Overclockaholics Forums - Vivi's Ultimate guide to Vmodding

Hey again.

I did some effort today and prepared a vmodding guide for anyone who wants to learn.

Let me begin.

You will need.

• Modding wire: !SOLID CORE! and very THIN.
• Normal thick'ish wire: For readpoints.
• Soldering wire: To solder with.
• Normal tabe (not in the image below)
• Double sided sticking tape: It's used to stick mirrors to walls. ANY hardware shop has got it.
• Soldering Iron
• Multimeter: You are going nowhere if you dont have this.
• Variable resistors: Find out what sizes to buy for your gpu before you get.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ttrell/1-2.jpg
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ttrell/2-2.jpg

Now on to working the soldering iron. Put it somewhere safe were it wont fall over or something.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ttrell/3-3.jpg

Now, find the modspot on your card, you find it looking for it ONLINE. To check that the modspot is correct with the SIZE Variable resistor recommended. We test it this way.

For instance. a 8800gts 512 modspot is pointed out. and someone say's use a 200 OHM VR. we check this way.

Turn your multimeter to read 200 OHMS. like in image.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ttrell/4-2.jpg

Put your Multimeter RED arm to the mod point.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...cottrell/5.jpg

Now put the black arm to ANY GROUND. an obvious ground is this spot.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...cottrell/6.jpg

Your multimeter will now give you a reading! In this case 8800GTS 512, it reads.

14.5 OHMS
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...cottrell/7.jpg

Now TO SEE WHAT VR YOUS SHOULD USE , MULTIPLY your reading by 20!

14.5 x 20 = 290. But in this case a 200 OHM VR WILL BE FINE.

This is a 200 ohm VARIABLE RESISTOR. 1ST THING YOU DO, is CUT OFF, or BEND AWAY ONE OF THE SIDE PINS. NOT THE MIDDLE ONE.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...cottrell/8.jpg

now, TURN your multimeter to the correct OHM's reading (this case 200 ohms) Meaning if you have a 100 OHm resistor, turning it to 200 ohms will be fine, but if your VR exceeds 200 ohms, like a 500 ohm VR, change your multimeter to 2000 ohms reading. (Any amount above the VR'S ohms value)

Put the RED arm to the MIDDLE pin. and the BLACK arm to the REMAINING pin (either left or right). Like this.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...cottrell/9.jpg

You will get some kind of reading.. 50 ohm, 5 ohm, 24 ohm WHATEVER. now you turn the VR COMPLETELY to one side. (you turn the litte brass thingy) UNTILL IT MAKES A few CLICK SOUNDs after MANY turns.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/10.jpg

Now read it again the same way. red to middle pin, black to side pin. Now there are only 2 values it will read, the MINIMUM resistance of the VR, or the MAXIMUM, you want it to read the MAXIMUM. So if it reads 0.03 ohms, FREAKING !TURN! IT ALLLLL THE WAY to the other direction, so that it reads a little bit above its rated ohms value. (all vr's read a little more , like a 200ohm vr reads 211ohm at its maximum). If your Ohms on your multimeter is set to 200, it wont read anything if your vr's real Ohm's is at 212 ohms. So set it to 2000 ohms READ on your multimeter.

Now that you have your VR prepared. (it is at its MAXIMUM resistance.)
We prepare the wire's.

Cut your MOD wire (the thin SOlid core wire) like this.

These 2 will come from the VR.
1 will lead to the mod point
the other will lead to the ground point.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/11.jpg

make sure the tips of exposed wire that will mod to the CARD aren't too long.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/12.jpg

Now cut your THICK wire like this, and make sure you have one long exposed side and a short exposed wire side. (also your soldering iron should be switched on now, so it can warm up)

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/13.jpg

Wrap it around one of your multimeter arms.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/14.jpg

and it should look like this.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/15.jpg

Now we get on to the soldering! Make sure you are working ON A METAL SURFACE. your mom won't be impressed if you burn holes in her table.

align your wire's like this

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/16.jpg

Drip a LITTLE piece of solder onto your wire.

THIS IS NOT A LITTLE PIECE. You will FRY YOUR CARD

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/17.jpg

THIS IS WHAT U WANT. This is a little piece. see it compared to the big blob you almost made?

