Unlocking pipes in Go 7900gs

So i just read up on it and downloaded rivatuner.

I was at 20ps and 7vs


I used it and got 24ps and 8vs

I restarted and the stats stayed.


Do i really have more pipes enabled now?


edit: 3dmark06 score went up by about 60

3540 new high stock clocked res 1280x1024

 

nope


that mod hack just tricks the 7900gs to think that its a 7950gtx, but it doesn't have any physical changes i believe

and your card might run hotter after that bios swap

 

Well, of course, it's software, so it can't make physical changes.
But it sounds like you have more pipes enabled, yes.

As always when you do this kind of hacks, be sure to test the card *very* thoroughly. There's usually a reason for the disabled pipelines to be, well, disabled. It might cause crashes, or it might cause more or less noticeable graphical artifacts. Or, if you're lucky, they might have been disabled simply for marketing reasons, and actually work perfectly well.

But test it. Let it run under max load for at least a couple of hours, in several different apps, a mix of demos like 3dMark, and actual games. Put the system under maximum load and see if it works.

 

U have seen the same option available to me with my 7600Go!! Only 8 pipelines are enabled, But it gives me the option to enable up to 12..Just like a 7600GT..? Should I do it or is it too risky?? WHat does it actaully do to enable them??

 

Here's the slightly more detailed explanation:
Designing a chip is hideously expensive. No one wants to have to do it more often than necessary.

So while NVidia might have launched 12 or more different geforce 7 series cards, they're all based on the same 3 or 4 different cores.

For example, the 7900 GS and GTX are physically identical, and the same goes for your 7600 and the GT it can be modded into. They're physically *exactly* the same, made from the same blueprints in the same production line.

The difference is only determined during testing. There are basically three possible outcomes here:
1) The chip works perfectly, everything is as it should be, and it runs at or above the expected speed with all parts functional
2) It doesn't work, but can be salvaged by disabling parts of the chip (which means fewer functioning pipelines), or by underclocking it.
3) It doesn't work at all

#3 is obvious, the chip is thrown out and that's it.
#1 *usually* becomes the top models for that core (7600GT in your case, or 7900GTX in the OP's case)

And #2 is what they use to fill the gaps. So we now have a pile of chips that work fine as 7900GTX, but not enough for the entire market. Also, not everyone want to pay $500 for a graphics card, and we can't just lower the price across the board. (We want to sell these at a really high price, cos they're our best product and we just spent hundreds of millions developing the things.)
That's where #2 comes in. So we had a bunch of chips that should have been 7900GTX'es, but failed the tests? Well, disable the pipelines that failed, and sell them as the cheaper 7900GS. If the core has 24 pipelines, and one or two failed, we'll just disable 4 and sell it as a card with 20 pipelines.

(Note I said "usually" about #1 being sold as the top model. Sometimes, there are simply too few failures to keep up with demand on the cheaper cards. So what to do then? Again, we can't just lower the price on our top cards, cos that'd cost us a lot of money. Instead, we take a handful of the top cards, and disable a few pipelines even though they work. That way, we can sell it as the cheaper 7900GS, which is better than not selling at all (because there aren't enough cheap cards, and the buyers aren't willing to spend more money on a GTX).

So sometimes, the disabled pipelines can be re-enabled, and everything will be fine because they were never defective to begin with. They were just disabled for marketing purposes.

But normally, if parts of the chip are disabled, it's for a reason. That reason might be everything from slight graphical artifacts (maybe a few miscoloured pixels or the occasional flickering polygon) to severe graphics corruption, or even crashes.

If you want to enable the disabled pipelines, I suggest first doing some research on other people who have modded the same card. If it worked for them, then it is likely (but not guaranteed) that the pipelines are functional. If it trashed their card, it'll likely do the same for you.

As for what the enabled pipelines actually do, each pipeline is basically capable of processing one pixel. So at the moment, your card can process 8 pixels simultaneously. If you enabled the four pipelines that are physically present, but disabled, it could process 12 at a time, which'd obviously be faster.

 

Hmm interesting.. But what about Laptop cards?? Each 7600Go in different laptops can vary by some amount!.. So you cant imagine them all being manufactured and then simply modified the way you mentioned.. They after vary in shape and size and so arent so universally the same...
I know that the 7600 in my P100 is very different from alot of the other 7600's iv seen in other laptop.. as well as the MXM 7600's iv seen.. The cards are of very differnet designs..

I have heard what you are saying before from other people and id say it is true for alot of the desktop cards.. and i know there are only 4 or 5 different card designs used for the full range 7000 series Graphics..the G73, G74 and so on.. My 7600 as are most if not all is a G73.. but as i said, it differs greatly in design and shape to other 7600's.. And thats what would leave me to believe that alot of such cards arent just cards that could have been 7900/7950's, but were specifically designed to be 7600's, 7400's and so on..

