Is unlocking pipes the safest mod you can do?

[forumposter32]

Do you get any benefit from it?

Can you unlock anything on the X700 Pro?

 

[Unkno]

huge benefit, more than just overclocking


Not that i know of or heard of....

 

[jiffylube1024]

Nothing unlockable on the X700 Pro; it's an 8 pipeline card manufactured with 8 pipes (nothing disabled). All you can do is overclock on that one...

 

[forumposter32]

LOL, not with the stock heatsink I can.

Oh well, nice to read these things about unlocking pipelines. Is there a trick to finding out which ones have pipelines that are unlockable? Does ATI or Nvidia officially discourage this kind of modification?

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: forumposter32
LOL, not with the stock heatsink I can.

Oh well, nice to read these things about unlocking pipelines. Is there a trick to finding out which ones have pipelines that are unlockable? Does ATI or Nvidia officially discourage this kind of modification?

Off the top of my head, some unlockable cards include Connect3D GTO to X800XT, Sapphire GTO^2 to X850XT, Ati X800pro VIVO AGP(?) to X800XT, Ati X850pro VIVO AGP(?) to X850XT, 6800NU to 6800GT. Some cards that do not unlock include cards that are based of unique cores or cards that are laser cut from the factory to have pipes disabled - a short list would be 6600gt, 7800gt, X700s, most other GTOs than those mentioned above, X800GTs, and lots more. Search if you want more info.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: forumposter32
LOL, not with the stock heatsink I can.

Oh well, nice to read these things about unlocking pipelines. Is there a trick to finding out which ones have pipelines that are unlockable? Does ATI or Nvidia officially discourage this kind of modification?

I don't know what you think the heatsink has to do with anything, but it does not.

The problems with unlocking:

1. The other components on the card won't be at the level of the cards you're trying to unlock to sometimes. (e.g. a 6800NU has 128MB of 700MHz DDR1, not 256MB of 1GHz+ DDR2)

2. Sometimes the pipelines are disabled for a reason, they don't meet quality control.

3. As noted methods of locking vary even among unlockable cards.

With 7800GTs costing $289 you are best off just to buy that, as no unlocked card can approach that level of performance. If $289 is too much- $229 6800GT
or $199 X800XL
I'd still consider refurbs a better buy than some low end card you hope to transform.

 

[Sunrise089]

Rollo: I agree with you about the 7800gt, but you really feel a refurb x800xl is a better deal than a $20 cheaper new Connect3D X800GTO? Personally I will take the cheaper, faster, new route myself.

 

[pontifex]

with the newest version of rivatuner i was able to unlock the extra stuff on my bfg 6800 oc but it created artifacts so i had to reset it

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Newegg refurbs...gotta be careful. Also, there's a reason they were RMA'd.

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Newegg refurbs...gotta be careful. Also, there's a reason they were RMA'd.

Most of the time is cause the person didn't want it. Quite a few times thats all it is. Every refurb I've gotten has been good to me.

 

[Munky]

Actually it depends on the card. My card for example gained ~1500 3dmark points when I OC'd it from 400 to 570. When I unlocked it from 12 pipes to 16, it gave me another 700. So, if your core is a good OC'er and you have decent cooling, you may benefit more from an OC than extra pipes.

Also, with the c3d gto going for $180 which can be modded beyond x850xt speeds, there's no reason to buy any other more expensive card from that generation, for pci-e anyways.