Can a X800XT AIW be hacked with better firmware?

[Fraggable]

I have a X800XT AIW AGP card and am wondering if I can use X850__ firmware on it. I got the AIW version because it had a rebate and at the time I wanted to use my Gamecube on the computer monitor, but now I have a LCD HDTV as my monitor so the AIW features aren't being used and I wouldn't mind losing them if I can get better performance with a different frimware.

Right now i'm running it at 540\540 over the default 500\500 clocks and BF2 doesn't run quite as smooth as I feel it could at the highest detail, but I do realize that AA may be limited by my processor.

Anyone done it or seen it done?

System specs:
A64 3000+ Venice @ stock w\Zalman 7700al-cu Max 38C(limited by mobo... I can only get it to 200FSB reliably)
ECS KV2 Extreme
512 X 2 Geil PC3200
X800XT AIW AGP @ 840\840 w\Silencer 1 rev.2(Max 80C load)
2 X Seagate 80GB HDDs in RAID 0
XP Pro SP2
All in a Antec Overture w\380W TruePower PSU

 

[zizo]

I have the same card with 2GB ram. Everything is smooth with max setting, 2AA, 8AF @1280x1024.

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: zizo
I have the same card with 2GB ram. Everything is smooth with max setting, 2AA, 8AF @1280x1024.

I run at 4X AA, AF set to app preference using ATI Tray tool, 1280 X 768 res. I've heard that BF2 can benefit from more RAM at higher texture quality settings so that might help me out.

It runs at 40-55FPS most of the time but can drop to 20 or so if something big happens suddenly like arty dropping on my head and dirt is flying. I feel like I'm not getting the power out of the card that I paid $380 for.

EDIT: What does AF do anyway?

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: zizo
I have the same card with 2GB ram. Everything is smooth with max setting, 2AA, 8AF @1280x1024.

I run at 4X AA, AF set to app preference using ATI Tray tool, 1280 X 768 res. I've heard that BF2 can benefit from more RAM at higher texture quality settings so that might help me out.

It runs at 40-55FPS most of the time but can drop to 20 or so if something big happens suddenly like arty dropping on my head and dirt is flying. I feel like I'm not getting the power out of the card that I paid $380 for.

EDIT: What does AF do anyway?

AF makes distant objects less blurry. Hop into a game with AF off, look at the ground a little ways in front of you, and move backwards and forwards a little. You'll notice there's a cutoff point where the ground goes in and out of clear detail. In most games anyway. AF combats this, as well as the other distant objects I mentioned.

 

[zizo]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: zizo
I have the same card with 2GB ram. Everything is smooth with max setting, 2AA, 8AF @1280x1024.

I run at 4X AA, AF set to app preference using ATI Tray tool, 1280 X 768 res. I've heard that BF2 can benefit from more RAM at higher texture quality settings so that might help me out.

It runs at 40-55FPS most of the time but can drop to 20 or so if something big happens suddenly like arty dropping on my head and dirt is flying. I feel like I'm not getting the power out of the card that I paid $380 for.

EDIT: What does AF do anyway?

with 2XAA I get 80avg frames, with 4AA ~65 and min 40-50. Open the task manager when you are running the game see if all your memroy is used. I had the same problem with 1GB.

 

[Kogan]

X800xt and X850xt firmwares are basically the same except for the clock speeds. You'd get the same effect by overclocking.

The main benefit you get from flashing firmware is to unlock hidden pipelines, and these cards have a maximum of 16 pipes. (for example, you can unlock some x800pro's and x800gto's which have 12 pipes)

Here's some numbers:
Card - Core - Memory
x800xt - 500 - 500
x850xt - 520 - 540
x800xt pe - 520 - 560
x850xt pe - 540 - 590


Edit: There are some voltage hacks you can do to cards to increase voltage to allow better overclocks. Search around if you want to try them out. I don't remember if there's a voltage difference between the x800xt and x850xt bioses..

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: Kogan
X800xt and X850xt firmwares are basically the same except for the clock speeds. You'd get the same effect by overclocking.

The main benefit you get from flashing firmware is to unlock hidden pipelines, and these cards have a maximum of 16 pipes. (for example, you can unlock some x800pro's and x800gto's which have 12 pipes)

Here's some numbers:
Card - Core - Memory
x800xt - 500 - 500
x850xt - 520 - 540
x800xt pe - 520 - 560
x850xt pe - 540 - 590


Edit: There are some voltage hacks you can do to cards to increase voltage to allow better overclocks. Search around if you want to try them out. I don't remember if there's a voltage difference between the x800xt and x850xt bioses..

I'm not sure exactly how high I can go yet, I used to have huge stability issues in BF2 if I OCed anything, but that was before the 1.03 patch. It seems to be more stable now and I haven't had any problems at 540\540 so I may try going higher. What's the max temp you'd reccomend running this card at? 80C seems high compared to the processor but I don't know what they're designed to take.