6800NU (LeadTek A400TDH) need jimmor's help!

Hi there! I have VGA Leadtek A400 TDH (6800NU).
I've got a serious problem with bios..when I flashed bios modded to 1.3(1.4)v in 3D and DIFFERENT voltage in 2D mode, card seems to be OK, but in games it has some kind of 'micro-freezes), you see, you're playin'..and it keeps going like cuk-cuk-cuk..just a miliseconds and sound lags too..i dont know what happened..but I flashed my orig bios back, and it's OK..so I think (and somewhere in FRA OC forum) have read, that it's caused by different 2D and 3D voltage..oh **** !! I wanna 1.4V on GPU !! cause it goes 16/6 400MHz no problem..so what am I supposed to do with it? Can I flash jimmor's ASUS 6800GT modded bios on here? it's ok there?

thanx for the help to anyone, i KNOW Jimmor can help me..he's really kind of guru..

have a nice day (night)

 

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146593&highlight=68gt+vmod
hope this helps you.
and as far as i know you can flash your card with the bios of an other true 68gt ,but in this thread you will find methods and jimmor custom settings posted bye the man himself.
hope it helps.

 

Having seperate 2D and 3D modes shouldn't cause micro freezes unless there is something not right with your game software and/or the drivers you are using ?

However, lets start by identifying what you have done with your bios and card:-

1) was 3D volts at 1.3 or 1.4 ?
2) what was 2D volts and speed ?
3) what is max stable core overclock you have ever achieved ?
4) what was memory speed when problem happened ?
5) what is max stable memory overclock you have ever achieved ?


And yes you can use any 6800LE, 6800NU, or the asus 6800gt 128Mb DDR, bios. which means you can obviously flash with any of my modded bioses, as long as you remember to first set the core and memory volts no higher than your card can normally achieve. Of course, once flashed, you can then see if the modded bios allows better overclocking.

Also, a wrongly set 1.4v bios option is easily fixed as follows,

The problem lies with the gpu volts lookup table of the bios, where the 1.4v option is stored as 8C02 when it should actually be 8C03.

So load your bios into nibitor v2.5 and at "Tools" option, select "Voltage Table Editor".

Now the idea is to change things so that the first line of the "Voltage Table area" at top shows '10 02 04 00 03 6E 00 78 01 82 02 8C 03'

To achieve this you need the "Amount of active entries" set at 4, and then set,

Entry1 Label = 1.1v and VID = 00
Entry2 Label = 1.2v and VID = 01
Entry3 Label = 1.3v and VID = 02
Entry4 Label = 1.4v and VID = 03

Finish by selecting "OK" and then you can set core volts to any of the four volts options that you have just created !

 

hi jimmor, thank for your advices.

my 2D voltage was 1.1V and 300MHz core
my 3D voltage was 1.4V (which is wrong, it's real 1.3V, i have read it from your posts here..) so i have to edit the voltage table as you said before to having REAL 1.4V?

there's a problem now..
my max core was with 1.3V (set 1.4V in nibitor 2.5) was 400MHz
max memory was ONLY 720MHz ( dunno about it, but i tried to set the 750 and 800, and artifacts happened only in 3DMark03 in gametest 2,3 and less in the test4. in 3DM05 this didn't happened with o/c memories, so I don't know why I couldn't achieve more than 360(720DDR) on RAM..my card is LEADTEK A400 TDH (6800NU), 2.8 Hynix chips, 325/700 default, bios was Leadtek's original 6800NU rev. 01

and as I said before, with the SAME bios, but edited in nibitor 2.5 - active performance levels - 2 , so i could there set separate 2D/3D volts/frequencies...before that I couldn't..
but it happened micro freezes, it's not in DRIVERS (81.94 WHQL) and it's not in games..it happened in all games (HL2, Doom3, FarCry, CS1.6...)

thank for your help..BTW, when I set 400/720 with normal bios (1.2V in 3D !!), it works fine..but as far as I flashed edited, it goes freezes at 350MHz core and even in default !! I'm in the school now, but as fast as I come home, I'll try bios from asus 6800GT DDR1, may I edit voltages here? I would have 1.1-1.2V in 2D, relaxed, 300MHz, can I set 300/1.1 in 2D? in 3D I leave it on its default value, cause I can O/C the card in rivatuner thereafter.

 

sorry i tought you had a 68gt for some reason .ahh well i tried.hope you get good results.

 

Whatever bios you use, its probably a good idea to first fix its gpu volts lookup table volts options as I previously posted !

And then set 2D at 300Mhz and 1.2v; and 3D at 400MHz use 1.3v or 420 use 1.4v; and enter memory as 375 (which is 750 DDR).

