Guide on how to unlock GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470

[matose]

Hello guys,

Reference based GeForce GTX 465 will unlock to GTX 470 in a couple of simple steps. You can find the guide and also some results with the unlocked GTX 465 in benchmarks and games over at lab501.

How to turn GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470 | Lab501 Romania (Google Translate included in link)



I wish you Happy Unlocking !

Have a nice day,
matose

[~CS~]

ha, nice


NV took a page from AMD playbook.

[matose]

Yeap, everybody wants to offer free unlock when they are in trouble

[sniper_sung]

After reading this I just started to love my girlfriend's 5850 more and more

[lowfat]

Man this is great news. I definitely feel like giving this a shot.

[dengyong]

After reading this I just started to love my girlfriend's 5850 more and more

Why ?

[m0da]

Are all reference 465's unlockable (or do some have defects we can't circumvent)?
Also, why isn't the PhysX checkbox checked in GPU-Z?

I like this. Better-performing and less costly than a 5850 (going by newegg's prices atm).

[SKYMTL]

I will pop in a word of caution here.

Some of us have been trying this with the cards released to reviewers prior to launch which ARE retail samples. Of the 12 cards we have tested, 4 "unlocked", 3 recognized the BIOS but didn't "unlock" and 5 are now paper weights. Nothing was going to be published for several days until we found a way to successfully flash the dead cards back to their original state. Seems like caution has once again been thrown into the wind though.

You SERIOUSLY do this at your own risk ESPECIALLY if you don't feel comfortable reading translated Romanian.

[tajoh111]

Why ?

+1

If your a real overclocker, this is pretty much a dream project.

Unlocking to a better card + 40% overclock is pretty much the ideal for videocards.

Thats gtx 480 performance at close to half the price.

[Boissez]

I call BS... you can't unlock whats not physicly there and ALL the GTX465 I've seen so far has had 8 RAM chips and not 10 like the GTX470.

[lowfat]

I will pop in a word of caution here.

Some of us have been trying this with the cards released to reviewers prior to launch which ARE retail samples. Of the 12 cards we have tested, 4 "unlocked", 3 recognized the BIOS but didn't "unlock" and 5 are now paper weights. Nothing was going to be published for several days until we found a way to successfully flash the dead cards back to their original state. Seems like caution has once again been thrown into the wind though.

You SERIOUSLY do this at your own risk ESPECIALLY if you don't feel comfortable reading translated Romanian.

Well that is a shame.

[BeepBeep2]

I call BS... you can't unlock whats not physicly there and ALL the GTX465 I've seen so far has had 8 RAM chips and not 10 like the GTX470.

So? It might be missing adressable memory but have you seen what happens to GTX470 scores when you flash a GTX480 BIOS? 1000 point jump in Vantage.

[sniper_sung]

Why ?

Didn't notice that the price of 465 on newegg US is cheaper than 5850. In the UK 5850 is still cheaper.

I bought the 5850 for my girlfriend several months ago, and now 465 still needs to be unlocked (with risk) to overwhelm it and 5850 really consumes so little power so I just started to love this price-efficient choice I made

[annihilat0r]

3500 points boost in Vantage at the same clocks

[STEvil]

Notice the GPU-Z tool is reporting more ram for the flashed card? Is that a bug?

edit

By the way the article talks their card is a 470.. extra memory chips and all.

[zanzabar]

Notice the GPU-Z tool is reporting more ram for the flashed card? Is that a bug?

it says that the 465 uses the same ram on the same pcb that the 470 so i would guess its got the same exact cards just a new sticker to drop prices and to take care of chips that were broken or needed way to much voltage.

if they work with the 470 bios and some 470 work with the 480 bios then can use a 465 with a 480 bios and get the same thing as a 470 with a 480 bios.

[dengyong]

Notice the GPU-Z tool is reporting more ram for the flashed card? Is that a bug?

In the article it says that reference 470s were simply flashed with the 465 bios and that non reference design partners will not include the additional ram to increase their profits.

[SKYMTL]

In the article it says that reference 470s were simply flashed with the 465 bios and that non reference design partners will not include the additional ram to increase their profits.

Ummm...no.

The GTX 480 PCB uses 12 x 128MB memory ICs for 1.536GB

The GTX 470 PCB uses 10 x 128MB for 1.28GB

The GTX 465 uses a GTX 470 PCB but in a 8 x 128 layout for 1.024GB


The reason GPU-Z is picking up additional memory is that it simply reads the BIOS of the card for clock speeds and identity and to it a GTX 470 = 1.28GB. So when you flash your card it tells GPU-Z that it is a GTX 470 and the program assumes it has 1.28GB. That is until Wiz gets information to the contrary from any board partner that releases a card with a larger amount of memory.

[zanzabar]

if the chips are on the pcb it wont use the extra ram with the bios?

[SKYMTL]

if the chips are on the pcb it wont use the extra ram with the bios?

That's my point. The chips AREN'T on the PCB of the retail cards...

GTX 470 = 10 chips

GTX 465 = 8 chips

[zanzabar]

oh ok that makes more sense i thought that the chips were only not on non reference cards

can u flash it with a 480 bios like u can the 470

[SKYMTL]

oh ok that makes more sense i thought that the chips were only not on non reference cards

can u flash it with a 480 bios like u can the 470

You can flash anything. Whether it works is another matter altogether. From what I understand, the GF100 cores are VERY well binned with very few "unlockable" cores failing the QA process at any one bin level.

This is probably why so few people I have talked to have been able to achieve a successful unlock and rather ended up bricking their cards.

IMO, until further research is done by people who have better access to cards than I do, I would avoid trying this unless you have a very good fall-back plan after your warranty on a bricked card becomes null and void. As for me, I'm not willing to give up any more cards to the chances of unlocking.

[m0da]

That's my point. The chips AREN'T on the PCB of the retail cards...

GTX 470 = 10 chips

GTX 465 = 8 chips

In the article, it states:

Is even more interesting that although the amount of memory differs between the two plates, GTX 465 has all faces of memory (1280MB), although only some are active (1024MB).

So, the retail "Point of View" GTX 465 they had in their hands was identical to the 470 (and had 10 chips). BIOS flash changed it into a legitimate 470, not surprisingly.

Of course, they also state, that this is clearly not profit-friendly, thus, you won't see this happening for long.

edit: they referenced pictures of a retail card, but did they flash a retail card? language barrier isn't helping.

[SKYMTL]

In the article, it states:

So, the retail "Point of View" GTX 465 they had in their hands was identical to the 470 (and had 10 chips). BIOS flash changed it into a legitimate 470, not surprisingly.

Of course, they also state, that this is clearly not profit-friendly, thus, you won't see this happening for long.

edit: they referenced pictures of a retail card, but did they flash a retail card? language barrier isn't helping.

That was probably done to get cards into the hands of reviewers. Every review I have seen uses full retail samples and they all have 8 chips as I stated above. Voila:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...5_4.html#sect0

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1317/2/

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1317/3/

I can attest to the fact that my two cards (one ASUS and one EVGA) also have 8 ICs installed.

Like I said, not enough research was done before posting this which could very well lead to some consumers wiping out their cards in one stroke. For all we know, the ONLY reason this card unlocked was because it was actually a flashed GTX 470 which was done to rush it into reviewer's hands.

[STEvil]

Just a thought here, but could we analyze these bioses and figure out a way to flash 480's to "512's"? :p