The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide!

Adrian Wong · 13th Apr 2004, 12:01 AM

The 256MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro is probably the least popular ATI graphics card. It is a lot more expensive than the 128MB variant and the extra 128MB of memory proved rather useless. But while you may think that it is a sheer waste of money, it may actually turn out to be a real steal! Why?

Because you can actually turn the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro into a 256MB Radeon 9800XT! Today, Chai will show you just how to do that in his Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide!

Link : The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide!

Max_87 · 13th Apr 2004, 06:05 PM

too bad mine is not a 9800XT disguise

mine is the 128MB version, i managed to clock it at 425+/375

with a large 2500+'s heatsink on it and a large fan blowing at it

Chai is right, the stock cooler is utter crap

even the card is not overclocked, the whole card is burning hot! including the PCB

zy · 13th Apr 2004, 06:13 PM

hmmmmmmm... thats what you get ... 9800 are damn hot

even my 9600xt could run with my heatsink fan turned off

Chai · 13th Apr 2004, 06:18 PM

But I can run at 6xAA 16xAF, full detail UT2004 Demo (texture size is normal, not high like the retail version), at 40+FPS!

drab · 13th Apr 2004, 06:53 PM

COO! YAH!WOO!GREAT!err---whats a radeon

(only kidding)

good work

drab · 13th Apr 2004, 06:56 PM

Anti aliasing is not pretending to be somebody that you are not 8) .Or not pretending to be somebody that you are

Help,i am confucious

zy · 13th Apr 2004, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chai

But I can run at 6xAA 16xAF, full detail UT2004 Demo (texture size is normal, not high like the retail version), at 40+FPS!

ermm .. how do you check the FPS???

Sin22 · 14th Apr 2004, 10:15 AM

Small thing to note, the R360 core is appearing now quite frequently in 9800Pro 128MB pieces. These can also be modded to a 9800XT 128MB using the hacked BIOSes found here with no artifacting issues.

This is different from the older 9800Pro (R350 core) -> 9800XT BIOS mods where people "claimed" an increase in performance due to the mod which was more than likely due to artifacts appearing in 3DMark03.

Using the Omega drivers (v2.5.22 onwards) which has a fix for such mods, the scores all go back to normal pre-modded levels.

It is no secret that the R360 core has certain shader optimisations over the 9800Pro. Also a 9800XT vs. a 9800Pro at the same clockspeeds, the 9800XT will win clock for clock due to these optimisations. My theory is, on the old core, with the BIOS flash, those optimisations were being called by the different programs (games, benchmarks etc) which resulted in artifacts and artificially increased the scores. Anyone who benchmarks regularly will state how artifacts can both decrease and increase scores.

Oh and one thing else, from memory the R350 cores had a default vGPU of 1.7v. The R360 scores have a vGPU of 1.8v or was it 1.75v. Either way, to increase o/cability, a vGPU mod ought to be done as well.

BodySnatcher · 14th Apr 2004, 12:00 PM

I bought one of these the first day they appeared on Newegg after returning one of the Sapphire 9800PRO "lite" versions that was built on the 9700 PBC. For only $30 I moved up to the 9800XT PCB and 256MB as well. Of course I was thinking... Hmm... I wonder if?

Then I saw that [H]ardOCP linked to the 9800PRO => 9800XT mod article and now... BAM! POW! ZOOM!

My hunch was correct!

Added 444 points to my 3DMarks2001 score! And 3" to my...

Thanks for the tips! And yes it did crash a few times while I got the CATs re-loaded and settled the argument between Overdrive and RadClocker.

Now to find some additional cooling...

Cheers to Chai, thanks!

moshpit · 14th Apr 2004, 12:12 PM

IT WORKS!!! WOOHOO!! Sorry, just got enthused when I tried it and everything went exactly as in the article. SWEET!!!! I knew I had struck gold when I bought my Sapphire 9800 Pro 256mb recently and noticed that the core said "R360" on it and started comparing it to my 9800XT I had in my main rig. When I noticed the PCB were the same I wondered if a simple BIOS hack would free my XT from Pro shackles! YEEHAA!

