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

[lastig21]

I upgraded from an 8500. I had 2xAA on, and I can't recall how much antistropic filtering. I play my games at 1024x768 at the highest detail. With the desert combat mod, I would drop alot of frames in the planes and helicopter. My card just couldn't keep up. I could have turned my settings down, but I've been wanting to try this hack out for awhile now

 

[Jugernot]

I'm a little unclear on what happens if the pipelines are apparently not working on one of these 9500s? Can I still enable the 256bit memory? This is a red L shaped model...

 

[CheapTOFU]

I think you can give newegg a call and ask for a red PCB for R9500np...
You don't want googlegear... they ALWAYS charge restock. fee.

 

[ninethirty]

I had the black pixels also but I got rid of them by changing a driver setting (deactivating hierachal z or zmask I forget which) using rTool. For some reason this is the only utility that fixed it. Its solely in german, but pretty easy to understand.

I know this forum isn't for discussing the mod itself at length, but JTrav is right: if anyone has two vertical rows of staggered black dots when they do the mod, they can get rid of them by disabling ZMask using rTool. I lost about 500-700 on my total 3dmark2k1, but it's off a theoretical test...i haven't been able to go back and see which test dropped exactly. Considering the total score went up 2000+ with the mod, it's worth it. Framerates haven't dropped.

Just a note.

 

[MAG1969]

I got my 9500 from Allstarshop yesterday and applied the softmod. I used 3dmarks03 for benchmark I scored 2820 before hack and 4010 after the hack. The bad news is I got severe artifacting, so mine stays at 9500 and maybe just overclock with Rivatuner.

Hope the rest of you have better luck.

MAG

 

[joe4324]

Does anyone currently have the red ones with the L memory IN-STOCK?

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: joe4324
Does anyone currently have the red ones with the L memory IN-STOCK?

allstarshop.com

 

[FordLorider]

Horrible results for me so far (kindof). I got 2 cards just to make sure one took the softmod, or course neither worked! I got minor checkboards with one in Windows and horrible checkerboards in gameplay (Quake III and C&C Generals), the other one was terrible. GOOD NEWS was my 3dmark 2003 score was 19xx before the hack and 40xx after the hack, not a bad improvement without tweaking.

System it was running on:
Epox 8hka+
AMD XP 1700 (stock 1466Mhz)
512 generic pc2100

Both were L-shaped memory configurations with red PCB's. The memory I received (on both) is:

Infineon
DDR - SGRAM
HYB25D128323C-3.3
A
0248 SUU49841

White Sticker on back says:

S/N 180306 006219 Radeon 9500 128M
P/N 1029423232 073192

Sorry, I am not going to crack off the heatsink to check the GPU specs, like I said, they are probably going back.

I am going to be doing some serious reading today to find some fixes, looks like these will be going back and trying my luck with another vendor.

This is not a good start to building my new computer!

 

[Finalnight]

I have found that certain gamma/brightness settings can almost eliminate traces of checkboarding, so I will experiment tonight. My bios came factory unlocked, 3.3ns Infineon ram. it does 300, it can do higher 3.3's have been known to be naturally undervolted from factory, will keep investigating, core has hit 320 so far, still checking stuff.

 

[markrb]

I am heavily debating on trying this. I really need a new video card soon and I wanted to
spend a bit less, but if I can spend a bit more and possibly get allot more power then it would
be worth it for me.

If this card fails in the modding is it still a good card for the price at stock speeds?

I was thinking of getting a Ti4200 or even another 8500 to save some money.

What is the better gamble/value getting a black PCB and knowing you can speed it up to a pro
or getting the red PCB and possibly get it up to 9700 levels?

If the red does not mod well are there other ways to pick the speed up?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[saltedeggman]

Originally posted by: markrb
I am heavily debating on trying this. I really need a new video card soon and I wanted to
spend a bit less, but if I can spend a bit more and possibly get allot more power then it would
be worth it for me.

If this card fails in the modding is it still a good card for the price at stock speeds?

I was thinking of getting a Ti4200 or even another 8500 to save some money.

What is the better gamble/value getting a black PCB and knowing you can speed it up to a pro
or getting the red PCB and possibly get it up to 9700 levels?

If the red does not mod well are there other ways to pick the speed up?

