Poll: How did your 9500 mod turn out?

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Creig
The best I could get out of my system w/GF3 Ti200 o/c'ed was 8500 3dmarks.


But NOW! Reformat/reinstalled WinXP and using RivaTuner w/Soft9700. System as follows:

Koolance PC2-C Watercooled case
Epox 8K5A3+
T-Bred A 1800+
512mb Crucial PC2100
ATI Radeon 9500 w/Infineon 3.3ns

1) Stock processor @ 1.53 GHz/stock card.... @ 275/540 =.. 9641 3DMarks
2) O/C processor... @ 1.83 GHz/stock card.... @ 275/540 = 10627 3DMarks
3) Stock processor @ 1.53 GHz/9700 update @ 275/540 = 11016 3DMarks
4) O/C processor... @ 1.83 GHz/9700 update @ 275/540 = 12716 3DMarks
5) O/C processor... @ 1.83 GHz/9700 update @ 325/300 = 13329 3DMarks


Wow! People who don't overclock their equipment don't know what they're missing. The only test left for me to do now is to replace the stock ATI heatsink/fan with a waterblock and see how high I can push the core.

Haven't had a chance to do any other benches or games but haven't noticed any artifacts/checkerboarding yet.

Kewl, nice results. You have a very similar system to me so I'll just chime in with my results with a GF4 so you guys can compare (and see how much better your 9700's are than me

Epox 8K5A2+
T-Bred A 1700+ (unlocked, like all Tbred-A's)
512mb Samsung on Samsung PCB PC2700 @ stock (2.5-3-3-6)
BFG GF4 Ti4200 128MB

Processor @ 1.83 GHz (166 FSB), GF4 Ti4200 128MB @ 250/444 = 10192 marks
Processor @ 1.83 GHz (166 FSB), GF4 Ti4200 128MB @ 300/550 = 11147 3dmarks

This clearly shows that the GF4 is still pretty competitive (surprisingly so), but the 9500@9700 still whoops it in the end!

Edit: oh yeah and all I could get out of my GF3 @ 220/500 was a disappointing 7900 3dmarks!

 

[may]

Sapphire OEM 9500 NP 128MB from Newegg. 3.3 Infenion memory

w1zzard software mod, ...7193c drivers with original BIOS.

no 2d artifacts
no 3d artifacts (3dmark score confirms activation was successful)

7192 drives give strange blue dot on 2d screen. No 3d problem. RivaTuner does not work for me.

Wired.. maybe the artifact is a driver problem?

Tested with 3dmark 2001se, all ati dx9 demo, ut2003 and mafia.

 

[Rand]

Hardware: 4/9 --- 44.4% Success ratio.
Software: 9/15 --- 60.0% Success ratio.

Total: 13/23 --- 54.1% Success ratio .

 

[Auric]

My success.

I don't think there is any reason to flash the BIOS to 9700. You really just need to unlock the overclock function if it is locked. However mine and many others are not locked. I speculate it is because when Sapphire boxes 'em for retail they include their overclocking software.

 

[jaybee]

Originally posted by: Auric
My success.

I don't think there is any reason to flash the BIOS to 9700. You really just need to unlock the overclock function if it is locked. However mine and many others are not locked. I speculate it is because when Sapphire boxes 'em for retail they include their overclocking software.

You have to flash the bios to change the device id. Or just do the software mod.

jaybee

 

[ectx]

Software Mod. Wizzard hack.
7192c driver win xp + sp1 + dx9 xp1900+ (oc) via266, new via4x1
card from newegg (shipped 1/9/03). 3.3 memory
Different 3d artifacts in most games. Very bad for Quake3 (an old demo version though).

Looks like a 50/50 deal. Oh well!!

:frown:

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: ectx
Software Mod. Wizzard hack.
7192c driver win xp + sp1 + dx9 xp1900+ (oc) via266, new via4x1
card from newegg (shipped 1/9/03). 3.3 memory
Different 3d artifacts in most games. Very bad for Quake3 (an old demo version though).

