TURN AN OEM RADEON 8500 INTO A RETAIL VERSION! BIG NEWS!

[jzodda]

Posted this in General but I realize that this belongs here also- This ought to be spread far and wide.

This has been building over the last week or more at the Rage3d 8500 Forums. Some guy managed to Flash the Bios of an OEM8500 to the Retail 8500. Since the OEM cards have been (for the most part) using the same memory there has been no real reason really why this wouldnt work. Well anyway what it does it change the voltage of the OEM card and hardwire it to 275/275 which is what the retails are clocked at. It does this by replacing the OEM Bios with the Retail Bios. Seems to be working great for many people. For more info check out the Forum Thread at Rage3d Here

Thread that relates the whole story here- its a long one


The people who made this thing possible set up a webpage with more info and a link to Download the Bios Flash Utility


Go Here for more info and to Download Flash Utility

 

[jlee]

I just read about this on sharkyforums...interesting

 

[BD231]

So whats the big deal exactly?

 

[duragezic]

So it's overclocking it? I don't get wtf is the deal with all these BIOSs for the Radeon 1... load up a tweaker, bump it up to retail clock speed (very likely it will do retail speed) and you're set.

 

[SpeedTester]

Can anyone confirm that the retail version has faster memory then the OEM ones? I always wondered that question.
I hope Dell ships mine sometime this year.

 

[Soccerman]

why load up a tweaker when it uses system memory?

if we had full access to every option that the drivers allow in the driver control panel, and if you flash the BIOS to a faster mhz one, then you don't need a tweaker.

if #1 doesn't work right, just memorize the registry settings!

 

[chizow]

I think its significant b/c of the increase in voltage and that it tricks the card into thinking it is a retail by default rather than having to use any kind of software proggy to overclock. Both of these changes seem like they would increase the stability of the card at 275/275 rather than just using a software program to get it to 275/275. Maybe 300mhz wasn't attainable before with just a software tweaker, but with the BIOS flash it can be.

Chiz

 

[jzodda]

Actually this is MUCH more signigicant than just overclocking. First off most OEMs have the same rated memory as the retails. The difference is that the voltage is lower for whatever reason. By raising that and hardwiring the card to be the same as the retail people seem to be able to move higher than they were before at their max. For example if the limit was 260/260 now they are doing 290/290 and so on. Its a pretty big deal. Now having said that there seem to be some folks who dont get any benefits and these must be the unlucky people with cards that would not make the retail cut anyway.

 

[RgrPark]

i thought retail has 3.6 ns and oem has 4ns chips...

 

[jzodda]

Nope many oems have the same 3.6 Hynix mem that the retails have.

 

[Killrose]

This is true for anyone who has been keeping track of the overclockability of the OEM cards, and that is the fact that they do not overclock well, and now we have our explanation as to why.

Good find.

 

[richleader]

You know, if you people keep flaunting this, ATI is going to start making the bioses 1 byte to big for the OEM versions.

 

[SpeedTester]

So if I buy a Radeon OEM and do this mod it ups my warrantee to 3 years right? Yippie!!!!

 

[Muadib]

I'm in the sam e boat as you SpeedTester.
Thanks for the chuckle.

 

[Garra]

I would focus the deal like this

what´s the highest clock a retail and a oem respectively can reach?
If they can reach the same then i would think both have equal hardware.

 

[Auric]

Good news.

But how do I turn my Radeon 32MB DDR (7200) LE TVO into a VIVO? Is anyone actually hacking BIOS's? I reckon all I need is a 64 DDR VIVO BIOS that works with 32MB of memory. Stick on a female RCA connector for the input and bingo.

 

[Chubbz]

has anyone tried this yet?

 

[jzodda]

People at Rage3d Forums have tried it- check the link to there at the top of this thread

 

[AA0]

you can't flash a card like the LE to the VIVO, it uses different speed RAM, and 32 megs more RAM. Not sure of the clock speed, but I think its the same. The LE can be flashed to a 32meg radeon though.

 

[Auric]

Tried it... sans success?

Direct link to the thread(s) would be appreciated if you come across 'em. Could not find.