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Shall i increase the voltage of my card without a pencil mod?

4K views 46 replies 7 participants last post by  vip3r87 
#1 ·
i was about to increase the voltage of my card using Radeon BIOS editor
but i thought is it safe to increase the voltage( slightly or to max) without a pencil mod?
 
#2 ·
Its only safe if you do your research before hand and keep your clocks within reason as not to artifact or to push its thermal limits. if you do increase the voltage on your card I would suggest to invest in a quality AM Cooler to keep your temps down. And if you do the flash I also recommend to edit your existing BIOS to avoid bricking your card.
 
#4 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by sid0972
View Post

research as in inc the voltages step by step and checking the temperature?

As in know what you are getting yourself into before you undertake the task. You can see a great benifit from volt modding your card but it can be risky if it done incorrectly(not saying you would) but to be cautious. A BIOS flash is one of the easiest Vmods to undertake.

And yes take it step by step. You should be fairly safe pushing the 3D to the max allowed in a BIOS, just watch your temps. if you are good with a soldering gun then I would really look into solsering on a VR and pushing the voltage as far as your card can handle.
 
#5 ·
Before you so anything to BIOS voltages, makes sure you have a DMM so you can test any changes in voltage.
 
#6 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Voltage_Drop View Post
As in know what you are getting yourself into before you undertake the task. You can see a great benifit from volt modding your card but it can be risky if it done incorrectly(not saying you would) but to be cautious. A BIOS flash is one of the easiest Vmods to undertake.

And yes take it step by step. You should be fairly safe pushing the 3D to the max allowed in a BIOS, just watch your temps. if you are good with a soldering gun then I would really look into solsering on a VR and pushing the voltage as far as your card can handle.
i was actually going to flash my BIOS....but i am not much into pencil mod or soldering
but wat i am asking is if i increase the voltage, then is there any risk other than increase in temperature? i dont have external fan...and my GPU's max temp at load goes to 66....i think 85 comes out of safe zone
and wat do we exactly mean by bricking a card?
 
#7 ·
You should be relatively safe just doing a BIOS flash as long as it is executed properly. Make a copy of your cards BIOS using GPUZ and modify that one, do not try to flash it with a different BIOS as you could end up bricking your card. By bricking it I mean that it will be dead, inoperable, never to be bootable again. A few mV from a BIOS flash is not really enough to destroy your card so its safe to say that the only thing you have to worry about is your temps. Your temps will rise a little after the voltage increase and rise when you increase the frequency of the GPU,MEM, Shaders. I recommend to only raise the voltage and the fan spped in the BIOS and nothing else. Use Software to OC the card and dont OC in the BIOS
 
#8 ·
ok....i increased my voltage from 1.258V to 1.387V....

i did a furmark test...my score jumped from 3404 to 3464 at stock clocks...
and earlier my card had a max temp under load of 67 degrees, now it has 74 degees
and i have an option of inc my voltage to 1.43V also
have i been doing it safely and can i increase the voltage more?>
 
#11 ·
i just did a pencil mod.....and i am now running it at 1.40V (stock being 1.258)
now the max temp i've seen after stressing it is 75 degrees....but i had to reduce my core clock and memory clock to 690/1080 from 700/1090
and from furmark test, my score gave a jump of 1500 points (compared to everything stock) done at 640x480 at 0 MSAA
the question is.....is it WORTH?
or shall i go for soldering?.....m a noob at it
 
#12 ·
i dont understand.....i bios modded my gpu, increased the voltage from 1.258V to 1.4V
and when i run GPUtool stability test, it shows error at 680 core and 1085 memory
then y did i do all these things....whn i had to reduce my clock
i had a stable 700/1090 clock without all these mods
but i dont know about benchmark tests
 
#13 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by sid0972
View Post

i dont understand.....i bios modded my gpu, increased the voltage from 1.258V to 1.4V
and when i run GPUtool stability test, it shows error at 680 core and 1085 memory
then y did i do all these things....whn i had to reduce my clock
i had a stable 700/1090 clock without all these mods
but i dont know about benchmark tests

Okay first thing stop running furmark when you have a volt modded card, only use ATITool or GPUTool. Furmark is only okay in short runs for non volt modded cards. 75c is getting a little close to being out of the safe zone. Have you tried reseating your heatsink and applying some new thermal paste. I wouldnt push it any further until you get those temps lowered so you dont overheat your card and damage it.
 
#14 ·
no...no thermal paste, no fan reseating, no external fan....but my voltage is 1.4V, i think if i reduce it to 1.35, it wudnt hurt much
and i have a lot of confusions,
i have flashed the bios also,and after setting its voltage to 1.4V, wat do i do?
does flashing gives me some room to overclock some more>>>>
please, help me...i've been confused since long

and please explain to me precisely that where exactly i have to rub the pencil as in this pic
just at the portion where the pencil is being shown? or at other places too

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/...voltmods/151/2
 
#15 ·
Flashing with a modde BIOS as in upping the voltage will give you some room to play with. Do you have a DMM to verify that you have actually increased its voltage. And in the pic you would pencil over the resistor that the VR is soldered to. Is your card identical in every aspect as the card in the pic. It would help if you could post some clear pix of the card so I can help you figure this out. Nice clear pix to where you can read the #'s off the IC's. Thanks
 
#18 ·
hey...its late in the night here,n i dont want to wake my mom..and i cant find the cable for my camera too....and i'll upload the pic tomorrow for sure
sry though....but i have 1 thing to ask...wat is a hard mod?????
and how do we do it?
 
#19 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by sid0972
View Post

hey...its late here, and i'll upload the pic tomorrow for sure
sry though....but i have 1 thing to ask...wat is a hard mod?????
and how do we do it?

Thats cool man, whenever. A hardmod is a hardware modification to where you increase the voltage by soldering on a VR on the FB to decrease its resistance therefore increasing its voltage. A softmod is a BIOS flash and Im not sure where penciling falls in place but if I were to say, Id say penciling would be a hardmod as well.
 
#21 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by sid0972 View Post
look at this pic....i have encircled two watevers( i donnu wat r they called)
the left one...i have pencilled the left one.....do i need to do anything else?
I would be careful penciling until we know for sure which is connected to the FB coming off of your IC. I have no idea what those resistors are connected to so I really cant say until you provide some pix of your PCB. Like you said it looks somewhat familiar but not exact so you have a different design and lay out and the components are not going to be in the same place. Hold off until you get some pix and me or someone else can help you to identify the mod points. I just dont want you to brick your card. Patience is a virtue!
 
#22 ·
ya ok.....so if i upload the pic of my card....will u b able to tell me where i shud pencil it

and 1 more thing.....wen i upload a pic...it comes up as "Attached Thumbnails"
but mostly i see everyone's uploaded pic comes up as it is....
how do we do that????
 
#23 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by sid0972 View Post
ya ok.....so if i upload the pic of my card....will u b able to tell me where i shud pencil it

and 1 more thing.....wen i upload a pic...it comes up as "Attached Thumbnails"
but mostly i see everyone's uploaded pic comes up as it is....
how do we do that????
yes I am sure we can get you worked out on the mod but its going to take some probing on your part with a DMM to locate them them but we will point you in the right direction. If I cant figure it out then one of the valuable members on this site can.

I find it so much easier to just attach them but if you just want to display the pic I believe they upload them to a hosting site such as photobucket.
 
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