[zzpulp]

These are all the Dell 6 and 7 series Enthusiast GPU roms that I know of. I have included different versions of these roms and these different versions are described below.

Versions

• Version A - These are typically the stock roms for the GPU and are odd-byte locked. This means that typically this rom will lock the user from overclocking with older drivers and allow the user to overclock with newer drivers.
  
• Version B - These are typically referred to as unlocked roms and are even-byte locked. This means that typically this rom will allow the user to overclock with older drivers and lock the user from overclocking with newer drivers.
  
• Version Z - These are new and referred to as universally unlocked. This means that these roms are unlocked for all driver versions old and new.

SPECIAL NOTE: I have just seen that the "universally unlocked" rom does not work on the 185.68 making me feel like a fool. There was actually logic in the chosen lock bytes and I figured it would always work. Nvidia released some new drivers just to screw this up. I stopped working on this because I stopped caring since I don't software OC, but I suppose I will look back into this soon enough. Expect an update in the next month. I have a few ideas that might prove to work.

Archived Files


The following Roms are compatible with lower-"series" cards*:

*To perform these flashes, you must use the following command:
nvflash -4 -5 -6 romname.rom , where romname is the particular rom you want to use.

Notes:

• Romnames are not case-sensitive in DOS.
  
• The lock byte refers to coolbits driver-level overclocking in Linux/Windows/Mac. This is higher-level overclocking and is the way all 6 and 7 series cards are overclocked. As far as I know, no one has made an app that overclocks these cards lower-level. Theoretically though, the lock byte would hold no significance if overclocked lower-level.
  
• The 6800 go vanilla and 7800 go vanilla were both released with Version B as their stock rom.
  
• The reason for the newer revisions on the cards seems to be to use lower quality parts to manufacture cards cheaper. Hence, Revision 1 cards, for the most part, cannot overclock nearly as much as Revision 0 cards.
  
• Dell does not support overclocking and thus you perform these modifications under your own discretion.
  
• The 2500M and 7900GTX roms are also Rev for Rev compatible, but since they have virtually identical performance, I have not listed it in the Compatible Rom list. (They should be at least. Testing this out shouldn't kill your card but again its at your own risk)
  
• The 3500M and 7950GTX roms are not REV for REV compatible but flashing it will not kill your card. You will just have to blind flash it back. I am working on this right now.

How to Use:

• Bootable CD - Download the bootable iso below and burn it. Then reboot and press F12 at the BIOS screen to enter selective startup. Choose the cd and then choose the first option to boot the cd. Wait for the prompt and then use the nvflash romname.rom command where romname is the name of the rom you wish to flash. After the flash is done, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to reboot.
  
• Bootable USB - Follow the instructions here to createa bootable flash drive. Ignore the extra information about blind flashing. Now download the self extracing exe below and put all the files on the flash drive. Reboot and press F12 at the BIOS screen to enter selective startup. Choose to boot from the USB storage device and wait for the prompt. Use the nvflash romname.rom command where romname is the name of the rom you wish to use. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to reboot.
  
• Inside Windows - Download the self extracting exe, open the command prompt and use the cd command to go to the directory where the extracted files are. Use the nvflash romname.rom command where romname is the name of the rom you wish to use. Reboot.

Example nvFlash Usage:

nvflash 795GTXZ.rom

Remember you use these ROMS at YOUR OWN RISK

Files

Self-extracting exe

Bootable Iso

[mobilenvidia]

Thats great ZZ
Thanks for going to all this effort.

[zzpulp]

Which section of this forum do you recommend me putting this so that it is publicly viewable? The only section I think it applies to (Mobile NVIDIA Video BIOS Resource) is read-only.

Edit: Nevermind, I see this is in the news section.

[mobilenvidia]

zzpulp, on Feb 25 2008, 04:21 PM, said:

Which section of this forum do you recommend me putting this so that it is publicly viewable? The only section I think it applies to (Mobile NVIDIA Video BIOS Resource) is read-only.

Edit: Nevermind, I see this is in the news section.

I'll shift it to the BIOS section and pin it there once it works it's way down the news.

[Leo]

Does the 7900 gtx rev1 have the memory optimizations the original 7900gtx has. My 7900gs rev 0 died and now my rev1 can't oc for anything.

[mobilenvidia]

An already very good post just got better.
Great work ZZ

[Unconnected]

Hi All.

I have a 7900GS.. Does installing the 7900GTX Rom make it a 7900GTX?
I.e. is the hardware the same with a different ROM or is is this likely to over stress my 7900GS?

