Radeon 8500 flashed to R9100 (R9100 mod: 2x faster!!!)

[CheapTOFU]

EDIT: Everyone seems to have different opinions about this mod.
Most ppl say that VIVO and TV will not work with this 9100 bios.
If anyone has the 9100 bios with VIVO and TV support, plz post here..
Fullstream tech. still works with R9100 bios..
If you like video-chatting online or use PC-cam all the time, you should get R9100 bios.



Someone at other forum posted these benches:

_____________________________________________________________
Cat3.0a
275/275 clocks
Balanced OpenGL settings

BTW Results are shown in this order: 1600x1200, 1280x1024, 1024x768
_____________________________________________________________
Results with Radeon 8500 7008 bios:
dm-antalus
13.884000 / 29.001028 / 168.642181 fps
Score = 28.996304

dm-antalus
21.961847 / 40.342007 / 156.664749 fps
Score = 40.350964

dm-antalus
14.083300 / 63.383690 / 524.712585 fps
Score = 63.386684

dom-suntemple
14.558167 / 26.474808 / 129.691727 fps
Score = 26.487865

dom-suntemple
16.537472 / 40.679127 / 343.100220 fps
Score = 40.701057

dom-suntemple
28.118322 / 60.549183 / 197.568756 fps
Score = 60.582470

dm-phobos2
3.485106 / 13.711896 / 314.082153 fps
Score = 13.723282

dm-phobos2
4.101357 / 16.638330 / 434.134460 fps
Score = 16.652782

dm-phobos2
5.128219 / 23.715250 / 506.896088 fps
Score = 23.733339

dm-inferno
8.835622 / 19.828428 / 134.173019 fps
Score = 19.854462

dm-inferno
17.952492 / 32.537685 / 105.773399 fps
Score = 32.576035

dm-inferno
7.015522 / 51.664433 / 221.157227 fps
Score = 51.727551

ctf-face3
4.457891 / 26.355877 / 304.620636 fps
Score = 26.380281

ctf-face3
14.043979 / 33.519138 / 348.795654 fps
Score = 33.549435

ctf-face3
19.741930 / 45.132904 / 449.347809 fps
Score = 45.169769

ctf-citadel
15.059969 / 33.946198 / 145.397003 fps
Score = 33.967224

ctf-citadel
29.813297 / 50.939289 / 182.226715 fps
Score = 50.996525

ctf-citadel
12.649669 / 77.339455 / 262.397949 fps
Score = 77.453659

dm-asbestos
12.351891 / 32.608551 / 182.503006 fps
Score = 32.633240

dm-asbestos
18.797848 / 49.467594 / 228.352341 fps
Score = 49.496105

dm-asbestos
23.913544 / 74.148941 / 359.594269 fps
Score = 74.162849
___________________________________________
Results Radeon 9100 8004 bios:
dm-antalus
9.806321 / 47.024963 / 307.181122 fps
Score = 47.038876

dm-antalus
23.846325 / 66.946480 / 165.847107 fps
Score = 66.957024

dm-antalus
22.022152 / 104.301476 / 247.962036 fps
Score = 104.350296

dom-suntemple
23.791342 / 43.291611 / 140.730423 fps
Score = 43.312305

dom-suntemple
19.329475 / 65.096184 / 193.114334 fps
Score = 65.129181

dom-suntemple
24.473810 / 96.907677 / 326.956451 fps
Score = 96.943352

dm-phobos2
4.287684 / 20.421062 / 363.787842 fps
Score = 20.434450

dm-phobos2
5.167706 / 25.422474 / 506.065521 fps
Score = 25.438040

dm-phobos2
1.732077 / 36.332565 / 515.865784 fps
Score = 36.348801

dm-inferno
4.604580 / 32.062622 / 323.814514 fps
Score = 32.099461

dm-inferno
9.149684 / 50.049618 / 331.579834 fps
Score = 50.105747

dm-inferno
8.024546 / 81.847382 / 568.720825 fps
Score = 81.950081

ctf-face3
5.031315 / 46.326164 / 406.110687 fps
Score = 46.366577

ctf-face3
22.400784 / 58.296036 / 361.297150 fps
Score = 58.341042

ctf-face3
15.873693 / 71.687401 / 484.935638 fps
Score = 71.712265

ctf-citadel
20.178810 / 51.242779 / 153.230759 fps
Score = 51.299374

ctf-citadel
16.315870 / 72.346458 / 197.979935 fps
Score = 72.477631

ctf-citadel
14.819287 / 92.963097 / 264.122955 fps
Score = 93.144409

dm-asbestos
28.248480 / 60.688877 / 272.418640 fps
Score = 60.727230

dm-asbestos
38.182098 / 94.237801 / 240.599548 fps
Score = 94.264481

dm-asbestos
26.271269 / 143.607574 / 405.281586 fps
Score = 143.7224



Here's the link to the forum

 

[Mingon]

Makes no sense at all, there is no difference. I would be the drivers have just been fully reloaded due to bios string change forcing a clean install.

