Unlockable cards ??? -- x800 Pro Vivo and x850 Pro Vivo

[WhipperSnapper]

I wasn't planning to go PCI-E during the discussions about unlocking the x800 Pro Vivo and x850 Pro Vivo's. I missed all of it.

Could someone please recap all of the threads about it? Some of the cards unlock and some of them don't? Are there any unlockable ones available at a decent price right now or is the Connect3D x800 GTO my best bet?

 

[Matt2]

I think the connect 3D is your best bet. There is also The Sapphire X800GTO^2, but that card is less available and mroe expensive.

 

[Snakexor]

the x850pro and x800pro w/vivo and agp can be unlocked to 16 pipes, their respective xtpe editions

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Snakexor
the x850pro and x800pro w/vivo and agp can be unlocked to 16 pipes, their respective xtpe editions

Now is that AGP only? Will any of the PCI-E x800/850 Pros unlock or are they all laser cut now?

I went over to the last page at the Tech PowerUp thread for the x800/850 Pro to x850xt-pe discussion and someone mentioned that it was for AGP only and that no one had been able to get it to work successfully on a PCI-E card. Is that accurate?

 

[Snakexor]

no they wont work

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Ah. That's why no one's been talking about them in the Hot Deals forum.

 

[mwmorph]

actually, it is fairly simple to mod a x800pro to x800xt for the pci-e versions and should work. simply break out a conductive pen and connect the 2 paths lasercut, reinstall cooler and flash with a pci-e bios. it's possible and i believe the tech power up has the bios.
http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/
bios mod
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/100
hardmod guide
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?threadid=17230558
and here
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotofaqlink.php?linkid=2535

 

[jlbenedict]

The Connect3D is still a good bet..

I have one, and for $180, it is a smoking deal

I used the modified Connect3D bios to make it a full 16 pipe card...

I then modified the bios, raising the clock speeds to a conservitive level (Core 500, Mem 500), and I also modified the device ID. I then flashed with my modified bios.
My card is now recognized as an X800 XT at 500/500 clock/mem speeds @ 16P

The core on this particular card I have in my possession I believe has much more headroom on the core. I benchmarked under load with the core at 550 and the GPU temp stayed right under 70C throughout the load.. Using ATI Tool, "Find Max Core" I ran it one night, and forgot about it while taking a shower, and noticed the computer locked up... I rebooted, checked the ATI Tool log file, and at the point it locked up the core had made it to 660. When I did this, this was also before I knew about how to control the fan on the card using ati tool, so I didn't have it set properly, so my temps were most likely the culprit on my lockup.. So if I get a better cooling solution, I believe over 600 on the core would be very likely, running 24/7 would be of no concern..
Now the memory on the otherhand, starts artifacting above 520 on my card.. 2.0ns memory just doesn't seem to have much headroom.... but this is really different on every card.. your mileage may vary though...