flash bios

Can anybody tell me were I can locate the bios that upgrades
a 5900 ultra to a 5950.
Thanks PZ

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:16:02 GMT, "Peter Zademack"
wrote:

Can anybody tell me were I can locate the bios that upgrades
a 5900 ultra to a 5950.
Thanks PZ



And why would you want a BIOS that relaxes the memory timing on your
board such that the memory actually runs slower, regardless of clock
rate. The BIOS also increases the core voltage by about 0.2v, which
should increase the GPU stable clock speed by 3% or less over that
available when overclocking with Coolbits, given my experience with
vcore adjustment of CPUs on the 0.13u process.

The 5950 BIOS is tailored to the specs of the components on the
5950 board. What you are trying to do is like adding a turbo to
a stock engine without any changes to the compression ratio,
manifolds and exhaust system.

You also run the risk of turning your board into a door-stop, as
somebody else on this newsgroup has apparently already done.

John Lewis

thank for your advice,john I will certaily consider your points.
PZ


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:16:02 GMT, "Peter Zademack"
wrote:

Can anybody tell me were I can locate the bios that upgrades
a 5900 ultra to a 5950.
Thanks PZ



And why would you want a BIOS that relaxes the memory timing on your
board such that the memory actually runs slower, regardless of clock
rate. The BIOS also increases the core voltage by about 0.2v, which
should increase the GPU stable clock speed by 3% or less over that
available when overclocking with Coolbits, given my experience with
vcore adjustment of CPUs on the 0.13u process.

The 5950 BIOS is tailored to the specs of the components on the
5950 board. What you are trying to do is like adding a turbo to
a stock engine without any changes to the compression ratio,
manifolds and exhaust system.

You also run the risk of turning your board into a door-stop, as
somebody else on this newsgroup has apparently already done.

John Lewis

Here you can find how to change your fx 5900 to fx 5950:
http://www.3dchips.co.kr/main/gzrevi...&Page=1&no =1

I have the MSI FX 5900 but I am not sure I want to try that for the same
reason that John told you. The guy who wrote the article insists that he
tried it on various fx 5900 cards without any problem but in some cases you
must change the cooling system of your card in order to cope with the
increasing temperature.

Sotirios

"Peter Zademack" wrote in message
news:4XMVb.262554$na.420445@attbi_s04...
thank for your advice,john I will certaily consider your points.
PZ


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:16:02 GMT, "Peter Zademack"
wrote:

Can anybody tell me were I can locate the bios that upgrades
a 5900 ultra to a 5950.
Thanks PZ



And why would you want a BIOS that relaxes the memory timing on your
board such that the memory actually runs slower, regardless of clock
rate. The BIOS also increases the core voltage by about 0.2v, which
should increase the GPU stable clock speed by 3% or less over that
available when overclocking with Coolbits, given my experience with
vcore adjustment of CPUs on the 0.13u process.

The 5950 BIOS is tailored to the specs of the components on the
5950 board. What you are trying to do is like adding a turbo to
a stock engine without any changes to the compression ratio,
manifolds and exhaust system.

You also run the risk of turning your board into a door-stop, as
somebody else on this newsgroup has apparently already done.

John Lewis

"ProphetX" wrote in message
...
Here you can find how to change your fx 5900 to fx 5950:

http://www.3dchips.co.kr/main/gzrevi...&Page=1&no =1

I have the MSI FX 5900 but I am not sure I want to try that for the same
reason that John told you. The guy who wrote the article insists that he
tried it on various fx 5900 cards without any problem but in some cases
you
must change the cooling system of your card in order to cope with the
increasing temperature.

Sotirios

"Peter Zademack" wrote in message
news:4XMVb.262554$na.420445@attbi_s04...
thank for your advice,john I will certaily consider your points.
PZ


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 16:16:02 GMT, "Peter Zademack"
wrote:

Can anybody tell me were I can locate the bios that upgrades
a 5900 ultra to a 5950.
Thanks PZ



And why would you want a BIOS that relaxes the memory timing on your
board such that the memory actually runs slower, regardless of clock
rate. The BIOS also increases the core voltage by about 0.2v, which
should increase the GPU stable clock speed by 3% or less over that
available when overclocking with Coolbits, given my experience with
vcore adjustment of CPUs on the 0.13u process.

The 5950 BIOS is tailored to the specs of the components on the
5950 board. What you are trying to do is like adding a turbo to
a stock engine without any changes to the compression ratio,
manifolds and exhaust system.

You also run the risk of turning your board into a door-stop, as
somebody else on this newsgroup has apparently already done.

