Hi Guys
Let's face it, we're all here to gain as much performance out of our systems as we possibly can. One way of doing this is via volt mods, on both graphics cards and motherboards. Performing a volt mod on your graphics card benefits the cards overclocking potential by providing more voltage, so it is stable at faster frequencies. This guide is obviously dealing with graphic cards and a motherboard one shall follow later. This guide is also generic in nature, because it covers both ATI and Nvidia cards. In order for me to cover both manufacturers, would have taken considerably more time.
Warning: As with all overclocking, there are added benefits such as increased performance, but there is always the possibility that your hardware may snuff it (you could always use a new paper weight for your desk right?). In the event that component failure occurs, SysXtreme shall not be held accountable or in any way warrant, damage caused by following this guide. If you can't afford to lose your graphics card and replace it if things go pear shaped, then you probably shouldn't attempt this. Further, volt-modding, if recognised, makes all manufacturers warranty obligations void. So you should do everything neatly to be able to unsolder all back again in case of the card’s death. If you have an old spare graphics card kicking around the house, by all means give it a whirl, but remember....you have been warned!!!
Gear required
*Soldering Iron (medium power with 1mm tip)
*2B pencil
*Multmeter (digital is preferred as it is more accurate)
*Non conductive tape (PVC electrical tape is best)
*Pointy nosed pliers or tweezers (maybe)
*Solder
What is volt modding?
Volt modding is the art of increasing the voltage to a chip via hardware rather than software means. It can involve soldering a resistor to the circuit board but the quick and dirty method is to draw a line between two contacts with a soft pencil - the graphite in the pencil provides the required conductivity. The hardest part is knowing what to mod. If you search around the Web you can generally find voltage modding instructions for most popular video cards. It is possible to work it out for yourself, but you'll need a decent knowledge of electronics and copies of data sheets for the chips on your card to confirm what all the contacts do. If you're interested in volt modding, VR-Zone has a really cool rundown on the basics of it here
The chosen volt mod recipient...the Nvidia 6600GT (AGP)
The 6600GT AGP is a slightly different beast from the 6600GT PCI Express and as such, the voltage has to be modded in a different way.
Step 1.
First, measure the default voltage of your 6600GT AGP at the back of the card from the point indicated:
Step 2.
Place the red tip of your multimeter on the point and the black tip of your multimeter on any grounded spot and it should read around 1.45v when the PC is running.
Now flip the card over and focus on the area indicated below:
Step 3.
Look out for resistor A.
Measure the resistance of resistor A, it should read around 420ohms.
To increase the voltage, you can either pencil shade this resistor with a pencil, or solder on a 10K ohms variable resistor.
Step 4.
Pencil shade this resistor and bringing the resistance of it down from 420 ohms to 370ohms will give a +0.1v increase. Measure resistance before turning on the pc of course and go down slowly.
You can also solder a 10K ohms variable resistor from one end of resistor A to the other. Set it at maximum resistance 10K ohms and tune down to increase voltage.
#Note: Because the air inside your PC is dry and has lots of air moving around, you need to protect your work otherwise the graphite gets blown off and the effectiveness of your mod gradually reduces. Cut a piece of the PVC tape and stick it over the modded resistor, you may find the tweezers helps to position this correctly. Of course, with increased voltage, be sure to improve your GPU cooling and place RAM sinks on all the RAM ! Have fun modding
For your reference
As I said previously that this guide was to cover both ATI and Nvidia graphics cards, I have taken the liberty of listing some of the volt mods for you.
ATI
Radeon 9600pro / 9600xt --> here
Radeon 9800np / 9800pro --> here
Radeon 9800xt --> here
Radeon x800pro / x800xt --> here
Radeon x800 / x800xl / x850 --> here
Nvidia
Geforce fx 5900le / Geforce fx 5900se / Geforce fx 5900xt --> here
Geforce fx 5900nu / Geforce fx 5900ultra / Geforce fx 5950 --> here
Geforce 6600gt agp --> here
Geforce 6800ultra / Geforce 6800gt --> here
Geforce 6800ultra 512mb pcie --> here
Some information gleaned from VR-Zone and Overclockers forum
Let's face it, we're all here to gain as much performance out of our systems as we possibly can. One way of doing this is via volt mods, on both graphics cards and motherboards. Performing a volt mod on your graphics card benefits the cards overclocking potential by providing more voltage, so it is stable at faster frequencies. This guide is obviously dealing with graphic cards and a motherboard one shall follow later. This guide is also generic in nature, because it covers both ATI and Nvidia cards. In order for me to cover both manufacturers, would have taken considerably more time.