Then at the NiBiTor "Timings" tab; with "Timingset 6" selected; enter Timing0 as 060A1411, Timing1 as 05010306 and Timing2 as 00230306.

When flashed with the modded bios, not only should everything work ok, but you should actually be able to overclock further !

However, you should also keep in mind that the extra volts and overclocking will put a much higher strain on your PSU. A situation which is already being strained by your existing CPU overclocking.
So at the very least, try to connect the mollex connection of your card directly to the psu,ie, don't have it sharing with any other active devices.

And just for interest, what is the power rating of your PSU; and what amperage rating has the 12v line got ?

The wattage and amps ratings should be printed on a visable side panel of the psu !

 

thank you a lot
i have LC power 6550 rev.2 BLACK - 550W, +12V1 : 18A and +12V2 : 16A (2 12V rails - +5V : 40A, +3.3V: 35A

good PSU i think..

btw, all goes goood ! but ! my memory still doesn't overclock..i dunno why..but in AtiTool it shows me max 800MHz+, but in 3DM03 (Battle Of Proxycon, Troll's Lair) I get artifacts (lines and stripes, not much, but there are some..), which are looking as memory artifacts..core is absolutely OK..I set it on 400MHz 1.3V..

so, thank U once more for your suggestions

Conflict

 

Yes your psu ratings look very good !

As for your overclocking/artifact problem, I suggest you disable any pipe locking you have done, ie, reset your card/bios back to 12x1,5vp.

Now see if your memory can be overclocked higher ?

And if so, then it would appear that the artifacts are being caused by either or both the pipes you had unlocked !

Reading around the forums, it appears that lots of 6800nu cards have shown to unlock and work artifact free only when at 12x1,6vp. So just maybe this is also your solution ???

Also, you quote that artifacts are present at 800, but what are they like at 790, 780, 770, 760, 750 ?? In other words, what is max memory overclock which works ok with pipes at 16x1,6vp ?

 

ooops! I don't know, I tried only 16/6 combination, BUT !!! 325/700 works fine, but 350/700 not..2nd and 3d test in 3DM03 is full of artefacts..750 is HORRIBLE. But core is OK, I can set 400 and it works..lines and stripes aren't caused by core..are they? I think memories are bad, I really dont know..I try to set 12/6 , 12/5..and test it, then I reply..

thanx for help by this time..

conflict

EDIT: now I'm 375/700..it works OK in games, 3DM05 and so on, BUT !!! in 3DM03 game test 2 & 3 still artefacts like memory..

 

So, I have tested 12*1,5 configuration so far..
seems SAME as 16*1,6...
325/700...get no errors in ATiTool...
375/700...get no errors, but when I run the artifact test, I get the errors for to 10-15seconds..this happens often at 325/700...but after a short while, it gives me NO ERRORS..
maybe it's because of 2D voltage / 3D voltage...till the gpu gets warmer and gets more volts, in gives some errors..I dont know..but 750 DID DEFINITELY AND CLEARLY artifacts..quite a lot..in 3DM03 & atitool...wondering why it's not happening in games? ! doom3, cs, CoD2...whatever i've played so far, it didn't happen at for example 350/750
3DM03 sucks !!

I think my memory chips are so bad..even at 700MHz they aren't going PRETTY well..

 

If you get artifacts at 325/700, then the memory certainly appears to be a prime suspect.

Also forget what happens with ATI tool, since it is still beta and unproven ---> so stick with 3dmark03/05 !

Next points would be,

1) does the same thing happen regardless of which Bios is flashed to your card ?

2) Which driver are you currently using ??

It is most important that you only use a known stable driver when trying to overclock a vga card. And therefore at this time I would suggest an excellent older driver like 66.81 !

And I hope when changing drivers, you are completely removing all previous driver files first. For that task, I always use Driver Cleaner pro v1.2,

http://www.drivercleaner.net/


3) Obviously overheating could be an issue. But since the artifacts sometimes happen at 325/700 there would have to be extremely poor contact between the heatsink and chip surfaces ?

4)Since you keep suspecting the active 2D mode may be contributing to your problem, just disable it with NiBiTor and see if anything improves ?

EDIT:

And just for interest, I have never come accross anybody with a 6800nu card that just barely works ok at 700Mhz !

So the problem should be fixable unless either, your card actually is faulty, or, its the only 6800nu out there with extremely low rated memory chips ?

