The Radeon 9800 SE To Radeon 9800 Pro Mod Guide Posted!

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Doom 3 runs w/ No artifacts!
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Yea. But i see no checkerd box with 3DM03, 3DM01, rthdribl, or in any game ive tried so far, Serious Sam 2, CS, and WC3 (In game).. I think im just in denial.

 

Congrats Man!

 

I live in New Zealand, and thought I would let everyone know that I have tried (with the help of some friends) 6 of the DSE 9800SE. These look to made by a company called Legend from Australia. They are a 256bit card, with 2ns Hynix etc. We have had 5 out of 6 softmod perfectly without any artifacts. We threw Doom3, Farcry, and UT2004 at them all, without any problems. This card retails at NZ$279 which is a lot less than many 9600XT cards, and once modded we saw approx 35% performance boost in 3D Mark 05.

Even better, the one that didnt softmod we took back, and the guys at DSE swapped it over for a new one that did. IF you are in NZ or Australia, I recommend the Legend or DSE brand card.

I have also tried the powercolor card, but had less success - only 2 out of 5 modded, and one of thise had a few issues.

Just thought I would share my thoughts.

Happy Modding

 

Congrats nzjacob!

 

Question has anyone heard of a company by the name of Ga Micro?
I found an 9800se produced by them for $109. But the description and the product number seem to differ. Description says it is 128-bit but the product code is VATI9800SE256TVDVI.

Edit: picture shows the L shaped memory but could be just a stock photo.

 

NEVER heard of the compnay. HOwever, as far as the prodcut number and description, i am not sure what you mean by diffeerent. Most of the 9800se are 128bit I think the 256 in the description mean 256mb of memory?

 

different countries have different companies that produce cards

 

YOu should go for the 256bit cards. 256bit isnt 256mb ram. Its the memory configuration. All of the cards that the memory chips are in a "L" configuration are 256bit. Its architectually impossible for them to make it 128bit and L shaped. Make sure that the PCB of the card is the 9800 PCB which is usually signified by the 4 pin MOLEX power connector.

 

for how a 256bit card looks like look here:
http://forums.rojakpot.com/showthread.php?t=11686&page=1

I attached a pic of the 128bit...

 

I have never seen a 256mb 9800se, except the AIW 9800se but I haven't found one of those here in the USA. Well at least for sale that is.

I thought possibly that the 256 in the product code maybe related to the bits.

Yeah "L" not "I" formation got that one burned to memory.

Edit: Here is the pic of the card, but looks like a stock photo

 

Thanks for all your help I am just going to buy the Powercolor I found and not hassle with this. Don't want to snafu my purchase on video cards like last time. (should have bought the 5700ultra)

 

I think newegg once carry these 256bit by mistake(should be 128bit) and lots of people ordered, they ended up giving them them the 256bit for the price of 128bit.

 

buy the known brand and known good mod card is better so you know someone has tested and you won't run into troubles. Well, if you are gonna spend money on the 5700 ultra card, might as well just buy 5900.

 

There is no difference in terms of quality as long as its using the reference design... And please, lets stay along the line of the 9800SE and not recommendations on other purchases. THis is a support thread...

 

My first post and i'll like to say thanks to the Rojakpot community

I ordered a 9600pro yesterday but then stumbled across 9800SE softmod guide.

This morning and cancelled the 9600pro order and saw a special on the 9800SE. It was a DSE branded box over a Legend manufactured card as nzjacob tested a short while ago. Brought it home and softmodded it... hope it works

w00t! works fine without artifacts!

Ran the benchmarks on 3DMark 2003 build 340 using latest Omega drivers (ati cat 4.12)
Athlon 2400xp with 1x512mb ddr400 and not-so-great VIA chipset mobo

9800SE : 3661 3Dmarks
9800SE@PRO : 5226 3Dmarks

thats 42-43% increase thanks to you guys

Oh yeah i haven't modded the cooling unit yet. I've been feeling the heatsink alot and it only seems warm. Warmer than cpu heatsink, but cooler than another smaller heatsink on the motherboard (i think it's for bios? maybe northbridge thingy? dunno )
Anyway, i don't intend to modify the heatsink so keep warranty on it. I'm gonna stick one of those power supply fans onto it somehow, should help a bit i hope
Maybe it's cool enuf here in NZ or cos the case is open at the moment. I really dun wanna mess with the heatsink lol

 

Hi Keldron! Welcome to ARP!

I'm glad that you found my guide helpful. Congratulations on modding it!

Well, if the card runs cool enough, then the stock should be ok. But if you want to overclock it, then a new heatsink is the way to go.. If you do want to change coolers, just keep the stock heatsink. If ever you need to send it in for warranty, then just go ahead and remove the aftermarket heatsink, and slap the stock one back on..

 

if you dont wanna get a separate heatsink, you should consider removing the stock thermal paste and applying arctic silver 5.

 

it's never for sure , this modding thing. no one brand is guaranteed success. it's all luck.