Trying to improve a Tesla M40

[Bastiaan_NL]

4 minutes ago, J7SC_Orion said:

...I have some old Radeon 8990s (which need some attention) - essentially 2x 7970s per card...are they any good for folding these days ?

 

...Tesla M40s, but with custom coolers 

not really

 

I can't find the 7970 or the 8990 in the Lar database, and no info so far on the web either. 
Maybe they work but you'll have to find it out..

[J7SC_Orion]

12 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

I can't find the 7970 or the 8990 in the Lar database, and no info so far on the web either. 
Maybe they work but you'll have to find it out..

 

tz...now, on my ever-expanding list of 'wouldn't it be nice' projects....have some giant copper blocks for it (all stored in a box for years, in desperate need of cleaning). The copper could be worth more than the cards 

 

[Bastiaan_NL]

Wow, that looks bad

But pretty darn cool you have blocks for them, would be cool if it works!

[J7SC_Orion]

2 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Wow, that looks bad

But pretty darn cool you have blocks for them, would be cool if it works!

 

...sorry for going on about non-M40s, but wondering about related usefulness of old cards...

 

... it would be great if I can bring them back, though they are 'pigs on gas watts' - especially two of them (= 4 GPUs), what with a custom bios. Below is a pic before disassembly (next to a 2080 Ti Xtr WB for size comp). As you can see, there's all kind of crud in there...the result of the only time EVER I used a loop cleaning fluid - perhaps a bit too much  

  

  

[Bastiaan_NL]

That is one thing I have against using older cards, they are less efficient as newer cards so it's a bit of a waste of energy. 

That's what I like so much about the 2080ti and the 3090's, pretty high PPD to Watt ratio. The M40 is not really efficient either, 200W for 1 million PPD compared to 350-400W for 6+ million PPD

 

Is that block all copper? If so you should be able to clean most of that, though I'm not sure about the state of the o-ring..

Edited May 14, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[BWG]

Since those cards stay stock unless flashed, right? Can't you play with the power limits on them somehow and see if you can lower the draw?

 

Does GPU-Z let you pull the bios down? If so, omg, this card might be just like 9xx/1xxx in terms of flashing it with nvflash etc. I'll have to look into that. I might get one just to play with that piece.

[Bastiaan_NL]

Just now, BWG said:

Since those cards stay stock unless flashed, right? Can't you play with the power limits on them somehow and see if you can lower the draw?

 

Does GPU-Z let you pull the bios down? If so, omg, this card might be just like 9xx/1xxx in terms of flashing it with nvflash etc. I'll have to look into that. I might get one just to play with that piece.

I've heard @tictoc mention something about flashing a bios, he was talking to @Avacado about that. 

My card is down until I have the 980ti cooler.

[BWG]

Yeah, I think it does. They even have the bios files on TPU. This is so easy to do! Click a button on GPU-Z, save the bios to the desktop, or if a newer one is on TPU, try it instead. Open the file with Maxwell Bios Tweaker, change it, save it, drag and drop to nvflash. Tap y, enter, done.

 

tictoc? Is it?

[ENTERPRISE]

7 minutes ago, BWG said:

Since those cards stay stock unless flashed, right? Can't you play with the power limits on them somehow and see if you can lower the draw?

 

Does GPU-Z let you pull the bios down? If so, omg, this card might be just like 9xx/1xxx in terms of flashing it with nvflash etc. I'll have to look into that. I might get one just to play with that piece.

Cannot see why you couldn't grab a 980ti BIOS and flash it to the M40. Possibly even mod the BIOS first for extra yummy.

[J7SC_Orion]

50 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

That is one thing I have against using older cards, they are less efficient as newer cards so it's a bit of a waste of energy. 

That's what I like so much about the 2080ti and the 3090's, pretty high PPD to Watt ratio. The M40 is not really efficient either, 200W for 1 million PPD compared to 350-400W for 6+ million PPD

 

Is that block all copper? If so you should be able to clean most of that, though I'm not sure about the state of the o-ring..

