h/o, why would they lock the extra pipelines? shouldnt the system decide if more should be used to optimize performance?
when they make GFX cards, they put the ones which had the best manufacture turnoutsfor the most expensive cards and disable certain features form lower cards, like say pipelines to boost production turnout. a good fraction of the time all of the pipelines that were disabled work just fine, so there is no need to have them disabled.
I would but, I think you need a floppy drive to flash the bios, at least for overclocking, and if you unlock do you have to OC it?... Got any good, simple, guides on unlockin pipelines on the x800GTO?
Use this one - http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/print.php?i=2891 It will allow you to get 6900 in 3DMark05 going from 4500.