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/18.jpg

Do the same with the OTHER wire (THE GROUND WIRe). The ground wire can have a blob though, as long as its safe where you are modding ground.

Solder the other end of the MOD POINT wire, to the middle of the resistor. easy peasy.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/19.jpg

Cut a piece of the DOUBLE SIDED MIRROR tape and stick it on your card.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/20.jpg

then stick on the VR. (in this image i didnt do the ground wire to the resistor, but YOU SHOULD HAVE already)

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/21.jpg

Now, retain the wires in the direction of your mod point, with the help of NORMAL TABE. what do you mean?: I mean, arrange and bend your wire so that it stays at the mod point, OR close to it, without you even soldering it yet. IN THIS IMAGE BELOW, i have NOT soldered it to the point yet, it is freely sitting in the mod point.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/22.jpg

Why did i do that? Becuase now all you have to do is touch the modpoint with the soldering iron and your done. This is what it looks like after you carefully pressed the sodlering iron onto the tip of your wire against the mod point.
Mod done.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/23.jpg

Final image, IN THIS CASE, i used the BIG ground pin from the back of the PCI-E power connector.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/24.jpg

How did you know it was a ground?:

This is how you find a ground spot on your card.
Take your RED arm from the multimeter.
Put it to your mod point.
Put your black arm to the same spot as pic below, a SURE ground point.

your reading will be accurate, becuase this spot is ALWAYS ground.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/25.jpg
then , move that black arm to any other point on the card, if it gives EXACLY the same reading as before ( 14.5 ohms) that means the new spot you chose is ALSO a ground spot on the card. So you can use it aswel. If its NOT a ground spot, you will get a strange reading, or no reading at all. You can also use the mount hole area's as ground like in the image if you want.

Now we are going to do the Readpoint mod.
THIS IS THE WIRE THAT YOU WILL READ THE VOLTAGE FROM WHEN YOUR CARD IS POWERED ON AND IN THE SYSTEM.

PUT A BIG BLOB on the short end.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/26.jpg

Position your wire with the MIRROR tape so that it also retains close to the mod point.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/27.jpg

Solder it to the readpoint you were apointed to when you looked online for the mod of you card. (it should be in the same thread, you wont find a mod without getting a readpoint aswel).

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/28.jpg

Stick ANOTHER piece of mirror tape on the wire that you placed on the 1st piece of mirror tape. THIS IS to keep it steady while you read from it.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/29.jpg

Ok cool! You are done. Now on to see if your card is going to die or not ^_^.
Put your card in the motherboard.

Set your multimeter to 20 Volts reading.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/30.jpg

Put your BLACK arm into ONE OF THE MIDDLE 2 holes of ANY molex connector. Do not plug it into one of the 2 holes of a molex connector LINKED from a FAN, you will get a not so accurate reading.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/31.jpg

Put your RED arm into the REading POINT wire you soldered. Make sure it is TIGHTLY secured.
Make sure it wont fall off and short your board.
Make sure it is not pulling on the wire too heavily.
make sure it is hanging in a self retaining position, meaning it can chill there without you touching it.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/j...ottrell/32.jpg

NOW YOU ARE READY!
Turn on your PC.
If YOU DID EVERYTHING LIKE I SAID, your MuLtimeter shouln't read a value as high as like 1.7 volts. It should be near your cards stock. like 1.2 - 1.3 or something.

Now, if you want to get higher voltage on your card, start turning the VR WHILE YOUR SYSTEM IS ON. And keep watching the Multimeter. if your turning it into the direction it was making the clicking sound, go the other way.

YOU ARE BUSY DECREASING RESISTANCE, THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

You will turn a good 15+ times before you see the value on the multimeter change. (sometimes even after 20 turns)

IF you see 1.2v (on multimeter), then starting to go to 1.22, it will exponentially start to increase, meaning less turns for more voltage. So eventually you will turn it once and it will jump from 1.4 - 1.5. So watch it carefully.

Ok guys, hope you are ready.

and just to make you feel better, my 1st mod was successful, i have modded about 25 cards and motherboards and NOT ONE died. So modding is easier than you think!