YMMV - ATI Atlantis Radeon 9500 128MB Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI by SapphireTech -- 162.99 @ GoogleGear

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toade

Member
Oct 14, 2002
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Some people may have to go into their desktop's bios and change the AGP from 128 bit to 256 bit. Not everyone.
 
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ObiGon

Junior Member
Mar 13, 2003
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Originally posted by: Chu
Originally posted by: kevman
so even if it's an L-shaped memory there is no guarentee that it can be soft-modded? that sux. I think I'm staying away from this...
Click to expand...

I think you don't understand exactly what the soft mod involves. 9500->9700 involves two things:

1. 128->256bit memory interface.
2. 4piplelines->8pipelines

#1 is gaurenteed to work on the L shaped saphire boards. This gets you the equavalent of a 9500pro.

#2 is not. The reason is not because of some weird software problems, but because on some 9500's -- those 4 pipelines are disabled because they are bad. You will activate the 4 pipelines, but since there are problems with them, you get artifacts, most noticeably, the checkerboard effect.

-Chu
Click to expand...

I just recived a 9500 Red PCB and L shape memory from newegg and applied the hack and overclocked and it. The only problem i have with this is that the checkerboard effect showed up ONLY in the 2nd Cpu test of 3dmark 03 and in Doom3, other than that the card runs great. Ive tested it with 3dmark 02 , NBA live 2003, Mafia, jediknight 2, MOHAA: Spearhead, and multiple ATI DX9 demos and there hasnt been any other checker boarding. Now if those other pipelines were bad wounldnt all my games have checkerboards? Could this possibly be something else going on?
 
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azoomee

Golden Member
Jan 5, 2002
1,054
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Any of you super-pros out there:

I'm doing the upgrade and it continues to lock up my system. I think the problem may be that I don't see the tweak for windows XP, only for windows 9X and windows NT. Where are the tweaks/drivers for NT to do the upgrade?

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated :)
 
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DogbertFuz

Senior member
Jan 10, 2001
673
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I got red L shaped with artifacts on 8 pipelines. Used 256 bit hack up to 9800 w/o artifacts. Getting 3300 on 3dmark 2k3 Oced 325/325. Ordered from googlegear (after RMA of black PCB)

If you are having problems booting download the wizzard drivers for the 9800 w/o 8 pipelines. Sometimes thats what screws up boot. =(

nick
 
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przero

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2000
2,060
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DogbertFuz - "Used 256 bit hack up to 9800 w/o artifacts"

Where did you find the hack to 9800?
 
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xWeston

Senior member
Mar 13, 2001
503
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swNYC

Senior member
May 19, 2001
473
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Ordered a Red Version Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 128MB card, received a black version today :|
They even have the guts to say it passed their Shipping & Packaging QC.
I don't recommend getting the card at Googlegear. Its the same price for the Red Version at Newegg.
 
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xWeston

Senior member
Mar 13, 2001
503
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Originally posted by: swNYC
Ordered a Red Version Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 128MB card, received a black version today :|
They even have the guts to say it passed their Shipping & Packaging QC.
I don't recommend getting the card at Googlegear. Its the same price for the Red Version at Newegg.
Click to expand...

You ordered yours from googlegear and they sent you a black one?

 
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swNYC

Senior member
May 19, 2001
473
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0

You ordered yours from googlegear and they sent you a black one?
Click to expand...

Yup, it sucks. The DDR RAM is arranged horizontally in a straight, not in the 'L' shape.
Paid extra premium for it too, since you can get the black one for ~150.
 
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elanarchist

Senior member
Dec 8, 2001
694
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Originally posted by: swNYC
Ordered a Red Version Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9500 128MB card, received a black version today :|
They even have the guts to say it passed their Shipping & Packaging QC.
I don't recommend getting the card at Googlegear. Its the same price for the Red Version at Newegg.
Click to expand...

RMA it! I had the same thing happen to me back when this deal first started two weeks ago. Googlegear was ok about sending me the red one. The one I got to replace my black one is not bad, OC's to 9700 pro speeds and the artifacts aren't very noticable in most games.
 
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xWeston

Senior member
Mar 13, 2001
503
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0
I recieved my card from allstarshop. The mod worked perfectly and it runs as it should without any artifacts! :)
 
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nigm

Senior member
Dec 23, 2000
413
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0
Originally posted by: xWeston
I recieved my card from allstarshop. The mod worked perfectly and it runs as it should without any artifacts! :)
Click to expand...


you bought it from allstarshop, rite? and its look likes its cheaper, so i'm thinkin of buying it from there instead then googlegear

 
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sirfergy

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2000
1,428
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Anyone know if the Sapphire Radeon 9500 128 NP from amazon is red pcb with L shaped memory?
 
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przero

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2000
2,060
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Got my RMA replacement card from GoogleGear. Red PCB w/L shaped memory. Took the mod, no artifacts. It rocks!!!
 
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salsa086

Senior member
Jan 5, 2002
212
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this was a hot deal for me. Googlegear sent me a red pcb board. In its stock configuration with cat 3.2s I received 10289 in 3dmark2001se 330.... after running the 9500--->9800 software mod I'm getting 14335: zero artifacts
 
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Creig

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,170
13
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Originally posted by: przero
Creig - That is not correct. I got the black one. I applied the "hack" and boosted the performance 18-20% w/o O/C'ing. the chips are inline.
Click to expand...


Well, I'm not sure where your performance increase is coming from then if the clock speeds remained the same as before applying the hack. The boards with the "L" shaped memory are built on the 9700 PCB and thus uses the same 256 bit memory as the 9700. The only difference between the 9700 and 9500 non-pro is that the 9700 uses all 8 pipelines and the 9500NP uses only 4. This is how ATI lowered the performance level of the 9500 and is only applicable to the boards with the "L" shaped memory placement.

The boards with the inline memory modules are built using a 128 bit memory path. This is a PHYSICAL limitation and cannot be overcome by any software hack. But this board uses all 8 pipelines as default. This 128 bit board with 8 pipelines is roughly equal in performance to the 256 bit board with 4 pipelines.

All the software hack really does is to enable the 4 disabled pipes on the 9500NP. Since the boards built with the inline memory already have all 8 pipelines enabled, the hack should do nothing. Unless it changes the core/memory speed and then that would be simple overclocking.

 
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Jonko

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2003
9
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Ordered my card monday got it yesterday, red pcb, L-shaped memory. Installing it tomorrow.
 
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przero

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2000
2,060
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Creig - The performance boost was pretty good according to my 3DMark01 benchmarks. I RMA'ed that card and got a Red L-shaped. It took the hack w/o artifacts.
 
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