ViciousXUSMC's W90 Limit Breaker Guide

Update! - This guide is now obsolete I have updated it with new programs and procedures and made version 2 of the guide located HERE

This is a cut and paste from the guide file in the new Limiter Break Package.

It may help some people just reading the directions, but of course all the "included in this folder" stuff is not going to apply unless you download the package.

Get the W90 Limit Breaker Package & Guide - HERE

New* - Updated Bios Package (bios files only still download above package) Get it HERE

-This new package contains one new bios file, my extremist bios mod. It increases the overdrive limit from 600/900 to 800/1100 and increases the voltage to the cards. This increased voltage means higher stable overclocks but also more heat, so use with caution! Recommended for benchmarking only.

Of course if you do something that your system is not designed to do or make mistakes you can damage/break your system so this entire guide is as/is and you have to use it responsibly.
I am not liable for anything bad that happens to your computer, like it blows up and kills your neighbors cat.

What this package does:

Allows you to break the overclock limit of turbogear on your cpu
Allows you to break the overclock limit of over drive on your gpu
Allows you to install the new 9.4 drivers to replace the old ones

Performance goes WAY up!
________________________________________________________

ViciousXUSMC's Asus W90 Limit Breaker Guide

Important/NEW!! - My Brand New W90 I got from RMA came with a new master card with a new flash type as seen in this picture From Misc The new flash type is SST25VF512 and the old type (and the slave card still has the old type) is PM25LV512, if your unit has the new type do not use WinFlash on it, for me the flash failed and temporarly put the card out of service until I was able to flash it back. This may be due to WinFlash not working on this type, bad luck, or because I used the old bios for the old flash type. However the card flashed fine in ATIFlash with a new bios, so the guide is pending updates/changes to supply the new bios and teach how to use the ATIFlash program. If you simply want to use new drivers like most do, this is not an issue as you only need to flash the slave card to a master and that works fine even on the new unit, but if you want to flash an overclocking bios to the Master card like I did then this message concerns you

Part 1 Video Card Drivers

> The Easy Way (For included 9.4 Drivers x64 Vista or Win 7)


Part 2 CPU Overclocking

> Using SetFSB to overclock


Part 3 Extras

> Thanks
> About





Updating Video Card Drivers The Easy Way.

Preparing the ATI drivers for Notebook Installation


Prerequisite: Have the stock Asus drivers already installed on the system, we are only updating the video card drivers, but will keep the old ATI control panel so it needs to be installed.

1.) Install the Included 9-4_vista64_win7_64_dd.exe to the default directory and exit out of the installer when it comes up, you will not install anything via the regular installer.

2.) Copy the ATI Folder located in the Modified .INF folder over the top of your ATI folder located on the C: to replace the original .inf files with the new ones.

The driver package is now ready to be installed but we must also prepare the video card for driver install by changing the bios.


Flashing the W90 Video Card(s) with new BIOS

This is the most delicate part! Be very caefull what you do here, read step by step and use the directions given.

Make sure the flash finishes with the message that it finished, dont be overclocking when you do this, turn off ATI overdrive if you have it on, this is for safety sake.

1.) Unzip and run the Winflash program located in the Programs & Utilities folder
2.) Load the M98-1 Bios from the W90 Bios folder into the program and flash it (program it) to your secondary (non primary) video card so that both cards now have "Master" bios on them. (Master bios has a checksum of 9300, and the slave has a checksum of 9000 this is how you can determine regardless of file name what bios your opening) Your master card should be marked with a red * next to it showing its the primary/active display adapter but use the checksums to confirm.
3.) Reboot

From W90 Limit Breaker

Installing the new drivers

1.) Get into your Device Manager (I usually click the windows start button, right click on "Computer" go to properties,and then click on "Device Manager")
2.) Right click your 4870X2 display adapter (the first one is the one I use) located under the tab "Display Adapters" Choose "Update Drivers"
3.) Choose "Browse my computer for driver software"
4.) Choose "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
5.) Choose "Have Disk"
6.) Navigate to the directory where the modified .INF files are located for your driver (C:/ATI/Support/9-4_vista64_win7_64_dd/Packages/Drivers/Display/LH6A_INF/) is the default for the included drivers.
7.) Choose the 2nd card name/option and the drivers should install.

