GT610 PCI
For some time now I've been on the lookout for a "modern" GPU with a PCI interface to breathe some life into my older machines without breaking the bank but it was never much of a priority. That is until a few weeks ago when DosFox posted about an odd unbranded PCI Nvidia GT 610 on Twitter so I decided to pick one up myself. Soon enough my "MQX POWER GeForce GT610 1GB PCI VGA,DVI,HDMI 3D Video Card Graphics" arrived and this card is a bit of a mystery. The only branding on the card is from "MQX POWER" but it looks an awful lot like a Zotac card based on the orange ports and black PCB.
Zotac did produce a PCI version of the GT 610 but with only 512MB of GDDR3 video memory. They also made a PCI version of the GT 520 with 1024MB video memory.
So what are these cards actually?
Physical comparison
Zotec provides high resolution images of both the GT 520 and GT 610
The GT 520 and GT 610 have nearly identical circuit boards, so much so that the product imagery for the back of the GT 610 has the sticker for a GT 520 under the edge of the heatsink! This makes sense because both cards use the same Nvidia GF119-300 chip, and even the same clock speeds. The MQX card uses the same heatsink as the Zotac GT 610 Synergy.
Lets dig a bit deeper.
After removing the heatsink and cleaning off the thermal compound that was dryer than the Sahara desert (are these cards used??) we can see the Nvidia GF119-300-A1 chip and four Hynix H5TQ1G63DFR
PCI identifiers
~# lspci ... 37:09.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor PI7C9X111SL PCIe-to-PCI Reversible Bridge (rev 01) 38:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 [GeForce GT 610] (rev a1) 38:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1)
~# lspci -s 37:09 -vvvv -xxx 37:09.0 PCI bridge: Pericom Semiconductor PI7C9X111SL PCIe-to-PCI Reversible Bridge (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Physical Slot: 5 Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 32, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 21 Bus: primary=37, secondary=38, subordinate=38, sec-latency=0 I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff Memory behind bridge: ec000000-ed0fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d6000000-00000000dfffffff Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR- BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR+ NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B- PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn- Capabilities: [a8] Subsystem: Device 0000:0000 Capabilities: [b0] Express (v1) PCI-Express to PCI/PCI-X Bridge, MSI 00 DevCap: MaxPayload 256 bytes, PhantFunc 0 ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE- SlotPowerLimit 0.000W DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported- RlxdOrd- ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop- BrConfRtry- MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes DevSta: CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr+ TransPend+ LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <1us ClockPM- Surprise- LLActRep+ BwNot- ASPMOptComp- LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk- ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt- LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive+ BWMgmt- ABWMgmt- Capabilities: [d8] Vital Product Data pcilib: sysfs_read_vpd: read failed: Input/output error Not readable Capabilities: [f0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000 Kernel modules: shpchp 00: d8 12 11 e1 07 01 b0 02 01 00 04 06 10 20 01 00 10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 37 38 38 00 e1 e1 00 20 20: 00 ec 00 ed 01 d6 f1 df 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30: 00 00 00 00 a8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 01 02 00 40: 20 00 20 09 00 00 00 00 1f 82 40 00 00 00 00 00 50: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 60: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 80 00 00 00 00 70: 88 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80: 07 90 00 00 f8 ff 00 00 10 00 10 00 10 00 10 00 90: 01 a8 42 c8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 a0: 04 b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 0d b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 b0: 10 d8 71 00 21 00 00 00 00 21 30 00 11 3c 10 00 c0: 00 00 11 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 60 10 00 04 d0: 71 02 00 04 54 02 19 00 03 f0 00 80 04 71 02 00 e0: ff ff 00 00 ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
~# lspci -s 38:00 -vvvv -xxx 38:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 [GeForce GT 610] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd. GF119 [GeForce GT 610] Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 0 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 21 Region 0: Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Region 1: Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M] Region 3: Memory at d6000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M] Region 5: I/O ports at e000 [size=128] [virtual] Expansion ROM at ed080000 [disabled] [size=512K] Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3 Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000 Capabilities: [78] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00 DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s unlimited, L1 <64us ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset- SlotPowerLimit 0.000W DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported- RlxdOrd+ ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+ MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes DevSta: CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr- TransPend- LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x16, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <1us, L1 <4us ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp- LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk- ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt- LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt- DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Not Supported, TimeoutDis+, LTR-, OBFF Not Supported DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis-, LTR-, OBFF Disabled LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 2.5GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis- Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS- Compliance De-emphasis: -6dB LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1- EqualizationPhase2-, EqualizationPhase3-, LinkEqualizationRequest- Capabilities: [b4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?> Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia 00: de 10 4a 10 07 00 10 00 a1 00 00 03 00 00 80 00 10: 00 00 00 ec 0c 00 00 d8 00 00 00 00 0c 00 00 d6 20: 00 00 00 00 01 e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 da 19 28 12 30: 00 00 00 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 01 00 00 40: da 19 28 12 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50: 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 ce d6 23 00 00 00 00 00 60: 01 68 03 00 08 00 00 00 05 78 80 00 00 00 00 00 70: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 b4 02 00 e0 8d 00 00 80: 10 29 00 00 01 4d 05 00 00 01 11 10 00 00 00 00 90: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 a0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b0: 00 00 00 00 09 00 14 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 38:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1) Subsystem: ZOTAC International (MCO) Ltd. GF119 HDMI Audio Controller Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx- Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 22 Region 0: Memory at ed000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3 Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000 Capabilities: [78] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00 DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <4us, L1 <64us ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset- SlotPowerLimit 0.000W DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported- RlxdOrd+ ExtTag+ PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+ MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes DevSta: CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr- TransPend- LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x16, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <1us, L1 <4us ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp- LnkCtl: ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk- ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt- LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt- DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Not Supported, TimeoutDis+, LTR-, OBFF Not Supported DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis-, LTR-, OBFF Disabled LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1- EqualizationPhase2-, EqualizationPhase3-, LinkEqualizationRequest- Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel 00: de 10 08 0e 06 01 10 00 a1 00 03 04 10 00 80 00 10: 00 00 00 ed 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 da 19 28 12 30: 00 00 00 00 60 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 02 00 00 40: da 19 28 12 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ce d6 23 00 00 00 00 00 60: 01 68 03 00 08 00 00 00 05 78 80 00 00 00 00 00 70: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 02 00 a0 8d 00 00 80: 10 29 00 00 01 4d 05 00 03 01 11 10 00 00 00 00 90: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 a0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Links
eBay links for "MQX POWER GeForce GT610 1GB PCI VGA,DVI,HDMI 3D Video Card Graphics":
(Specifically mention DosFox)
Dumping the BIOS
BIOS flash chip is a 64KB http://www.issiusa.com/pdf/Pm25LD512_010_020.pdf
13100001_vb1.rom flash_Pm25LD512.bin md5sum 10b158b890b14f93f5dfaeac3b7c7672