News: X1800GTO can be flashed to X1800XL

[Cooper]

De ja vue
Like with X800GTO2 some of X1800GTO cards can be modded to X1800XL by BIOS flash. HKEPC used HIS card to make the experiment. Apparently there are 3 to 5 thousands cards with about 90% of chance to get X1800XL for less money

test results
Link to BIOS and required tools

Source
Translation

[nn_step]

I love it

[HousERaT]

I'm wondering if this is a hacked bios or just a standard XL bios?

[althes]

hacked bios, will test tomorrow.

[Shadowmage]

HOLY :O

No doubt about it, X180GTO > 7600GT now

Any objections?

[Miwo]

is it possible to run two of these in Crossfire mode without a master card on the i975x chipset? I am very interested in this possiblity because I am going to get the AOpen i975x-YDG for my Yonah.

Hoping for a driver or something

[Shadowmage]

Supposedly, X1800XT is possible in Crossfire mode without a master card, but I do believe that's only with RD580 (Manta) :p

[Miwo]

bah, why must it be on an AMD mobo

Intel Yonah/Merom/Conroe + No Master Crossfire = :drool:

[KoHaN69]

and all of the products will be modified and the damage is likely to be airplanes.

Will this work on the Connect3D x1800gto ?

[althes]

Does that have the 6 power mosfets
The HIS has 6 the sapphire and powercolor have 5.
HKEPC used a HIS and it worked.

[eiceman]

only X1800xl change name

[turtle]

only X1800xl change name

That makes a lot of sense actually.

I mean, x1800xt 256mb'ers are $300 MSRP, but XL's are actually priced HIGHER, with no signs of dropping. X1800XT 512mbers are even showing up a similar price to the x1800xl ($20 more).

Surely ATi doesn't want to put the x1800xl at $200-250, even though that's where it should be, as it would draw users away from the more expensive cards (x1800xt's) that they still have to clear out, while still having room for the cards to fall lower later while still maintaining a profit.

So, what do they do? Alter the product to fit the price range. It seems that this alteration was as easy as a new bios.

[nn_step]

Honestly compared to the 512MB X1800XT, the X1800XL at the same speeds just isn't great at High settings.. what I would really love to find is an X1900GTO w/ 512MB of ram.. making an untouchable middle range card

[Cooper]

Guys from OCWorkbench have tryied the same with their Powercolor card and had no luck. Apparently there`s might be difference between the brands in cards layout.
Here`s one from Powercolor



And here`s one from HIS



As you see HIS has 6 MOSFETs, but Powercolor only 5. Probably that`s the answer why it can`t be switched to X1800XL using HIS BIOS. Is there any X1800XL with just 5 MOSFETs ?

Also there`s some info that only cards made till 15th March may be flahsed to XL.

[nn_step]

maybe it has to do with the Chip below the Heat sink..

[Cooper]

maybe it has to do with the Chip below the Heat sink..

Could be. But there`s possibility to have no luck after using different BIOS.

[Pyr0]

Could be. But there`s possibility to have no luck after using different BIOS.

it didn't work for me either

[Cooper]

Pyro what card you have/how many MOSFETs on it ? And what BIOS you used ?

[Pyr0]

i have a standard reference card sent from ATI, it has only 5 mosfets, looks exactly like the powercolor card shown above

i've tried the hacked bios from hkepc, an asus xl bios and a sapphire xl bios

[Welz]

heres a question, Which one of these is the XL and which one is the GTO ?

[nn_step]

heres a question, Which one of these is the XL and which one is the GTO ?

I am thinking the one with the 5 MOSFETS is the GTO.. unless I am wrong

[afireinside]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161004

6 fet is the gto Does that one flash?

[Cooper]

Newegg has 3 GTOs available: Powercolor, HIS and Sapphire. Only HIS has 6 fets

[SnipingWaste]

I beleave the HIS X1800GTO is realy a X1800XT 256 meg card with a single slot cooler and a BIOS thats been reflashed to core of 500 and mem at 490, and 1 quad turned off. Only the X1800XT has 6 phase power so to me it looks like HIS just took a chunk of there X1800XT 256 meg cards and reflashed and used a single slot cooler to fill there X1800GTO stocks.
HIS X1800XT 256 meg


HIS X1800GTO


HIS X1800XL

[Cooper]

I guess before flashing new BIOS clocks must be lowered down via HEX editor/NiBitor or there would be problems booting the card with XT speeds