  

...yeah, the blocks are all-cooper (not that flaking Nickel stuff as of late...). O-ring might be an issue; not only are they dried out now, but the high-concentrate cleaner might have done a number on them - but worth checking out.

 

...you're right on the 2080 Tis and 3090s - while they can use even more power, their performance scales even better, far better...

 

28 minutes ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Cannot see why you couldn't grab a 980ti BIOS and flash it to the M40. Possibly even mod the BIOS first for extra yummy.

   

...with the right NVflash, it should be possible to flash 980 Ti onto that. There's also the Maxwell Bios Tweaker for subsequent 'adjustments', ie. > here 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by J7SC_Orion

[Avacado]

1 hour ago, BWG said:

Since those cards stay stock unless flashed, right? Can't you play with the power limits on them somehow and see if you can lower the draw?

 

Does GPU-Z let you pull the bios down? If so, omg, this card might be just like 9xx/1xxx in terms of flashing it with nvflash etc. I'll have to look into that. I might get one just to play with that piece.

 

1 hour ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

I've heard @tictoc mention something about flashing a bios, he was talking to @Avacado about that. 

My card is down until I have the 980ti cooler.

 

1 hour ago, BWG said:

Yeah, I think it does. They even have the bios files on TPU. This is so easy to do! Click a button on GPU-Z, save the bios to the desktop, or if a newer one is on TPU, try it instead. Open the file with Maxwell Bios Tweaker, change it, save it, drag and drop to nvflash. Tap y, enter, done.

 

tictoc? Is it?

 

1 hour ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Cannot see why you couldn't grab a 980ti BIOS and flash it to the M40. Possibly even mod the BIOS first for extra yummy.

You are going to want to be careful flashing a 980 TI BIOS, remember, this is a 12GB Vram Card and the 980Ti has 6GB. The M40 more closely resembles a Titan X. The Titan X and M40 share the same render config. 

 

Titan X Stats

 

Titan X BIOS

 

Stock M40 BIOS

 

I had begun looking at Titan X BIOS's, but nothing further. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Avacado

[damric]

Hmmn I've modded old G92 8800GTs into Quadros via BIOS flashing. This will be awesome if you can do the Teslas back and forth.

[BWG]

The stock bios looks fully functional and editable to me just like any other from this era. I would say the power limit could be adjusted up/down. I ran a few tests on my 1070's using power draw limits, and it did not drop the PPD as much as you'd think it would, but did. That's probably worthwhile to some users.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by BWG

[tictoc]

Yes, you should be able to tweak the BIOS with Maxwell BIOS Tweaker. 

No need to do the modern day silliness of cross-flashing BIOS, since these cards are from a time when NVIDIA actually let their customers do whatever they wanted to do with their property. 

 

First I would try raising the power limit with nvidia-smi, and also see what application clocks are available. 

 

I only played around with Keplar era Teslas, but the Maxwell cards can have their BIOS tweaked.

Edited May 14, 2021 by tictoc

[Avacado]

55 minutes ago, tictoc said:

Yes, you should be able to tweak the BIOS with Maxwell BIOS Tweaker. 

No need to do the modern day silliness of cross-flashing BIOS, since these cards are from a time when NVIDIA actually let their customers do whatever they wanted to do with their property. 

 

First I would try raising the power limit with nvidia-smi, and also see what application clocks are available. 

 

I only played around with Keplar era Teslas, but the Maxwell cards can have their BIOS tweaked.

Cert 2.0 Error. Do I have to disable the card first in Control panel?

 

[tictoc]

2 minutes ago, Avacado said:

Cert 2.0 Error. Do I have to disable the card first in Control panel?

 

 

You need to use an older version of nvflash (v5.287) with the cert check bypassed: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/bios-modding/

[ENTERPRISE]

If anyone manages to modify a better BIOS for the M40's that is stable then im game for using it on the CFP.

[Avacado]

On 5/14/2021 at 8:33 PM, tictoc said:

 

You need to use an older version of nvflash (v5.287) with the cert check bypassed: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/bios-modding/

Getting errors when using this version. I have no idea how it's in use already. 

