Sapphire 9700 with fast ram wont go over default?

[blackhawk]

Just picked this up to replace an 8500 and since it has the fast ram(2.8ns? same as the pro) I thought it would be no problem to overclock this a bit so tried my 3drage but it wouldn't go over default, 270/275 without rebooting back to default. Tried powerstrip and same thing, even going up 5 mz. I'm using the default drivers from the disk right now but this card runs fine at default but wont go over it by a single mz.

Any ideas? Just wondering if its a bios thing or what. My mb is an epox 8kha+, via kt266a cs.

................further research leads me to believe that overclocking is locked out via bios, anyone............
................confirm? didn't really want to update bios but may have to.................................................

 

[tenoc]

bios most likely solution. Check the fora at rage3d.com.

 

[Reliant]

The bios is locked...the only difference between your NP and a Pro is the clockspeed and if anyone could raise things up to pro speeds then nobody would buy the pro cards and the company would lose money.

 

[blackhawk]

Yeah, its locked out via bios & that ram is the fastest made! 2.86ns!!!

That card is the exact same as the pro, only diff is the bios flash at the end of production, what a waste of that ram!

I did manage to overclock with powerstrip but immediate freezes/artifacts!!
I could reflash with a pro bios but I brought it back to the store and for 66 cdn dollars more(about 48 usd) I'm getting a Sapphire 9800 non pro that can also be reflashed to pro if I want.

Over my 8500 retail, its a 300% price increase for 25% faster! Not a great tradeoff.