You may wish to repeat for the other display card, but I found that doing it for the main card installed them on the 2nd card on its own, if you see the name change for both cards your ok.





CPU Overclocking

This is so easy compared to the above, but somebody may still need a little help if they never used SetFSB before.

You need the "beta" version of SetFSB included in this package in the programs folder to work with the W90

> Open SetFSB
> Select the PLL Code ICS9LPRS929AKLF
> Click the "Get FSB" button
> Scroll the big bar to the new desired FSB
> Click "Set FSB"

From W90 Limit Breaker

You should take this in small steps and test for stability with a tool like WPrime (run the big test and let it finish, if temps stay cool and no errors its considered atleast semi stable.






Part 3 Extras

Thanks To:
E Wrecked - Original Working .INF files
Quadzilla - Finding the PLL Code for the W90 and working with the creator of SetFSB to get it working
The SetFSB Creator - For very fast work and helping us out
Everybody that participated in the W90 Testing & Benching
ViciousXUSMC - This Guide, Bios Flashing, Bios modding, Testing the .INF files
To You - For using this guide, and forgiving me for spelling errors, notepad does not have spell check


Programs:

SetFSB - A windows program that allows software control over the system front side buss, this means overclocking the cpu & ram
RBE - Radeion Bios Editor, a program that can open & modify gpu bios files in many ways.
WinFlash - A windows program that can rip & flash gpu bios to the cards directly while inside the windows OS
ATIFlash - A DOS based flash program included incase you need to flash while outside of windows
GPU-Z - A program to read gpu stats and information for windows, that also includes sensor information & the ability to rip bios.

Edit: Picture Slide Show for when the pictures do not load

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width='800' height='533' flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fmasakakoi%2Falbumid%2F5323497953792235729%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>

Also you can just click the album links from above to see them.

 

nice work vicious i csnt rep you

 

this was suppose to be you striker

 

Nice guide..suprised you had time, considering the wife and kids were keeping you busy. But glad you completed it.

 

yeah it was after the kids went to bed that i made the time, its 3am now. I have to do things at night.

Its Easter too so I have to get all there stuff ready so when they wake up they can see what mr. bunny brought them.

 

hummm, i let mine go to his mothers for easter....im missing my little guy already..

 

yall are all dads im just 18 lol werid

 

Ya its time for your bed son now go to sleep NOW!!!

 

not now...but....RIGHT NOW!


need you rested for benching in the morning...lol

 

well this is my 3rd easter away from home.

 

Lol well rested so he can plop back down infront of the computer and press a few buttons gotta love it .

 

thanks alot but this computer science assignment is killing me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the thread is in the off topic home work section

dont gimme that crap im 18 im a adult and i can choose what i want lol (wait till you get that speech) beside im bigger then all yall im sure

 

rotflmao!!

and watch the screen.

back on topic.
well use the guide and get crackin!
and i back arm 140 lbs to the forehead buddy

 

besides what am i benching?

 

how many plates?

 

i ment that but my max before my surgrey was 245 may not seem like alot but i weighted 205

 

the guy writing a guide
the guy flashing the bios
the guy flashing the video bios
the guy using setfsb
the just now putting in a qx9300

your list is growing...lol

 

funny thing about all that...i tried to get you to do it long ago....

 

Hi

The other day I rang ASUS Poland (where I am located) to ask for precise explanation why did ASUS invalidate my warranty (quite a story; still hesitating whether to create a horror thread about it) and to inquire about the new ASUS' offerings. The most knowledgeable person I specifically asked to be switched to quite surprisingly reduced the W90 to an ASUS'... show of power. He didn't take the product for serious and indirectly advised against buying it by telling me that if I am disappointed to shove a sizable amount of money on a new motherboard for my V1, I should note, that its W90's counterpart would be even more outrageously priced!
Not that it was surprising or any truth-revealing in itself, but hey, t'was straight from the horses mouth! Plus he moaned about the unit getting too hot while he had it on his desk. But took me by surprise the most, when I asked him which particular ASUS model does he use as an advise to what should I potentially be interested in as a quality product. He replied: I'm using the other vendor's laptop computer. I was like uhmm, not knowing what to say nor think about it...

