soft mod radeon 9700-->9800pro

[touchmyichi]

I was on futuremark and people were claiming to have a soft mod to do this. thread link. I tried it myself and it actually worked! My radeon 9700 pro is now being see as a 9800 pro and I got some increases in benchmarks.

Here's some instructions- "Double click the CAT 3.2 installer. Next choose a folder for it to unpack the files to. After it unpacks, the driver installer will run...Just cancel it. Next download The patch and install it in the directory \2KXP_INF\B_08037 of the drivers you unpacked. Make sure to delete the one that was already in there. The file you are putting in is ati2mtag.SYS and the file you are replacing is ati2mtag.SYS. So you will still need to delete the original ati2mtag.sys. Once you have the file copied into the right directory, go to device manager and doubleclick the name of your display adapter. Next choose update driver. Uncheck search for better driver and check Specify location. Now click on Have Disk. Choose the directory you unpacked to and unselect the box that says show compatible hardware. Now choose 9800pro off the list. Ta da.... "-intelrullz

click here to get the patch to do it

Don't be expecting huge increases though.

 

[Metalloid]

Well I just reinstalled Windows, so what the heck I will try it and report results back in a few minutes.

 

[Metalloid]

142 point increase in 3dmark03. Not sure about game tests yet, but supposedly using AA and AF is where you see the real performance boost.

 

[Boyne7]

does it work with 9700pros also?
if so that is cool

 

Originally posted by: Boyne7
does it work with 9700pros also?
if so that is cool

That would be very nice! 😀

 

[Glitchny]

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
142 point increase in 3dmark03. Not sure about game tests yet, but supposedly using AA and AF is where you see the real performance boost.

the performance boost of the 9800 is getting though is due toi a slight reworking of the core so i dont really think much is going to change on the 9700's AA and AF

 

[Spicedaddy]

It just forces the cards to use the 9800 driver path, which boosts performance slightly in some case. It's not gonna transform your card into a 9800.

 

[ctucker]

I read somewhere that the 3.3 cats will give the 9700s a performance boost but not the 3.2s. It was a quote from ATI.. can't remember where I read it though 🙂

 

[oLLie]

Heh, ATi seems to be a little lazy releasing so many cards that vary so much in price but not much at all in the actual hardware. Oh well, nvidia used to do it (I've heard they stopped recently).

 

[Metalloid]

Originally posted by: Glitchny

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
142 point increase in 3dmark03. Not sure about game tests yet, but supposedly using AA and AF is where you see the real performance boost.

the performance boost of the 9800 is getting though is due toi a slight reworking of the core so i dont really think much is going to change on the 9700's AA and AF

Did you happen to take a look at the benchmarks in that link?

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: ctucker
I read somewhere that the 3.3 cats will give the 9700s a performance boost but not the 3.2s. It was a quote from ATI.. can't remember where I read it though 🙂

Yes. This mod is forcing the up comming improvements that will be in the Cat. 3.3's for 9700 users. I'm going to wait till Cat 3.3

 

[touchmyichi]

You get a tad increase and you can tell your friends you have a radeon 9800 pro and they'll never tell the difference 😛. It also enables smoothvision 2.1. I think.... At least it says I have it. It works with any 9700 card, there was even reports of it working w/ 9500, well it should since they are all on the same core. I think in the future we can expect to see a bios flash that will enable radeon 9700 to truely become a 9800 pro.

 

[Allen7]

Originally posted by: Metalloid15
142 point increase in 3dmark03. Not sure about game tests yet, but supposedly using AA and AF is where you see the real performance boost.

I got 147 points boost in 3dmark03, not bad consider the mod if free 😀

 

[BFG10K]

It isn't soft modding anything, it's just using the R350 driver path on the R300. The next drivers will officially support this so I wouldn't even bother hacking around with this tweak.

 

[Jayczar]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
It isn't soft modding anything, it's just using the R350 driver path on the R300. The next drivers will officially support this so I wouldn't even bother hacking around with this tweak.

thats what I thought, thanks BFG!

 

[touchmyichi]

I think a 300 point 3dmark 03 increase is worth it man. I also got some noticable increases in UT2k3

 

[EdipisReks]

with the 3.3's, it seems that ATi is pulling the stuff that nVidia used to pull with drivers: large performance increases.

 

[poMONKey]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
It isn't soft modding anything, it's just using the R350 driver path on the R300. The next drivers will officially support this so I wouldn't even bother hacking around with this tweak.

great news! my 9700 pro is getting here tues... 😀

BTW BFG10K... any eta on the release of new drivers? i just went to the ati site and the latest driver is cat 3.2... isnt that the newest? you posted on the 15th and ati posted this release on the 13th... seems like its da new one, i'll install gladly

 

[BFG10K]

No, the latest drivers (3.2) don't have these optimisations. The 3.3s will have them and going by previous ATi driver releases they should be here within a month.