John Lewis


The only thing the flashing can do is "hard-set" the core/mem clocks and
possibly has relaxed timings on the mem.
The volts for the FX line are controlled by resistors soldered on to the
PCB.
It would be physically impossible for the flash to change the voltages
powering the core and/or mem.


Mike G



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On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:43:57 GMT, "ginfest"
wrote:



The only thing the flashing can do is "hard-set" the core/mem clocks and
possibly has relaxed timings on the mem.
The volts for the FX line are controlled by resistors soldered on to the
PCB.
It would be physically impossible for the flash to change the voltages
powering the core and/or mem.



You are certain that the core-regulator on a 5950 board does not
have soft voltage control a la the CPUs ? You have the circuits of the
nVidia 5900 reference-design and you don't see any soft-voltage
capability ? If you have the circuits, then I would like a copy !

Anyway, the exact overclock of a 5900 board is luck-of-the-draw.
Mine overclocks at 475/925 and could go higher, but having
done peak temp measurements (correctly !), I decided that
the above was the limit for silicon longetivity.

John Lewis


Mike G



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"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:43:57 GMT, "ginfest"
wrote:



The only thing the flashing can do is "hard-set" the core/mem clocks and
possibly has relaxed timings on the mem.
The volts for the FX line are controlled by resistors soldered on to the
PCB.
It would be physically impossible for the flash to change the voltages
powering the core and/or mem.



You are certain that the core-regulator on a 5950 board does not
have soft voltage control a la the CPUs ? You have the circuits of the
nVidia 5900 reference-design and you don't see any soft-voltage
capability ? If you have the circuits, then I would like a copy !

I don't have the NV reference board circuit design schematics but am basing
my opinion on the following:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...extreme_5.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...extreme_6.html

The 1st link (page 5) does comfirm the existence of a "two-phase voltage
regulator ", the 2nd (page 6) states that "By connecting a resistor between
the OFS input and the common wire, it is possible to increase the output
voltage of the regulator...OFS output of the ISL6569 chip is connected in
the MSI card with the common wire through a chain of resistors with zero
resistance."
There are also schematics (click each to magnify) which show the layout.
A quick perusal of my BFG FX 5900 nu shows a similar layout.

Anyway, my interpretation may be wrong and I'd be happy to consider your
interpretation of the above pages as an alternative.

Anyway, the exact overclock of a 5900 board is luck-of-the-draw.
Mine overclocks at 475/925 and could go higher, but having
done peak temp measurements (correctly !), I decided that
the above was the limit for silicon longetivity.

My 5900 does 475/950 and has run at this rate for months. It's an early
August board, shortly after they were released (late July ?) although it has
the "Chaintech" style dual-fan/blue LED and "gold" colored heatsink rather
than the black/single-fan ref cooler on the Ultras.
Using RivaTuners logging facility my board averages mid-60s C under load.
I noticed your recommendations for getting an accurate load temp but the RT
method takes the rapid cooldown "factor" out of the equation.

John Lewis


Mike G


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On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 22:57:01 GMT, "ginfest"
wrote:


"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 22:43:57 GMT, "ginfest"
wrote:



The only thing the flashing can do is "hard-set" the core/mem clocks and
possibly has relaxed timings on the mem.
The volts for the FX line are controlled by resistors soldered on to the
PCB.
It would be physically impossible for the flash to change the voltages
powering the core and/or mem.



You are certain that the core-regulator on a 5950 board does not
have soft voltage control a la the CPUs ? You have the circuits of the
nVidia 5900 reference-design and you don't see any soft-voltage
capability ? If you have the circuits, then I would like a copy !

I don't have the NV reference board circuit design schematics but am basing
my opinion on the following:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...extreme_5.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...extreme_6.html

The 1st link (page 5) does comfirm the existence of a "two-phase voltage
regulator ", the 2nd (page 6) states that "By connecting a resistor between
the OFS input and the common wire, it is possible to increase the output
voltage of the regulator...OFS output of the ISL6569 chip is connected in
the MSI card with the common wire through a chain of resistors with zero
resistance."
There are also schematics (click each to magnify) which show the layout.
A quick perusal of my BFG FX 5900 nu shows a similar layout.

Anyway, my interpretation may be wrong and I'd be happy to consider your
interpretation of the above pages as an alternative.


The article clearly states the GPU's ability to soft-control the
voltage regulator. The 5900 and 5950 GPU BIOS do control that voltage
( with the 5950 BIOS presumably changing the appropriate codes to
raise the volts by 0.2v). The above article pages 5 and 6 shows the
hack that was applied to get the same effect without changing the
BIOS. Thanks for pointing out this very interesting article.

John Lewis