flashing 9800pro > 9800XT

[faye]

Hi, got an 9800pro

wondering if i could softmod it to 9800xt and then overclock it?

i am feeling the need to pay the minimum to get the max out of it.

I don't think i will buy another card for Doom3 yet.. unless a 6800U can make the creatures jump out of the screen... anyways..

Is softmoding the card worth it?

I now can clock it to 420/760@9800pro,
wondering if once i softmod it to xt, i can get more out of it.??

THanks

 

[faye]

anyone?

 

[Megatomic]

You can only softmod it to an XT if you have a card with an R360 core. My 9800 Pro does not have the new core. You will need to look at the GPU core directly to know with 100% certainty.

One thing you can do to make sure you can get the highest overclock possible is to upgrade the card's cooling to something like the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer, adding some low profile BGA ramsinks will help, too.

 

[apoppin]

The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide Rev. 4.0!
Everything U need.

 

[faye]

i have VGA silencer installed..

apoppin, reading ur link

 

[faye]

this is a very detail guide, thanks for sharing...
however, can i use CDrom to boot instead of floppy disk?

cuz i don't have a floppy drive, i only have cdroms.

edit: the link for the flashbios 1.03 is dead.!!

 

[Megatomic]

So faye, did you verify your core revision yet?

 

[faye]

hmm, Megatomic,

sorry to ask this, but how?

 

[Megatomic]

Well, when you installed the VGA Silencer you should have cleaned off the old thermal compound. At that time you would have seen the chip's markings. Did it say R350 or R360 on it?

There's been talk of the ATI Tool being able to tell you what core rev. is on your card, too, but I can't verify that as I don't use that program.

 

[faye]

i have ati tool, let me check check,

i've already installed the vga silencer on the card already.. if i have to i will take it off but i will have to do it tonight

 

[faye]

just got it,

chip type: R350
DeviceID: 4E48

 

[apoppin]

R350 . . . bad news . . . from the ATI tool or from the marking on the GPU?

ATI tool has been known to be wrong about the core . . . from looking directly at the GPU chip, my ATI 9800Pro 256/256MB > XT says r360 . . . ONLY r360 can be flashed to XT.

Study the guide! there are ways to tell by checkng the memory- basically you are looking for the newest GPU.

To flash it you can use a boot cd-rom HOWEVER, you canNOT "save" your old BIOS in case the flash goes wrong and you want to restore it.

 

[faye]

so should i make another bootable cdrom incase the flash is failed, is it what u mean?

after flashing to XT, can u still OC it to higher clock rate?

 

[navo]

Be warned that ATI tool isn't a reliable way to check your core. My core says R360 on it but ATI tool told me R350...

 

[faye]

oh me too..
i've just deteched the vga silencer and had a look

it said R360 on the chip.

 

[faye]

any draw backs after flashing?

 

[phlashphire]

Originally posted by: faye
any draw backs after flashing?

It voids your warranty... but then again you installed the vga silencer so the warranty is already gone. Just go forth at this point. Read that link apoppin gave, should answer all your questions.

 

[Megatomic]

Damn, if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all...

Give it a shot faye, let me live vicariously through you .

 

[faye]

i would like to flash it tonite,
however the like of flashbios 1.3 is dead

EDIT: the .exe file is dead however the zip file is ok, are they the same?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: faye
i would like to flash it tonite,
however the like of flashbios 1.3 is dead

i think you can find SSOMEthing here . . . and use ANY "flashrom-type" BIOS-flasher

i think you "read" the guide . . . now STUDY it . . . there will be "a test" and it Will go on your PERMANENT record.

:roll:

 

[faye]

one last,

the article said Hercules is the best for overclock performance, so should i use that also?

and my card just has 128mb of ram, they are all 256mb including hercules, so which should i get?
and i can't find what type of memory i have ... samsung or hynix.. 2.8ns or 2.2ns... how can i find it?

 

[faye]

i still can't make up my mine,

what is the gain after the flashed...,
generally difference btwn XT and pro is the clock speed...

for example, now(pro) i can have 10% from OC'ed
after the flash to XT, can i still get another 10% of OC'ed?

 

[apoppin]

You are still asking questions that the rojak-pot guide fully answers.

 

[faye]

ya but, still...

 

[faye]

aiya, forget the BS i just said,

i just flashed succesfully.. hehee..!!

using the Club3d(don't remember what that called).

now it say my card is a 9800XT, now i will do some benching first.

oh ya, just read that farcry 1.2 is out, gonna try that too.