 

[spanky]

most those guys in the forums report no performance gains.

 

[VirginiaDonkey]

I did this bios flash to my 8500LE and the 3dmark scores are pretty much identical ( I picked up 200 points) I have not tried UT3k3 yet so i cant comment on its performance. BF1942 plays just like it did before the flash, so i think in some aspects it will help, others, nothing

 

[Killrose]

Your are probably only going to get the benefit of a better written bios. Which is a good thing usually.

 

[NEVERwinter]

hmm.. where can I get the bios for 9100?

thx

 

[ShawnReeves]

Here ya go! http://www.freewebs.com/tmod/ati9100bios.htm
Seemed like that link works when it wants too.


I Hope someone will find out if this will work for the 128mb cards also or someone writes one for them which im sure will be the most likely. If anyone with a 128mb cafrd has any luck plz post it here.

 

[NEVERwinter]

arg.... always no respons >__<
=================================================
Gone

The requested resource
/tmod/ATI 9100 Bios.zip
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.
=================================================

btw, is that the 64MB or 128MB version?

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33660520

Many links and lots of info there. I tried this and it worked, but killed my TV, so I had to flash back.

 

[CheapTOFU]

Your are probably only going to get the benefit of a better written bios. Which is a good thing usually.

Some guy posted that after the bios was flashed, his video card supports the FULLSTREAM technology..
R8500/R8500LE drivers will never support FULLSTREAM technology..
here's the link to R9000/9000pro/9100 technology

 

[majewski9]

WOW...there is no 128meg version flash? Whats a Radeon 9100?

 

[Auric]

Don't do eet! I just read the whole thread at rage3d and it doesn't seem worth the effort. If Fullstream worked with no other penalties then I suppose it would be worth doing to add that dubious feature but in fact it only caused problems for the same performance (except for that one guy who obviously must have had other issues).

 

[NEVERwinter]

mmm... I flashed my Sapphire 8500LE VIVO and now (after flashing) I lost my VIVO.

.. back to 8500 bios then...

 

[SickBeast]

I just flashed my ATI-built 8500 64mb retail to the 9100 bios, and it must have fixed a conflict of some sort because I went from ~5100 3D marks (abnormally low) to ~7500 3D marks (still seems low)...

i'll post other findings if anything comes up.

 

[SickBeast]

Ok,

Now I'm getting 8900 3D marks!!!

I found out that my AGP was disabled by smartgart...so I installed the Via 4 in 1 drivers, uninstalled drivers, reinstalled drivers, and POOF...1400 extra 3D marks. The stuttering in games is gone too.

The only problem I'm having is in NFSHP2 but from what I hear ATI is working on it for the next driver release.

I would reccomend flashing to the 9100 to anyone, it seems more stable and refined that my old 8500 one. Not to mention the fact that I can enable AGP texturing now, whereas before it rarely worked.

 

[NEVERwinter]

wow... SickBeast... 1400 extra points!!! seems that it works for ya'
here.. look at my results:
==============================================
Windows XP SP1
Athlon Tbird 1333 MHz
ECS K7VTA3 KT333
256MB DDR PC-2700
Driver ATI Catalyst 3.0a (Vsync off & OGL/D3d balanced setting)
no other tweaks/optimizations

Sapphire Radeon 8500LE VIVO 64MB BIOS 7008 (275/275)

3dmark 2001SE b330 : 7732
3dmark 2000 b340 : 8846
UT 2003 : Flyby 93.200394/Botmatch 35.843609

Sapphire Tech. Radeon 9100 Series 64MB BIOS 8004 (275/275)

3dmark 2001SE b330 : 7728
3dmark 2000 b340 : 8901
UT 2003 : Flyby 94.266472/Botmatch 33.203369
==============================================

no improvements
beside.. it removes my VIVO features and generates minor artifacts on vertex shader test....