Unlocking a video card?

What does it mean to unlock a video card? Is it the same thing as overclocking?

To 'unlock' a videocard means to enabled the extra pipelines disabled by default, it is different from overclocking.

This was possible with older cards:

• ATI 9500/9500pro/9800SE
• ATI X800 PRO AGP VIVO
• ATI X800 PRO PCIE / VIVO
• ATI X800GT/X800/GTO/GTO2 PCIE
• ATI X850 PRO PCIE
• Nvidia 6800/6800LE AGP
• Nvidia 6200 (only older NV43 revision)

is it still possible? I read sumwhere saying that you can unlock a GTX 460 or GTX 465 into a GTX 470. Is unlocking consider illegal?

imeem said:

is it still possible? I read sumwhere saying that you can unlock a GTX 460 or GTX 465 into a GTX 470. Is unlocking consider illegal?

well i never heard that, but its notlike the police can kick down your door because youunlocked the easter egg on your hardware. you own that hardware and if you want to possibly use faulty pipes thats your business.

I think wiki or sumthing said that ATI and nvidia has been trying to stop users unlocking or something.

This is an example. Guide on how to unlock GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470 - XtremeSystems Forums

imeem said:

I think wiki or sumthing said that ATI and nvidia has been trying to stop users unlocking or something.

This is an example. Guide on how to unlock GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470 - XtremeSystems Forums

of course they are trying to stop it. why would they want someone to buy a cheaper part, only to make it the same as one of their more powerful parts which usualy costs more? they lose out.

cloud8521 said:

imeem said:

I think wiki or sumthing said that ATI and nvidia has been trying to stop users unlocking or something.

This is an example. Guide on how to unlock GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470 - XtremeSystems Forums

of course they are trying to stop it. why would they want someone to buy a cheaper part, only to make it the same as one of their more powerful parts which usualy costs more? they lose out.

But is it illegal to unlock?

thefabe said:

It's not Illegal ,but you still run a risk.(besides losing your warranty)
Say your card is a GTX460 and it's because it was originally supposed to be a GTX465/GTX470 but the unlocked pipelines where causing the card to have issues, so they locked the bad pipes in order to have the card run at GTX 460 speeds and stability with them locked.

I had a card years ago and I think it was a 6800 but it had 2 extra pipelines I could unlock through Riva Tuner, Only thing was when I unlocked them the card became extremely unstable and caused artifacts ect.
So that was when I figured they were locked for a reason.
I'm sure that not every card will react the same, this is just my opinion as to why mine were locked in the first place. Fabe

not always true. sometimes they lock them just because it means that more people will buy, so they will make more money. because not everyone can afford the higher end models and most prefer to spend less.

imeem said:

I think wiki or sumthing said that ATI and nvidia has been trying to stop users unlocking or something.

This is an example. Guide on how to unlock GeForce GTX 465 into GTX 470 - XtremeSystems Forums

This involves changing the video BIOS which is very risky, it can make your graphics card unusable and may cause overheating