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GeForce
to Quadro modification Guide
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After
you successfully modified your card, you may want to flash its bios. You
can download the GeForce SDR/DDR-> Quadro SDR/DDR BIOS at Guru3D
I changed the Geforce256 into a Quadro
with this resistor swap trick. I got pissed with the cracked bioses from
ELSA and their drivers that I had found at Zoiah ... performance was
very disappointing under many games.
I found out that Silicon Graphics is using the Quadro in their 330
series workstation. I grabbed their BIOS and flashed it. My modified
GeForce is running like a charm, I improved my 3DMark2000 score by more
than 25% and games are not a problem anymore.
If you want the full "Silicon
Graphics Experience", you can download their driver at http://support.sgi.com/nt/product/330/
. I wouldn't do it, since they don't perform as well as NVIDIA's.
Notes on SG 330 series -
Official Silicon Graphics BIOS for Quadro SDR/DDR or modified GeForce256
SDR/DDR version 2.10.0407. This BIOS has been successfully flashed on
the Guillemot 3D Prophet DDR, Canopus Spectra, Creative DDR/SDR and ASUS
DDR/SDR boards. NEVER try to flash it on ELSA cards, since they don't
follow NVIDIA's reference design and don't have the same chipID.
You'll find two directories in the archive : V3 is for SDR cards and VR3
for DDRs.
Please note that there is no message printed on screen during the
boot-up process, Side Band Addressing is enabled by default, Memory is
clocked at 166/333 (SDR/DDR) and core at 135.
These BIOSES are far better than ELSA's : you don't need any specific
cracked drivers, reference drivers will work perfectly (I recommend
using 6.49 under w2k for best performance) and you get a bunch of extra
features.
To flash it, just boot in DOS mode and use NVFLASH.exe.
If you're afraid of screwing your nice board, grab VGABIOS
and try to load the BIOS in memory before you flash it.
GeForce2->Quadro2
BIOS should be available at Zoiah, Click
here
But
don’t worry, your modified card will work just fine with its actual
BIOS. This resistor shift trick only alters the cardID; It’ll be
recognized now as a generic Quadro/Quadro2 board and you won’t have
any trouble installing NVIDIA’s reference drivers.
Next:
Benchmarks
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