Turn X800 Pro into X800 XT PE with Bios Flash

[imported_ron]

whats the rest of your system?

 

[Kabob]

Ok, now that I've just read through 11 1/2 pages of posts...I've finally realized that I'm a tad bit lost...

I'll be getting an ATI made X800 Pro ViVo. What steps should I take to flash it to the 16 pipes, the Gigabye BIOS or the modified flashrom technique?? If I use the Gigabye BIOS, I then need to flash it to the ATI X800 XT Bios, correct, or should I do the XT PE BIOS??

Lemme see if I can get the gist of this all...

-I need 2 floppy disks (guess I'll have to plug my floppy drive back in
-I turn both into bootable system disks (or do I use this modified flashrom and 1 disk??)
-I put the .bin bios file on one of the disks, and then restart my computer with the OTHER disk in my system.
-when the A: prompt appears I backup my old BIOS (which is...what? What do I type in?)
-I then remove that disk and (do I restart there??) put the other disk in and flash to my new bios (using the 6-4-2004 XT PE BIOS I guess...)
-Wait for a few mins till it's finished and then restart
-DL XT PE drivers and viola, I've got my new card

Now, I figure I left out a step or two, or added in more than I should have, so if someone finds that they have too much time on their hands, give me a step by step list of what I need to do, and heck, even tell me what to type in when I'm prompted to in DOS...since there seems to be several different ways to do this. If I use the modified flashrom, do I need to backup my BIOS or just put the basic X800 Pro BIOS on the disk with the XT PE bios and type in the Pro bios to set it back to that?? Feel free to educate me!!

Thanks!!

*edit* which Drivers should I be using?? Catalyst 4.1 looks like the current version, but I heard that people were using a non-catalyst driver for their cards and getting better speeds...anyone know what this is??

*edit 2* I've got another quick question...How many amps do I need in my 12v rail to run this thing? I'm using a 400w MGE PSU w/17amps on the 12V rail, but if all else fails, I've got a 250w backup PSU w/13 amps on the 12v rail, which I could use to power the card by itself...any thoughts??

 

[pelikan]

Either method will work. I prefer the modified flashrom because you can flash directly to the ATI X800 XT PE bios, and you can flash back to 12 pipes if the mod doesn't work. With the Gigabyte flash utility you have to flash two times if you want the best bios (ATI) and if the mod doesn't work you are stuck with 16 pipes- no flashing back to 12 pipes.

 

[Kabob]

So wait, do I need 1 3.5 floppy or 2? Do I backup my original BIOS or just DL them from that site and put them back on if I need to??

Do I put both on the diskette at the same time??

 

[Kabob]

Also, when I put the new card in, should I uninstall the old nvidia drivers, restart, and then run drivercleaner, then restart again?

Anyone??

 

[Cawchy87]

I would:

1. Unstall Nvidia drivers

2. restart

3. run driver cleaner

4. shut down THEN swap cards

5. Start up with ATI card in and install ati drivers.

I have never had a problem with this method.

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

So...what score is everyone else getting on 3DMark05 with stock X800 XT PE speeds?

 

[pelikan]

Somewhere between 5800-5900. I don't remember exactly.

 

[Kabob]

Ok, so from what I've heard form various people, this is what I need to do:

-put flasher and XT PE bios on a bootable system disk
-Uninstall my nVidia drivers and restart
-use drivercleaner and restart
-at DOS prompt, save my old BIOS, and then flash to the XT PE BIOS
-remove diskette and restart
-install drivers (which drivers should I use??)

Does this look OK. Anything else I need to do??

Thanks everyone!

 

[pelikan]

Yes, that's the way to do it, if you are using W1zzard's modified flashrom. The only thing I would do differently is use drivercleaner in safe mode.
I like the latest Omega drivers.

 

[michieltjuh]

Hey,
How can you make your asus x800pro an x800xt?
Michiel

 

[Kabob]

Originally posted by: michieltjuh
Hey,
How can you make your asus x800pro an x800xt?
Michiel

If it's a ViVo, then read the steps.

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Found something odd....XT PE according to Ati's site is clocked at 520/575 and everywhere else I'm seeing 520/560? Why is this?

 

[Kabob]

That is odd, but I think even the box says 560...can anyone verify this??

 

[CaTalystX]

Sapphire X800 Pro VIVO Toxic Flash Success!

Thanks for the guide and good info guys Flashed to X800XT PE using the Files you guys provided with no problems 520/560 Came up fine but im waiting on better cooling for benchies BTW whats the highest i should let the GPU load temp get? Thanks.

-CaT

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

I guess ati has a huge error on their site.

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: CaTalystX
Sapphire X800 Pro VIVO Toxic Flash Success!

Thanks for the guide and good info guys Flashed to X800XT PE using the Files you guys provided with no problems 520/560 Came up fine but im waiting on better cooling for benchies BTW whats the highest i should let the GPU load temp get? Thanks.

-CaT

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: Chaotic Dreams
I guess ati has a huge error on their site.

I don't see any errors on their site!

 

[Chaotic Dreams]

Originally posted by: MegaWorks

Originally posted by: Chaotic Dreams
I guess ati has a huge error on their site.

I don't see any errors on their site!

http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/

Check X800 XT PE, click next. Look at memory clock.

 

[MegaWorks]

Originally posted by: Chaotic Dreams

Originally posted by: MegaWorks

Originally posted by: Chaotic Dreams
I guess ati has a huge error on their site.

I don't see any errors on their site!

http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/

Check X800 XT PE, click next. Look at memory clock.

Yeah! you're right.

 

[Daemonifuge]

Where did you buy your Toxic card?

 

[Daemonifuge]

The link to the required files doesn't work anymore. Could you link me to another place with the things? U trued googling for the FlashROM, but I didn't find a download link.

 

[pelikan]

Here you go.
Edit: This page has W1zzard's modified flashrom, along with his instructions. There is a link there to the bios file you'll need.

 

[Daemonifuge]

Okay. I have the flashrom. Now, where it says "Download BIOS from here," which ones do I download? I'm asking this because I remember the guide saying you needed Gigabyte BIOS ALONG with retail X800XT BIOS.

 

[pelikan]

If you are using the modified flashrom I linked to, all you need is the latest ATI bios. This one: "ATI - X800 XT PE (AGP) 256 MB - June 9 2004"
The modified flashrom is modified so that you only have to flash once, unlike with the Gigabyte flash utility, where you have to flash twice. The other advantage is that, in the even of an unsuccessful mod, you can flash back to 12 pipes with the modified flashrom, whereas with the Gigabyte you can't.
Edit: Good luck! I hope it works as well for you as it has for everyone else.