8800GT bios for better overclocking! *test*

[r4st4m4n]

Does anyone knows what is the default VID for XFX 8800 GT "normal" alpha dog edition (600/1500/900).

My card fails 3Dmark06 above Core/shader 710/1724 (stock memory) and locks up in Crysis above 690 for the core and 1678 for the shaders
I see almost nobody having such "bad" results with their 8800GT. I know OCing depends of your luck to get a good chip but mine must be a really a cr*ppy one

Is it possible the default VID is 02 (1.05V) and thus if I flash to VID 03 (1.10V) I will improve my OC headroom ?

Also I don't have spare PCI VGA so is the chance that the flash fails high or is it like motherboard flashing ? Is there any way to restore the old BIOS without spare PCI VGA if it fails (like knowing the command to enter without seeing anything) ?
Well in that case I still could go hunting for a PCI VGA but I want to know what are my chances before to try it.

Last question, will the stock cooler be enough with modified fan speed to handle 1.1V ?

[Fr3ak]

Your card is quite good, I have a few cards here that are not able to run stable above 670 MHz on the GPU...

Edit: I followed the instructions on page 1 of this thread, flashed the card and voltage readings are still the same:

1.030 V idle
1.069 - 1.076 V 3D

Edit²: I screwed it up and I have a couple more options to check

Edit 3: It works now
1.084 V idle
1.126 - 1.142 V 3D

Edit 4: I can run 750/1050 MHz now on this card that was limited to 705/1050 MHz before

[smsmasters]

I have the Inno3D 8800GT and I've overclocked it to:

GPU: 700
Shader: 1700
Memory: 2000

Does anyone know what the default voltage is and if using nbitor to increase the voltage will let me raise the GPU and shader clocks more?

Thanks!

[jason4207]

I did the 1.1v BIOS mod last night. Worked very well. I have the vanilla GT from eVGA. Got it through step-up from the 320GTS. My GT came w/ 600/1500/900 clocks despite the fact a lot of people got SC clocks on their vanilla packaged cards.

I was only getting 712/1674/929 (pretty low) ATI Tool artifact free before the BIOS mod. Now I'm getting 741/1728/951 after the mod. Not sure why my RAM clocks went up, but I'm not complaining. Temps are 70 under ATI Tool load w/ the stock cooler at 100%.

The mod was extremely easy to do. I just used F@32's link and did what he did, but I skipped the 1st couple of steps b/c there was no use changing 1.1 to 1.2 from what I've read.

I have to say I'm pretty happy w/ the results. I'm going to get the HR03GT when it comes out, and then try the volt mod to try and get into the 800/2000's.

[jason4207]

Does anyone knows what is the default VID for XFX 8800 GT "normal" alpha dog edition (600/1500/900).

My card fails 3Dmark06 above Core/shader 710/1724 (stock memory) and locks up in Crysis above 690 for the core and 1678 for the shaders
I see almost nobody having such "bad" results with their 8800GT. I know OCing depends of your luck to get a good chip but mine must be a really a cr*ppy one

Is it possible the default VID is 02 (1.05V) and thus if I flash to VID 03 (1.10V) I will improve my OC headroom ?

Also I don't have spare PCI VGA so is the chance that the flash fails high or is it like motherboard flashing ? Is there any way to restore the old BIOS without spare PCI VGA if it fails (like knowing the command to enter without seeing anything) ?
Well in that case I still could go hunting for a PCI VGA but I want to know what are my chances before to try it.

Last question, will the stock cooler be enough with modified fan speed to handle 1.1V ?

Your clocks aren't that bad compared to mine. The BIOS mod worked for me, and I think it'll work for you too. I don't have a spare PCI VGA either and had no issues. Just make sure to save a copy of the original BIOS to the same floppy as your modded BIOS. I called it "original.rom", and the new BIOS "1_1.rom".

If you by chance have a bad flash you need to have memorized (or written down) the steps it takes to do the flash so you can do it blind. I have to press F8 first to bring up the boot selection screen. I know floppy is first on the list so I have to hit "enter". Let DOS load. Type in the command "nvflash -5 -6 original.rom". Press "y". Wait. cntrl-alt-del. Voila!

