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NiBiTor Re-Coded Explained (as of v1.7) |
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Written by Mavke
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Sunday, 10 October 2004 |
The new version of NiBiTor (NVIDIA BIOS Editor) has several changes in the voltage editing section. These are effective as of Version 1.7. Below you can find a summary of all the changes and also what goes behind the logic of these...
Main information
NiBiTor (NVIDIA BIOS Editor) is a BIOS Info/Editor utility designed for all nVidia GeForce Graphic Cards. The tool has been designed to check the initial clock speeds of the NVIDIA BIOSes and also allows some modification of those. So with this tool you can already check your Original BIOS and see what a Updated version of it would make as simple changes to the card...
Why is voltage editing different from previous versions (<1.7)?
The previous versions assumed NVIDIA used a static indexed access on the voltage modes. Example given, the first voltage is always used for 2D Mode, the 2nd for Throttle Mode and the 3rd for 3D Mode. Unwinder (Alexey Nicolaychuk) discovered that the access is not index based, the driver sets the voltage by searching the voltage identifiers for a specified voltage, and then sets the VID attached to the voltage identifier. More details about this can be read in the RivaTuner FAQ.
So what has changed now?
As the voltages are not "sorted" by performance level, you can't see from the BIOS alone which voltage is used in what mode. Because of this, I removed the labels "2D/Thrl/3D".
From the assumption of indexed based access and user reports in previous versions, not all voltage table entries where displayed, those who were believed not to be used were blocked out. Due to the assumption being wrong, it is best to have access to all entries. So some cards may show more voltage entries then in previous version.
Because the voltage identifier is important for the function of the search based access, it is no longer modified when changing voltages. The only thing that is changed is the VID for the voltage identifier. Because of that you should always use a fresh BIOS to edit, because the editor can't remember which VID means what voltage once the modified BIOS is closed. So the VID voltage labels of modded BIOSes will be wrong. Always use a "fresh" BIOS.
How do I know which voltages to edit to get higher oc?
Safest way is to use a multimeter or RivaTuner's monitoring function to see what voltage your card takes when running games. Then you edit the VID for this Voltage identifier. As a level of Help, NiBiTor will mark the voltage that is used typically in 3D for your type of card as green. This should prevent waves of "What voltage does my card use?" posts in forums everywhere...
Note that this marking is only an "indicator", it may not be correct if your cards BIOS is not so typical, or uses a modded BIOS etc...
How do I know which VIDS to select to get higher oc?
VIDs that are currently used in the BIOS are labeled with their corresponding voltage identifier, assuming the combination of identifier and VID is correct by the manufacter in your BIOS. That is why the labeling will show wrong when you load a previously modded BIOS.
You can select all VIDs that are available from your BIOS. VIDs that are not identified by the method above are labeled as "?.?V". These VIDs can be labeled with a voltage based on your type of card BIOS experience, by checking "Extended Labeling" in the editor. Note that this is also an generic method and the voltages may not be right.
Changes in this Version
- Redone Voltage identification/modification procedure
- Added support for PCI-E 6600GT, PCI-E 6800U, Quadro3400, Quadro1100, Quadro700
With this new logic behind the voltage interpretation it should correct several misunderstandings from previous versions... |