Buy a Radeon 9500 now!

Off topic chat and stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.
feizex
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Buy a Radeon 9500 now!

Post by feizex »

Cos if this really does work, they will become scarce...<br><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.overclockers.ru/news/newsite ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfis ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>From what I gather:<br><br>1. resolder SM resistor from 2-3 to 1-2<br>2. flash with 9700 bios <br>3. overclock<br><br>Doesn't sound that difficult.<br><br>I think that the BIOS bit is the risky one. Although soldering surface mount components can be painful.<br><br>From the benches it looks that the mod gives the greatest gain.<br><br>I wonder if anyone has confirmed that this works?<br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Buy a Radeon 9500 now!

Post by Nohr »

Wish I had the moolah.. <p>-=-=-=-=-<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://nohr.darktech.org/computers.htm" target="top">Nohr's Rigs</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--></p><i></i>
feizex
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BIOS...

Post by feizex »

He got the BIOS from here:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://home.mindspring.com/~warp11/">ho ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br>Not sure whether it was the Pro or non pro. Actually at the moment I don't know what the difference is.<br><br>I wasn't planning on looking at ATi cards soon. It may be baseless but I had this bad feeling about them since I read about bad trilinear filtering with 8500 drivers a while back. Anyone know if they fixed this? What are the 9700 drivers like?<br><br>I was going to wait for NV30 and then see what price the Ti4600 dropped to. I may still wait for price drop at intro of NV30 and buy a 9500. Though for me to buy it it will have to come down to about US$130.<br><br>Till then the original Geforce3 is the budget card of choice in my book. They are DX8 capable, cheaper than the Ti500 and the memory is good for ~525MHz. You could probably pick one up right now for under US$70.<br><br>Only drawback is that future games need 128MB and GF3 originals have 64MB. This doesn't bother me though. Who will notice with AGP 4x? IMHO most games still fit into 64MB with room to spare.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
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EG:

Post by feizex »

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Then again...

Post by feizex »

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Then again...

Post by fafurion »

Sounds great but... i dont have the skills do make the changes<br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :( --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /frown.gif ALT=":("><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p>athlon xp 1600+<br>GA-7dxe<br>256mb ddr 2100 <br>geforce 2 mx/200<br>seagate 40Gb 5400rpm<br>c-media 8768 6channels<br>acteck 5.1 speakers<br>17` LG studioworks<br>26 dot pitch<br>32x10x40 lg cdburner<br>LG 52x cdrom</p><i></i>
athlonXP1600+@1700
GA-7dxe
256mb ddr 2100
radeon9000Pro128Mb
seagate 40Gb 5400rpm
c-media 8768 6channels
acteck 5.1 speakers
17` LG studioworks
26 dot pitch
32x10x40 lg cdburner
LG 52x cdrom
feizex
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Hmm...

Post by feizex »

Someone here reckons that it only works with some 9500 Pro cards...<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guru3d.com/comments.php?cate ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Need more info! <p></p><i></i>
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Confusion...

Post by feizex »

Cos the original was in russian it seems that alot were confused as to whether it was a 9500 Pro or non-Pro.<br><br>After reviewing things I believe that it's a non-Pro 128MB. <br><br>So the steps achieve the following:<br><br>1. Re-Solder of resistor gains 4 extra pixel pipelines (same as Pro and 9700).<br><br>2. Flash with 9700 Pro BIOS enables 256bit memory access and enables OCing.<br><br>3. OCing raise clock speeds to raise performance (DUH! like you didn't know that.)<br><br>Things to consider:<br>The std 9500 only has 4 pixel pipelines enabled, there are 4 dormant. Questions remain as to whether ATi has changed the core to remove the other 4 from the die or whether when they said that they did, they were bluffing. Maybe they had this hack first and changed the core later? Seems doubtful now that I think about it. It's say that this is their solution and it was a bluff. <br><br>The 9500 uses 128bit memory access. The 9700 has 256bit access. For the mod to work, the board itself must be based on the 9700's.<br><br>Currently the only resonably safe bet is getting a saphire 9500 128MB (not Pro).<br><br>Alternatively the card must have memory in the same positions as the 9700 otherwise you can guarantee that the extra buswidth to accomodate the 256-bit will not be there. <p></p><i></i>
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Board...