[zzpulp]

Leo, on Feb 26 2008, 06:55 AM, said:

Does the 7900 gtx rev1 have the memory optimizations the original 7900gtx has. My 7900gs rev 0 died and now my rev1 can't oc for anything.

Sorry, I have only owned the 7950GTX and the 6800 Ultra. I really cannot say what performance increases you will get by using the rev1 GTX BIOS as I don't have a rev1 GS. I know of one user that reported that his rev1 GS could not perform well at stock GTX clocks. In this case, you may have to dial it down a notch (but still keep the rom overclocked in reference to the stock GS BIOS). I am relying on people such as you to tell me how things go.

I imagine the rev1 GTX BIOS will allow you to overclock a bit further than the GS rev1 BIOS but I cant guarantee anything. One thing to keep in mind is that although you are using a GTX BIOS, your performance increase will not be nearly as high as the rev0 GS -> rev0 GTX simply because the rev1 GS uses lower quality parts (memory for sure). I really shouldn't say lower quality parts, rather parts rated for lower speeds, but you get the point.

[zzpulp]

Unconnected, on Feb 26 2008, 08:52 AM, said:

Hi All.

I have a 7900GS.. Does installing the 7900GTX Rom make it a 7900GTX?
I.e. is the hardware the same with a different ROM or is is this likely to over stress my 7900GS?

No, the hardware is not the same. Namely, the cards differ in memory size with the GS having 256 MB GDDR3 and the GTX having 512 MB GDDR3. Any kind of overclocking presents to potential to over stress your card. There are usually tell-tale signs of this, however, such as instability and heat output. You guys are walking into (mostly) untreaded territory and someone has to be a pioneer.

[Leo]

I know the core for sure cannot overclock at all before my rev0 was at 580/750ish on vista. I was using it however at 475/600 and it still died. The rev1 I have now artifacts like crazy if I leave the volt at 1 and turn core ~475 on vista desktop. If i change the volt to 1.24, desktop is ok but certain 3dmark06 test has artifacts and crazy blinking glitches (the snow test). I didn't bother with the memory since the core cannot be OC much to make it worthwhile.

This post has been edited by Leo: 26 February 2008 - 04:33 AM

[zzpulp]

Yeah, I'm unsure how useful the GTX Bios will be to rev1 GS users given the constraints of the rev1 GS. That said, nothing's wrong with a little experimentation.

[domieatworld]

hi!

does anybody have a unlocked 7800go rom for me? because the unlocked 7800gtx rom doesn't work ...

thanx

[zzpulp]

If you have a copy of the 7800go rom then I can unlock it for you.

[domieatworld]

hi zzpulp!

thanks a lot!

how can I send you the file?

Myself tried it with the non dell standard clocks (400/800). but it had a lots of artifactes and the display was black after one minute...
I thought I had damaged my card but I could flash it back

sorry for my english, it is bad! but I hope you will understand me

[jtrot1000]

Flashing my 7900 GS to 7900 GTX (rev 0) works great!

There is really a significant performance increase.

Thanks a lot zzpulp!

[zzpulp]

I will upload the 7800go rom when I get a chance. It is at the Remository at mvktech for anyone that cannot wait. Anyway, I think that rom is also unlocked by default so I will not have both a stock and unlocked rom. A user mentioned using the 7800GTX unlocked rom and not being able to OC with it. If that was the case, then try to flash the 7800GTX stock rom and try again.

I have read recently that users that cannot OC with the unlocked rom are having success when flashing back to the stock rom (and more specifically, I have heard a testament directly from a 7800GTX user)

[zzpulp]

domieatworld, on Feb 27 2008, 06:43 PM, said:

hi!

does anybody have a unlocked 7800go rom for me? because the unlocked 7800gtx rom doesn't work ...

thanx

You know what? I just thought that just because a card was "unlocked" by default (direct from Dell) doesn't mean that we (specifically I) do not need to make/upload "locked" versions. Now that these "locked" versions are allowing overclocking on newer drivers, it seems it will be necessary to go back and make a locked 6800go and 7800go rom to allow software overclocking with (most) newer drivers. Or maybe I can find an in between for older and newer drivers eh? Only 16 values to go through, I'll report back with my findings.

This does not mean that the same corresponds for the 8 series cards that are "unlocked" by default. There really is no lock byte that I know of on these cards so they should be safe from these driver level locks.