And thats were I get lost.. coz i really dont know no whether or not the card has had its extra 4 pipes PROPERLY disabled or what was done to do it...

 

Sorry, I was referring to the actual GPU chips, which are indeed the same. They are made by ATI or NVidia and then sold to different manufacturers who might put them no different cards in different packaging with different RAM and interfaces and maybe clock them differently and in the case of laptop cards, maybe write their own custom drivers too.

But the chips are still *exactly* the same, simply because it's too expensive to design a new core every time you need a slightly different card. But keep in mind that the chip which does all the work (and contains the shader pipelines) is just a little rectangle an inch or so across, hidden under all the cooling. And that doesn't have to vary just because it's packaged differently. (And to even spot individual pipelines, you need a pretty good magnifying glass or preferably a microscope)

Does that make sense?

 

Hmm i see what you mean... Do you think its worth the risk for me to attempt to unlock the remaining 4 pipelines? The card is currently getting a score around 4100 3D05 Marks.. What performance increases should i expect if im successful??

 

Well, you'd get 50% more pipelines, so in theory, you might get up to 50% extra. Of course, in the real world, there are other bottlenecks, so maybe 30% extra performance. I don't know, haven't tested it, and there are too many unknowns to make an accurate estimate.

As for whether or not it's worth it?
I personally wouldn't. If you unlock a defective pipeline, it may not be possible to revert to the original firmware, and then you can throw your card out.

But others have had success with it before, so you'll have to decide... But you should probably google it a bit to see what experiences people have had with your particular card.

 

I wouldnt do anything unless its been done by many others, in this case at least

 

I've tried unlocking the pipes on my 7600 go.
Here's the results:
Before: 3200 3dmark05
After:3200 3dmark05

This is caused by the pipes being physically locked, instead of only being masked, like the geforce 6.
That means you won't probably be able to unlock them either.

 

i've tried with my Go7600, doesn't work at all, even Riva Tuner still reports only 8 pixel pipelines.

 

can i unlock any in my go6600???????

 

Em. I don't think this does anything at all. Putting it plainly, GPU makers generally aren't stupid anymore. When they disable pipelines, they physically disable them by laser cutting the connections. A BIOS flash won't change anything. The original poster mentioned his 3DMark06 score went up 60 points which is meaningless. 3DMark scores generally fluctuate depending on fragmentation, what is running in the background, and other errors. Besides, 60 points out of 3540 is less than 2%, which blatantly means that you haven't added pipelines otherwise nVidia's architecture is a lot more inefficient than I thought. Generally anything under 5% is consider error and noise.

In terms of physical size, the dies themselves are generally the same size. Usually the difference comes in the different layouts of the circuit board. Sometimes the RAM is also integrated on chip but in a separate die instead of being on the external circuit board. There is fluctation in size though since the although the G73 is the 7600, it is possible that very defective G71 7900 dies may be used although it's very unlikely. The G73 is nominally produced on a 90nm process, but they did start limited production on TSMC's 80nm, but I believe those are mainly used in the desktop market. (In case you are wondering why they wouldn't use the smaller 80nm process for mobile parts, it's because the 80nm half-node is a cost node, optimized for quick transition from 90nm and for plain size shrinkage rather than power. The power difference isn't huge. The 7600GS is also being priced at $89 after being replaced by the 8600 series so anything to help it's margins there is helpful.)

 

Hey what i went into Riva Tuner, to have a close look at what the story was with the amount of Pixel Pipelines I have enabled, I see that i have the option of enabling up to 16 pixel pipelines!! I originally thought it was 12 but i can effectlively double it to 16!.. Does this mean that my GPU was as one of you lads said.. a far superior card that had its pipelines disabled.? Or what?

Il post the picture i took of the original number allowed, and when enable the remaining masked units, the 8pps goes up to 16! I didnt actually enable them as im still afraid what will happen, but you can see what may happen if i do..

Can some1 explain to me what im seeing here.. How on a Geforce 7600, i may possibly having the option to have 16 pixel pipelines...!?

 

The G73 7600 has long been "detected" as having 4 quads. The likely explaination is either software isn't reading it right or 1 extra quad as buffer room since there is a higher probability that 3 out of 4 quads will work than 4 out of 4. Regardless, I have never heard anyone actually activating it. Either it doesn't exist or it has been laser cut. I highly doubt flipping bits in Windows will make any difference.

 

So i double checked and while i could check it on. It stayed disabled. I did some more research and people said the only unlockable 7900gs are the of the BFG brand

 

don't activate all of them. I've also tried it three months ago, and the outcome is the most terrible crash i've ever seen on my laptop (can't remember how). I ended up uninstalling riva tuner and driver to solve the problem