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Connect3d Radeon 9500 L RAM red pcb

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Why would one get a 9500np for $133 and oc it to 9700 if you can get a 9600pro from ATI for $149? I'm not trying to be a smart A$$ I am just curious since I am in the market for a new card. Can the 9600pro be modded?
 
Originally posted by: orion7144
Why would one get a 9500np for $133 and oc it to 9700 if you can get a 9600pro from ATI for $149? I'm not trying to be a smart A$$ I am just curious since I am in the market for a new card. Can the 9600pro be modded?
Click to expand...

Okay, here's some basics (Not trying to be condescending):

The Radeon 9500 np is a 4 pipe 256bit card that defaults to 275 core and 540 mem.
The Radeon 9600 Pro is a 4 pipe 128bit card that defaults to 400 core and 600 mem.

Effectively, because video is very high bandwidth, the RAM on the 9500 np can be considered to be twice as fast since it's twice as 'wide' as the RAM on the 9600 Pro. So now our competition is:

275 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem

IF the 9500 np can be softmodded, it's core performance is effectively doubled. If that is true, then we're looking at:

550 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem

The early 9600 Pros were capable of hitting the ~550 range, but newer ones have trouble crossing 450Mhz. Even on the built-by-ATi cards. The current theory on the rage3d forums is that ATi tampered with the core voltage.

Also worth noting that the 9500 np can be overclocked, although not to the same degree that some 9600 Pro's can be.

Now can you see why a softmoddable 9500 is very desirable for $133? 🙂
 
Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Originally posted by: orion7144
Why would one get a 9500np for $133 and oc it to 9700 if you can get a 9600pro from ATI for $149? I'm not trying to be a smart A$$ I am just curious since I am in the market for a new card. Can the 9600pro be modded?
Click to expand...

Okay, here's some basics (Not trying to be condescending):

The Radeon 9500 np is a 4 pipe 256bit card that defaults to 275 core and 540 mem.
The Radeon 9600 Pro is a 4 pipe 128bit card that defaults to 400 core and 600 mem.

Effectively, because video is very high bandwidth, the RAM on the 9500 np can be considered to be twice as fast since it's twice as 'wide' as the RAM on the 9600 Pro. So now our competition is:

275 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem

IF the 9500 np can be softmodded, it's core performance is effectively doubled. If that is true, then we're looking at:

550 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem

The early 9600 Pros were capable of hitting the ~550 range, but newer ones have trouble crossing 450Mhz. Even on the built-by-ATi cards. The current theory on the rage3d forums is that ATi tampered with the core voltage.

Also worth noting that the 9500 np can be overclocked, although not to the same degree that some 9600 Pro's can be.

Now can you see why a softmoddable 9500 is very desirable for $133? 🙂
Click to expand...

I see said the blind man.... However we are not guaranteed to get a softmodable one correct? So the only other option if I were to not take a chance is to get a 9700 correct?
 
Originally posted by: orion7144
I see said the blind man.... However we are not guaranteed to get a softmodable one correct? So the only other option if I were to not take a chance is to get a 9700 correct?
Click to expand...

No, this is not 100%. Of course, the odds are in our favor since these cards are 'old stock' and retail, which means they haven't been picked through.
 
Originally posted by: akaricke
read how to do it here...............
http://duhvoodooman.com/9500mod/9500mod_2.htm
Click to expand...


Page 3 of that site really explains how to do it in noob terms, which is nice 😉.
 
Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Originally posted by: orion7144
I see said the blind man.... However we are not guaranteed to get a softmodable one correct? So the only other option if I were to not take a chance is to get a 9700 correct?
Click to expand...

No, this is not 100%. Of course, the odds are in our favor since these cards are 'old stock' and retail, which means they haven't been picked through.
Click to expand...

Even so I think the odds are about 50/50 that they'll mod..at least that's what they were a while back.
 
I just got 2 of mine, and already did a softmod on one of the card without any problem, now its is running with all 8 pipes 😀. 3DMarked 3x without any Artifects! Ohooo awesome deal for 133! I will try some overclocking with this babi tomorrow 😀
 
just got mine this morning. gotta go to work so i'll fill you guys in on how the softmod goes. by the way, to anyone that got theirs already. does the box come sealed cause mine didn't.
 
I just got my card today too. The box wasn't sealed. I'm not sure what that is supposed to imply, but the box is retail. I've got classes until the afternoon so I won't be able to test it until I get home. I will update when I find out. Sheeit better work.

Haha.

 
some quick results with omega drivers. 3dmark score 4452 fill rate multi text 2001.9. no artifacting no checkerboarding. will overclock to pro speeds and post results later.
 
Just wanted to note that the electric bag covering the card is sealed. That gives me a slight reassurance, but what sucks even more is I can't find my screwdriver..argh!

Also, the memory on the card is from Infineon 3.3ns.


 
Mine failed. I could have expected this given my bad luck with recent hardware purchases.

I have checkerboading just about everywere during fade-in and fade-out events. In 3D Mark 2003 the DX8 demos look fine with checkerboards only in the botom around the frame counter or at great distance. UT2003 works fine for some reason.

Strangely and fortunately, I have some artifacts displaying text on the desktop even eith the non-hacked drivers and I noticed that 3D mark 2001 seems to have many edge artifacts of some kind even without the mod.

I am definetly returning this one. Maybe next time for me.

Edit, tried 2003 and it looked even worse with black and white lines all over the place.
 
Anyone know of any other sites that would sell possibly the same card? i know they won't be as good as newegg for their return policy, but am really looking to get a 9800 proish type card for around 150.

balael
 
Originally posted by: Balael
Anyone know of any other sites that would sell possibly the same card? i know they won't be as good as newegg for their return policy, but am really looking to get a 9800 proish type card for around 150.

balael
Click to expand...

Thats going to be tough. Video cards are really holding to their high prices right now, I think because Nvidias newest batch sux so hardcore. You have to get a 5900 for it to really be a decent card and even then you might as well get a 9800 instead.

I wish Nvidia would pop something decent our some competition can drive down prices.
 
results from overclock to 9700 speed. 3dmark 2003 5075 score multi texture 2344. no artifacts nor checkerboarding so definitely a hot buy if you can get it to mod. now i'm thinking about so ramsinks for this baby.
 
Got my Connect3d today. Popped it in my rig that already has a 9500 that is soft modded with omega drivers. Success! Overclocks to 335/310. Will try for higher soon. Infineon 3.3. Overclocks better than my sapphire 9500np. I consider myself fortunate, sorry for those who have artifacts. I use tweak3d on the sapphire because the disable hyper z is checked by default, I uncheck it and it stops a checkerboard effect on the ati bear demo. So there can be some tweaks that help for some cards. The connect3d is solid though. Score another 1.

Shawn
 
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