Modding A Tesla M40 for video output

[cgavaller]

Hey guys,

 

I have a bit of a weird idea. The Tesla M40 is a Maxwell 2 GPU based on the GM200, the same die as the 980ti, Titan X and Quadro M6000. The 980ti having 6GB of VRAM, the Titan 12, and the Quadro and Tesla having 12/24GB variants each. The funny thing about these cards is that they all use the exact same PCB. Same power delivery, same bios chip. Everything identical. The Tesla cards can be found for roughly $150 on eBay, and I was wondering if it'd be feasible to add display outputs to one of these cards and flash it to a Quadro / Titan BIOS. I have been able to flash a Quadro BIOS onto one in the past with limited success, but I assume it could be done properly if I dedicated more time to it. I just need to find proper sized display connectors and the values of the resistors / capacitors on the display output side of the board, since I don't have another one to measure for comparison. I have a soldering and rework station, along with a digital microscope for soldering. What do you guys think about this? 980ti performance for ~$200 is what we could use in this market.

[ki8aras]

given that what you're saying is true, i can't see a reason as to why something like this wouldn't work, although you may come up against problems as the 980ti bios tries to figure out what to do with the extra ram

[ki8aras]

now that i think of it, it surely can't be that easy because guys on youtube have tried gaming on old workstation gpus for ages, meaning that there must be some safeguard in place to prevent such hacks from working.....or they just didn't come up with the idea

[cgavaller]

6 minutes ago, ki8aras said:

given that what you're saying is true, i can't see a reason as to why something like this wouldn't work, although you may come up against problems as the 980ti bios tries to figure out what to do with the extra ram

I'd use a Quadro BIOS or Titan depending on if I try it with a 12 or 24GB model. I might just use Quadro either way, since the drivers may be more refined. I just need to find someone with one of those cards to give me readings on the display output components

[cgavaller]

1 minute ago, ki8aras said:

now that i think of it, it surely can't be that easy because guys on youtube have tried gaming on old workstation gpus for ages, meaning that there must be some safeguard in place to prevent such hacks from working.....or they just didn't come up with the idea

Since Pascal, Nvidia BIOS's have been encrypted. For Maxwell and before, you can flash pretty much whatever you want and modify clockspeeds, TDP, fan curves etc. I'm just worried if there's a shunt resistor or something that hard locks the card to a Tesla (Which I could omit). I have gotten the M40 to do graphics rendering and had it output the video over integrated graphics, it's an amazing deal of a card for the price.

[cgavaller]

Update:

 

I've decided to try to buy a bricked 980ti and get values / part numbers for the display output components. I'll update you all when I make any further progress

[Felix69]

I had the same idea about a week ago, after some research it seems possible since tesla m40 and the titan x use the same PCB and the maxwell bios aren't encrypted so it could be transformed into a titan or a tesla. Haven't done anything yet because of budget limitations.

[cgavaller]

23 hours ago, Felix69 said:

I had the same idea about a week ago, after some research it seems possible since tesla m40 and the titan x use the same PCB and the maxwell bios aren't encrypted so it could be transformed into a titan or a tesla. Haven't done anything yet because of budget limitations.

Working on getting some parts sourced as I type this. Feel free to add me on Discord:

 

Bopa Shon#4633

[TheyNeedUs]

On 1/10/2022 at 4:54 PM, cgavaller said:

Working on getting some parts sourced as I type this. Feel free to add me on Discord:

 

Bopa Shon#4633

Hi, I’m doing same project, accept friend request in Discord. I have all parts in hand

[gmstav]

hello everyone, I accidentally saw your topic on converting Tesla M40 to Quadro M6000 and I myself have been interested in how to do it correctly without loss for a long time, I have soldering skills and I want to make video and 3d rendering, but with a reduced budget, I want to contact one of the authors of the correspondence if is it possible? Thanks in advance for the information and communication, where do you write? Does anyone have any messenger?

[wildboyfire]

Hi, i'd like to solder a display port on to my tesla p40 and i stumbled on this thread. Has anyone had any succes on soldering a video output port on tesla gpu-s?