[SOLVED] Need Advanced Tech Advice

Mar 5, 2021
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Hello everyone! Just joined Tom's Hardware!

I need advanced advice from any Tech who has dealt with components of graphics cards. I have bought two Nvidia GTX 760's 2GB with an SLI Bridge for $120. Not a bad deal at all. But that is not my true intention to use these graphic cards as is. I bought them for a theory of mine, which seems plausible.

The vram chipset/PCB for the Nvidia GTX 760 comes in 2GB & 4GB styles. But... Nvidia basically made the PCB board in one style, only difference is that one has 2GBs and one has 4GBs. On the 2GBs the prefix for the other 4 VRam clots are empty but 100% seems like if I bought the Hynix vram and soldered them on, technically I would have 4GBs of vram. The same amount of capacitors and cells are equal on either card. The only thing I know i might have to do is flash the bios and reinstall for the updated configuration.

So my question if anyone has tried this or can weigh in on it? Greatly appreciated.

Love to be a member.

Foxx
 
Solution
With more ram included (increased from 2Gbs to 4Gbs, equaling a total of 8Gbs of ram SLI.

Sli doesn't work that way. 2Gb + 2Gb = SLI 2Gb.

The way SLI works is each card works on half a frame, eg. top card works on the top half etc. So each card only has access to itself. The SLI bridge is there for the output of the second card, which is shunted into the primary card with the video output. So while the individual cards only have to render half the amount of pixels, the loss comes from the latency of the second card shipping it's half to the primary, and the primary having to combine both sides into a synchronous frame.

The bad part about SLI is its dependence on game code. If the game has little support for such, you won't...

delaro

Judicious
Ambassador
I'll give you a heads-up on micro soldering, it's not as easy as it looks. If you attempt that with a run-of-the-mill soldering iron your not going to get good adhesion and the chip will fail after a few warm/cool cycles if it boots at all. If your new to this aspect of rework I suggest an SMD station or a heat gun with 8-10mm tips. ;)
 
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There is no reason that wouldn't work but are you gaining much from doing it. :unsure: In the end, it's still a nearly 8-year-old GPU.

True, but either way two Gtx 760s with SLI match up with about a gtx 960/970. With more ram included (increased from 2Gbs to 4Gbs, equaling a total of 8Gbs of ram SLI. This would give the combined usage for rendering, fps, etc. In my thought that the two 4Gbs SLI 760s would pair about fair to the gtx 1050 (Of course without improving the overall clockspeed but have better texture mapping, rendering then the 1050)

Also, you can include mining as well for this. Thats its own story, which everyone is familiar with.

The price of the GTX 760 back in 2013 was $250 for the 2Gb. I believe $300 or $350 for the 4Gb. With the inflation due to 'mining' prices have been kinda unbalanced for the past few years. The 2Gb is worth about $100 now and the 4Gb is worth about $150 - $200. So a profitability would be an advantage for this mod if you can find cheap parts for the upgrade. Miners would pay these prices or beginner to gaming SLI. Most graphic card now a days are $300+ just for one graphics card that isn't even remotely near the present day pricing for great graphics cards.

For me though, just an experiment. Which when I get time, I will let everyone know how it went and the success or fail.
 
Mar 5, 2021
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I have seen a few video's of guys doing it with success and saw many try and fail. Its up to you. Good luck. Remember to change bios on gpu

Thank you, I was definately thinking that has to be done. I was going to look up if the 2Gb & 4Gb had the same bios or different. My guess would be the same since the PCB boards are the same. But I will double check.
 
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I'll give you a heads-up on micro soldering, it's not as easy as it looks. If you attempt that with a run-of-the-mill soldering iron your not going to get good adhesion and the chip will fail after a few warm/cool cycles if it boots at all. If your new to this aspect of rework I suggest an SMD station or a heat gun with 8-10mm tips. ;)

I'm familiar with soldering and I do microsoldering with a monocle magnifier, which hurts holding onto my eye as time progresses longer. Kinda like a jewler. I will eventually upgrade to a better pair. Yeah. I plan on upgrading my gun to one that can have assorted heads. Just have to read up on reviews on makes and models. I could use a heathen but thats 10x more riskier because your heating up the portion of the board itself and the actual chipset to a degree way hotter than what the graphics card would ever be. Thats out of the question for me. Thank you for the specific 8-10nm advice. Really helpful.
 