Warning: As with all overclocking, there are added benefits such as increased performance, but there is always the possibility that your hardware may snuff it (you could always use a new paper weight for your desk right?). In the event that component failure occurs, SysXtreme shall not be held accountable or in any way warrant, damage caused by following this guide. If you can't afford to lose your graphics card and replace it if things go pear shaped, then you probably shouldn't attempt this. Further, volt-modding, if recognised, makes all manufacturers warranty obligations void. So you should do everything neatly to be able to unsolder all back again in case of the card’s death. If you have an old spare graphics card kicking around the house, by all means give it a whirl, but remember....you have been warned!!!
Gear required
*Soldering Iron (medium power with 1mm tip)
*2B pencil
*Multmeter (digital is preferred as it is more accurate)
*Non conductive tape (PVC electrical tape is best)
*Pointy nosed pliers or tweezers (maybe)
*Solder
What is volt modding?
Volt modding is the art of increasing the voltage to a chip via hardware rather than software means. It can involve soldering a resistor to the circuit board but the quick and dirty method is to draw a line between two contacts with a soft pencil - the graphite in the pencil provides the required conductivity. The hardest part is knowing what to mod. If you search around the Web you can generally find voltage modding instructions for most popular video cards. It is possible to work it out for yourself, but you'll need a decent knowledge of electronics and copies of data sheets for the chips on your card to confirm what all the contacts do. If you're interested in volt modding, VR-Zone has a really cool rundown on the basics of it here
The chosen volt mod recipient...the Nvidia 6600GT (AGP)
The 6600GT AGP is a slightly different beast from the 6600GT PCI Express and as such, the voltage has to be modded in a different way.
Step 1.
First, measure the default voltage of your 6600GT AGP at the back of the card from the point indicated:
Step 2.
Place the red tip of your multimeter on the point and the black tip of your multimeter on any grounded spot and it should read around 1.45v when the PC is running.
Now flip the card over and focus on the area indicated below:
Step 3.
Look out for resistor A.
Measure the resistance of resistor A, it should read around 420ohms.
To increase the voltage, you can either pencil shade this resistor with a pencil, or solder on a 10K ohms variable resistor.
Step 4.
Pencil shade this resistor and bringing the resistance of it down from 420 ohms to 370ohms will give a +0.1v increase. Measure resistance before turning on the pc of course and go down slowly.
You can also solder a 10K ohms variable resistor from one end of resistor A to the other. Set it at maximum resistance 10K ohms and tune down to increase voltage.
#Note: Because the air inside your PC is dry and has lots of air moving around, you need to protect your work otherwise the graphite gets blown off and the effectiveness of your mod gradually reduces. Cut a piece of the PVC tape and stick it over the modded resistor, you may find the tweezers helps to position this correctly. Of course, with increased voltage, be sure to improve your GPU cooling and place RAM sinks on all the RAM ! Have fun modding
For your reference
As I said previously that this guide was to cover both ATI and Nvidia graphics cards, I have taken the liberty of listing some of the volt mods for you.
ATI
Radeon 9600pro / 9600xt --> here
Radeon 9800np / 9800pro --> here
Radeon 9800xt --> here
Radeon x800pro / x800xt --> here
Radeon x800 / x800xl / x850 --> here
Nvidia
Geforce fx 5900le / Geforce fx 5900se / Geforce fx 5900xt --> here
Geforce fx 5900nu / Geforce fx 5900ultra / Geforce fx 5950 --> here
Geforce 6600gt agp --> here
Geforce 6800ultra / Geforce 6800gt --> here
Geforce 6800ultra 512mb pcie --> here
Some information gleaned from VR-Zone and Overclockers forum
nice work champ
was fun tho ... 
