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How to: Mod your X850 PRO -> XT w/ 16 pipes

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Codeman05

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Location
US
The purpose of this guide is to explain how to mod your AGP x850 Pro to an x850 XT or XT/PE, and unlock the card to 16 pipes. I take no responsibility for any damage this guide or modification may cause.​



Intro...
About 2 weeks ago, I picked up a AGP x850 pro. Was a little hesitant, but it was a good price, and I figured I probably won't be going to PCI-X for atleast 3-6 months.

Upon purchasing the card, I decided to do a little looking around to see if it was possible to mod the card to unlock the card and get the full 16 pipes. The unanimous concensus (from my searching on OCforums) said that NO, it could not be done.

Well, for you that do have the AGP x850 Pros, I have good news, it can be done!!! This may also be useful for those of you considering a AGP x850xt or xt/pe...as it adds another cheaper option.

Most of this guide is based off of Mikey122687 & Sphere's guides on overclock.net. I am just trying to help spread the word to help those on this forum perform this mod.
The original writeup's can be found here and here.

I would recommend reading those articles as well, just to become more familar with the process if this is something new for you.


But here is a quick run through of...
How to unlock your pipes!
What you need!
1) AGP x850 pro
2) Bootdisk (download here)
3) Flash Rom (download here)
4) AGP x850 XT or AGP x850 XT/PE bios (find one here, or here)
*note* Bios MUST be for an AGP x850!!

How to unlock the card!
1) Download the bios and flash tool of your choice (see above)

2) Create a bootdisk and copy the flashtool and bios to the floppy.

3) Boot into DOS using the floppy. Backup your existing bios:
The command for atiflash is: flashrom -s 0 backup.bin

4) Now flash your card with the new bios:
The command for atiflash is: flashrom -f -p 0 xt.bin
*note* the name of your new bios may vary. Replace "xt.bin" with the name of the bios you want to use

4) Reboot your computer into windows.

5) You will now need to reinstall your ATI drivers (I prefer to remove them before beginning the flash process). Your pipes will not show as unlocked until you install your drivers. If ATI-Tool shows 16 pipes, it worked, congradulations!

6) Double check to make sure your card can run at the speeds you flashed to (XT or XT/PE) without artifacting, I used ATI-Tool for this and 3dmark's 03 & 05.

7) Now see how much more you can get out of your clocks ;)



Notes!
Please read this before flashing your card. I'd hate for someone to make a mistake and run the risk of killing their card (though it should be possible to reflash it correctly). I take no responsibility for any damage this modifcation may cause

I was able to run without problems on the XT/PE bios with 16 pipes, and later did a vgpu mod to get a little more out of the core ;)
If you can't run at XT/PE speeds, you can use the XT bios, and I really doubt you'd have problems reaching those clocks.

I would suggest seeing if your card will run at XT speeds (520x540) and XT/PE speeds (540x590), before flashing your card...in order to choose which bios to use. You could always flash the XT bios and then overclock your card from their to play it safe
 

Attachments

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yes mine is a vivo. From what I've read, I believe the non-vivos should also work, but I don't believe the chances are as great (don't quote me though)

This link has more Bios' to choose from, and has a lot more feedback on the subject.

also cleaned up my initial post abit
 
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thank ya :)

Made the guide a little more "professional" and added some more information
 
How are the temps after the flash? Did you try the bios that had the fan controller in it? Great guide, I'm probably going to do it next time i get paid :attn:
 
well I was on water already...the temps didn't seem to change much till I started to vmod...I'd say maybe 1-2c, if that. On air you might see a little more, but it really shouldn't change much.

I didn't try the fan controller (didn't have the fan), might wanna search for some more info on that here : http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?p=252116#post252116

Pretty sure I read a few posts that said it worked though


Let me know how it works out for ya, do you already have the card?
 
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hey dude i just stumbled accross this guide in a link on techpowerup :)

(I'm sphere btw ;))

in your guide you have a link that says ati flash but in your instructions you say flashrom ;)

and in order to flash and unlock the pipes at the same time you need to use ither the moded flashrom (link: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/100/images/flashrom16p.zip )

or ati flash with the "-newbios" switch

nice guide btw :)

http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?t=22164 here is a link to my full x800/x850 moding guide :)

if you need to reach me i can be contacted on techpowerup forums under the name sean478 or overclock.net under the name sphere :)

cheers :)

Edit: one more thing you can find a fan control x850xtpe bios in this thread along with many other x800 and x850 bioses
http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?p=252116#post252116
 
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sean478 said:
in your guide you have a link that says ati flash but in your instructions you say flashrom ;)

Doh! Good call, got it updated now :D
 
Thats a BBA 850pro, so it should work. Looks like a few people on the reviews for that particular card on newegg said they got it to flash...so I would think it should flash no problem.
 
Hi all,
I purchased my card about 2 weeks ago from Best Buy. An Ati x850 pro. Just want everyone to know that Ati has locked some of these cards. Unfortunately i got one. I flashed and it still shows only 12 pipes. It will run at X850 XT speeds no problem with stock cooling. I have even run it at XT PE speeds but with the stock cooler it will crap out after a time. Im sure that if i used another cooler it would be ok. Well just wanted everyone to know that they seem to be locking the cards. I dont know about other manufacturers. Good luck all
 
angelom said:
Hi all,
I purchased my card about 2 weeks ago from Best Buy. An Ati x850 pro. Just want everyone to know that Ati has locked some of these cards. Unfortunately i got one. I flashed and it still shows only 12 pipes. It will run at X850 XT speeds no problem with stock cooling. I have even run it at XT PE speeds but with the stock cooler it will crap out after a time. Im sure that if i used another cooler it would be ok. Well just wanted everyone to know that they seem to be locking the cards. I dont know about other manufacturers. Good luck all
yah it's too bad :( ive seen a couple of those :(

but just to be shure :) what does your card say here (reply here;))
http://overclockstop.com/showthread.php?t=42
 
Yea, I bought mine from best buy yesturday and it looks like i got a locked one to. I flashed it with the XT bios and its running fine only 12 pipes though. I checked ati tool for you and came up with this:

CONFIG_DIE_FUSES: 0xFFFFDFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES:0xFFFFFF9E
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES:0x860
GB_PIPE_SELECT:0xAD46
 
Hey thanks but i checked already
CONFIG_DIE_FUSES: 0xFFFFEFFF
CONFIG_SUBSTRATE_FUSES:0xFFFFFF9E
CONFIG_ROM_FUSES:0x860
GB_PIPE_SELECT:0x6E48


E's not F's ........... But i run it at XT speeds
 
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