VGPU MOD on 9700 pro?

HardWired · Jun 30, 2003, 03:08 AM

Screw it! I just went to Walmart and dropped $20 on a digital meter that will give me three #'s after the point. This dig. meter from my neighbor only had a 400v setting for DC and that's it. The one I just nabbed from Walmart has the 2 setting and so forth like you referred to.

I hope to be back later with some great results. Wish me luck

Silverfox · Jun 30, 2003, 03:36 AM

Yes, you can tweak the pots with the system up and running. Just dont go to fast between increases. Let the card stabilize each time for a few minutes and you will be fine. If you can only get two decimal points, for instance 1.45 on the Vref thats fine also. Just the minute you see the meter read 1.46v, start watching your screen. Initially you can re-boot the system, close all unnecessary programs in task manager are however you prefer and open up 3dmark03, so it will be ready to run. Then if you can tweak your voltages up as follows to these levels initially: Vgpu core=1.75v, Vdd=3.10v, and the Vref=1.45v If everything looks normal on the screen, go ahead and increase your clock speeds to say 405/350. Start the 03 bench and if no black snow appears in the first airplane scene, go ahead and abort the run and increase the voltages to gpucore=1.80v, Vdd=3.25, Vref=1.46 Then start the test again, but this time at say 415/360 and see what happens. Again I would definitely not try and go past 1.47v on the Vref. Since your side case is off now, you also might want to point a box or osscillating type fan blowing in your case across the vid card.

HardWired · Jun 30, 2003, 06:59 AM

Success!!

Here's a shot of my work:

Here's how the volts are adjusted at the moment.
Vgpu: 1.75
Vdd: 3.20
Vref: 1.474
Vddq: 2.82 (unmodified)

I know the Vref is a little higher than what you're running Silverfox, but with the 10K pot, that's the lowest it will go with this particular chip on my rev. 3 card. There are no artifacts onscreen, even with a quick run through of 3DMark. And the mem isn't too overly hot to the touch, so it seems to be okay. I guess LardArse is right and a 20K pot might work better for the Vref so I could turn it down a little, but so far it seems to be stable so I'm not going to be too concerned about it at this point. And, as it was pointed out somewhere in this thread; no two cards/chips are the same, so this one seems to handle over 1.47v on the Vref just fine.

I screwed up and made the black (vdd) wire too short so it covers the ram and it's blocking the ram for a ramsink, but I can always splice it and solder in a little more length to allow for it in the future.

I guess pots were the best way to go. I should've listen to you guys in the first place.

As you can see, I decided to ground them all over to the vga connector ground post. It added more wire, but it was easier to solder than going back to the ground legs on the chip. And doing it that way allowed me to mount the pots like Silverfox, so that they're all easily accessible for adjusting.

I'm still planning on doing the vddq. Unlike the your card Silverfox, you can see (well, you can at least see one), the rev. 3 cards have two pins holding the heatspreader down. So maybe it'll come off easier. Hopefully there's nothing more holding it on (if anything.... besides the pins) than the same stuff that's under the stock hsf. That stuff is pretty easy to wiggle loose.

No time to o'c and benchmark tonight. I'll post again in the next few days and let you know how the tweaking goes.

Thanks again for you input guys!

shuki · Jun 30, 2003, 07:51 AM

absolutely BEAUTIFUL hardwired!! outstanding job man!

LardArse · Jun 30, 2003, 01:13 PM

Well done!
Be sure to check that the metal plate doesn't touch part of your solder joint when you screw it back. Good luck!

Silverfox · Jun 30, 2003, 02:33 PM

Looks good Hardwired! You may want to add a small fan on the backside of the core also. When you commence Ocing the card up and say over 410/355, dont forget to touch the back of the core and see how it feels temp wise. You can touch it before Ocing and during your high benching for a comparison and then decide if you want the extra fan. Now you can say you have definitely saved yourself some money over the purchase of the 9800 pro you originally had.

HardWired · Jul 1, 2003, 04:43 AM

Thanks for the compliments guys! Mods like this (as with the hsf) really give you a sense of accomplishment rather than just buying something and plugging it in.