Looks like a 50/50 deal. Oh well!!

:frown:

What clocks are you trying to run? Try 4xFSAA and 8xAnisio and see if it goes away.

 

[ectx]

As a 9500 NP - Run at 350/310 3d mark looped 64 times w/o any problem. Have not pushed it to the limit yet.

As a 9700 - has artifacts at even stock speed (275/270).

Did not try underclock since the stock speed is way conservative for this chip.

Will try 4x fsaa and 8x anisio to see what happens. Will also try everything suggested in various forum to see what happens but will not get my hope up. If there is anything worth reporting, I'll be back.

 

[hollowman]

From Newegg, Radeon 9500 128mb non pro

3D Benchmark 2k1 results

~9800 for XP1800+stock w/ radeon 9500 stock
~11500 for XP1800+stock w/ radeon 9500 modded to 9700
~13500 for xp1800+@xp2100+ w/radeon 9500 modded to 9700
~14900 for xp1800+@xp2100+ w/radeon 9500 modded to 9700 OCed @ 325/300

No artifacts as far as I can tell.

$160 for a 9700 Pro(or close) is a steal IMO. I love you guys. =)

 

[j@cko]

out of luck for me... i get artifacts in both 2D and 3D.. time to return the card...

 

[frustrated2]

Can anyone help me out??

I need someone to help me get this hack to work. I have win ME if you could give me some better instuctions I would appreciate I am not finding any of the files he is talking about in my driver files.

 

[Creig]

It looks like playing with my new toy is on hold until I can get a larger power supply. I'm not sure how much juice this 9500 turned 9700Pro sucks but it was enough to cause my system to become unstable with an Enermax 350. But on plus side it was childs play to remove the stock heatsink/fan and replace it with a Koolance waterblock.

 

[rogue1979]

I have mentioned this before, it is wrong to return the card just because it won't "mod properly". Same goes for a cpu that won't overclock high enough to please someone.

Suck it up like a man, and keep the card or sell it off. My mod produced 3D artifacts so I restored it to original condition and sold it on ebay, no crying here!

 

[Eskimo]

I received a Sapphire non-pro 9500 128MB OEM card from Newegg today, the $160 one. It came on a red PCB with the 4x2 memory arrangement that is supposed to be indicative of a 256bit memory bus PCB. Uninstalled my GeForce2 drivers. Installed card and newest catalyst drivers from ATI. Flashed with warp11's bios to allow for overclocking. Used the rivatuner soft9700 patch and voila! success

3dmark 2001SE on my Tbird 1.2:
GeForce2 Pro 64MB: 3890
9500 before soft9700patch: 8158
9500 after soft9700patch: 8849
9500 after soft9700patch, mild OC: 9138

3dmark Fill rate (single/multi):
9500 before soft9700patch: 926/1101
9500 after soft9700patch: 1538/2166

I believe at this point my CPU and SDRAM memory have become the bottlenecks in my system. Not a bad upgrade for $160 though. Done some mild overclocking to (310/290) but I'm not going to push my luck. No visual artifacts in any of my games or 3dmark. When I did push the core and memory up to actual 9700pro speeds i got the checkerboard pattern some have complained of. I'm happy as a clam

 

[Auric]

Aarg! Stop needless BIOS flashing! It is not required by the SW mod. The overclocking lock is a seperate issue. You can test with the default BIOS first to see if it is unlocked or save a copy and look at the hex values found by warp11. I especially would not use a BIOS meant for a different SGRAM part, just in case the timings are different. Stick to either Hynix or Infineon if it is necessary (though it is easy enought to unlock your own).

Creig, not to rub salt in your wounds but sometimes that's what you get when you pay for a brand and thus their advertising budget. It is neither the claimed wattage rating nor the "clear fans and gold fan guards!" that are important, but the quality. My Sparkle 235W runs like a champ.

I agree with rogue1979 about returning. It is quite evil actually when you consider that same "bad" card may end up with another hopeful modder.

