Tutorial: How to softmod to ANY VGPU you want without hardmods! (1.3~1.6v or more)

[Jor3lBR]

VRMs are very cool. I check those before the GPU temp. What I've noticed on my card is that it doesn't matter if it's 65 C or 55 C, it gives me the same overclocking numbers. But, I'll try running everything with the fan at 100% ( hopefully I won't loose my hearing), so let's see what happens.

Have you thought about a bad HS mount?

If 1 VRM is not touching the HS with the same pressure as the other and that one overheats you will get artifacts.

I would double check the VRM and GPU HS mounts and thermal paste.

[error8]

Have you thought about a bad HS mount?

If 1 VRM is not touching the HS with the same pressure as the other and that one overheats you will get artifacts.

I would double check the VRM and GPU HS mounts and thermal paste.

I've reinstalled and applied thermal paste a long time ago. I'm sure that it is mounted properly.

[Jamesrt2004]

I've reinstalled and applied thermal paste a long time ago. I'm sure that it is mounted properly.

what you using to measure vrm's?

[error8]

what you using to measure vrm's?

GPU-Z.

I'm touching 85-90 C on the VRMs in Furmark full screen, in xtreme burning mode with the fan at 80%, stock voltage and 815 mhz on the core. Is that high?

[KBD]

I've reinstalled and applied thermal paste a long time ago. I'm sure that it is mounted properly.

Have you considered aftermarket cooling? I just installed an HR-03 GT and lapped copper ramsinks on my card, it dropped my core temps from 40-43C idle to 29-34C idle and from 52-55C load to 41-43C load. The only downside is that VRMs are now hotter as this cooler doesnt cool them. But i did get an overclock gain without raising voltage to 825/950, previously i was stuck at 815/945 at stock voltage. I'm currently experementing with coolers, next i will install AC Accelero S1 Rev2, that one will cool the VRMs better as i can mount 2 92mm fans on it. So i'm going to see which one will let me overclock further. Another good cooler for this card is the T-Rad but i personally couldn't use it as my ramsinks wont fit under it. I would consider getting either one of these as it seems that you would benefit from better cooling.

[error8]

Have you considered aftermarket cooling? I just installed an HR-03 GT and lapped copper ramsinks on my card, it dropped my core temps from 40-43C idle to 29-34C idle and from 52-55C load to 41-43C load. The only downside is that VRMs are now hotter as this cooler doesnt cool them. But i did get an overclock gain without raising voltage to 825/950, previously i was stuck at 815/945 at stock voltage. I'm currently experementing with coolers, next i will install AC Accelero S1 Rev2, that one will cool the VRMs better as i can mount 2 92mm fans on it. So i'm going to see which one will let me overclock further. Another good cooler for this card is the T-Rad but i personally couldn't use it as my ramsinks wont fit under it. I would consider getting either one of these as it seems that you would benefit from better cooling.

No, don't mount the S1 on the card. It will keep the vrms very hot. I had it installed on my card with 2X120mm fans and it was pretty bad. Even the gpu wasn't that cool. HR-03 seems very efficient, though.

You can use this to keep the vrms cold: http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Pr...ad.asp?idx=335

[CedricFP]

GPU-Z.

I'm touching 85-90 C on the VRMs in Furmark full screen, in xtreme burning mode with the fan at 80%, stock voltage and 815 mhz on the core. Is that high?

Not really from what I've seen.

[Santi U]

GPU-Z.

I'm touching 85-90 C on the VRMs in Furmark full screen, in xtreme burning mode with the fan at 80%, stock voltage and 815 mhz on the core. Is that high?

In Furmark anything over 90c (100% fan) produced instability for me, ie. 85% fan = 95c vrm temp = crash :\

Their 'rating' (125c~) has nothing to do with o/cing and stability, just the max temp the hardware can achieve.

[error8]

Not really from what I've seen.

Then maybe my card is just crap at overclocking

I seem to have reached a stable 825mhz at 1.3 V. So a major 0.04 V for 10 mhz. This card is a winner.

[KBD]

No, don't mount the S1 on the card. It will keep the vrms very hot. I had it installed on my card with 2X120mm fans and it was pretty bad. Even the gpu wasn't that cool. HR-03 seems very efficient, though.

You can use this to keep the vrms cold: http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Pr...ad.asp?idx=335

Well, i'm only experimenting with coolers, and the better one will stay permanently. The HR-03 GT is excellent for GPU core cooling but sucks for VRMs. This is why people actively cooled them by pointing (or mounting) a fan on them or with a sidepanel fan when using this cooler. The advantage of the Accelero S1 and the T-Rad is that they cool everything but not as efficent on the GPU core as the HR-03 GT. Since i already have 2 different coolers i will try both and i'll post back here with results for the 4870. BTW, I already have copper sinks on the VRMs and they are still hot (like 76-78C load with HR-03 GT), that Zalman sink will not be as effective since its aluminum.

Then maybe my card is just crap at overclocking

I seem to have reached a stable 825mhz at 1.3 V. So a major 0.04 V for 10 mhz. This card is a winner.