I have a 20K ohm pot coming in the next week or two to switch out for the 10K on the Vref so I can lower that a little. Then I'll use the 10K that I remove from there and do the Vddq. An acquaintace of mine who owns an electronics shop is going to hook me up with it next time he makes an order for parts. He said he makes an order usally once a week. He has a book as thick as a large metro area telephone book (didn't notice the vendor) that has everything under the sun electronics related that you could imagine. I could even choose between a side mount screw or top mount.

Now for some benching...

HardWired · Jul 1, 2003, 08:48 AM

Benchmarks before I hit the hay. Both test run at 405 core and 351 memory.

3DMark03

3DMark01

Not bad at all. At 405/351 that's both an 80 MHz increase in the core clock as well as 80 MHz (DDR) in the memory clock. Those are both max settings before artifacts begin to appear. But I can loop at those speeds with complete stability. I know others have hit higher clocks with these three mods, and I'm hoping for a little more out of the core especially, but I'm happy with the results....so far

The PCB behind the core, while getting very warm/borderline hot, still feels slightly cooler than how it felt with the stock cooler at stock clocks.

I may tweak a little higher than 1.474 on the vref (I know...go VERY SLOWLY) since LardArse mentioned he's at 1.48 on his rev. 3 memory Vref. And, at 1.75, I've got a little room on the Vgpu as well. So we'll see how it goes. The VDDQ mod should give it a kick in the pants too.

That'll all have to wait though...I've got to get some sleep in here somewhere too.

Silverfox · Jul 1, 2003, 03:06 PM

Congratulations! Very nice scores. You now have a nice modded addition,that will still compliment a future upgrade to your system, without the added expense of another high dollar vid card! You have saved yourself 2-300 bucks that can go against the price of the p5 prescott or the amd 64, whichever you choose right? I know i was considering upgrading my mb bottleneck, but will probably hold off until the new processors are released possibly sometime in the fall months.

Jun 30, 2003, 03:36 AM	Thread Starter #62
Silverfox HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 304 Rep Power: 0	Yes, you can tweak the pots with the system up and running. Just dont go to fast between increases. Let the card stabilize each time for a few minutes and you will be fine. If you can only get two decimal points, for instance 1.45 on the Vref thats fine also. Just the minute you see the meter read 1.46v, start watching your screen. Initially you can re-boot the system, close all unnecessary programs in task manager are however you prefer and open up 3dmark03, so it will be ready to run. Then if you can tweak your voltages up as follows to these levels initially: Vgpu core=1.75v, Vdd=3.10v, and the Vref=1.45v If everything looks normal on the screen, go ahead and increase your clock speeds to say 405/350. Start the 03 bench and if no black snow appears in the first airplane scene, go ahead and abort the run and increase the voltages to gpucore=1.80v, Vdd=3.25, Vref=1.46 Then start the test again, but this time at say 415/360 and see what happens. Again I would definitely not try and go past 1.47v on the Vref. Since your side case is off now, you also might want to point a box or osscillating type fan blowing in your case across the vid card. __________________ Silverfox

Jun 30, 2003, 02:33 PM	Thread Starter #66
Silverfox HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 304 Rep Power: 0	Looks good Hardwired! You may want to add a small fan on the backside of the core also. When you commence Ocing the card up and say over 410/355, dont forget to touch the back of the core and see how it feels temp wise. You can touch it before Ocing and during your high benching for a comparison and then decide if you want the extra fan. Now you can say you have definitely saved yourself some money over the purchase of the 9800 pro you originally had. __________________ Silverfox

Jul 1, 2003, 03:06 PM	Thread Starter #69
Silverfox HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 304 Rep Power: 0	Congratulations! Very nice scores. You now have a nice modded addition,that will still compliment a future upgrade to your system, without the added expense of another high dollar vid card! You have saved yourself 2-300 bucks that can go against the price of the p5 prescott or the amd 64, whichever you choose right? I know i was considering upgrading my mb bottleneck, but will probably hold off until the new processors are released possibly sometime in the fall months. __________________ Silverfox

Jun 30, 2003, 03:08 AM	#61
HardWired DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Rocky Mountains Posts: 61 Rep Power: 0	Screw it! I just went to Walmart and dropped $20 on a digital meter that will give me three #'s after the point. This dig. meter from my neighbor only had a 400v setting for DC and that's it. The one I just nabbed from Walmart has the 2 setting and so forth like you referred to. I hope to be back later with some great results. Wish me luck