I'm using the stock cooler, and it is coping just fine. I was at 70 w/ fan at 100% under ATI Tool load. I might try and play Crysis tonight and see if I can run the fan lower w/o having any issues. I played Crysis last night before I did the mod at 712/1674/929 w/ 67% fan w/o issues.

[r4st4m4n]

Your clocks aren't that bad compared to mine. The BIOS mod worked for me, and I think it'll work for you too. I don't have a spare PCI VGA either and had no issues. Just make sure to save a copy of the original BIOS to the same floppy as your modded BIOS. I called it "original.rom", and the new BIOS "1_1.rom".

If you by chance have a bad flash you need to have memorized (or written down) the steps it takes to do the flash so you can do it blind. I have to press F8 first to bring up the boot selection screen. I know floppy is first on the list so I have to hit "enter". Let DOS load. Type in the command "nvflash -5 -6 original.rom". Press "y". Wait. cntrl-alt-del. Voila!

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try. Just need to plug my floppy drive and to buy floppy disks ...

[kiwi]

Just did the 1.1v mod

Voltage readings and oc
Before
idle 1.09V
load 1.13V
oc: 730(740 for 2k1)/1840/1070

after mod
idle 1.14V
load 1.18V
oc: Still testing but 780/790 was without artifacts. Shader @ 1940 now

[deathman20]

Hmmm so this mod ups your volts by about .05V?

Might have to read more into this since I definatly would like to get more out without doing a hard mod to the card.

Getting 740/1838/999 with benching no problem, game at 720/1782/950 currently.

[jason4207]

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try. Just need to plug my floppy drive and to buy floppy disks ...

You may be able to do it w/ a flash drive if your MoBo supports it. You're on your own there, though. I haven't done the research to know how to get it working.

I bought a floppy drive ($6) w/ my recent build, b/c they still come in handy every now and then. I'm using floppy disks that are so old they should probably be thrown away. I think they are responsible for a bad flash on a Gigabyte MoBo a while back.

[r4st4m4n]

You may be able to do it w/ a flash drive if your MoBo supports it. You're on your own there, though. I haven't done the research to know how to get it working.

I bought a floppy drive ($6) w/ my recent build, b/c they still come in handy every now and then. I'm using floppy disks that are so old they should probably be thrown away. I think they are responsible for a bad flash on a Gigabyte MoBo a while back.

I checked the USB thingy but it's not that simple to make it bootable. Since I already have the floppy drive, I'll buy new floppy disks tomorrow as the one I have are so old I'm worry about data corruption if I use them

[jason4207]

I guess floppy disks are more expensive on a cost-per-gigabyte basis than Raptors!

Funny how things change.

[F@32]

I checked the USB thingy but it's not that simple to make it bootable. Since I already have the floppy drive, I'll buy new floppy disks tomorrow as the one I have are so old I'm worry about data corruption if I use them

Pretty much what jason4207 said, I would take it one step further and make emergency recovery disk. Steps involved:
1. Create MS-DOS boot disk
2. Copy on it latest nVFlash.exe and cwsdpmi.exe that comes with it
3. Boot into DOS and with "a:\nvflash.exe -b a:\backup.rom" backup existing BIOS
4. Edit autoexec.bat on MS DOS floppy so that it has only "a:\nvflash.exe -4 -5 -6 -a -y a:\backup.rom" (commands taken from here.) ONLY USE THIS DISK FOR RECOVERY! It will flash your card at each boot!

I had I/O Error if I didn't specify a:\.

Regards,
- F@32

[jason4207]

^^ WOW! Good info there!

Do what he said. I'll be making a recovery disk before I flash again for sure.

