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

[Davegod75]

got my red and L-shaped 9500 today...downloading new drivers and software mod now

 

[PC Klein]

Davegod75-

Ordered from Gogglegear? Did the software upgrade and drivers work?

- Phil K

 

[WolverineGator]

Got the Radeon 9500 from GoogleGear today: red PCB and L shaped Infineon chips. Everything looked new except all the capacitors had been marked with a blue marker pen. Installed and immediately noticed the video card was defective. Boot screen was multicolored and some characters were garbled. Bios screen was multicolored, unlike with my old video card.

In Windows there were vertical bands at all resolutions. Bands of stripes appear when changing color depth. These problems occurred in all cases REGARDLESS of whether the ATI video drivers or no driver (Windows XP default driver) was installed.

Went ahead and installed Catalyst 3.2 and hack. Definite improvement, but above problems remained.

RMA. Sigh...

 

[Tol]

Just wanted to say that the blue markings are supposed to be there. They're on all the cards.

 

[jburnham]

Got mine from Google Gear yesterday. It looked like a return - the bulk static bag it was in was worn and I thought there was thermal paste residue on the RAM. I figured I got in on the deal too late and got a non-hackable return and was prepared to go the 9800 route. Just to confirm it wouldn't work, I went right to the end zone. Installed RivaTuner, dl'd latest Catalyst, unpacked (but didn't install), ran the patch script, deleted the extra ati2__.sy_ file, uninstalled the NVidia drivers and ran the NVidia cleanup utility (is it NVidiaClean?) and powered off. Pulled out the Frankenstein GeForce3 Ti500 (hello Ebay), stuck on my RAM heatsinks, dropped in the new card and fired it up. "Have Disk" installed the patched drivers, used RivaTuner to clock the GPU to 390 and the memory to 300 (Infineon 3.3ns). Ran 3DMark2001 and didn't see the artifacts I was expecting. I was shocked and it was awesome ;-)

 

[jburnham]

Got mine from Google Gear yesterday. It looked like a return - the bulk static bag it was in was worn and I thought there was thermal paste residue on the RAM. I figured I got in on the deal too late and got a non-hackable return and was prepared to go the 9800 route. Just to confirm it wouldn't work, I went right to the end zone. Installed RivaTuner, dl'd latest Catalyst, unpacked (but didn't install), ran the patch script, deleted the extra ati2__.sy_ file, uninstalled the NVidia drivers and ran the NVidia cleanup utility (is it NVidiaClean?) and powered off. Pulled out the Frankenstein GeForce3 Ti500 (hello Ebay), stuck on my RAM heatsinks, dropped in the new card and fired it up. "Have Disk" installed the patched drivers, used RivaTuner to clock the GPU to 390 and the memory to 300 (Infineon 3.3ns). Ran 3DMark2001 and didn't see the artifacts I was expecting. I was shocked and it was awesome ;-)

 

[abc]

google sells foe 164.99 and allstarshop for 156, why by from google if u are taking a chance on getting a black one from either place/

 

[GotSomethingCheaper?]

Anyone order one of these recently?

 

[abc]

bump

 

[Davegod75]

the full mod didn't work..got the checkboard effect. I tried the other one but cannot tell if it worked or not?

 

[abc]

bumpy

 

[abc]

bump

 

[catrats]

The ATI Radeon 9500 being sold at both Googlegear and Allstarshop specifically mention that they're built with the red PCB so that aspect of it isn't a gamble. If anything, you take the risk that the card you receive may display artifacts after being modded.

 

[abc]

any recent findings for this weekend.

 

[WolverineGator]

Just got a new replacement Radeon 9500 from GoogleGear to replace the defective one they sent me (see above).

On a Leadtek nForce2 mobo/XP2500, 3DMark2001SE scores:
[*]GeForce 3 Ti200 (20% overclock) - 8305
[*]Radeon 9500 Stock - 10400
[*]Radeon 9500 Wizzard Drivers - 12865

No artifacts, just beautiful pixels. Rock on!

 

[abc]

what was it that made you buy from googlegear in the first place over the other 2 places.

 

[Morpheux]

Looks like I will be ordering one in the near future also, but I have a couple questions:

1. Will a "L" card with the 9800 (256bit softmod) be faster than a 9500Pro?
2. Where is the link current info on the soft mod?

 

[catrats]

1. As long as your card can be modded successfully to a 9800, I think it should be faster than a stock 9500Pro. You might have to try your hand at overclocking the core and memory to ensure that.

2. Software mod for turning your Radeon 9500 non-Pro into a 9700 by W1zzard. Don't forget to check out the FAQ at the bottom of the page as well.