Best route to go in converting a Radeon 9500 Pro to a 9700 Pro?

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EEsRULE

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2004
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I know you can make more permanent changes by flashing the BIOS on the video card to unlock the other 4 pipelines (i.e. Warp11 BIOS) then use another program like Powerstrip to overclock the card OR you can install the Omega drivers and change the core and memory clock rates in the display properties under settings -> advanced -> RadLinker tab. I guess using the Omega drivers allows you to set the core and memory clock rates to default settings when your not gaming, and to overclocked settings when you want to game? Has anybody tried both approaches, and if so, which gave better results? Thanks.

Note: My 9500 Pro (128MB DDR SGRAM) has four Infineon 3.3ns memory chips lined up in a straight line.
 
Keysplayr

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
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Ok, please emblazen this into your memory banks.

9500pro comes with all of its 8 pipelines enabled right from the beginning.

9700np/pro also comes with all of its 8 piplines enables from the beginning.

9500pro come with a 128-bit memory bus and cannot be changed to anything else.

9700np/pro comes with a 256-bit memory bus and cannot be changed to anything else.

You can flash your bios to a 9700. but that all your doing. you are not changing the number of pipes, and your not
increasing the memory bus to 256-bit because its physically not there. Flashing a 9500pro is a waste of time.
And your 3.3ns Infineon memory is only rated up to 303Mhz so thats is the best o/c you can expect if your lucky.
You can however o/c the core as it is in fact able to go a bit higher than its stock 275Mhz clock.

 
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EEsRULE

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2004
14
0
0
Okay, okay I mispoke about the 4 pipelines to 8 pipelines thing. I guess what I meant to ask about is converting the pipelines from 128 bit to 256 bit. When the Radeon 9500 Pro came out, there was a hardware hack (soldering a resistor on or something) to convert from 128 bit to 256 bit. Is this correct or not? If so, is there a way to achieve the same result strictly in software? Thanks.
 
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EEsRULE

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2004
14
0
0
Nevermind, I guess the hardware hack I was recalling was to enable the other 4 pipelines on a regular Radeon 9500 (i.e. nonpro). So essentially what I need to do is flash the BIOS to allow overclocking, then use an overclocking program like PowerStrip or Riva3D Tuner to overclock the core and memory? If I use the Omega drivers to overclock, do I still need to flash the BIOS first to allow overclocking? Thanks.
 
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otispunkmeyer

Lifer
Jun 14, 2003
10,442
0
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the one your thinkin of is a 9500 NON PRO.....with is ram arranged in a L shape two modules at the side two at the top

this L shaped ram denotes the 256bit memory bus....you will note all 9700's are like this....the 9500pro however while its a full R300 core....alot ....well nearly all came with ram arranged like you have....all in a line....this denotes a 128 bit bus and cannot be changed.....at all.....its physically not on the PCB.

i have the exact same spec card as you....i have 3.3 infineon ram and while ATI tool had the memory up past 330mhz i wouldnt push it beyond its rated 303mhz.

the core however is a different story.....the HSF is the same as that on the 9700pro so you can expect to hit 325mhz easily.....i run my 9500pro at 325 cor and 300 mem.

after an hour testing ATI tool seemed to think a stable overclock for my card was 376mhz on the core.....this was soon put down as VPU recover kicked in when 3d mark crashed.

i reckon the best your gonna get is to use ATI tool or some other overclocker and set your card to 325/300 thats bout all you can safely manage.
 
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