[Viktor]

Ok so from what I've understood you should edit the voltage 3 to 1,1v instead of 1,05, Is that right?
If not, then please could those who succeeded write the way you did it, because I get kind of confused by the guide on page 1 since one person says its working and another says it isnt working. :P

[kiwi]

Just change Exact Mode Extra voltage to 1.1 and you are done. Nothing else needs to be changed And I am using USB flash to boot and flash. No problem here

[F@32]

Ok so from what I've understood you should edit the voltage 3 to 1,1v instead of 1,05, Is that right?
If not, then please could those who succeeded write the way you did it, because I get kind of confused by the guide on page 1 since one person says its working and another says it isnt working. :P

I'll double check what the heck I did when I get home. It's working though

This what I think I've done... VID mode already has 1.1v label (which is VID03). You just need to select VID03 for Extra in Exact mode. Use drop down menu on Voltages->Exact Mode->Extra and select 1.1V which will tell GPU to use VID03 (1.1v aka Voltage 4) instead VID02 (1.05v aka Voltage 3)

[NJDevilsFan21]

Tried it on an eVGA SC with no luck. Though when I measured using a DMM before doing the flash I was 1.136V under load, so maybe the overclock models already have the higher default voltage. After the flash, still the same 1.136V under load. Highest stable I could get 741/1782/2050 so it's not bad as is.

[r4st4m4n]

Pretty much what jason4207 said, I would take it one step further and make emergency recovery disk. Steps involved:
1. Create MS-DOS boot disk
2. Copy on it latest nVFlash.exe and cwsdpmi.exe that comes with it
3. Boot into DOS and with "a:\nvflash.exe -b a:\backup.rom" backup existing BIOS
4. Edit autoexec.bat on MS DOS floppy so that it has only "a:\nvflash.exe -4 -5 -6 -a -y a:\backup.rom" (commands taken from here.) ONLY USE THIS DISK FOR RECOVERY! It will flash your card at each boot!

I had I/O Error if I didn't specify a:\.

Regards,
- F@32

Thanks for the info.

I bought some floppy (so expensive for the capacity ) I followed the link to mvktech you gave earlier and did my homework.

I checked yesterday and the VID in my 8800 GT is set to 02 (1.05V) so a +0.05V increase should give few more MHz

I'm now ready to try it tonight when I'll be back home. I'll post the results.

[skullfcuk]

http://cpcff.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=185797#185797

Here's some results based on using a 1.1v mod BIOS on a BFG 8800GT 512OC.
Seems to have a case of diminishing returns as the ram is pushed above 1000.

Bizarre indeed. The first BIOS that was used had the timings loosened, so the original BIOS was modded to keep the timings the same, and just the 1.1v core up was done. This provided a 300point boost in 3Dmark 01.

Any ideas >?

[Viktor]

Hmm I've tried modding my original bios and since I've lost my multimeter I can't measure the exact voltage I get under load, but since my clocks didnt increase I'm guessing it didnt work. Maybe I should try another bios?

[TheGoat Eater]

damn I have good luck with BFG Tech cards no mods - I am at 740/1804/1000 w/ stock Bios and cooler - fan at 100% full load is only 77C
@ Fr3ak - just how many 8800GTs you got - LOL


TESTING 760 CORE AND ALL SEEMS GOOD - damn I love BFG (my GTS 640MB could go up to 690 core if I recall right - check my hwbot page)

[TheGoat Eater]

final core stable speed is 775 no mods - next the shaders then memory - with a card ike this is there a need to mod it lol ??

[flopper]

Used the nvbit to change vcore, working well.
Flashed.
could set a new record passing 12k in 3dmark06 up from 11700.

gonna log games now to see if it stable

[shiznit93]

my card with bios modded to 1.1 tops out at 740/1836. other games can run 756 core but Crysis starts locking up, and with 1890 shader i get artifacts. Im keeping the memory at 950 because i dont wanna fry it. I had the exact same results before i changed the bios, gonna borrow a multimeter one day to check if it even did anything, but Nibitor says 1.1 now so i think it went through correctly. Oh well, for $230 you cant beat it. Evga 8800gt vanilla btw.

[Viktor]

TheGoat Eater: FYI even if you icrease the clock to 760 trough riva tuner the clock still stays @ 756 the next clock after 756mhz is 771mhz.