Eskimo, see http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=441f112a19fed76936ff030495bfa409&threadid=33660146 about artifacts. If you are seeing "checkerboarding" like TriC's pic it may be just overstressing the memory and not the checkerboading as a result of defective pipes which occurs at any core speed.

 

[Eskimo]

Originally posted by: Auric
Aarg! Stop needless BIOS flashing! It is not required by the SW mod. The overclocking lock is a seperate issue. You can test with the default BIOS first to see if it is unlocked or save a copy and look at the hex values found by warp11. I especially would not use a BIOS meant for a different SGRAM part, just in case the timings are different. Stick to either Hynix or Infineon if it is necessary (though it is easy enought to unlock your own).

Eskimo, see http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=441f112a19fed76936ff030495bfa409&threadid=33660146 about artifacts. If you are seeing "checkerboarding" like TriC's pic it may be just overstressing the memory and not the checkerboading as a result of defective pipes which occurs at any core speed.

Was your BIOS comment in reference to me? I specifically flashed my BIOS to enable overclocking, not for the conversion to a 9700. I flashed with the unlocked 9500 non pro bios, not anything that was meant for a different part. And I did check before hand and my Sapphire was not unlocked out of the box.

Yes, my checkerboarding looks like TriC's, but that's only when I put the memory up to 9700 speed. I understand the issue, which is why i'm running the memory at 290 so I have no problems. Core is up at 310.

 

[kmmatney]

Eskimo,

Most of us want to know if your card will work with all 8 pipelines - not if if can overclock...

 

[jaybee]

Wow, 5 people cannot get 9700 mode? That's odd... if nothing else, try the defogger trick. Just make sure you connect 1&2 only, and leave resistor on 2-3.

Are these W98 users? I don't remember, what is the software option for W9x?

jaybee

 

[zephyrprime]

I voted "9500 on the way before" and I received my 9500 today. Software mod. Artifacts in 3d only.

I've got a 9500 from bananapc with 3.6ns hynix ram.

 

[Eskimo]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
Eskimo,

Most of us want to know if your card will work with all 8 pipelines - not if if can overclock...

Sorry, I realize now that my original post was not clear. I certainly did enable all 8 pipelines as is evidenced by the dramatic increase in fill rate with no change in either core or memory clock speed. I used the word flash where I meant to state the implementation of the Soft9700 patch. I have since edited my original post to better reflect this.

 

[Jrouss]

Has anyone done the MOD and find they are not able to review the result because the screen becomes garbled. All the demos seem fine then I cannot see the final output from 3D Mark SE. I am assuming it went fine but, would be interested in thoughts on this.

Thansk
Jrouss

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Jrouss
Has anyone done the MOD and find they are not able to review the result because the screen becomes garbled. All the demos seem fine then I cannot see the final output from 3D Mark SE. I am assuming it went fine but, would be interested in thoughts on this.

Thansk
Jrouss

Try backing off your mem. speeds. 290MHz should be safe. For some reason with the mod the ram is usually unable to run much above 300MHz with-out going to crap.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
I voted "9500 on the way before" and I received my 9500 today. Software mod. Artifacts in 3d only.

I've got a 9500 from bananapc with 3.6ns hynix ram.

Exact same results for me. I also got mine from bananapc, but it has the infineon 3.3ns ram.

The artifacts are much more noticeable in some tests than others. I left the clock speeds at default, maybe it'll work better if I underclock it? Any suggestions?

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
I voted "9500 on the way before" and I received my 9500 today. Software mod. Artifacts in 3d only.

I've got a 9500 from bananapc with 3.6ns hynix ram.

Exact same results for me. I also got mine from bananapc, but it has the infineon 3.3ns ram.

The artifacts are much more noticeable in some tests than others. I left the clock speeds at default, maybe it'll work better if I underclock it? Any suggestions?

Some people claim that with some FSAA and Anisio filtering that the artifacts go away or at least the card becomes usable.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Some people claim that with some FSAA and Anisio filtering that the artifacts go away or at least the card becomes usable.

Thanx, I'll try that and let ya'llz know.