 

thanx for reply.
I'm currently using Detonators 81.95 WHQL (last issued)
But I'll try now 66.93 as you said.
Now I reflashed BIOS back to Leadtek 6800NU orig, this one seems to be most stable, more stable than asus 6800gt ddr1 modded.. 325/700 completely no artefacts nowhere(default). But 325/750 I GET THE ARTEFACTS. Should I take off the copper cooler (orig. Leadtek's) from my card and revise PCB and ram chips..also clean it and take a new thermal compound onto. There may be problem..Card is for about 1yr old, I bought it from one guy..he said it was 16/6 free (it's true) and he had OC 380/820 artefact free..so I dont know now :/

 

So I'm really annoyed now..
My current settings:

BIOS: Leadtek 6800NU rev. 01, modded separate
2D - 300MHz / 1.2V
3D - 350MHz / 1.3V
Drivers: NVIDIA detonators 66.93 WHQL !!

My remarks: With THESE drivers I can get 350/700 surely artefact-free 3DMark03 !! But I revealed one thing : nvidia has cheated their latest drivers (8x.xx)
example: 350/700 - 81.95 - 10083pts - artefacts 3DM03
350/700 - 66.93 - 9867 pts - no artefacts
difference is particularly in HIGH-FPS scenes, for example Nature test in 3DM03..all scenes are the same but in water..130+FPS.. vs 160+ FPS using 81.95 drivers
That's why I kept getting artefacts with default.
Another question is, how should I be able to o/c my card now?
I'm gonna check this out, right now..thank you, jimmor, for your advice 'bout drivers !
BTW: uff, my posts in English here keep me prepared for an Exam in English at the Graduation :-D

 

Even with the original bios, you must change the memory timings to achieve a better overclock. However, since your card appears to artifact at almost anything above 700Mhz, changing timings isn't likely to do much for your situation !

Seems strange that you received the card on the premis that it would work ok at 380/820, when in fact it currently barely works at 700 ?

Has it ever worked ok at 380/820 in your setup ??

And the 820 quoted by the "guy" seems about right for that type of card with an unmodded bios !

Also, the heatsink on my Leadtek 6800LE was very easy to remove since it used thermal pads between chips and heatsink surface. Obviously however doesn't necessarily mean yours will be same ?

However, removing the heatsink, would at least allow you to see if anything is not quite right about the chip heatsink interfaces and type and placement of thermal "pads/paste" used ---> should be tidy with thermal pads/paste only on chip surfaces, ie, not messed onto chip pins or pcb surface ?

 

Then obviously the more we talk, the better you should be prepared for your exams !

 

Well, jimmor, I have just noticed one STRANGE thing..
As I wrote down in previous post, 350/700 no problem in 3DM03.
But as far as I set 350/750, artefacts appeared. This is not this strange thing. Strange is, when I returned to 350/700 (default), it appeared artefacts (not much, but some did). After 2nd or 3rd try, it almost disappeared at the 350/700 freq. Do you know, where might be the problem ? Thank you. Core is OK as far as I know, 400MHz keep working right at 16x1,6...problem is in memory..as obvious, it keeps going me crazy about it, because with small memory freq+ is a quite good improvement in performance ..

 

You should never automatically assume that newer drivers mean that things will always be better. More especially since, apart from a few bug fixes, most of the newer 8xxx series drivers are really there to provide support for the new cards that keep popping out of the Nvidia system !

So unless you find a newer game that is only supported by a 8xxx driver, I suggest you stick with max of 7xxx series. Of which, I find the 75.90 to work fine !

And yes, you should always try overclocking your card. Even if only to limit yourself at the 380/820 it is supposed to be capable of ?

 

Maybe "clutching at straws" as the saying goes, but since the artifacts actually now appear to be a bit random regardless of vga card speeds then it is possible that they are being forced by some other part of your setup ??

So have you tried with ALL other overclocking (CPU/mobo) set back at defaults ?

And is there a way to run your card in another computer, just to prove the artifact/overclocking problem is not peculiar to your kit ?

 

ok, i'll check it all. i try 75.90 to use, this may help me

i'd like to thank you for all your help you can give me..
and one small question for the end: Can you unterstand me well, what am I saying (I mean in the previous posts, how can I describe some problem in English...this is awaiting me on exams..I still can't find the right word or expression in some situations, or articles are for me a big problem, actually.

Bye for now, see ya next time ;-)

 

i hv the same card with Conflict[CZE] Leadtek A400TDH tat hv unlock 16x1,6, i never oc my card, but i got some problem here..
the FPS will suddently drop bout 10 for half a second. it happened when i play NFSMW n FEAR, the drop of FPS make me have a sudden lagging in the game..
btw, i m using 81.95 WHQL driver..