Regards,
AdiQue

Also, rep plus one where reputation is due.

 

Hey everyone, just wanted to wish you a Happy Easter, Passover, or whatever you celebrate.

 

Eostre (and despite what everyone else may claim, what with the rabbits and eggs, they are too).




Thanks a lot Vicious and everyone else involved! D/Ling now.

 

Updated first post with my newest bios mod.

AKA "The Extremist"

Its the master card bios with the overdrive limit breaker + a voltage mod.

This mod can/will give you higher stable overclocks on the cards, however it makes them run hotter. Much hotter!

My max temp went from 74c before the mod to 80c+ after the mod. I never heard the W90 fans kick into High mode until I did this. @ 80c the fans got faster and the temp looks like it went down.

Safe temps should be around 90c or lower so temps are fine, but from my extensive testing you can find in the owners lounge gpu overclocks are only good with VERY fast cpu speeds to keep up or VERY demanding games/benchmarks (this means maxed out settings & resolution, dont try this on 3dmark06 or the Vantage performance test and expect any real boost)

Get the new bios package HERE

This is only the bios files, if you do not have the rest of the Limit Breaker package you still need to download it from the link on the first post.

 

good job vicious i just hope nobody screws up then blames you


loloolololololololol

get to work for the 3870's so i can push

 

Will there be a mod to control the speed for the fans?

 

I am a new owner of W90VP-A1, I am glad to see so many guys donate themselves to the excellent machine and appreciate their struggle deeply.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=330419
The guy here has SetFSB Automatic Tool to set a predefined overclock automatically on systems boot. It's pretty nice, but his version is too old. Could anyone combine the version for W90 with that SetFSB Automatic Tool?

BTW vicious, I double click the setfsb.exe in your package but it says "Activity ID error! you are using the other's copies!" bla bla.

 

sounds like you have another version running?

also with all things in vista use run as administrator.

this version holds overclock in reboot but not power down. I like it like that incase you clock too high. maybe you can make a .bat file or something to set it a certian place not sure. You can atleast make the program auto start with windows and then set it yourself it only takes 5 seconds.

 

not a gpu bios mod, the fans are controlled by the w90 bios not the video cards. however the w90 seems to run them at the perfect speed so no need really.

 

ok i have your drivers onto a thumbdrive but sadly no computer yet

 

I know how that wait is, I had mine pre-ordered and with overnight shipping and had to wait almost a week longer than some of the first owners due to a shipping mistake.

But when you get it the wait should be worth it.

 

Going to create a 1.15v bios mod soon, seems that some people are getting artifacts with 1.20v mod, though not sure if the card will change the power draw as there are "notches" where it jumps from one value to the next.

 

HHmm seems I am not able to download the drivers from here . . . stupid Haji-net!!

 

Well the British is about the same thing. I guess you are on Al-Asad net.

BTW my order is on its way!!!!!!!!

 

LOL not Al Asad, but at War Eagle (outside of Taji if you know where that is). Maybe I will have someone from home put it on a thumb drive and ship it out to me. My order will be at my home Monday, where my girl will add Fallout 3 and WoW, download iTunes and drop in a BluRay movie or 2 and ship it out to me on Tuesday! And, it will get here about the same time as my new Vertex 120GB SSD and Seagate 7200RPM 500GB HDD and 2 enclosures for my 320's that are coming out of the laptop. Wish it was 2 weeks from now already!

 

well good luck.

 

Other than the video drivers its a very small download and I could zip it up and email it to somebody if they ask me to.

Then you can just find a place that has the 9.4 ATI drivers for download.

 

Thank you. I'm currently downloading now..will try asap.

 

When I tried to Flashing the W90 Video Card(s) with new BIOS using Winflash program I get BSOD.. I tried again and same BSOD.. I need help !!