Mar 5, 2021
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There is no reason that wouldn't work but are you gaining much from doing it. :unsure: In the end, it's still a nearly 8-year-old GPU.

Also, another point doing this successfully, means that it could be possible for future prefix PCB boards already in rotation could be upgraded as well the same way.
 

delaro

Judicious
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True, but either way two Gtx 760s with SLI match up with about a gtx 960/970. With more ram included (increased from 2Gbs to 4Gbs, equaling a total of 8Gbs of ram SLI. This would give the combined usage for rendering, fps, etc. In my thought that the two 4Gbs SLI 760s would pair about fair to the gtx 1050 (Of course without improving the overall clockspeed but have better texture mapping, rendering then the 1050)

Also, you can include mining as well for this. Thats its own story, which everyone is familiar with.

The price of the GTX 760 back in 2013 was $250 for the 2Gb. I believe $300 or $350 for the 4Gb. With the inflation due to 'mining' prices have been kinda unbalanced for the past few years. The 2Gb is worth about $100 now and the 4Gb is worth about $150 - $200. So a profitability would be an advantage for this mod if you can find cheap parts for the upgrade. Miners would pay these prices or beginner to gaming SLI. Most graphic card now a days are $300+ just for one graphics card that isn't even remotely near the present day pricing for great graphics cards.

For me though, just an experiment. Which when I get time, I will let everyone know how it went and the success or fail.
SLI has never worked that great with Low-end GPU's or in general with any GPU combinations :unsure: Nvidia officially dropped driver support in January and has since moved on to NVLINK.

760s/660 TI are all about the same where mining is concerned, they are not very efficient and your not going to be able to just leave them mining the same things for long periods with the flux of the market. The profit will swing wildly between 12¢ to $5 dollars a week and that is only if "Coin Insert name" manages to hold its value for more than a few days.

More than $75 for a 760 seems high because you can find 970's for $78-$150 and that is with the digital crackhead marking crap up.

Also, another point doing this successfully, means that it could be possible for future prefix PCB boards already in rotation could be upgraded as well the same way.
The issue with that is voiding all warranty so as a moneymaker you're selling everything as "AS-IS" ...risky venture on high-end cards but yes it can be done on other GPU's and I've seen it pulled off recently on an RTX 3080 that booted up to 12Gb without a firmware flash.
 
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SLI has never worked that great with Low-end GPU's or in general with any GPU combinations :unsure: Nvidia officially dropped driver support in January and has since moved on to NVLINK.

760s/660 TI are all about the same where mining is concerned, they are not very efficient and your not going to be able to just leave them mining the same things for long periods with the flux of the market. The profit will swing wildly between 12¢ to $5 dollars a week and that is only if "Coin Insert name" manages to hold its value for more than a few days.

More than $75 for a 760 seems high because you can find 970's for $78-$150 and that is with the digital crackhead marking crap up.


The issue with that is voiding all warranty so as a moneymaker you're selling everything as "AS-IS" ...risky venture on high-end cards but yes it can be done on other GPU's and I've seen it pulled off recently on an RTX 3080 that booted up to 12Gb without a firmware flash.

Well in general its almost a decade old card, doubt the warranty matters at that point. Still an up sell from 2Gbs.

SLI & Crossfire I truly never had to much of a problem as long as Temps were good. Like I said this wasn't for me, just an experiment. Mining wise, its still not to shabby with a low end machine that isn't worth like $2000 or more. Plus its low power consumption, which is good. 970's used and working go for about $150 (low) and average about $200-225. Then comes the 1050/60/70/80 as you move up in price. This whole inflation for graphics cards is insane. Never searched this much for a good price card over Amazon, eBay, Craigslist, Facebook. Its crazy. Then you have to trust its a working graphics card, even though I know I could probably fix small problems but at the same time I kinda don't want to. Lol

Thanks for the info though.
 
