Improving Geforce2/3 Quality: Video card mod

[MrChipMuthabored]

Ok, hopefully we can use this thread(or some other thread, I don't care) to gather some data on people that has read Anand's new article on DVI and what to do til you get DVI... LINK ...Clip the low pass filter capacitors on your Geforce 2/3 video card to improve image quality.

So if you decide to do the mod, please come back and post your video card info and what kind of improvment you have gotten, if any.

Good LUCK!!!

Edit: Sorry, I didnt know this mod was that old...hopefully Anand's article will make it more known.

 

[Rand]

I wouldnt quite call it Anand's mod, because said modification has been well published on the net' for over a year now.
From what I've heard it works quite well.... never done it myself though as I don't care for voiding warranty.

 

[rogue1979]

Good God Almighty!!! I can't believe the difference! I modded both the Gainward Geforce Pro 450 and the Gainward Geforce 2 Ti 500. This is gosh darn amazing! The Pro 450 followed the reference board closely, but only two groups of 3 filters to remove. The Ti 500 was a best guess, there was only 3 filters in the general area that were the same color as the six on the Geforce Pro. I was prepared to resolder if necessary. Both mods worked, instantly on boot up it ws plain to see. The Gainwards have good image quality anyway (or so I thought) and now they are looking better than anything I have ever seen, even my Voodoo 5. Crisper, clearer, more contrast, more detail.
2D text is sharper and colors are better. 3D is even a bigger improvement, one of my favorites is the Demo in 3DMark 2000 and 2001. Wow, that is all I can say, what a difference. If every one with a Geforce 2 did this mod, people would be trashing their Radeons for inferior image quality!

 

[MustangSVT]

is this necessary on Visiontek ti200?

 

[Banana]

The article mentioned the possibility of the hi frequency signals interfering with other devices. What are the "other devices?" Anyone ever experienced such interference? Will those signals fry my brain?

This mod is soooo tempting! Should I risk my $140 card? Oh well--if I mess up the card, it'll give me a good reason to buy a new one :Q ! Will post my subjective results if I ever get around to it . . .

1YP

 

[rogue1979]

It is like doing the Quadro mod, I would suggest that too. And flash to the Nvidia Reference bios for your card, they seem to be the most updated and fastest. Use a 15-20 watt soldering iron and practice on an old piece of equipment, removing and replacing resistors and capacitors. That stuff is small, but after a little practice you can pick up on it. Then do the mods, if anything gets screwy you can put it back the way it was.

I read an in depth review on professional graphics cards, and a Quadro2 Pro at 200/400 was overall about 50% slower than the top of the line Wildcat II that costs over $1100, however the Quadro still won in a few of the categories (all professional graphics programs.) Some of these software programs cost more than $500 or I would love to see what my card can do against the Wildcat II. At 295/523, I bet it would equal or beat the $1100 card, and it only costs $136 and runs games way better to boot!

 

[Rand]

<< What are the "other devices?" Anyone ever experienced such interference?
>>



Other devices in your computer, such as sound card, etc.
And any electronic devices near your computer. Most especially things like radios and tv's etc.

 

[BFG10K]

I think it's great that you guys are doing the mods but personally I would never do it on the grounds that I shouldn't have to fix defective hardware for someone. If I had any 2D problems with any of my nVidia cards they would be going straight back for a refund/replacement.

Thankfully I have yet to see a single bad nVidia card.

 

[Thelonious]

Interesting...I looked at my Visiontek ti200 tonight looking for the filter components.

I didn't find them near the VGA output, but I *think* I found them on the other side, where I assume a DVI-I output would be (such as on a ti500).

Anand's article mentions:


<< If there is no DVI-I connector present then you'll find the filter components near the VGA output as usual. >>



Just wondering if anyone has completed this mod on a Visiontek ti200. Pic in the article matches very closely, it's near where the fan plugs into the card, but not near the VGA output.

-t

 

[rogue1979]

BFG10K, there wasn't anything wrong with the Gainwards, they looked good, but now they look better! Did the same thing on a PNY Geforce MX-200 and it looks better too.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Anyone try it on a VT G3 yet?