Those results are not bad, in fact with the stock cooler my card did only slightly better reaching 830Mhz on the core with the same voltage. Remember that 4870 cards are not the greatest overclockers and even with an increase in voltage dont achieve very high clocks. As we have seen in this thread there are exceptions to this and some cards do perform very well but thats all they are exceptions. I've read of cards that couldn't even break the 800mhz barrier on stock voltage so the results you have are actually OK.

[error8]

BTW, I already have copper sinks on the VRMs and they are still hot (like 76-78C load with HR-03 GT), that Zalman sink will not be as effective since its aluminum.

Yes but what I've linked you to, is quite a big heatsink, with a big heat dissipation area and also you can mount it by using thermal paste, instead of the usual double sided sticky tape, that normal vrm/ram little heatsinks have. I assume you have the small heatsinks that came with your hr-03 gt.

Those results are not bad, in fact with the stock cooler my card did only slightly better reaching 830Mhz on the core with the same voltage. Remember that 4870 cards are not the greatest overclockers and even with an increase in voltage dont achieve very high clocks. As we have seen in this thread there are exceptions to this and some cards do perform very well but thats all they are exceptions. I've read of cards that couldn't even break the 800mhz barrier on stock voltage so the results you have are actually OK.

Oh and my card doesn't do even 3900 mhz stable on the gddr5. It's "stuck" at 3800mhz.My ram is totally unoverclockable.

[KBD]

Yes but what I've linked you to, is quite a big heatsink, with a big heat dissipation area and also you can mount it by using thermal paste, instead of the usual double sided sticky tape, that normal vrm/ram little heatsinks have. I assume you have the small heatsinks that came with your hr-03 gt

Oh, god, no. The Thermalright aluminum sinks that come with HR-03 GT are not that great, i used these nickle-plated copper Tweakmonster ramsinks on my VRMs and memory, they were also lapped with 600grit to even them out and then attached them with a very thin layer of Artic Alumina epoxy (permamently):

http://www.directron.com/silveramsinks4.html

http://www.directron.com/silveramsinks.html

Oh and my card doesn't do even 3900 mhz stable on the gddr5. It's "stuck" at 3800mhz.My ram is totally unoverclockable.

My results so far are identical to yours. Unfortunately, the 1GB models are not as good of an overclockers for memory, the 512MB ones fare better. If i dont touch the core at all my memory overclocks all the way to 1020Mhz. But since i wanted a balanced core/memory overclock i started off taking turns upping both by 5Mhz each time, right now i'm at 825/950 @ stock voltage but i dont think the memory will go much higher, may be another5-10Mhz.

[error8]

Unfortunately, the 1GB models are not as good of an overclockers for memory, the 512MB ones fare better.

Mine is a 512 mb version.

[KBD]

Mine is a 512 mb version.

that sux man, you should've done better

[Kesker]

I read quite a few pages of these soft vmodding topics,i am curious about a few questions.

Can someone please clarify :

Soft vmodding the Gtx285 still isnt possible,is it?

Vmodding Ram on Gtx295 and Gtx 280 also isnt possible?(So additional ram oc is impossible with these mods)

[BuBBle.D]

Has anyone had any success raising the voltage on a HD4890? I have a Powercolor 4890 and i cant raise the voltage with any of the methods. My card is reference design. Any input?
Thanks

[BuBBle.D]

Nevermind.
Edited the bios and set 1.4v for core voltage and the card is flying. 1000/1100 stable.

[Snowman89]

Im trying this mods on a gigabyte gtx 260 without luck. I can get rivatuner to read voltage (1.05V at all time) But when i try to change it with the VT1165 in rivatuner the "more" button is greyed out. When i try to change it with evga's tool nothing happends in rivatuner, the voltage just increases in evga but nothing more happends. No change in oc either. What am i doing wrong?

[BuBBle.D]

See if you can increase the voltage in BIOS. If so, you should be able to increase it via software.
The Voltagefactory program is the second easieast method after EVGA`s voltage tuner. Give it a shot if you havent.

[xdrift0rx]

doesnt seem to work on my 275...i heard they didnt use volterra power stuff for this and that is the reason as to why this card cant be overclocked like the 260/280.

[Formann]

EDIT: Posted this in the wrong thread

[truehighroller]

This is the most awesome post ever. I was stuck at around 830 / 925 with my crossfired 4870 1GB cards. I bumped my voltages up to 1.3 from 1.26~ and now I just benched them with 3Mark Vantage at 850 / 925 and scored a hefty P17182 WOOT! I was waiting for a hack like this to come around. Supprised I didn't come across this sooner as well.

Linky to bench: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1060705

Edit: Link to benchie for now reached 860 / 925: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1060750.

[jaredpace]

This is the most awesome post ever.

Thank you

[truehighroller]

You are very welcome . I would like a way to tweak the memory voltage as well. I need it with my cards, they are 1gb versions.

[drizzt5]

Whats a list of cards that this now works on? I kind of want to get one of these cards so I can fool around software mods.