Mod the Ultra-D to SLI-D Picture Tutorial

[red930]

If you try this with your own rig and blow it up, it's your own fault

for paying attention to what I write here. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

 

Ok, here's the deal.

 

I've been doing some research the last few weeks. From the most reliable source I have, every nVidia nF4 Ultra chipset DFI has used to date, and that DFI has in raw stock waiting to be used, can be be modded to an SLI chipset. DFI has thousands of boards either assembled or in the manufacturing chain that can be modded from Ultra to SLI.

 

Regardless of what you have read before, nVidia shipped tens of thousands of Ultra chipsets that are easily modded to SLI. These chips are in the manufacturing chain and have been used since day one of motherboard production. If the numbers hold up, it will be months before the Ultra chipsets are all used up. There is inventory in the tens of thousands that haven't been installed on motherboards just waiting to be modded.

 

This means that if you have purchased or plan to purchase a DFI Ultra-D motherboard, you can be assured that it can be modded to fully functional SLI status.

 

Now I can already hear you thinking that you would love to do it but nVidia will change the drivers to block SLI on an Ultra chipset.

 

That can not happen. By performing the mod on the chipset you are turning the Ultra into an SLI. This is a physical change that no driver in the world can detect. Once you close the contacts on the Ultra chipset it is now an SLI chipset.

 

There are absolutely no driver issues involved since the chipset will now be as much an SLI as a "factory" SLI chipset.

 

Now that we've got that under control here's the info you need.

 

The mod is very easy and doesn't take very long.

I spent some time a couple of days ago with a Buds nF4 Ultra-D board.

 

I stopped by Radio Shack and got an tube of CircuitWriter on my

way over to his house carrying my 6600GT and SLI bridge.

 

Pulled the motherboard tray, removed the motherboard from the tray,

popped the Chipset cooler off and cleaned up the TIM.

 

Under a magnifying lamp, we found the circuit to complete and masked it off

with clear tape. I used an Exacto Knife to cut the epoxy coating down to the contact point then scraped the coating off.

 

 

Alcohol 91% cleaned off any residue that remained.

 

You can do the mod with a #2 pencil like I did. I used a Faber pencil since it has the lowest electrical resistance I could find.

 

 

I cleared the CMOS and reset BIOS defaults. Rebooted then set the BIOS

as desired.

 

With one card and one stick of RAM everything was a go. The chipset was detected as SLI by the nVidia driver.

 

Shutdown, changed SLI jumpers, mounted both cards and SLI bridge, cleared CMOS and reset BIOS defaults. Rebooted then set the BIOS as desired.

 

This time it booted, found the SLI and started the configuration wizard. The cards installed and before long we were off to benchmarking.

 

In less than an hour we went from plain Ultra-D to SLI-D, including tear down and assembly, running the 71.84 driver.

 

The mod works perfectly. Just take your time and do it right.

 

When I was done with the #2 pencil mod I went back and competed the circuit with the CircuitWriter applicator from Radio Shack. It's $13.00 USD and works great.

 

After making the trace, I applied a heat source and waited for 30 minutes. Put some AS5 on the Chipset cooler and started putting things back together.

 

In hind-sight, I probably didn't need to mask the area. Just need a steady hand

 

I'm sure you guys will have questions but remember there is no way I can reveal my source.

 

ExRoadie

[babyelf]

good guide man..

[Tedy]

excellent but 20$ for SLI bridge ? geeze. and 15-20$ for and you got real SLI-D.

[THunDA]

Excellent post ExRoadie..

 

Ive always like Leadtek cards and now that they are selling the packages like that I might pick up one in a few months.. when im not broke..lol.. Selling the bridge by itself is nice too it will help out those people that did the mod and have been searching all over for the darn bridge..

 

Good guide on the SLI mod too.. Im not even running SLI but my board is modded.. Its so dam easy I figured what the heck and did it just so I can see it say SLI when I boot up..

[babyelf]

Im not even running SLI but my board is modded.. Its so dam easy I figured what the heck and did it just so I can see it say SLI when I boot up..

 

same here lol :nod:

[Guest Booger]

Not pretty but works! Used windshield defroster repair kit goop. (copper based) That's what I get for consuming beer and modding! What a mess.

[THunDA]

Not pretty but works! Used windshield defroster repair kit goop. (copper based) That's what I get for consuming beer and modding! What a mess.

 

 

lol.. I think all you needed was one line..hehe.. jk

 

None the less it works and thats what counts..

[Guest Booger]

That's interesting that my chip is korean and roadie's is taiwanese. I guess just different fab's punching these babies out? Wonder where else they might be made? Sorry, nothing to do w/sli mod

[dog2525]

i got a question.

after you mod it don't you have to get the drivers that are made for the sli.?

or is it just plung and play

[THunDA]

That's interesting that my chip is korean and roadie's is taiwanese. I guess just different fab's punching these babies out? Wonder where else they might be made? Sorry, nothing to do w/sli mod

 

They are all the same.. prolly just born is different places..hehe..

 

 

 

 

i got a question.

after you mod it don't you have to get the drivers that are made for the sli.?

or is it just plung and play

 

 

You dont need ANY special hacked drivers to get it to work.. Once the mod is done you officially ( well kinda ) have a SLI mobo.. There is NO difference and all you need to do is use whatever drivers from Nvidia that support SLI..

 

There is NO way for the drivers to know that it is a modded mobo..

[dog2525]

nice

[zeero]

I heard starting a few months ago that the newest drivers prevent you from modding to SLi too

 

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2337