Some pics for ya:

http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_002-med.jpg

http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_004-med.jpg

http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_005-med.jpg

http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_006-med.jpg

http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_008-med.jpg

One point of interest. Overdrive is obviously working on the newly modded 9800XT but is showing the new card as running nearly 5 degrees Celcius cooler then my real XT does. My real XT commonly hits 70 degrees while so far the 9800 Pro modded to XT is running at 65 max temp under load with OD enabled. I have Rage3D tweaker installed and have confirmed the clock speed as being 418mhz when OD enabled and 412 when disabled. I guess the stock copper cooling on the 9800XT isn't as impressive as it seems like it should be if a dinky Vantec Iceberq 4 copper hsf and 8 (2 sets of 4) OCZ ramsinks can outpeform it. WOW!

My heartfelt thanks go out to the Author of the article as this mod kicks so much booty if everything works out like it has for me.

8)
[/img]

13th Apr 2004, 12:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 32,304 Reputation: 3574 Rep Power: 75	The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide! The 256MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro is probably the least popular ATI graphics card. It is a lot more expensive than the 128MB variant and the extra 128MB of memory proved rather useless. But while you may think that it is a sheer waste of money, it may actually turn out to be a real steal! Why? Because you can actually turn the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro into a 256MB Radeon 9800XT! Today, Chai will show you just how to do that in his Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide! Link : The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide! __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

13th Apr 2004, 06:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
Max_87 h@x! Join Date: 11 Aug 2003 Location: the land of bandwidth cap Posts: 11,430 Reputation: 2090 Rep Power: 38	too bad mine is not a 9800XT disguise mine is the 128MB version, i managed to clock it at 425+/375 with a large 2500+'s heatsink on it and a large fan blowing at it Chai is right, the stock cooler is utter crap even the card is not overclocked, the whole card is burning hot! including the PCB __________________ Max_87 Tech ARP http://www.techarp.com Dell Studio 15 / P7350 / 3GB DDR2 / Radeon HD 3450 / 250GB 7200RPM / 15" @ 1920x1200 E8600 @ 4.4GHz 1.36v / Asus P5E3 Deluxe / 2x2GB DDR3 / Radeon X1800 / Barracuda 7200.9 120GB / 7200.10 320GB x2 / Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS / WD6400AAKS x2 / Dell 2007FP x2 / Silverstone ST56F

13th Apr 2004, 06:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Buffalo NY / Penang MY Posts: 13,336 Reputation: 2158 Rep Power: 41	hmmmmmmm... thats what you get ... 9800 are damn hot even my 9600xt could run with my heatsink fan turned off __________________

13th Apr 2004, 06:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
Chai Administrator Join Date: 6 Oct 2002 Location: Maranello Posts: 27,884 Reputation: 4630 Rep Power: 81	But I can run at 6xAA 16xAF, full detail UT2004 Demo (texture size is normal, not high like the retail version), at 40+FPS! __________________ Chai (Contributor & Forum Admin) http://www.techarp.com/

13th Apr 2004, 06:53 PM	#5 (permalink)
drab Hyperactive Join Date: 4 Jan 2003 Location: spain Posts: 2,509 Reputation: 76 Rep Power: 9	COO! YAH!WOO!GREAT!err---whats a radeon (only kidding) good work __________________ NOTE.This is a private parking space.non permit holders will be clamped.

13th Apr 2004, 06:56 PM	#6 (permalink)
drab Hyperactive Join Date: 4 Jan 2003 Location: spain Posts: 2,509 Reputation: 76 Rep Power: 9	Anti aliasing is not pretending to be somebody that you are not 8) .Or not pretending to be somebody that you are Help,i am confucious __________________ NOTE.This is a private parking space.non permit holders will be clamped.

