any try the 5900xt to 5950 bios flash

[Schadenfroh]

Text

allot of people say they have beeng getting it to 5950 ultra levels, since leadtek built their 5900xt with 2.2ns ram, just use coolbits to see if it can hit 5950 ultra levels and if it does, flash it to the 5950 bios? how does the ram differances in the cards come into play there? also, what kinda cooling would you guys reccomend if i were to go this route?

 

[Marsumane]

Typically if you are going to try this, just bump up a few mhz at a time until you start getting artifacts or other obvious visual differences in gameplay. then do the same with the memory. see where you get, and then if u can get a little above the 5950u levels, then i believe its safe to flash (extra room incase you have a perticularly hot/cool day). I really dont know if you will make it on stock cooling. My guess is that you probably wont, but its worth a try. just watch ur screen and go slow.

 

[Corporate Thug]

XT 2.8 ns ram
non xt 2.2 ns ram

i will be very surprised if 2.8ns is able to reach that kind of clocks

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: shady06
XT 2.8 ns ram
non xt 2.2 ns ram

i will be very surprised if 2.8ns is able to reach that kind of clocks

the leadtek has the 2.2ns ram, its up to the AIB maker, read the customer reviews and i have seen similar info about it having 2.2ns ram out on the web when i search for it

 

[BFG10K]

Instead of flashing it a far safer option is to try a cautious overclock.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Instead of flashing it a far safer option is to try a cautious overclock.

after which i will flash, if its stable at the correct speeds

 

[Falloutboy]

is it true that if your card can already get 5950 speeds that if you flash it it will actaully go even faster do to the relaxed memory timings?

 

[yhelothar]

higher voltage for extra stability.. not just looser timings..

 

[Zebo]

It's faster OCed to 5950. Reason is they relax mem timings on the 5950 bios. Try it for yourself. I lost 300pts by flashing.

 

[Falloutboy]

thats tru but what if I got another 20mhz out of the ram due tot he high voltage/ timings difference. and speaking of if all it takes to raise the voltage is a bios flash has anyone hacked a bios with even more voltage?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy525
thats tru but what if I got another 20mhz out of the ram due tot he high voltage/ timings difference. and speaking of if all it takes to raise the voltage is a bios flash has anyone hacked a bios with even more voltage?

interesting thought... I've altered an AMI BIOS before with a tool that lets you get into the configuarion, is there such a thing for the nVidia BIOS'? That would be interesting - you could raise the voltage and keep the tighter RAM timings and/or other options. Of couse, you might just frizzle the chip out as well.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy525
thats tru but what if I got another 20mhz out of the ram due tot he high voltage/ timings difference. and speaking of if all it takes to raise the voltage is a bios flash has anyone hacked a bios with even more voltage?

That's tru too. So the real answer is.

1. Can you card clock to x/y all by itself without the flash?

2. Then if after you flash can you exceed x/y? And by how much?

3. Is the flashed overclcoked speeds in 2 exceeding performance of the initial x/y overclcok?

If you answer no to 3 it's better just to overclcok the 5900. Yes and it's better to flash.

I was lucky with a 520/986 card all by itself course I watercool and never see 35C.

 

[Cerb]

1. You may not hit the high GPU speeds w/o the flash. I'm stuck at 442. Any higher and it acts just like when the CPU is undervolted too far. Under really heavy use, the video locks. But unlike when the CPU gets that way, it still runs along, and I can use the keyboard to shut the PC off.
2. You get extra voltage with the flash, but also get stuck with relaxed memory timings. Since they can hit 900+ anyway, you lose performance that you must make up by further RAM overclocking. IIRC, it lowers 3Dmark by a bit over 100 points. Nothing drastic, but still a negative.
3. I don't know of a BIOS that modifies the voltage but not latency, which would be ideal for the Leadteks, since most can hit 950MHz RAM with decent timings. If such a beast comes to my attention, I'll try it out.

edit: kinda odd to read your own review as the most recent...

 

[Zebo]

I think part of the probelm is guys are banking for these XT's to OC like NU's which featured 2.2.

 

[Cerb]

It's the GPU that isn't going up. 2.2ns RAM...got it.
GPU just needs true 5900 voltzies pumped into it.
I hit 5500 marks in '03, so I'm happy.

 

[Cerb]

On cooling, keep the stock cooler. The 5950U leadtek BIOS changes the fan speeds, IIRC. Despite appearances, it's a beefy cooler.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Zebo
I think part of the probelm is guys are banking for these XT's to OC like NU's which featured 2.2.

Not all NU's will overclock well either. My 5900 NU won't even run at Ultra speeds without fragmentation. Mine runs without fragmentation at such a small overclock that it simply isn't worh the hassle. Then again, I got it when NV35 was still pretty new, I assume that the overclockability improved as the silicon got more mature.

 

[caz67]

Hi.

I flashed my Leadtek 5900Ultra to 5950Ultra, and got it to 530/1000 with no problems at all.