Good News for GeForce 6-series owners!

[angshuman]

As a lot of people suspected long back, the 6-series GeForce cards were always capable of performing Transparency AA. Nvidia had kept the feature locked away in the drivers as a 7-series exclusive. It seems there were a couple of hacks with Rivatuner etc. through which it was possible to turn on the feature, but it is now available through official Nvidia drivers.

 

http://nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=74790

[SteveThaiBinh]

Hey, I have an nVidia GeForce 6600GT! Do you mean that they sold it to me with some of the features locked away so I couldn't use them? Is that even legal?

[Pidesco]

They do it all the time.

[Kaftan Barlast]

I remember back in the days of the Gf3 and 4, the only differance between a 200$ Geforce 4 and a 2000$ Quadro workstation 3D card was the firmware, who could easily be updated

[jaguars4ever]

The Quadro worstation also came with a hot chick though, Kaftan. The advertising doesn't lie - what you see is what you get.

[SteveThaiBinh]

The Quadro worstation also came with a hot chick...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So they're liars and slavers, eh? That's it, I'm switching to ATI.

[Kaftan Barlast]

But its the good form of slavery, not the one invovling ethnic minorities and cotton! Its perfectly harmless!

[Pidesco]

As far as I know ATI does the same crap as Nvidia. I guess they do it with Canadian chicks, though.

[taks]

Do you mean that they sold it to me with some of the features locked away so I couldn't use them?  Is that even legal?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sure. you paid for exactly what you got, a 6600. that there are extra features is only gravy if you figure it out. the 6800 GT is easily upgraded to ultra status with rivatuner (minus DAC/memory speed), for example, by simply turning on the additional pipes.

 

in the world of semiconductors, it is quite common, btw. FPGAs are binned for speed (uh, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, the things the "firmware" goes into). AMD/Intel processors could be mucked with externally in the past to change their operating frequencies (there was a big stink about Intel locking the ability a while back). they were the same chips, just configured differently.

 

reliability is always an issue, however, because typically a chip is only tested to the level at which it is sold. that means, probably, that the transparency AA on a 6x Nvidia card was not tested (this makes it cheaper, too, since they don't have to go through the same level of quality control).

 

taks

[taks]

i'm curious, however... is there a performance hit if you turn it on? i would assume so, but you never really know.

 

taks

[Arkan]

What exactly does Transparency AA do?

 

And what's this about making a 6800GT an "Ultra?" Explain, please (in more lay terms).

[Pidesco]

What exactly does Transparency AA do?

 

And what's this about making a 6800GT an "Ultra?" Explain, please (in more lay terms).

 

Info on Transparency AA:

 

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/transparency_aa.html

 

Tutorial on unlocking pipelines:

 

http://www.ngohq.com/showthread.php?t=268

 

 

Hope this helps.

[angshuman]

IIRC the 6800GT and Ultra had the same number of pipelines. The only differences were the memory and core clock speed (I think the DAC speeds are the same too. In fact, I believe the DAC speeds are the same across *all* video cards and have nothing to do with performance. Isn't the DAC simply a converter that generates the final RGB signal? If you're using a DVI connection the DAC is probably not used at all. I could be wrong though.)

 

As far as unlocking pipelines goes, I think you're talking about the AGP version of the "vanilla" 6800 (also known as the 6800nu), which had 4 masked pipelines that you could unlock to get the GPU core (but not memory) up to 6800GT specs.

 

 

 

@Arkan: Take a look at the screenshots in the nvnews.net thread I linked to. Regular antialiasing cannot handle aliasing resulting from transparencies (typically used in fences, trees, grass, ladders, etc.) If you have HL2, go to the bridge level in Highway 17 and you'll see what a difference TAA can make.

[Arkan]

What exactly does Transparency AA do?

 

And what's this about making a 6800GT an "Ultra?" Explain, please (in more lay terms).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Info on Transparency AA:

 

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/transparency_aa.html

 

Tutorial on unlocking pipelines:

 

http://www.ngohq.com/showthread.php?t=268

 

Hope this helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmm...I can't seem to download the rivatuner program

 

edit: n/m

Edited August 10, 2006 by Arkan

[Arkan]

As far as unlocking pipelines goes, I think you're talking about the AGP version of the "vanilla" 6800 (also known as the 6800nu), which had 4 masked pipelines that you could unlock to get the GPU core (but not memory) up to 6800GT specs.

 

 

 

@Arkan: Take a look at the screenshots in the nvnews.net thread I linked to. Regular antialiasing cannot handle aliasing resulting from transparencies (typically used in fences, trees, grass, ladders, etc.) If you have HL2, go to the bridge level in Highway 17 and you'll see what a difference TAA can make.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, this only works for AGP cards. Sucks. Oh well.