 

 

Got it after some tinkering. I flashed a stock M40 Bios with modified power limits. Going to see if I can get this working. 

 

So what i'm really trying to do (Yes, i'm willing to brick a card) is flash a Titan X BIOS on the M40. The frustration is even after downloading the ID mismatch override NVflash, It's still not letting me do it. 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Avacado

[Avacado]

Alright nerds, here we go, progress made. I have successfully flashed a modified TDP/Boost Clock Tesla M40 Rom via Maxwell tweaker. I have yet to test this out, but it recognizes it. Stock rom is labeled TeslaM40stock.rom, Modified is named MTesla40.rom. Note modifications in red. Initial GPU side by side notes additional Boost max frequency. Again, no testing done yet. 

 

I started relatively low with a modest 192 MHz increase in max boost. I chose this #1 to be relatively safe and #2 because the card very rarely uses the max TDP of 250w anyway. I set the max TDP for 300w as I feel #1 I have the power for it (2x8pin PCI-e) and #2 I believe I have the cooling overhead space to accommodate an increased TDP. All of the above subject to change. 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Avacado

[Avacado]

Alright, looks like it works. Folding after ten minutes. The 192MHz boost in BIOS seems to be holding. There is a 20/25w increase in power consumption on the modified card and the hotspot temp has been hovering at 80c, all manageable, but I will keep my eye on it. There is also room for more here I think. That is a 17% BIOS OC. This has been really fun. If she holds through the night, I will flash all 5 cards and see what the PPD looks like. 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Avacado

[tictoc]

1 hour ago, Avacado said:

Alright, looks like it works. Folding after ten minutes. The 192MHz boost in BIOS seems to be holding. There is a 20/25w increase in power consumption on the modified card and the hotspot temp has been hovering at 80c, all manageable, but I will keep my eye on it. There is also room for more here I think. That is a 17% BIOS OC. This has been really fun. If she holds through the night, I will flash all 5 cards and see what the PPD looks like. 

 

 

Excellent.  Nice to see that card stretching its legs.

 

Looks like you have a bit of headroom on both temps and power.

Edited May 17, 2021 by tictoc

[Avacado]

13 minutes ago, tictoc said:

 

Excellent.  Nice to see that card stretching its legs.

 

Looks like you have a bit of headroom on both temps and power.

I still have aspirations of getting a Titan X BIOS flashed. I have done quite a bit of reading at this point. Seems the only "Potential" way to achieve it is to use a Hex editor, but even then, I don't suspect it would be recognized as a Titan. If that is the case, what I have done so far is most likely best case scenario.  Any ideas toc?

Edited May 17, 2021 by Avacado

[tictoc]

I don't see the point in flashing the Titan X BIOS.  You have full control over power and clocks, so a Titan X BIOS isn't really going to give you anything, unless I'm missing something...

[Avacado]

7 minutes ago, tictoc said:

I don't see the point in flashing the Titan X BIOS.  You have full control over power and clocks, so a Titan X BIOS isn't really going to give you anything, unless I'm missing something...

I would like to be able to mine with them. A M40 gets 2.5MH/s while a Titan X gets 45 MH/s. It's the same damn PCB. Would not be heartbroken if I can't, just fun to imagine. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Avacado

[tictoc]

Interesting.  I don't know what would be in the Tesla driver that would restrict mining.  One thing that might be holding it up is the ECC on the memory.  The M40 isn't really a proper Tesla, and it only has ECC on the memory not the cache or registers, so that extra trip to the memory shouldn't nerf mining that hard.  The memory clocks are quite a bit lower, but you could edit those in the BIOS.

 

To run the Titan X BIOS you would need to Hex edit the device ID, and I'm not sure how the Titan firmware would handle the ECC.  

 

*Edit* You could try a Quadro M6000 BIOS.  That card is effectively the same as the M40, but with display outputs. No verified M6000 12GB BIOS on TPU, but there is a PNY from the community: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/173217/173217

Edited May 17, 2021 by tictoc