That would work. Just make sure the BIOS file you pick would support your memory banks.
P.S Do not forget to change the bootstrap resistor configuration for different memory banks. Those will define timings etc.
Also, the chip revision and wiring is different for different cards so verify you have your hands on a chip that supports the other banks/locations - they differ by lanes and addressing.
Post your board version/revision, I might dig a boardview...
 
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That would work. Just make sure the BIOS file you pick would support your memory banks.
P.S Do not forget to change the bootstrap resistor configuration for different memory banks. Those will define timings etc.
Also, the chip revision and wiring is different for different cards so verify you have your hands on a chip that supports the other banks/locations - they differ by lanes and addressing.
Post your board version/revision, I might dig a boardview...

The only thing I know so far is 100% is all capacitors, cells and modular are exactly the same except the fact of the 4 vram modular slots are empty and already prefixed with the connection to be there. So hypothetically all I would have to do is find the vram chips, which is very hard to find specifics wise. I would exactly have to match to the others used in the system. I did find online what I believe its supposed to be (once I take off the shroud I can know what I'm dealing with)

Hynix
H5GQ2H24AFR-ROC 238A
∀WLK0883H6

Once I confirm this with both cards, then the search begins for what vram modular im going to need.
 
The only thing I know so far is 100% is all capacitors, cells and modular are exactly the same except the fact of the 4 vram modular slots are empty and already prefixed with the connection to be there. So hypothetically all I would have to do is find the vram chips, which is very hard to find specifics wise. I would exactly have to match to the others used in the system. I did find online what I believe its supposed to be (once I take off the shroud I can know what I'm dealing with)
Usually, there is no periphery (filters, decouplers etc) installed for missing memory banks, you would have to fill it yourself, all the resistors and caps.
The bootstrap has to be changed if the memory vendor is changed, so if you keep the same bank type - no need to touch it.
They are small enough to install with a heat gun after you get the balls in place, just make sure to stay within the temp envelope.
Is the core GK104? If so, I did not see any 4G variants anywhere (unless you try to build a k5000), send a link...
Hynix
H5GQ2H24AFR-ROC 238A
∀WLK0883H6
Found them here.
 
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Usually, there is no periphery (filters, decouplers etc) installed for missing memory banks, you would have to fill it yourself, all the resistors and caps.
The bootstrap has to be changed if the memory vendor is changed, so if you keep the same bank type - no need to touch it.
They are small enough to install with a heat gun after you get the balls in place, just make sure to stay within the temp envelope.
Is the core GK104? If so, I did not see any 4G variants anywhere (unless you try to build a k5000), send a link...

Found them here.

Yes, GK104 i believe. Yeah, I looked just in case but if the memory by chance is different, I may be able to switch out vram as long as its compatible. I'll update once I take the shroud off. Project start is Monday.
 
Technically it may be possible. Still RAM BGA chips must be replaced correctly. Without board preheating stand you may end with not evenly soldered or even skewed chips. Also you must add all missing single components as people above mentioned. And replace card firmware as well. Also you need soldering balls, proper stencil, proper flux etc. Good luck.

For example - how DIY RTX 2070 with 16GB RAM was made.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZirKi6P3nlc
 
Mar 5, 2021
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Technically it may be possible. Still RAM BGA chips must be replaced correctly. Without board preheating stand you may end with not evenly soldered or even skewed chips. Also you must add all missing single components as people above mentioned. And replace card firmware as well. Also you need soldering balls, proper stencil, proper flux etc. Good luck.

