Essentials of GeForce/GeForce2 to Quadro/Quadro2 Modification (Second Edition)
tnaw_xtennis 2001.01.21

It's been more than six months since we first described our method of modifying a GeForce to into a Quadro. Now that we have accumulated considerable experience with this modification, and additional information about it, we would like to present a more convenient and comprehensive edition of the Quadro/Quadro2 modification guide.

The Quadro/Quadro2 is designed for professional graphics users, and is much more expensive than the GeForce/GeForce2. The Quadro/Quadro2 supports several professional graphics features that the GeForce/ GeForce2 doesn't support. What makes the GeForce/GeForce2 to Quadro/Quadro2 modification possible is that the core graphics processor architectures on both the GeForce/GeForce2 and the Quadro/Quadro2 are completely identical.

It is quite easy to perform a GeForce/GeForce2 to Quadro/Quadro2 modification. All you need to do is solder and shift several SMD-resistors on your GeForce/GeForce2 card. The picture below shows a modified Creative GeForce 2 GTS. In this case, we turned the card into a Quadro2 Pro by just soldering and shifting 2 SMD-resistors on the card-- from R121 to R122, and from R123 to R124 respectively.

A Creative GeForce 2 GTS modified into a Quadro2 Pro

For your convenience, over 50 successful modifications of all different types and brands are listed in Table 1. Since the overwhelming majority of GeForce/GeForce2 cards use the nVidia reference design, you can easily determine which SMD-resistors need to be shifted by just looking them up in Table 1. Though this table is the most up-to-date list on the net, you may be unlucky enough to have a card that is not listed.  In that case, read the "GeForce/ GeForce2 -> Quadro/Quadro2 Guide", and I am sure you will find the information you need to make the modification there. If you are worried about soldering your video card, read our "Soldering Guide". It's written specifically for soldering SMD-resistors on a PCB (printed circuit board), and perhaps it will help you increase your confidence in your soldering work.

Table 1. Resistors to be Shifted in GeForce/GeForce2 to Quadro/Quadro2 Modification

It's not necessary to flash a new video card BIOS for the Quadro/Quadro2 modification to work. Insert the modified card, power on your PC, and the card will be automatically recognized as a Quadro/Quadro2 when booting into Windows. However, some people flash the BIOS of their modified cards in order to enable the use of professional graphics drivers from original Quadro/Quadro2 manufacturers. This BIOS flash may change the speed of video chip and memory of the card, as shown in Table 2 and Table 3, and thus may cause instability. In practice, most of the professional graphics drivers from original Quadro2 manufacturers can be used with Quadro2 modified GeForce2 based cards without doing any BIOS flashing.

Table 2. Default Chip and Memory Speeds of GeForce and Quadro Based Cards

Tabel 3. Default Chip and Memory Speeds of GeForce2 and Quadro2 Based Cards

Language Edited by: wumpus, http://www.gamebasement.com/

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