How to softmod 6800?

[iMc]

Can anyone give me a hand on how to do this? I've had a quick look at rivatuner but I don't wanna go and mess about and ruin my nice new gfx card.

[Agent]

I've had a quick look at rivatuner but I don't wanna go and mess about and ruin my nice new gfx card.

Simple answer : Dont do it then

You always run the risk of causing damage when opening closed pipelines. Even though its MUCH smaller of a risk by using software to do it, as opposed to hard modding it, the risk is still there.

Most 6800's seem to mod fine at the moment though
Rivatuner is the only way i know how to do it (excluding BIOS flashing, which is slightly different on the 6800 in regards to opening / closing pipelines), so if you dont want to use that, then just run it at stock

If your want to take the risk though, go into NVstrap driver...install...tick "enable hardware masked units"...customize....
You'll then see pixel and vertext units. Its as simple as clicking the ones without the tick next to them to enable them

[iMc]

What I meant is I don't wanna change settings which I don't understand. Where in rivatuner am I looking to go?

What 6800s do you have? Are you getting full mods on them (pipes/vertex shaders up to 16/6)?

[Agent]

I updated my post

I have a leadtek, and it does 16/6 yes
Plus overclocking on top, im pretty happy with it.
Ive got a post coming up soon with all this info in, and a mini review of it...

[iMc]

thanks Agent.

I take it if it doesnt work the pipes/shader is still ticked but says 'disabled' in the state menu.

and to reverse you just untick i assume.

[Rave]

http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=18

More info there.

Rich :¬)

[Agent]

thanks Agent.

I take it if it doesnt work the pipes/shader is still ticked but says 'disabled' in the state menu.

and to reverse you just untick i assume.

It should enable it : if they dont work you will get artifacts (at this point, get out of the 3d app as soon as you can, and set it back to default).

Have you rebooted ? The NVstrap driver wont work unless its loaded at bootup IIRC.

[iMc]

Yeh I rebooted, still stayed at 12x1, 5vp. Didn't get enabled in NVstrap.

never mind!

[Agent]

You have used the drop down box to select "custom" and not "determined by VGA BIOS" havnt you ?
Very strange if you have...
What card is it ?

Have a search on the forum link Rave gave you and see if any other people have had a simlar thing.

edit - this will not work on every card, so do keep that in mind, but the number that you cant atleast *enable* them on at the moment seems to be very small. If they are fully working is another mater though.

[Rave]

As I understand it, if the card has the pipes hardware locked, you need to load the rivatuner NVstrap driver to disable the hardware lock (or something, Agent will explain it better probably). Once that's done (and you've rebooted), RivaTuner can then enable the missing quad and vertex unit.

Rich :¬)

Edit: clarification

[Agent]

Thats how i understand it too Rave
Hardware locked pipelines are ones that have a physical different resistor/s, and NVstrap has to be loaded to get access to these. I think its pretty amazing how the guy (Unwinder) has managed to get around this at a software level though. You would have thought having a different physical / hardware difference layout would have ment that its disabled, period. Seems its not the case though

Software masked is always done by the BIOS on the graphics card AFAIK (infact, i dont think there is any other way. Doing it in the drivers would be stupid)

[Rave]

I'm hoping I can afford a nice S939/PCI-E board while NVidia are still selling 6200s based on the NV43 core. Can't really afford or justify a 6800 level card, but 6600 performance for £70-ish would be right up my street.

Rich :¬)

[iMc]

clicked 'allow enabling harware masked units', entered Customize, ticked the HW Masked/disabled bit fields and rebooted. nothing changed, nada zilch.

am i doing anything wrong ?!

[Ant]

I'm having the same problem, tho I haven't looked into it too much! I did exactly what you did iMc! ... After changing the settings it shows 16x1,6vp as a custom configuration, but after a reboot its at 12x1,5vp again.

I also have the Leadtek... I must be doing something wrong somewhere or I'm just not so lucky...

[Proplus]

Is this possible with an Asus 6800? I've recently sold mine to a friend, and he wants to know if this is possible, and I'm the unlucky fella that has to do it for him...

[iMc]

It could be possible. It's just one of those you have to try and cross your fingers for the best by the sound of things. Shouldn't do any lasting damage if it doesnt work.

I think we may be unlucky Antsss...