[taks]

IIRC the 6800GT and Ultra had the same number of pipelines. The only differences were the memory and core clock speed (I think the DAC speeds are the same too.

uh, no. i have a GT and managed to turn on two extra pipes. the GT is the same core as the ultra, just less pipes (untested, and not always working when turned on, though mine are working).

 

In fact, I believe the DAC speeds are the same across *all* video cards and have nothing to do with performance. Isn't the DAC simply a converter that generates the final RGB signal? If you're using a DVI connection the DAC is probably not used at all. I could be wrong though.)

i don't think the DAC speeds are the same, though it would not make any processor performance difference either way... just a crisper screen.

 

As far as unlocking pipelines goes, I think you're talking about the AGP version of the "vanilla" 6800 (also known as the 6800nu), which had 4 masked pipelines that you could unlock to get the GPU core (but not memory) up to 6800GT specs.

nope, GT to ultra.

 

taks

[taks]

Yeah, this only works for AGP cards. Sucks. Oh well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

my card is agp, btw.

 

taks

[angshuman]

uh, no.  i have a GT and managed to turn on two extra pipes.  the GT is the same core as the ultra, just less pipes (untested, and not always working when turned on, though mine are working).

...

nope, GT to ultra.

Both the Ultra and the GT have 16 *functional* pixel shaders and 16 ROP's each, in both AGP as well as PCI-e form. Some references:

• AGP 6800 Ultra vs. GT
  
• PCI-E 6800 Ultra vs. GT
  
• Tom's VGA Chart
  

I have no idea how you managed to turn on 2 extra pipes on your GT. Did you buy the card recently? Maybe you managed to get hold of an uncommon card from somewhere? A 7800 labeled as a 6800 perhaps? Could you give the detailed un-modded specs of your card - Core clock, memory clock, vertex shaders, pixel shaders and ROPs? Did you go from 12 --> 14 or 14 --> 16 or 16 --> 18?

Edited August 11, 2006 by angshuman

[Pidesco]

I think it's not unusual for even top cards to come with blocked pipes. The 7600GT, for example, is the best card there is with the G73 core but still has 4 blocked pipelines.

[angshuman]

Yes, that's how the 7-series GPUs happen to be configured and sold by Nvidia. The 7800GTX has 24 pipes, the 7800GT has 20, the 7600GT has 12 (was it 16?) etc. The 6-series was configured as follows: 6800 Ultra = 16, 6800 GT = 16, 6800 = 12, 6800XT = 8, 6600GT = 8, etc. The NV40 and NV45 cores had a maximum of 16 pipes, whether they were enabled or not. Of these, only the AGP 6800 had masked pipes. ASUS also tried to dupe a few customers by selling a "6800 GTO" which was essentially an overclocked 6800 and nowhere close to a real GT. Gainward sometimes does the reverse, i.e., sell a higher-end GPU as a lower-end "golden sample". However, these are extremely rare occurrences.

 

Gah! we're wasting precious forum space over a silly argument . Bottomline, as we all know, is that masked pipes do exist, and it doesn't hurt to download RivaTuner and give it a shot. Taks, I think you somehow managed to get hold of a 7800GS badged as a 6800GT!

[Pidesco]

Also, unfortunately, 7-series Geforces have their unused pipes laser cut so you can't use Rivatuner to unlock them.

[Accelerator]

I have a GeForce 6800 GT (upgraded from FX 5900 recently) and from my 3DMark scores it is pretty evident that I am having the complete 16-pipeline edition.

 

I think the other poster may be talking about the 6800 GS rather than GT.

 

It is a good thing to see this transparency AA on GF6 cards. I hope it is made a standard feature and not exposed to one driver only.

[WITHTEETH]

Thanks, I'm installing these now.

[Accelerator]

Thanks, I'm installing these now. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If you want to install ForceWare 91.45 on anything other than a GeForce 7950GX2, then you will need a modified nv4_disp.inf file. In this case, I recommend you to download these drivers from the below link:

 

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1468

 

In this link, the file is pre-modded to include support for common GeForce cards.

[taks]

I have no idea how you managed to turn on 2 extra pipes on your GT. Did you buy the card recently? Maybe you managed to get hold of an uncommon card from somewhere? A 7800 labeled as a 6800 perhaps? Could you give the detailed un-modded specs of your card - Core clock, memory clock, vertex shaders, pixel shaders and ROPs? Did you go from 12 --> 14 or 14 --> 16 or 16 --> 18?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

offhand, i'm not sure as i did not purchase it through newegg, i.e. i don't have the order history handy. i'll check.

 

i agree, however, it is screwy. i turned on a total of 4 units, though i do not recall which.

 

taks