have to remove it and solder some wires on to be able to monitor it when the card is in use.


PimpJack

If your plate is that hot, then see if you can get some cooling on it like I did just for temporary test, like said I couldn't get the ram consistently stable above 330mhz before cooling the plate. If I just have the Zalman heatsink with no fan blowing on it the sink still gets to 50C!! I'm going to make a small waterblock for it to see if active cooling the plate along with the v mem mod will help me get any higher stable o/c

[dmitriyaz]

no problem,
and yeah, those are the correct ones :)

[student]

Hi all
I need help for mod.
It's ok.
Pin 18 of Semtech SC1175 IC to ground with a 10k VR.which pin for ground ?

Pin 5 of Intersil ISL6522 IC to ground with a 20k VR.which pin for ground ?

from the photos that I have found in net I do not succeed to see which pin are used for the ground :(
Thx all.

[BladeRunner]

Not totally sure on your question the way you've worded it, but if you are asking which pins of the VR to connect to then read the other VPU V mod article I link to in my first posting, paying specific attention to this IMAGE (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/guides/R9700_Vmod_Image_4.html)

If I'm way off you'll have to explain better what you are asking.

[dmitriyaz]

Originally posted by student
Hi all
I need help for mod.
It's ok.
Pin 18 of Semtech SC1175 IC to ground with a 10k VR.which pin for ground ?

Pin 5 of Intersil ISL6522 IC to ground with a 20k VR.which pin for ground ?

from the photos that I have found in net I do not succeed to see which pin are used for the ground :(
Thx all.
i am not sure this is what you are asking,
but the "ground" is not an exact pin, its just anything that is grounded :)
the easiest thing to do on a video card is use the gound on the power connector;
either on the front or on the back of the card.

[student]

Originally posted by dmitriyaz
i am not sure this is what you are asking,
but the "ground" is not an exact pin, its just anything that is grounded :)
the easiest thing to do on a video card is use the gound on the power connector;
either on the front or on the back of the card.

I'm sorry for my very bad inglish..i am French.
I explain myself better.
I connect the thread to pin 18 of the SC1175... I connect to the trimmer. Hour I must carry the thread to one GROUND!! On chip SC1175 IC there is one pin of ground from connect the thread? Same speech for chip ISL6522 IC.

http://xtreme.routehero.com/pics/ManojR9700voltmods.JPG

Chip SC1175 pin 18 for mod and pin ? for ground.
Chip ISL6522 pin5 for mod and pin ? for ground.

I hope of to have been clear :)
Thx

[BladeRunner]

Your English isn't coming across too well, (which is not a criticism as it's still 1000X better than my French :p ).

I think what you are asking is which pin on the chips can be used as a ground?, I'm not sure looking at the images, you can almost tell, however any grounding point will do I'm using the ground from a 4 pin power plug myself. If you want it all on the card then best to follow what dmitriyaz suggested in his last posting.

[student]

Originally posted by BladeRunner


I think what you are asking is which pin on the chips can be used as a ground?

Yesssssssssssssss :toast:

[student]

Maibe for ISL6522 IC the ground is Pin7...

And SC1175 IC groung is Pin20...



:confused:

[student]

somebody help me ??
Thx

[BladeRunner]

It looks 99% that those are the correct pins for ground you mention, but why does it matter so much? Ground is Ground wherever you get it from. The ones marked in the image with a pink circle are just a few. I'll be using the solder point in the top right of this image but there are many others places to get a grounding from.

Image (http://www.zerofanzone.co.uk/pictures/jpg/r300vmod.jpg)

[student]

Thx BladeRunner..
Yes,Ground is Ground wherever you get it from. It was only in order to make a job much tidy :rolleyes:
Bye ;)

[CrimInalA]

i had the same question as student so that's cleared up now .

Second thing i had in mind is : can someone provide us (ppl that don't use VR20k but fixed resistors) which resistors give which voltages .

big thanks :)

[BladeRunner]

CrimInalA

As I said previously in the Hardforums (http://www.hardforum.com/editpost.php?s=&action=editpost&postid=1024321449) you need to read the X bit labs v mod article (http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon9700pro-overclocking/) although I thought it would be easy enough for you to find it in the topic like I previously mentioned. You have to read it all through carefully as it explains the resistors used, and the reasons for the underplate mod, it would also help if you read the Rage 3d topic (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33651150) I linked to as that has some pertinent info on the process wiith my and others findings.