For example - how DIY RTX 2070 with 16GB RAM was made.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZirKi6P3nlc

Thank you, it isn't my first time for installing replacement components; just the first time with an attempt to upgrade a GPU. I have a micro lens so making sure everytjing is align will be tedious as usual. I actually have to buy a new solder gun and heat gun now because my DeWitt crapped out of me two days ago. 🙄 Damn Harbour freight lol
 

delaro

Judicious
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Thank you, it isn't my first time for installing replacement components; just the first time with an attempt to upgrade a GPU. I have a micro lens so making sure everytjing is align will be tedious as usual. I actually have to buy a new solder gun and heat gun now because my DeWitt crapped out of me two days ago. 🙄 Damn Harbour freight lol
Here save yourself some time and buy these, they are cheap options for this kind of work and they make life much easier.

SMD Station $55 " Soldering Iron and Heatgun with tips and better temp adjustment"

Lighted Magnifying Glass on a Stand $22 "300% Mag"

Proper BGA rework can be costly to get started, a IR BGA station starts around $400 then add preheaters, reballing stations, and stencils along with the disposable stuff you can hit around $600 as a low point. I have about $25K invested so far and that is still on the cheap side considering some of the drives I work on cost more than my car. 😕
 
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Here save yourself some time and buy these, they are cheap options for this kind of work and they make life much easier.

SMD Station $55 " Soldering Iron and Heatgun with tips and better temp adjustment"

Lighted Magnifying Glass on a Stand $22 "300% Mag"

Thank you again, put it on my wishlist till I get paid. Pretty good price for a workstation. Usually there about 125 - 250 depending on the brand and options. Definately going to pick this up.
 

delaro

Judicious
Ambassador
The elements will last you around 150 hours but the customer support is decent and you will get the first one under warranty "1 year". What annoys me is how inaccurate the temps get so use a thermocouple to monitor as your element burns down. As a practice, you should always monitor your temps even with the high-dollar Weller stuff. If you want something with a grade that is closer to an industrial unit then an Aoyue 968A was surprisingly good.
 

Karadjgne

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With more ram included (increased from 2Gbs to 4Gbs, equaling a total of 8Gbs of ram SLI.

Sli doesn't work that way. 2Gb + 2Gb = SLI 2Gb.

The way SLI works is each card works on half a frame, eg. top card works on the top half etc. So each card only has access to itself. The SLI bridge is there for the output of the second card, which is shunted into the primary card with the video output. So while the individual cards only have to render half the amount of pixels, the loss comes from the latency of the second card shipping it's half to the primary, and the primary having to combine both sides into a synchronous frame.

The bad part about SLI is its dependence on game code. If the game has little support for such, you won't get much out of the SLI, and SLI is restricted to DX11 titles. DX12 (included in Windows10 natively) is MultiGpu (mgpu) based and doesn't support SLI at all.

Imho, you'd be far better off reselling those 760's, preferably at break-even or even a profit, and investing that cash into a gtx970 or Rx480/580. You'll get your 4Gb, won't potentially ruin a card with soldering accidents, and have single card power exceeding the highest end supported games for the 760 pairing.
 
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Solution
Mar 5, 2021
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Sli doesn't work that way. 2Gb + 2Gb = SLI 2Gb.

The way SLI works is each card works on half a frame, eg. top card works on the top half etc. So each card only has access to itself. The SLI bridge is there for the output of the second card, which is shunted into the primary card with the video output. So while the individual cards only have to render half the amount of pixels, the loss comes from the latency of the second card shipping it's half to the primary, and the primary having to combine both sides into a synchronous frame.

The bad part about SLI is its dependence on game code. If the game has little support for such, you won't get much out of the SLI, and SLI is restricted to DX11 titles. DX12 (included in Windows10 natively) is MultiGpu (mgpu) based and doesn't support SLI at all.

Imho, you'd be far better off reselling those 760's, preferably at break-even or even a profit, and investing that cash into a gtx970 or Rx480/580. You'll get your 4Gb, won't potentially ruin a card with soldering accidents, and have single card power exceeding the highest end supported games for the 760 pairing.

