anyone OCing a 5900nu? anyone done a BIOS flash?

[xSauronx]

ill be getting a video card early april, the gf3 is a good card...but it just cant play new games like they should be played

i know alot of people here are reccomending a 5900nu in the 175 range or so, but has anyone got one and been happy with it? overclocked it? flashed the bios? i saw a /. article the other day linking to someone who had flashed their 5900 to a 5950 ultra bios and gotten the 5950 clock.mem speeds

could be a better deal by april, or some kind of sale...hell if i know, but i know alot of guys here oc what they have and thought id ask, otherwise..what are your impressions of the 5900 at stock speeds?

 

[Rage187]

OMFG do NOT flash the bios.


No need to; run coolbits and my 5900nu runs past 5950 speeds.

 

[Kraid2xd]

Theres been alot of talk about how flashing your bios will render future driver updates unavailable due to installation problems. I have a leadtek A350 fx5900 lx (with the crappy 2.8ns ram) but I o/c that to 425/810 like its nothing, and heat never goes above 55*C, although I do have a vantec tornado blowing right over it... got mine for a schweet $165 refurbed from newegg.... works like a charm

 

[Special1Sauce]

I'd just Overclock it a ton. No need to flash the bios

 

[Keysplayr]

Nvidia is NOTHING like ATI. DO NOT FLASH THE BIOS.

 

[Bucksnort]

Please all the flashers stay in futuremark or guru3d. i'm so sick of it. They need to make a forum room there called: Help I flashed my fx and screwed it up!

 

[Atif]

Agree with the consensus here, there's no need (at least that I know of) to flash your card's BIOS, just overclock it using Coolbits I get 475/950 here without any problems, but I didn't have to flash my card's BIOS to get there.

Peace

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Atif
Agree with the consensus here, there's no need (at least that I know of) to flash your card's BIOS, just overclock it using Coolbits I get 475/950 here without any problems, but I didn't have to flash my card's BIOS to get there.

Peace

thats sounding good


i never liked the idea of flashing a video BIOS....bah, still dunno what ill get, but most anything will fly past this geforce3 :/

at least i can feel like if i get a decent 5900 i can OC it well, may need another case fan, no big deal on that though

 

[titanmiller]

I run can run my 5900nu @ 510/1020 in 3DMark, and have gone up to 525 on the core.

I normaly game at 480/1000

 

[us3rnotfound]

lol, i flashed my 5900 Ultra BIOS, was pretty unstable, and went back to the reference BIOS.

It's really not recommended, all the flash does is raise teh clock speed, and when you have Coolbits, why do it?

 

[CaiNaM]

not sure why anyone would flash the bios.

i use coolbits and run my 5900nu @ 475/950

 

[Keysplayr]

I can run mine at 480/945 all day.

 

[g3pro]

the 5950 bios increases the VCORE and VMEM so higher overclocks are possible.

i tried it with my XFX 5900 but it didn't work.

 

[Genx87]

See sig, did it with coolbits.

 

[g3pro]

why do people use coolbits? nvidia has the clockspeed sliders in the control panel.

 

[Budarow]

I read that flashing the video card BIOS increases the clock speeds but also tightens up the memory timings for ATI cards (i.e., flashing a 9800 NP to 9800 Pro).

Is this true and if so...is it true for nVidia based cards as well?

Thanks,

Bud

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: g3pro
why do people use coolbits? nvidia has the clockspeed sliders in the control panel.

"coolbits" is what enables those clock speed sliders in the nv control panel. all it is is a simpel registry entry which enables them (they are hidden by default)

 

[xSauronx]

ive used powerstrip with an 8500 i had, and since it was there use it with my gf3

any difference between that and coolbits at all? doesnt sound like it would do anything different, just that powerstrip is 3rd party and coolbits works directly with the nvidia drivers i guess? just curious

 

[g3pro]

ahhhh, i just tried rivatuner once and then i looked at the nvidia control panel and it was enabled. sweeeet.

 

[Budarow]

Originally posted by: Budarow
I read that flashing the video card BIOS increases the clock speeds but also tightens up the memory timings for ATI cards (i.e., flashing a 9800 NP to 9800 Pro).

Is this true and if so...is it true for nVidia based cards as well?

Thanks,

Bud

Any comments on the above?

 

[Atif]

Budarow, I've heard the same for ATi cards as well, though I can't say for sure if the claim is substantiated with any hard evidence. Anyhow, w.r.t. nVidia cards, its entirely possible to assume that the 5950 Ultra DOES run its memory at tighter timings, because otherwise I can't see any reason for cards that are otherwise able to overclock to 5950 Ultra speeds not being able to take the BIOS flash (assuming it does in fact work despite the 128MB vs 256MB discrepancy). Combined with the fact that (as g3pro pointed out) the 5950 Ultra BIOS supposedly increases the VCore and VMem on your card, if the timings were in fact the same on the 5900 Non-Ultra and the 5950 Ultra then I don't see why all our cards wouldn't (theoretically) be able to convert. Unless of course, there's something else altogether holding some of us back, and then, this entire reponse has been of no use to you...

Peace

 

[Budarow]

Atif...thanks for your response. I haven't done much research on the similarities/differences of the 5900 NU and 5950 ultra cards, so I'll have to start digging around. I just decided to order a 5900 NU late last week because the price/feature set was so good (i.e., overclocking the card would be a bonus not a necessity at this time).

It does appear that many BFG nVidia based cards use the same RAM chips (i.e., 2.2 NS, Serial/Model HY5DU283222AF-22) and if the core and RAM is the same on NU and Ultra (except for the feq. settings), it SEEMS like converting a NU into an Ultra would be easily done (except for missing the extra 128 MBs of RAM).

I know for a fact that ATI BLOCKED some conversions of the 9800 NP into a 9800 Pro by utilizing slower RAM (i.e., they used to install 2.8 NS RAM on 9800 NPs and then swithced to 3.3 NS RAM or slower on newer 9800 NPs).

I'll report back any findings I come across.

Bud