Freetech Leadtek Winfast GeForce 6200 - $24.99AR

[sky2002]

Hello,
I am sure many of you have gotten the
Freetech 6200 from Newegg for $35 or $40 with $10 Rebate


(04/05/2006) - Newegg Link Price = $24.99AR + 5.64 Shipping

(04/07/2006) - Newegg Link Price = $29.99AR + 5.64 Shipping

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Secret to convert the 6200 -> 6600 and unlock the extra 4 Pixel Pipeline Permanently:
First of all... Here are some pictures of my card.
I have the same exact card as the one shown in Madshrimp with different heatsink fan.

Front
Back
Memory
Sticker

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TO UNLOCK EXTRA 4 Pipe:
I followed the instruction on this Taiwanese Website
1. Here is the exact same BIOS ROM
2. Here is the same NvFlash 5.12
4. Download all necessary files and rename BIOS ROM to 6600.rom
3. Boot into DOS
4. Backup Bios command --> "nvflash -b back.rom"
5. Erase Bios command --> "nvflash -e"
6. Flash New BIOS --> "nvflash -4 -5 -6 6600.rom"

Here are pictures of my results:
BIOS
8 Pixel Pipeline


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Other People BIOS Flash Problems:
* DVI or VGA not working ---> Both my DVI and VGA are working
* No Permanent Unlock of 4 Pipes --> All 8 Pipes shown unlocked in Riva Turner


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To Enable Temperature Monitoring:
I follow these Instructions
1. to flash this new bios --> "nvflash -5 -6 modbios.rom"
2. DO NOT USE the "-4" tag, otherwise, your VGA will not work anymore and only DVI works

Here is my result:
Monitor Temperature

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To Overclock:
use coolbits. I can get 550/700 without any problem of overheating.
** I run the performance testing with Company of Heroes, It is able to run it just as fast as my XFX 7600GS**


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Possible SLI:
* I found this article about the PX6600TD Link
* Also this is Leadtek Specification
* That is the card that I converted my 6200 to.
* Two of these cards will make a nice SLI

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More Benchmark Results to come


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[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: sky2002
Hello,
I am sure many of you have gotten the
Freetech 6200 from Newegg for $35 or $40 with $10 Rebate

Here is how you can get the $10 Credit without having to go through the rebate:
1. Talk with Newegg Representative through the Online Chat
2. Tell them that you cannot submit the rebate because the website is no longer registered.
3. Say that you have to submit the rebate through the website.
4. Hopefully, they will credit you $10 back.

www.myrebates411.com is working perfectly for me, are you saying to lie to Newegg and defraud them of $10? :|

 

[sky2002]

Actually.. I didn't intend to lie to Newegg. The website was not working yesterday. and Google says that the site is a SCAM, so.. I was worried and contacted Newegg

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: sky2002
Actually.. I didn't intend to lie to Newegg. The website was not working yesterday. and Google says that the site is a SCAM, so.. I was worried and contacted Newegg

The Fatwallet thread on rebates411 has a bunch of people who did get their rebates eventually, so they seem only as bad as most other rebate companies. Which is pretty bad, but that's not the same as being a scam.

There's truth to the idea that all rebate companies are scammers, but that's not what you're telling other people to say.

 

[sky2002]

oh ok... Nevermind.. about the $10 credit then. hehe
It was no biggie anyway. I just want to inform everyone that the card can be turned into 6600.

 

[onelove]

nice post sky2002, I'm ignoring the part about the $10 credit & thanking you for taking the time to lay all the info out there & making it available for others - congrats on your unlock.

 

[sky2002]

$10 Rebate is ALIVE Again.

 

[deadken]

Cool... This is a nice deal. Requires a bit of work, but the payoff seems great. Any odds on the percent chance of the extra 4 not working?

It is too bad that the website you listed (Madshrimp) doesn't list the result of their tests when the card was STOCK. Reading the performance numbers after the modification isn't great when you can't compare the numbers to show if the 'extra work' is worth it.

For anyone wanting similar performance, lifetime warranty, free shipping and only costing $60 shipped, check out Neweggs BFG GeForce 6600GT OC x128MB DDR3 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card . Yes, you are spending about $30 more, but you have no rebate (potentially another $10 if you don't get it), plus I don't know if the other card has DDR3 so this might have a potentially higher memory OC.


BTW: Thank you for the edit. Newegg has always done solid by me and I like not having to think others are not doing solid by them.

 

[sjwaste]

Can you do this with all 6200's? Or just this particular model? I have an AGP 6200 in my HTPC that I'd love to convert.