Now since 2 + 2 = 2. Would that 2Gbs have a faster loading, running and process time than just one card? I believe yes. So two GTX 2gbs would perform better than 1 GTX 2gb. Not by much, I do agree. But like I said before, I'm just doing this for an experiment for myself. I know if I sold both with the SLI Bridge I can easily get $200 with a profit of $80 bucks. If I upgrade both to 4Gbs, then I can sell for $300 and make a profit of $155 minus the additive 512Mb vram chips needed (8), etc. With the market as is right now, im pretty sure were not seeing a drop in prices any time soon. But if I fail, I put it back to normal. If it breaks, it will be only one card at a time and can at least make my money back (or close to it) on 1 card and 1 SLI bridge. Last week I also bought a R9 390 Gaming 8Gb for $150 and today I look, what do you know a R9 390x 8Gb for $500... Even looked online amazon, Newegg, ebay and the prices were $400-600 used. Horrible. Way inflated the market is, especially that a GTX 1070 8Gb is about $350-500 and its a better graphics card than the 390x.

I do know about Crossfire/SLI being very dependant on game codes, direct X, etc but I do believe their will be a comeback in the future of gaming, mining, editing, etc. Sometimes it could be cheaper to buy a Crossfire/SLI combination than a heavy loaded GPU. I would love a 16GB+ GDDR6X card but I don't have a grand or more to drop on it. But in the long term; as long as it kept good, clean, properly overclocked & cooled, then it can last a long time before needing to upgrade. Just a heavy burden to pay up front all at once.

I do appreciate the input though. Thank you.
 

delaro

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Now since 2 + 2 = 2. Would that 2Gbs have a faster loading, running and process time than just one card? I believe yes. So two GTX 2gbs would perform better than 1 GTX 2gb. Not by much, I do agree. But like I said before, I'm just doing this for an experiment for myself. I know if I sold both with the SLI Bridge I can easily get $200 with a profit of $80 bucks. If I upgrade both to 4Gbs, then I can sell for $300 and make a profit of $155 minus the additive 512Mb vram chips needed (8), etc. With the market as is right now, im pretty sure were not seeing a drop in prices any time soon. But if I fail, I put it back to normal. If it breaks, it will be only one card at a time and can at least make my money back (or close to it) on 1 card and 1 SLI bridge. Last week I also bought a R9 390 Gaming 8Gb for $150 and today I look, what do you know a R9 390x 8Gb for $500... Even looked online amazon, Newegg, ebay and the prices were $400-600 used. Horrible. Way inflated the market is, especially that a GTX 1070 8Gb is about $350-500 and its a better graphics card than the 390x.

I do know about Crossfire/SLI being very dependant on game codes, direct X, etc but I do believe their will be a comeback in the future of gaming, mining, editing, etc. Sometimes it could be cheaper to buy a Crossfire/SLI combination than a heavy loaded GPU. I would love a 16GB+ GDDR6X card but I don't have a grand or more to drop on it. But in the long term; as long as it kept good, clean, properly overclocked & cooled, then it can last a long time before needing to upgrade. Just a heavy burden to pay up front all at once.

I do appreciate the input though. Thank you.

SLI has always sucked for mining, your cutting the hash rate in half over two independent cards. ;) Nvidia dropped SLI driver support in favor of Native Game Integrations under DX12 and Vulcan, the issue is it just hasn't been popular and the list of support gets smaller every year. NVLINK/xGMI are superior in every way but the support still isn't growing by leaps and bounds.
 
Mar 5, 2021
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SLI has always sucked for mining, your cutting the hash rate in half over two independent cards. ;) Nvidia dropped SLI driver support in favor of Native Game Integrations under DX12 and Vulcan, the issue is it just hasn't been popular and the list of support gets smaller every year. NVLINK/xGMI are superior in every way but the support still isn't growing by leaps and bounds.

I did not know about that for mining, I thought it would be better rates due to OC performance. Maybe it isn't worth it but I'm still gonna attempt an upgrade on one, still more profitable due to this inflation. Or I may just upgrade them and use them independently for an addition to a heavy mining rig. I know about NVLink but give it a bit of time, it will make a comeback. Like I said its cheaper atm to do a rig like that than pay an enormous about of money for a high end heavy GPU.