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Hard-modding Gallery
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I think this section is lacking something. I can see a lot of disscusion about cooling, but hard-modding is nowhere to be seen.

So maybe you guys have done something to your hardware....replacing capacitor, voltmods, replacing components.....then post it here and show us your leet soldering skill.

Just give us a brief description of what you've done and show us the pictures


So, let me be the first one to post (there'll be more coming )

This is my moded Antec PSU. All the voltage rails is now adjustable. The real true powah!!!!

Here's another PSU mod. This time it's an Icute

+3.3V rail mod




+5V & +12V rail mod




Some results:

Yup...that's me alright. Need some guide...read my guide HERE

Later I post....there's a lot more waiting to be posted. Maybe tonight I'll post a few more. Searching my hard disk right now for all those voltmods photos

Here's some more mods that I've done.

My Gecube 9550GT. Core: 630 Mem: 290. Vgpu=1.6V / Vmem=2.65V. Give out 4838pts in 3dmark03 .




Another 9550 card that I mod. mADmAN's Colorful 9550 GD2.

I learn all this in the world of cyber space.....with a lot of dead mobo and cards
Yeah...the GC will get hotter, so better cooling is needed. I use watercooling on my card.



Nah...my pot is inside the casing. When I close my side panel, you won't be able to touch it .
The ones with the external pot is mADmAN's card. He's a very lazy guy...... (@mADmAN: cool bro )
That's the highest stable frequency that I can get. Maybe I need some better cooling to get higher.


I'll post some more voltmod and recapping pic later. Common people....I wanna see your mods....maybe I should change the title to "Shah81 Hardmodding Gallery"

This is my FX5200....voltmoded with an AMD heatsink on it

I do remember some forumer who posted their voltmod here in overclocking section.....loooong time ago. I guess most of them retired already

Only have one moded mobo photo here. Damn I wish I had a digital camera back then, during Athlon Thunderbird & Duron era....lots of voltmod and dead mobo

That's not a 9550. It's my FX5200
mADmAN already answer

The highest speed that I got was 364/540 with 2134pts in 3dmark03. But the card is dead now......(R.I.P in Silicon Heaven )

I learn all of these on my own by reading and experimenting but you at least need some basic electronics (V=IR ?? ). If I can do it, so can you

Wooow there....It's not as easy as that. It takes time to figure out how to mod a card because different manufacturer uses different circuits/components and I do need to do some research .

Unless you find a specific guide on how to mod your card, I cannot do it for you ...sorry..... unless you lend me your whole rig for a few days because I don't have a PCIE system to test it

This is a little out of topic. Maybe you can use PM next time

Use any heatsink that you like as long as it fits...but watch the weight. You don't wanna bend your card.

It's as simple as that

Still remember that moded FX5200. I burned an IC when I set the Vmem to 3V. Search the web for the IC and found it at Farnell. But during the desoldering process, I rip a few soldering pads. So this is what I do.......





And if you are wondering, the card works. But then I soldered back the voltmod and start overclocking again. This time I killed the card for good. I think I fried the ram at 3.1V

Nope just a normal 40W soldering iron. Wanna know what type of soldering iron I'm using....look at my avatar

I'm also using a 20X4 LCD panel here. Currently using LCD Smartie to control the LCD and it rocks

PM me the markings/serial no. on the IC and if possible include a photo. I'll see what I can do.

Here's some more. This time it's a capacitor replacement for my friend's Leadtek Geforce 4mx. The card uses the crappy GSC caps and 5 of them became bloated. Replace it with a Panasonic 6.3V 2200uf.
This cap is gigantic but I have no choice because thats the only caps I have in my box and I'm damn lazy to go hunting for caps. Have to solder one of the caps to the back of the card because it won't fit between the caps anymore.

Look at the size different



Finished product.

Yeah sure. Open up a new thread and post a high resolution pic of your card front and back. But there a some prerequisite....you got to have a multimeter and know how to operate one. Please google around for info regarding voltmodding and read it to familiarize yourself with voltmodding.
To be honest with you, you won't get much from the FX5200

Some guide from VR-Zone...errr but the pictures are missing. CLICK ME
There are also tons of other voltmod guides there. Be sure to check it out too. You might learn a thing or 2.

Maybe I'll post the pic later. Lazy to take it apart. Just measure with a ruler......

AGP Current Booster Mod.

Actually I got the idea from Shamino's PCI Express Current Booster Mod. After reading the article, I was wondering if it was possible to do the same on an AGP system. So I downloaded the AGP slot pinouts and start modding.
This is the out come

Here's a quote from Shamino's article:



Just replace the PCI Express slot with AGP Slot

I don't wanna die......yet

Remember my 9550GT. When I bump the Vgpu over 1.6V, I have to crank up my 3.3V rail to 3.5V to get it stable in 3dmark03. Later I found out that the 3.3V rail on the card will droop around 0.2V during high load ( I measure this at the mosfets on the card ) although the 3.3V output from the PSU is actually stable.

After the mod, I can now bump the Vgpu over 1.6V while my 3.3V rail is set at 3.4V (I always keep my 3.3V at ~3.4V ) and the readings at the mosfets will only droop around 0.06V max during high load.

The AGP slot cannot provide enough current for power hungry cards. Thats why cards like 9800 and 6800 have power connectors on them. For cards like these, this mod will not be beneficial because the extra current is pumped through the connectors. But for cards without the power connectors, you might get some improvement in your overclock espescially if you voltmod.

For my 9550GT:

3.3V ----> Vgpu & Vddq
5V -----> Vmem

I mod the 12V because I had extra wire laying around

This post has been edited by Shah81: Aug 25 2006, 03:31 PM

I always play with low-end stuff. No money to buy midrange stuff or even thinking about high-end stuff.
To me, voltmodding a high-end card is pointless. They are already powerful as they are but a little bit of OC won't hurt
Imagine frying a 7950 GX2 when a voltmod goes wrong

The easiest way to get 3.3V is to take the 3.3V output of your PSU and feed it to the ram. But it wont be adjustable anymore. You'll get 3.3V all the time

Here's an example:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58507&highlight=nf7