 

[sky2002]

NO.. this will not work for all 6200 graphics card

 

[dclive]

I bought this card a while ago. I used RivaTuner (IIRC) to unlock the extra pipes, and then used another utility (I'm in Vista...sigh...) to overclock a little bit. Memory fails me, but I seem to remember about 550 and 600 as being the two numbers I could push to (it wasn't quite as high as the OPs).

I did not flash any BIOS updates onto the card, so if I were to reload Windows, I'd have needed to reapply the settings.

I then put the card away and spent $260 and got the 8800GTS/320.

 

[Bill Kunert]

I once had a 6200 and if I remember correctly there were two different processors used. The original, I believe NV43, cjip could have the 4 pipelines unlocked but the later NV44 could not. Mine was an NV44. I'm surprised there are still 6200's available with the older processor.

 

[rip]

why the hec would they lock pipes anyway???!!!

 

[Bill Kunert]

So they can use the same chip in a series of cards of varying prices. cheaper card-less performance. expensive card-more performance.

 

[Staples]

I just bought the Asus 6200 off newegg for $36 plus shipping. Wish I had gotten in on this.

 

[dclive]

This specific card from this specific vendor uses the nv43 design that can be both unlocked (for vastly, vastly more performance) and overclocked (for a nice boost too). Most other 6200s can "only" be overclocked.

 

[scott123]

I'm currently looking at a $44 zogis GeForce 7100GS card. After having 3 video card fans go on me in about the same number of years, the passive copper heatsink is a big draw. With the pipelines unlocked, is the 6200 a better card? How much better? I don't play games, but I do some fairly intensive photoshop work and some video. $44 fits in my budget, but $25 would really be nice if it was comparable or better.

 

[dclive]

With the pipeline unlocked, this $29 card is essentially a lower end 6600 (non-GT) - and some people have OC'd it to near 6600GT levels. Bear in mind for $60, you can have a real 6600GT....

 

[scott123]

Dclive, thanks for your reply. That's very helpful.

One more question. Within that $60 price range, is the 6600GT one of the best cards you can buy?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: dclive
This specific card from this specific vendor uses the nv43 design that can be both unlocked (for vastly, vastly more performance) and overclocked (for a nice boost too). Most other 6200s can "only" be overclocked.

Unlocking doesn't give as big a performance boost as you might think, or perhaps that's a side-effect of what I benchmarked with. USing 3DMark2001, I get ~13K stock, ~14K unlocked, ~17K overclocked, and ~18K unlocked and overclocked. I was able to push mine to 575/650, at least for a few mild 3dMark runs. Unsure if it will run at that all the time due to cooling issues.

Not a bad card for $40 though.

I agree that for the money, a 6600GT is better for playing games.

 

[dclive]

VL: I'd be interested in a more modern benchmark before rendering a verdict.

S123: Sure, but for just another $25 or so, a 7600GT is vastly better. Starting to see the trend here?

If it were me and I had v. limited funds & wanted to play games, the 6600GT is a good compromise. The 6200 is fine, though, for almost anything but 3D games.

 

[Elminster]

unfortunately 2001 is not going to show that much of an increase because its an older benchmark that pretty much is already at its limits, you'll see a much bigger difference in 3dmark05

 

[chazzzer]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Unlocking doesn't give as big a performance boost as you might think, or perhaps that's a side-effect of what I benchmarked with. USing 3DMark2001, I get ~13K stock, ~14K unlocked, ~17K overclocked, and ~18K unlocked and overclocked. I was able to push mine to 575/650, at least for a few mild 3dMark runs. Unsure if it will run at that all the time due to cooling issues.

The 6200 only has 4 pipelines by default, when unlocked it has 8. Theoretically you could get double the performance by unlocking this card, but only if your game/benchmark takes advantage of the additional power. The 3DMark benchmarks are not very good. My 6800 had 12 pipelines by default, and after unlocking it had 16 (it also went from 5 vertex engines to 6). I've flipped it back and forth, and there's a large frame rate difference in modern games. However, the 3DMarks show almost no difference. Usually you'll see more performance boost when you're at higher resolutions. I think that's a big problem with the 3DMarks, they run at very low resolution unless you pay for the "pro" version.

 

[deadken]

As I said earlier, but now with a LOWER PRICE (hey, another $5 off of $60 is a nice chunk):

For anyone wanting better/similar performance, lifetime warranty, free shipping and only costing $55 shipped A.M.I.R., check out Neweggs BFG GeForce 6600GT OC x128MB DDR3 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card .

Yes, you are spending about $25 more, but:

> I don't know if the other card has DDR3 so this might have a potentially higher memory OC.

> This is a BFG card so you get one of the best warranties around.

> Less 'hassles/work', this is good to go right out of the box.

 

[FTJoe]

I wanted to get a card for my son's machine, replace a crappy 32M card. Will it play games like Far Cry without issues or should I pop for a more expensive card?