Thanks,
Mark

if it can do 9700 it will probably do 9500Pro

 

[shortnugly]

I wonder how many of these problems are attributed to Direct9x instead of the card itself.

Hmmm.......

Debating on whether to install Dx9 just to get before and after scores on 3Dmark.

Either way, if the softmod doesn't work, I can reset the drivers and o/c the damn thing.

 

[joe4324]

Newegg has black AND reds instock for the same price, the 9500NON pros. Man thats tempting.... $162. I'm currently torn as well. do I save $19 and get the NON pro and hope to hack it? or do I get the Pro?

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: joe4324
Newegg has black AND reds instock for the same price, the 9500NON pros. Man thats tempting.... $162. I'm currently torn as well. do I save $19 and get the NON pro and hope to hack it? or do I get the Pro?

If you forced me to put numbers on it, I would say that you have a 70-80% chance of getting a 9500 that mods perfectly into a 9700, and a 80-90% chance of getting one with minor problems (like the z-buffer trick seen a few posts above).

I have no clue how the 9500 -> 9500pro mod works (assuming it works at all) on the red boards.

Use these numbers wisely

-Chu

 

[FordLorider]

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3>I guess my only question is, of the few fixes, Hierarchial Z, fastwrite and others, did the cards have severe checkerboarding or just minor errors that were fixed?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Has anyone gone from extreme checkerboarding in Windows and 3d apps to having a flawless card?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since one of my cards has less checkerboarding than the other, I am obviously going to be spending some time working on that one over the other?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o></FONT></SPAN>

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: toade

Originally posted by: Sirnice
Quick question. What if the color of the PCB bord is black but the memory layout is still the "L" shaped? Can I still Mod this card into the 9700pro?

Two things. First, there are no 9500 with "L" shaped black PCBs. If you find a place that displays a picture of one, they made a mistake and put up the picture of the black 9700.

I'm going to have to disagree...I RMAed a Red L shaped PCB with GameVE and they gave me back a Black L shaped PCB...since I'm not a moron I do know it's L shaped, and it's definitely black unless I've gone colorblind.

Only thing that annoys me is that they took the drive and dvd player software CD back but shipped me the card only. What the heck.
Not a shot of a 9700-black 9500

 

[Finalnight]

New member of the 4000 club!
4000 club

 

[toade]

Originally posted by: Finalnight
New member of the 4000 club!
4000 club

5000 club here.

 

[toade]

Originally posted by: TekDemon

Originally posted by: toade

Originally posted by: Sirnice
Quick question. What if the color of the PCB bord is black but the memory layout is still the "L" shaped? Can I still Mod this card into the 9700pro?

Two things. First, there are no 9500 with "L" shaped black PCBs. If you find a place that displays a picture of one, they made a mistake and put up the picture of the black 9700.

I'm going to have to disagree...I RMAed a Red L shaped PCB with GameVE and they gave me back a Black L shaped PCB...since I'm not a moron I do know it's L shaped, and it's definitely black unless I've gone colorblind.

Only thing that annoys me is that they took the drive and dvd player software CD back but shipped me the card only. What the heck.
Not a shot of a 9700-black 9500

I've been keeping track of this mod form months now, on rage3d and hardforums, and you may be the only person in the world to get an "L" black pcb. Is it at all possible that they accidently sent you a 9700?

 

[przero]

So I need some help here. Do you think I should RMA a black card that took (part of)the hack for a red board?

 

[elanarchist]

Originally posted by: przero
So I need some help here. Do you think I should RMA a black card that took (part of)the hack for a red board?

Thats what I'm doing. Only thing is googlegear for some reason won't guarantee me a replacement red board. Instead they said that I will get the red one as a replacement if they have it in stock, otherwise they will give me a full refund (no restocking fee). Can't see why they won't guarantee me a replacement, oh well, thats googlegear for you. I so wish newegg had the red one last week though. Would have been much less hassle!!!

 

[przero]

Did your black one take the hack?

 

[kh3443]

hackable = overclocking???

 

[elanarchist]

Originally posted by: przero
Did your black one take the hack?

No, it didn't. While it didn't crash, there was a horrible amount of artifacts in both 2D and 3D.

 

[przero]

kh3443 - didn't O/C mine. Just modded it. Not sure what version it is now.