You'll find that adding the resistor changes the ID the card sends to the drivers, and that there is other differences in the hardware (so it doesn't change the 'model' of the card). It just so happens that it enables 3 monitors in Linux (this is already enabled in Windows).
Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
11–20 of 196 posts
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#12I don't entirely know how I feel about this hack. I feel like this is really similar to unlocking the "Professional" version of a piece of software with a serial key generator. Although, I understand hardware is dramatically different than software, it's using the same principal -- the same reusable bits to assemble many different products, and then just using tools to mask features unless a user pays for them. Then…
I think that if I own a piece of hardware, I am the sole owner of every single chip and screw on it, including every hardware hack that it may have. On the other side, usually you don't own the software but only a license that grants you permission to use it.
This is a good point. When you buy hardware, you are now the owner of it so they shouldn't be able to stop you from doing it, just like once you buy a phone you should be able to unlock it or install whatever software you want on it.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#13How do people find hacks like this? Looking at the board, that resistor is one among tons of components.
Mostly like inside or semi-inside info. Obviously anyone with a schematic and datasheet at any of the dozens of OEMs will be able to figure this out. But even without docs there were probably bunches of reference boards shipped out to integrators. It's not hard to visually diff a "Quadro" from a "Tesla" version of the same board.
What I'm more surprised by is the fact that this was done by external resistors at all. Almost all chip configuration like this these days is done with on-die fuses that can't be hacked.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#14I don't entirely know how I feel about this hack. I feel like this is really similar to unlocking the "Professional" version of a piece of software with a serial key generator. Although, I understand hardware is dramatically different than software, it's using the same principal -- the same reusable bits to assemble many different products, and then just using tools to mask features unless a user pays for them. Then…
I think that if I own a piece of hardware, I am the sole owner of every single chip and screw on it, including every hardware hack that it may have. On the other side, usually you don't own the software but only a license that grants you permission to use it.
On the contrary, most individuals purchase a tangible copy of software in a retail store without any licensing terms attached at the time of purchase. (Granted: App Stores are changing this)
Shrink-wrap licenses attempt to end-run this by making the product unusable unless the user agrees to forfeit his existing property rights. The legality of these sorts of after-the-fact licenses on a traditional retail purchase is very unclear.
It's for this reason that many do not object to cracking or modifying software which they have purchased. Indeed, there's no definitive argument that one shouldn't.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#15I don't entirely know how I feel about this hack. I feel like this is really similar to unlocking the "Professional" version of a piece of software with a serial key generator. Although, I understand hardware is dramatically different than software, it's using the same principal -- the same reusable bits to assemble many different products, and then just using tools to mask features unless a user pays for them. Then…
Well, the original reason given by the modder is to unluck the same functionality available under one OS as in another - that is all.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#16How do people find hacks like this? Looking at the board, that resistor is one among tons of components.
If you read some of the comments, essentially:
a) looking for resistors that could be placed in multiple positions on the board and
b) following the traces from the resistors: going to GPU? probably not what you want. Going to PCIE interface? Probably correct.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#17I don't entirely know how I feel about this hack. I feel like this is really similar to unlocking the "Professional" version of a piece of software with a serial key generator. Although, I understand hardware is dramatically different than software, it's using the same principal -- the same reusable bits to assemble many different products, and then just using tools to mask features unless a user pays for them. Then…
This kind if stuff has been going on for a long time. I remember one of the Nvidia cards from 8 years ago could unlock extra lanes in the GPU just With a firmware flash.
Intel had been using the same dye for multiple CPU SKUs for a long time now. Though people have figured out how to move between the various skus with ease.
The one thing to keep in mind with hardware like this is that the different price points and SKUs are more than just making money. A lot of the time the SKU a card or chip is set at has to do with the yield quality of the pieces as they are manufactured. It's amazing to realize that when a new line of some cutting-edge tech comes around, they are going to have a 50% or less yield rate on their products. Sometimes they can use lower priced SKUs and take features away as the components will operate better without those features.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#18Entire post mirrored here:
http://imgur.com/ZJt0VmT
Save it as well.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#19He's changing the resistors such that the bits which specify the identity of the board to the system now identify as something else? So if in fact there was some difference in the board design or chip design, then it could cause problems where unexpected faults occur. It's like saying you are capable of doing X, Y, Z, but really you can only handle X and Y situations. When someone asks you to do Z, you're screwed.
But I don't know enough about Nvidia GPU hardware design, and I'm sure he wouldn't be publishing this hack if it didn't work well.
Re: Resistor hack turns a Nvidia GTX690 into a Quadro K5000 or Tesla K10
#20It's possible Nvidia manufactures the higher-end cards and then, if they fail the high-end testing but pass low-end testing, are marked as the lower-end card. There is precedent for this in many areas of computer hardware (CPU, RAM, hard drives). I would be wary of undoing this and expecting any level of reliability.