Post by feizex »

The old saphire boards are red. I saw a new Black (dark) one and it looked similar. But if you are betting on this, look for the red one. <p></p><i></i>
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OR NOT!!!!

Post by feizex »

Check this out:<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.xbitlabs.com/video/radeon950 ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Saphire's new black PCB for the 9700!<br><br>What do you think!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... ns/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br> <p></p><i></i>
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Oh yeah!

Post by feizex »

Well looks like Saphire are in Oz too...<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.achieva.com.au/sapphire_ati/ ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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DOH! - maybe later.

Post by feizex »

I rang them and they are wholesalers. They gave me a couple of retailer's numbers to ring. I asked if they had stock of the 9500 yet and they said no but they are getting some soon! <p></p><i></i>
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Just thinking...

Post by feizex »

Say it works with the new line of saphire cards. Then they will be selling more that the others and the others will have to find a way to leak the info onto the net that their cards are capable of the mod to.<br><br>I think that this is an ingenious way to sell more cards. Maybe ATi didn't intend on it. But then again neither did Intel of AMD with their CPU's (object of conjecture). In any case if you make it difficult (and risky) but not too difficult, people will be lured into buying a card that they would not have otherwise considered buying.<br><br>I am in this position. I am being lured into buying a card because it appears to be an opportunity, something that may be missed by delaying. In a way it makes this one card stand out above the others. I now look at this card and I don't see a price/performance tradeoff. Instead I see the only card on the market worth buying because I have the chance of converting it into something more than what I am paying for!<br><br>Comments anyone? <p></p><i></i>
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hmm

Post by blue »

never seen anyone flood there own thread :P<br><br>anyways you cant just flash the bios and make a 128bit card become 256bit, if I remember right the reason the 9500s are cheaper is becuase the made them 128bit and the reason thats cheaper is becuase 256bit cards need to be 8 layers of pcb witch ups the producting price. So flashing the bios and doing a little resistor mod will probably make a 9500 a 9500 pro but I dont think it will make it a 9700 <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub70.ezboard.com/bk6plus67153.s ... e>ibLuE</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.timeflys.org/images/dancer.gif" BORDER=0> at: 1/6/03 1:24:56 am<br></i>
p3 1ghz laptop
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feizex
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Blue, I think you need to do some reading...

Post by feizex »

The reason it worked is BECAUSE it was on the same PCB as 9700.<br><br>I am hopeful that the black ones are the same deal, cos I believe they are the only ones we'll see in OZ.<br><br>I have been thinking about it and I believe that they well may be the same as the red ones except they are black.<br><br>I do not think it is coincidence that the 9500 and the 9700 boards have the same layout and they both changed to black while the 9500Pro didn't. This tells me they are the same board.<br><br>As for why the 9500Pro is on a different board:<br><br>ATi (or the manufacturers; same diff) made the Pro on a different board because it does not require the resistor mod. IE the only difference between it and the 9700 is the 256bit bus. So to stop people just flashing it into a 9700 they put it on a different board that only had 128bit tracks (excuse my ignorance here I haven't studied the physical difference between 128bit and 256bit access, I just know the effect).<br><br>Why the 9500is on the same board:<br><br>The 9500 std was a different story. Everyone knows that they only have 4 pipelines, and that you couldn't possibly make it into a 9700 cos there's a physical difference in the cores - NOT! So they could put it on the same board even though the board had 256bit tracks. If someone tried to flash it to a 9700 then they would stuff the board (speculation). What they didn't count on was some russian site being crazy enough to risk a perfectly good board by re-soldering a resistor on the VPU (I think that's what ATi calls it?) and then flash it.<br><br>I am tempted to by one of these black boards and try the mod just to see if it works! <br><br>I don't even need that much speed yet. I don't use AA cos at 1600x1200 who cares? <p></p><i></i>
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