 

[DoubleL]

Like I am going to start cutting on my GeForce 3, Right any one have a hammer

 

[Lasker]

I did it on my hercules gts-64 card, and 1600x1200@85hz is improved by a moderate amount.. Still not as good as what I'd like, but then again, it could be my monitor.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

if u think ur quadro is gonna stack up against a wildcat II u are sorely mistaken. Benchmarks aren't everything....

 

[rogue1979]

Well, maybe it won't, just taking a best guess. LIke I said there were about 15-20 benchmarks showing it to usually be a good 50% behind, but that was against a clock speed of 200/400, not 295/523. Even if it only performed 75% as good as the Wildcat II (which I believe is being conservative) the extra $1000 or so is too high of a price to justify for the extra performance, unless you are a millionaire or your employer is footing the bill.

 

[Xtasy]

I checked my leadtek card and wonder how to use needle nose pliers to "clip" them. Do u mean clip or PRY them off!

 

[Freejack2]

Ok here is a question. Say someone mods their board by clipping these capacitors... Will it mess with DVI output?

 

[Piano Man]

The mod worked for my Inno3D Tornado Geforce 2 MX!!! It wasn't reference, but the 3 rows of filters were easy to spot.

 

[striker21]

I wonder what this does to the Class A / Class B certification of the device. I imagine that these manufacturers wouldn't put the filters on the board at all if it weren't for the FCC. I'd be curious to know if anyone who has done the mod noticed any degradation in TV/radio reception near their computer...

 

[Plester]

just did the mod to an asus v7100 pro (mx400) and the improvement is very apparent. one suggestion is that rather than using a soldering iron to remove the 9 capacitors, just use a jewelers flat head and push firmly on each, with your fingernail placed against the opposite side of the cap so you don't gouge the card. conveniently (thanks to locked t-birds) i happened to have a little bottle of bridge closing/conductive paint to short the inductors as they suggested. the whole thing took about 60 seconds to do.

Guide

 

[merlocka]

This mod has been published for a while.

It got me curious, and I did alot of experimenting on a Geforce2 GTS (Creative Labs reference design) and a Diamond v550 TnT.

I worked (back then) in RF design, and I removed all the components on both the GTS and TnT filters. I measured their values using an HP Network Analyzer, simulated the filter assuming 75ohm source and load impedances, and tweaked for a wider bandwidth assuming that the flatness and rolloff of the filter would be the main detrements to the 2d quality.

Long story short, the GTS *possibly* got a little better, but some couldn't notice a difference (it was pretty good to begin with) and the TnT got better but still stunk up the place, I'm assuming becuase I was testing at 1280 and 1600 and the TnT ramdac is slow. 2D quality was judged on a Viewsonic G790 and a Sony 20" Trinitron (can't recall the model number, it was a Dell system at work). It was hard to judge the GTS without having something side by side.

I now have a Gainward Geforce3. The IQ is on par with a Radeon LE which I have, on both the Viewsonic G790 and a Sony G520. I had no interest in playing with the GW filter but...

I just picked up a Visiontek Geforce2 GTS-V for my dad. I figgure, if any card has cheap components, the $49 Visiontec Geforce2 / DDR would.

I only tested it on the Viewsonic because I was lazy. I did before and after at 1600x1200x72hz and 1280x1024x85hz. I used Quake3 arena (which I've spent WAY too many hours becoming acustom too ) and Microsoft Word. I created a document with TNR font, each line increasing in font size. Page view was same in both cases. I also fired up a DVD.

I then busted out the needle-nose and ripped them suckas off. I would have preferred desoldering them but alas, after working with Metcal's I can't bring myself to use my radiohack soldering clubs.

Conclusion... no change. 6point text nearly illegible at 1600 in both cases. 8point clear. Q3 image quality not noticably different. DVD looked same.

FWIW

 

[merlocka]

I checked my leadtek card and wonder how to use needle nose pliers to "clip" them. Do u mean clip or PRY them off!

Don't pull! Use needle nose, grab the parts on the long sides and rotate. Try to crack off the ceramic portion of the cap.

Don't pull up, this could cause the copper to tear from the pcb and break the trace.