tuneup of asus EN6200 128MB

[sbohdan]

So here we go again. I just discovered something and want to share with those of you who:
- own a 6200 and can't afford an upgrade yet
- just want something to get by till they find a really good deal and can go for an upgrade (like me)
- or just can't afford an expensive GFX card but still want to be able to play the newest games :P \

a friend of mine asked me if I could look at his rig and maybe do some OC'in , wiremanagement, so he could play with doom at 1024x768 without lagging. my initial response was (after I found out what card he has), that I can't perform miracles but will try what I can. first I opened the antec case and got the card out to be exactly sure which 6200 are we talking about:

http://www.pccyber.ca/scrItem.asp?pr...roduct_id=6136



this is an asus EN6200GE/TD/128M/A. then I checked this site:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...s-names_3.html

-to see what is the core. I was surprised to see it has the same GPU as the 6600LE, 6600 and 6600GT! the GT's GPU is clocked at 500Mhz so I new since the fan is the same as on some GT's my 6200 can at least be clocked that high :)
the default for the 6200 is 300Mhz and the max I was able to reach on the core was 580Mhz! the next step was to find out what can be done with the DDR 128MB memory (the stock was 500Mhz). the max was 645Mhz, which is pretty good. I decided to set the card to 551/623 to be on the safe side (there is no cooling on the memory and the GPU cooler underneath isn't smooth eighter)
first I ran 3dmark03 with all default settings (300/500) and this is what I got:
(click to see a better image)


then I OC'd the card to 551/623 and it gave me 5868p. in 3dmark03

well it went from 4099 to 5868 which was allready more then I expected from this card.
that's when I had the idea to check if anything could be done with riva tuner. I knew, that the 6200 has 4 pixel pipes but I also know that it has the same GPU as the 6600GT which has 8 pipes, so I knew that the remaining 4 pipes are locked somehow and was just wondering if they could be reopened. I tried and lo and behold: the 6200 just had the 8 pipes after the reboot !! I checked with 3dmark03 again and yes, yes it was real.

so this is how it went:
open riva tuner ( http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163 ). you will see the 4 pipes:


click on customize and the first little icon that resembles a video card:


a new window opens. click install:


next check both empty boxes on the left (allow enabling hardware masked units and unlock professional capabilities). on the right in active pixel configuration, change to custom and click customize:


yet another window pops up. here you will see which pipelines are disabled (not necessarily the same line(s) as mine). just put a checkmark in front of any line that says disabled, than click OK:


you will notice the pipe count changed to 8. now click apply and OK:


it will ask you to restart windows. click yes:


tada! after opening rivatuner I got 8 pixel pipelines!
next I rerun 3dmark03 with the 8 pipes and 551/623 Overclock, my score was this:


that's a 72% performance increase with no money spent :)
putting cooling fins on the ram chips and lapping the GPU cooler+adding arctic silver would increase the OC ability but this is not my card and I had no cooling fins laying around at home. with the above, the card could probably reach 8000p. in 3dmark03. this is a $62CDN (about $45US) card and now doom3 is running just fine at 1024x768 at medium settings :) (it was lagging before at 800x600 minimum settings)

[Tyreal]

Wow. Thats pretty good. What a lucky guy to have such a comp savvy friend. :P

Did you suggest him to get a better cooler? I think unlocking pipelines and overclocking can generate a fair bit of heat.

3000 points higher in 3dmark. Not too shabby man!

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

Wow. Thats pretty good. What a lucky guy to have such a comp savvy friend. :P

Did you suggest him to get a better cooler? I think unlocking pipelines and overclocking can generate a fair bit of heat.

3000 points higher in 3dmark. Not too shabby man!

thanks. no, I didn't suggest anything yet but will tomorrow, when he comes over to look at it. about the heat, as I said: the GPU cooler seems to be the same as on some vanilla 6600's ( http://www.pccyber.ca/scrItem.asp?pr...roduct_id=4524 ) , that also have 8 pipes. and yes just some lapping and a set of ram coolers would improve it more :)

[Tyreal]

Ahh yes. Forgot about that. If its the same cooler than i wouldn't worry too much. As you mentioned, maybe a quick lap job and some ceramique should improve cooling nicely.

Ram coolers would be a welcome addition as well.

[gvblake22]

Very niiiiice! I can never put it past you bohdan to keep finding new cards to unlock!!! :D

What's the risk factor like with unlocking pipelines?

[Capper]

Sbohdan is our video card expert!!!!$200-300 for a video card? not a chance.... just ask Sbohdan to find you a card to unlock and save some money

[sbohdan]

Originally Posted by Capper

Sbohdan is our video card expert!!!!$200-300 for a video card? not a chance.... just ask Sbohdan to find you a card to unlock and save some money

hehe, just trying.

What's the risk factor like with unlocking pipelines?

none really. it eighter works or it doesn't. it depends on rivatuner or ATI tool, if they actually support the given card, also if there are any pipes to be opened (doh) and if the masking/locking is software or hardware related (some cards have their pipes laser cut, but even those can be bridged back sometimes) :D
sometimes (very rarely), the locked pipes are damaged and were locked because they didn't pass quality tests. even then, it's worthed to try to open even 1 or 2 pipes (it's extremely rare to have all pipes damaged). sometimes (ex: 6800LE) when there is 8 pipes to be opened, maybe 2 are damaged, but by opening the remaining 4, it will still give you quite a performance jump. also, some cards have a really crappy cooler and can't take the extra heat after opening the pipes. simply try first reaplying the TM and lapping the cooler or just get a good aftermarket cooler (better yet: mod one). when you open the pipes and if it's artifacting, then it's eighter the heat (more often) or very rarely 1 or more pipes are damaged. in the later case, try opening the pipes one by one to find out which one is damaged. in the unlikely event that all reopened pipes are damaged, just restore the default settings in rivatuner (there is a switch in the last window) and after reboot, everything goes back to default.

P.S: why not have a section or sticky in the video card forum about those cards that can be unlocked with guides that our members find on the net. it will guide those of us (most I guess :) ), who are out to get the best bang for the buck. it could be updated as new cards (and unlocking, OC'in ) emerge. even those that can't unlock but are great overclockers, could be included.

what you think :?: :?: :P
I did have this idea elsewhere, but no one picked up on it :(

[gvblake22]

Cool, thanks for the info 8)

[killswitch83]

hmmm........wow, ok, yeah, for a 45 dollar card to bring THAT to the table is completely worth it! I wouldn't have thought that a lower-end card like that would be using a core equivalent to a 6600 GT! Just crazy........I would slap on an AC Silencer and some AS 5 and do some severe fragging (BOOM! HEADSHOT!!, lol).

[sbohdan]

yeah, I mean where do you see an OC potential to raise the gpu speed from 300Mhz to 580Mhz on stock air (even with the pipes opened)? that's allmost twice the gpu speed and can probably go higher with better cooling :D
I'm tellin' you: after the tuneup, I was able to play doom3 and NFS most wanted with quite enjoyable settings and no lag
:D