softmodding BFG 6800 OC

[cmp1223]

I bought a BFG 6800 OC with the Best Buy deal last month and there was alot of talk about softmodding it from 12 to 16 pipes. It can only be done on the old model, which i believe i have because of the proper markings (purple capacitpors and other marks) Anyway, i have never done anything like this before. Can it be changed back if there are artifacts (if it can be changed in the first place) Do i risk ruining the card, or can it be reset to stock conditions? Are there any intructions if it is indeed a safe procedure? WIll doing this stress the card over its lifetime, like OCing a CPU?

Thanks
-Chris

 

[imported_Bleh]

Just use Riva Tuner 15.2 which you can get from www.guru3d.com. Then click on lower lvl settings (this has a picture of a video card) then go to NVstrap. On the bottom check allow hardware units or something like that. Then on the pull down menu select customize bios. Look for the lines that say Yes under HW mask then on the left of those, check them. Restart your comp and you should have 16 pipelines and 6 vertex shader unlocked. Run something like 3dmark03/05 or a graphic intense game like Doom 3 and see if you see any artifacts. If you dont then youll be alright. If anything goes wrong just uncheck the lines that you checked before and restart.

 

[cmp1223]

thanks, is there a specific driver i should use?

 

[xtknight]

Note this can only be done with the AGP version of the card. The PCI Express (NV41) chip permenately disabled the other 4 pixel pipes and vertex pipe. Softmodding will not ruin your card but I suppose it will stress it more because of more electronics being used onboard that by default weren't. I don't mean it will die after a year, it should have the same lifetime of a 6800 GT (hopefully fairly long) once you softmod it unless there are any problems. You can revert all changes you do by softmodding. Also note this will only work in Windows unless there are some special Linux drivers. This isn't overclocking the card in any way, only using more components onboard that by default weren't told to function. If you install the detenator drivers without patching them, the softmodding won't work. You need special software like RivaTuner that will patch the detenator drivers for you and hack-enable the other pipelines. If you have horrible problems and you can't even get your Windows desktop to show for some reason, you can go in safe mode and uninstall the patched drivers and revert back to default, but I don't think this will happen.

 

[cmp1223]

Thanks, guru3d has alot of information but not very concise. I DO have XPpro and the AGP version. It seems the drivers are the other component that factors into artifacts with the softmod. What drivers should i use?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: cmp1223
Thanks, guru3d has alot of information but not very concise. I DO have XPpro and the AGP version. It seems the drivers are the other component that factors into artifacts with the softmod. What drivers should i use?

The drivers use the same method to unlock the pipelines (disabling the thing that disables the pipelines). No matter which drivers OR operating system you use, artifacting should all be the same. It's a game of luck. Different cards will yield different results, some may have artifacting and others may not.

If you're still confused, consider the following:

GeForce 6800 GT cards are being made at the factory, and the machine checks whether the pipelines are 100% OK. If the test fails for some reason (a non-critical part of the pipeline might have got damaged), the card is labeled with GeForce 6800 Non-Ultra. This card is packaged, sent to the store, and you buy it. You come home, install it, its other pixel pipelines (the default 12) and 5 vertex pipelines work fine. You try to enable the other 4 pixel pipelines and 1 more vertex pipeline by a soft-mod to see if they will work.

 

[cmp1223]

Thanks. The little bit of reading at guru3d leads me to believe the drivers do affect performance. There seems to be forceware drivers (like beta) and also nvstrap, but im trying to sort it all out now. Any guides to using rivatuner, adjusting drivers, finding the best driver?

thanks again
chris

 

[xtknight]

Yeah, drivers can affect performance but can't improve artifacting problems. I have never personally done this before so I couldn't help you with the nVidia side of this issue.

 

[zerocool84]

when is the new rivatuner coming out that is supposedly going to guarantee to unlock all the pipes

 

[cmp1223]

well, i believe some, if not most of the cards have either defective or physically locked pipes, so no software will fix that. ANyway, anybody who has had sucess with the softmod please post your driver.

 

[Zardnok]

The latest version of Riva-Tuner is coming out on December 29th. If I were you, I would simply wait a week and get the new one that supports all drivers. If you do want to use the old Riva-Tuner 15.2, the Omega 66.71 drivers work with it. I "think" that 15.2 is compatible up to 66.82 drivers. I know 66.93 are unsupported.

 

[cmp1223]

I will wait for the latest rivatuner. in the mean time, should i download the lastest official drivers 66.93 i believe, or the 70 series forceware (beta?) drivers?