Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/06 22:15optimummind wrote: By the way, I've also received the official EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT KO modified BIOS from EVGA technical support and he said his team changed it from Gen2 mode to Gen1 mode. Okay, then we need your original BIOS of your EVGA card and the modified Gen1 BIOS from EVGA so that we can start our analysis and provide this change in NiBiTor. Can you make sure this is done, and then we will add this GenX change in NiBiTor so that it can be used for all GeForce 8800 GT cards.
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Spuk0
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 02:05Hey everyone, I am supposed to get my XFX GeForce 8800 GT tomorrow. I also am using the current ASRock 775Dual VSTA mainboard and now I'm worried I too will run into this problem. I wish ASRock would have a mainboard BIOS solution instead. I jumped the gun and went ahead and ordered the card off the assumption from ASRock website claiming the GeForce 8800 GTS was compatible now a few days later I'm discovering this about the PCI Express 2.0 versus the 1.0 dilema.
So if I can't get this to work I have no other PCI Express board right now, I would like to wait until next year to upgrade for Penryn and I don't want to have to re-install everything either. So I'm wondering is it possible to do a blind bootable flash? I'm keeping posted for more details.
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optimumm
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 05:23Spuk0 wrote: So if I can't get this to work I have no other PCI Express board right now, I would like to wait until next year to upgrade for Penryn and I don't want to have to re-install everything either. So I'm wondering is it possible to do a blind bootable flash? I'm keeping posted for more details.
A blind flash will not be possible because your PC won't start at all. At least that's what happened to mine. The only thing that turned on were the fans. If you have an electronic store like Fry's nearby, do what I did. I bought a mainboard from Fry's, installed the GeForce 8800G T KO, flashed it, then put the card back on the ASRock mainboard. Fry's has a 30-day return policy so you can return the board and get your money back.
I haven't returned mine yet. I may just keep it since the Gigabyte board allows me to overclock my Core 2 Duo E6600 to levels that the ASRock mainboard just can't reach, meaning standard 2.4GHz to a great 3.2GHz with a minimal increase for only the CPU voltage.
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optimumm
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 05:24Mavke wrote: Okay, then we need your original BIOS of your EVGA card and the modified Gen1 BIOS from EVGA so that we can start our analysis and provide this change in NiBiTor. Can you make sure this is done, and then we will add this GenX change in NiBiTor so that it can be used for all GeForce 8800 GT cards. Sure Mavke. What's your email address? I'll send both of them to you. by the wat, does this forum board have an email notification option for threads and private messages? I can't find those options.
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JoeyR
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 08:54Uhm, I didn't read the whole thing but I was under the impression that PCI Express 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.0, in fact as Mavke stated... There would be lots and lots of complaints and many of the current reviews would not exist, as practically all the test beds were on PCI Express 1.0. I could be wrong though.
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optimumm
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 09:24JoeyR wrote: Uhm, I didn't read the whole thing but I was under the impression that PCI Express 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.0, in fact as Mavke stated... There would be lots and lots of complaints and many of the current reviews would not exist, as practically all the test beds were on PCI Express 1.0. I could be wrong though. This issue only affects people with motherboards based on the VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra chipsets. It doesn't affect people with Intel, AMD, ATI and NVIDIA chipsets. The reason for this incompatibility is due to the nature of the VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra chipset. This chipset is very, very old. And heavily modified to support technologies such as DDR and DDR2, AGP and PCI Express, with both Pentium 4 and Core 2 Duo.
As a result of this special hybrid nature, the PCI Express part of the VIA PT880 Pro does not fully meet the PCI Express specifications. Hence the special modification of the BIOS for the GeForce 8800 GT to work on these mainboards. I hope that cleared it up for you some.
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JoeyR
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 10:45Okay, got it now... Hmm, hopfully it won't cripple the GeForce 8800 GT cause that would be no fun. But I guess the PCI Express 2.0 is not yet fully used.
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Mavke
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/07 18:44optimummind wrote: As a result of this special hybrid nature, the PCI Express part of the VIA PT880 Pro does not fully meet the PCI Express specifications. Hence the special modification of the BIOS for the GeForce 8800 GT to work on these mainboards. I hope that cleared it up for you some. Well explained mate, and that is it exactly the PCI Express on that chipset is not fully PCI Express 1.0 compatible and the best way would have been to fix that with a mainboard BIOS update but it seems that ASRock just can't figure it out so NVIDIA did it for them but a simple bit change on the BIOS. This won't impact the performance as the full bandwidth of the PCI Express 2.0 is not fully used at this point.
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Spuk0
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/08 01:25I have this question... Since the ASRock 775Dual VSTA has both AGP and PCI Express and of course PCI is nvFlash or another flashing ROM program flexible enough to command which card to flash if I boot up with an AGP or PCI card... I was thinking that was possible back in the day when we fudged our AGP cards BIOS using a PCI graphics card to boot off of?
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androo87
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Re:GeForce 8800 GT, and any way to edit out PCI Express 2.0? - 2007/11/08 12:45I tried that, unfortunately the ASRock 775Dual VSTA just does not start at all if a Gen2 GeForce 8800 GT is sitting in the PCI Express slot. At least, I couldnt get it starting, even with some tinkering.
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Galaxy 9800GT PCIe 512MB - Rev 01