 

Not sure, nobody else had an issue.

Id make sure you run the program as administrator, turn off every resource you can think of before running and and DONT OVERCLOCK it puts the cpu under 100% load for awhile, if your overclock is not stable your going to crash and crashing in a bios flash is not good.

You can use ATIFlash if you have too, its safer just not as convenient as you have to do it in dos with a flash drive or cd.

 

I need help !!
After I update the driver to 9.4
I get these..

 

I think thats fine, just try to install the driver for it separately if need be but the name changed so that means the driver isntalled.

 

What exactly should the card be called in device manager after installing the drivers? Mine is ATI Radeon HD4870 X2 for both of them. When installing the driver I selected to use was the one by the same name. There was also 4800 series and others. Exactly which one are we supposed to select?

The install appears to have worked in some fashion because I have the 9.4 drivers showing. When I went to try the auto tune in the overclock section of the CCC it churned for 15 minutes or so and was still going when i canceled. It was not hung as I coulld see the fps changing in the task manager and control center showed it as 50% complete. It also brought up a striped screen with the AMD logo in one corner. This didnt happen before I installed this driver it would finish in about a minute. I fired up warhead and played for a few and it seemed that the performance is about the same as before so I am assuming I still have both cards working.

Edit.....Now that I think about it the same driver gets installed no matter which supported card I pick in the driver install. Only thing that should change is the name in device manager. I think...

 

When everything went well..you should see..
4870x2m.. with "M"

 

I think if you go into the details you will see error 39 or what ever it is, you did flash the bios to a master bios on the 2nd card right?

right click the card with the ! and see what details it gives you.

 

I'm new to ati so i have a question. Why do both cards have to be master for the hack to work? Why cant we copy device ids like nvidia cards and add them to drivers. Thanks for the help guys.

 

Because you cant

Its more like because this is a unique setup its 2x 4870 in disguise as a 4870X2 so drivers dont work with it in the normal way.

Flashing the cards makes it two true 4870 again in crossfire.

 

Ok, well I think I messed up big time. I accidentaly flashed the second card with the new slave bios and now my comp wont display at all. It doesnt even seem like its starting properly because the HDD light isnt comin on like it normally would. Dose anyone have any advice on how to fix this? Any bios reset via hardware? I hope I didnt kill my new W90

 

no matter what bios you flash to the slave card it would be starting fine as long as it was not a bad flash (aka you turned off the pc before it was done)

as the 2nd card can have a master or slave bios.

if you flashed your main card to a slave, wish it sounds like maybe you did... well yeah you have a problem a slave card does not have the code to boot as a display device on its own.

You can possibly blind flash it back with atiflash, but you have to get all the files and the program in order. I dont even have my w90 right now to see if can get the steps in order for you so maybe somebody else will be nice enough to do it.

Also the W90 may be smart enough to "know" there is display device and not boot at all.

In a worst case scenario you need a card with a master bios on it, you could mail one of us the main card and we can flash it under one of our master cards (if both cards are physically identical, i didnt pay much mind to it when I had mine apart the other day)

 

Ok well I tried flashing the main card with the slave bios and it said it failed, so then I tired falshing the slave card with those same bios. I must have gotten it miked up somewhere. I had the thing open all night last night and I can confirm that the cards are identical except for a heatsink on the bottom of the main card. It would be really awsome if I could send my card to someone to flash for me but Im in Iraq atm. DO you perhaps know of where I could buy a master bios card? Or is there anyone on JBB reading this forum willing to help me out?

 

Theres 2 things you can try . 1 Theres a reset switch next to the slave card yank the battery and hold it for 10 seconds or so . 2 . pull the Master card out and unplug the battery underneath it and leave it for 10 minutes unplugged then slap it all together and try again . i had that black screen issue after flashing an older MB bios and got it resolved from unplugging the MB battery . You cant miss it as its encased in black and has a wire attached to it .Good luck.

 

I will certainly try but arent the card bios on the cards themselves, or am I wrong about this?