Jun 30, 2003, 06:59 AM	#63
HardWired DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Rocky Mountains Posts: 61 Rep Power: 0	Success!! Here's a shot of my work: Here's how the volts are adjusted at the moment. Vgpu: 1.75 Vdd: 3.20 Vref: 1.474 Vddq: 2.82 (unmodified) I know the Vref is a little higher than what you're running Silverfox, but with the 10K pot, that's the lowest it will go with this particular chip on my rev. 3 card. There are no artifacts onscreen, even with a quick run through of 3DMark. And the mem isn't too overly hot to the touch, so it seems to be okay. I guess LardArse is right and a 20K pot might work better for the Vref so I could turn it down a little, but so far it seems to be stable so I'm not going to be too concerned about it at this point. And, as it was pointed out somewhere in this thread; no two cards/chips are the same, so this one seems to handle over 1.47v on the Vref just fine. I screwed up and made the black (vdd) wire too short so it covers the ram and it's blocking the ram for a ramsink, but I can always splice it and solder in a little more length to allow for it in the future. I guess pots were the best way to go. I should've listen to you guys in the first place. As you can see, I decided to ground them all over to the vga connector ground post. It added more wire, but it was easier to solder than going back to the ground legs on the chip. And doing it that way allowed me to mount the pots like Silverfox, so that they're all easily accessible for adjusting. I'm still planning on doing the vddq. Unlike the your card Silverfox, you can see (well, you can at least see one), the rev. 3 cards have two pins holding the heatspreader down. So maybe it'll come off easier. Hopefully there's nothing more holding it on (if anything.... besides the pins) than the same stuff that's under the stock hsf. That stuff is pretty easy to wiggle loose. No time to o'c and benchmark tonight. I'll post again in the next few days and let you know how the tweaking goes. Thanks again for you input guys!

Jun 30, 2003, 07:51 AM	#64
shuki DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: in the hidden place Posts: 1,975 Rep Power: 0	absolutely BEAUTIFUL hardwired!! outstanding job man!

Jun 30, 2003, 01:13 PM	#65
LardArse DH No1 AMD Overclocker Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 83 Rep Power: 0	Well done! Be sure to check that the metal plate doesn't touch part of your solder joint when you screw it back. Good luck!

Jul 1, 2003, 04:43 AM	#67
HardWired DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Rocky Mountains Posts: 61 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the compliments guys! Mods like this (as with the hsf) really give you a sense of accomplishment rather than just buying something and plugging it in. I have a 20K ohm pot coming in the next week or two to switch out for the 10K on the Vref so I can lower that a little. Then I'll use the 10K that I remove from there and do the Vddq. An acquaintace of mine who owns an electronics shop is going to hook me up with it next time he makes an order for parts. He said he makes an order usally once a week. He has a book as thick as a large metro area telephone book (didn't notice the vendor) that has everything under the sun electronics related that you could imagine. I could even choose between a side mount screw or top mount. Now for some benching...

Jul 1, 2003, 08:48 AM	#68
HardWired DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Rocky Mountains Posts: 61 Rep Power: 0	Benchmarks before I hit the hay. Both test run at 405 core and 351 memory. 3DMark03 3DMark01 Not bad at all. At 405/351 that's both an 80 MHz increase in the core clock as well as 80 MHz (DDR) in the memory clock. Those are both max settings before artifacts begin to appear. But I can loop at those speeds with complete stability. I know others have hit higher clocks with these three mods, and I'm hoping for a little more out of the core especially, but I'm happy with the results....so far The PCB behind the core, while getting very warm/borderline hot, still feels slightly cooler than how it felt with the stock cooler at stock clocks. I may tweak a little higher than 1.474 on the vref (I know...go VERY SLOWLY) since LardArse mentioned he's at 1.48 on his rev. 3 memory Vref. And, at 1.75, I've got a little room on the Vgpu as well. So we'll see how it goes. The VDDQ mod should give it a kick in the pants too. That'll all have to wait though...I've got to get some sleep in here somewhere too.