14th Apr 2004, 10:15 AM	#8 (permalink)
Sin22 Getting there Join Date: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 165 Reputation: 36 Rep Power: 6	Small thing to note, the R360 core is appearing now quite frequently in 9800Pro 128MB pieces. These can also be modded to a 9800XT 128MB using the hacked BIOSes found here with no artifacting issues. This is different from the older 9800Pro (R350 core) -> 9800XT BIOS mods where people "claimed" an increase in performance due to the mod which was more than likely due to artifacts appearing in 3DMark03. Using the Omega drivers (v2.5.22 onwards) which has a fix for such mods, the scores all go back to normal pre-modded levels. It is no secret that the R360 core has certain shader optimisations over the 9800Pro. Also a 9800XT vs. a 9800Pro at the same clockspeeds, the 9800XT will win clock for clock due to these optimisations. My theory is, on the old core, with the BIOS flash, those optimisations were being called by the different programs (games, benchmarks etc) which resulted in artifacts and artificially increased the scores. Anyone who benchmarks regularly will state how artifacts can both decrease and increase scores. Oh and one thing else, from memory the R350 cores had a default vGPU of 1.7v. The R360 scores have a vGPU of 1.8v or was it 1.75v. Either way, to increase o/cability, a vGPU mod ought to be done as well. __________________ Aircooling History DragonOrb3 \| V7+ \| XDream \| SLK800 \| SLK900A \| MCX462-V \| SP94 \| CJC 661CA \| CNPS7000Cu \| MCX478-V \| XP90 \| Silent Tower \| Hyper 6 \| Watercooling History Cyclone 5 \| Jaron Esky (x2) \| LRWW \| LRCascade \| Maze 3 & 4 \| Turbine \| Clover \| MCW5002 \| G4 Storm \| Phase Change History Evap Tower \| Vapochill Classic \| DIY Phase-Change \| Vapochill PE \|

14th Apr 2004, 12:00 PM	#9 (permalink)
BodySnatcher Newbie Join Date: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Sault Ste. Marie, MI Posts: 1 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	Yikes! It crashed! I bought one of these the first day they appeared on Newegg after returning one of the Sapphire 9800PRO "lite" versions that was built on the 9700 PBC. For only $30 I moved up to the 9800XT PCB and 256MB as well. Of course I was thinking... Hmm... I wonder if? Then I saw that [H]ardOCP linked to the 9800PRO => 9800XT mod article and now... BAM! POW! ZOOM! My hunch was correct! Added 444 points to my 3DMarks2001 score! And 3" to my... Thanks for the tips! And yes it did crash a few times while I got the CATs re-loaded and settled the argument between Overdrive and RadClocker. Now to find some additional cooling... Cheers to Chai, thanks!

14th Apr 2004, 12:12 PM	#10 (permalink)
moshpit Newbie Join Date: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 4 Reputation: 58 Rep Power: 0	IT WORKS!!! WOOHOO!! Sorry, just got enthused when I tried it and everything went exactly as in the article. SWEET!!!! I knew I had struck gold when I bought my Sapphire 9800 Pro 256mb recently and noticed that the core said "R360" on it and started comparing it to my 9800XT I had in my main rig. When I noticed the PCB were the same I wondered if a simple BIOS hack would free my XT from Pro shackles! YEEHAA! Some pics for ya: http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_002-med.jpg http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_004-med.jpg http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_005-med.jpg http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_006-med.jpg http://www.liquidninjas.com/photopos...me_008-med.jpg One point of interest. Overdrive is obviously working on the newly modded 9800XT but is showing the new card as running nearly 5 degrees Celcius cooler then my real XT does. My real XT commonly hits 70 degrees while so far the 9800 Pro modded to XT is running at 65 max temp under load with OD enabled. I have Rage3D tweaker installed and have confirmed the clock speed as being 418mhz when OD enabled and 412 when disabled. I guess the stock copper cooling on the 9800XT isn't as impressive as it seems like it should be if a dinky Vantec Iceberq 4 copper hsf and 8 (2 sets of 4) OCZ ramsinks can outpeform it. WOW! My heartfelt thanks go out to the Author of the article as this mod kicks so much booty if everything works out like it has for me. 8) [/img]