Radeon 9500 Mod into a Radeon 9700

[10GHZ]

nice explanation

 

[papasmurf]

so all this mod does is turn the 9500 into a 9500 pro right? Because the 9500 pro uses all 8 pixel pipelines and the 9500 does not. I guess the translation was a bit confusing


smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?

 

[amebapk]

is THG going to mod the 9500 to 9700 pro too?

 

[10GHZ]

correction, all it does is to change a 9500 to a 9500pro that has a 256bit memory bus, instead of the stock 128bit of a normal 9500pro.

btw, did that guy flashed his bios with the 9700? or did he lefted it as 9500? maybe thats whats casuing the artifacts. the memory chip from the 128mb 9500 are the same ones used on the 9500pro and the 9700 rite?

 

[10GHZ]

just found out that it is now possible to mod the 64mb R9500 to a 9500pro.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1041958046

plus

Details on how to mod a 128mb 9500 to 9700
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1041925442

as you can see, the result is that not only the 9500 can reach the level of 9700 without ANY problem(same 3.6 ns memory) ,it can even be OVERCLOCKED pass a 9700pro, man this is schweeeeeet or what!!!!!

 

[papasmurf]

wait why would ati put 256bit ram on the cards that only use 128bit... it seems silly and a waste of money

smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?

 

[10GHZ]

read below staright of digit life

The RADEON 9700 Pro was released so much time ago but the 9500 model hasn't yet received a separate PCB or a separate chip. Why? Why did ATI decide to cut the memory size of a RADEON 9700 based card and cut off the chip? Cards based on a 8-layer PCB with a 256-bit bus are quite expensive (as we mentioned in the review on the RADEON 9500). Besides, it uses the same expensive R300.

The analyses of certain information from reliable sources shows that the cost price of such PCBs is not so high anymore, because the production technique is already mastered both by PC Partner (which manufactured all RADEON 9700 Pro in the beginning) and by the partners most of which have already started making such cards and PCBs. As we know, a product goes to the mass market when the expenses on its production become as low as possible. As for the chips... The same sources notify that the production of the VPU R300 is getting stable, that is why the prime cost of them is falling down as the percentage of valid dies grows up.

Therefore, having estimated the benefits of production of separate PCBs and chips, ATI and its partners chose the approach of "Velocity 100", i.e. they assemble the RADEON 9500 on the same 9700 model with the memory chip "shortened". It's possible that they use graphics processors that failed to work at the frequencies specified for the RADEON 9700 Pro, because the 9500 is to be clocked at 275 MHz against 325 MHz of the RADEON 9700 Pro. Though it's also possible that they strip off normal chips. However, even in this case there are a lot of questions to be answered: for example, is such cut-off implemented on the software level or on the hardware one? We'll get back to this issue later.

------------------

And this card comes with the 256-bit interface! That is why the readers should remember this surprise from ATI:

Until they develop a design specially for the RADEON 9500 based cards (and it's probable that they will never do it, because production of cards based on the current design becomes cheaper with time), we should remember that the 64MB and 128MB cards differ only in the memory exchange interface: 128 and 256 bits. This can't help having an effect on the performance, though the VPU is stripped off markedly, and even a 256-bit bus would hardly help the 4-pipeline chip change its speed considerably (but our tests will show that the speed gain is noticeable).


but who would've thought that the 128mb radeon 9500 is almost the exact replica of the 9700, and who would've thought some highly intelligent russian dude wearing fur hats would've figger out how to unlock the sucker while drinking their vodka.

the full story can be viewed at
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/sapphire-r9500-128.html
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by 10GHZ on 01/08/03 01:42 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[hellcatjr]

aye, seems funny but it was atis cheap way of dropping a lower class model, and that 128bit differce DOES make a difference, compar a pro 9500 and a 9700, and when u do the soldering trick it makes a non pro 9500 a 9700 non pro with stock speeds after you flash your bois, i had asked the guy this question in an email, while the pro9500 has NO WAY AT ALL! to be a 9700 because the memory interface is dual 128bit therefore unable to change the interface since it is set to only read 128bit, but with a non pro being a 256bit with 4 pixel pipelines stripped makes it a 256bit card with only 4pipelines, when the resistor is soldered onto place at 12, it becomes a 256-bit with 8pipelines, people had been thinking it was a 128bit card with 4 pixel pipelines... my conclusion ends, so heres the proof

9500 non pro mods to 9700 non pro stock speed, u can mod your card if it is a 128bit sapphire ati 9500 non pro version, which i had just recieved.

just solder, flash bios with hercules 9700 non pro version edit and bam restart, and enjoi =) should have some results , wether i fail or succeed, i will post results this saturday or monday depending on arrival....

 

[geeman9000]

looks like no mod is needed just a bios flash and may some change in the driver. http://www.digit-life.com/news.html?1093#1093

 

[Salidin]

You know for such a respectable card maker to do something like that raises my eyebrow seeing as I just got my Rad 9700 and love it...

 

[10GHZ]

i'm getting my sapphire radoen 9500 128mb as soon as it is released in australia around feb .. can't wait

and does anyone live around sydeny area wants to buy my 6 month old Hightech Radoen 8500 retail? for 100 bucks?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by 10GHZ on 01/08/03 08:23 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[amebapk]

i would like to sell my Gigabyte Radeon 8500 clocked @ 300/300 for $80. (still has 6 months warranty on it). Free shipping. Interested please reply here.

 

[10GHZ]

100 dollars australian that is.

 

[amebapk]

i think the mod really works.
check this out <A HREF="http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?item=14-102-252" target="_new">http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?item=14-102-252</A>

 

[HandOfDragon]

Just want to give everyone a bit of warning. Before you attempt this mods, try follow up with this tread on rage3d.com
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33658480

There seem to be a problem with mod the R9500np to 9700np using the resister mod and bios flash. The mod do give you better performance as many people at rage3d board success. BUT many of them report artifact appear in many games and benchmarks. I read the article on the website that come up with the mod as well and all they say is the mod work in term of performance but never discuss about artifact.

Just a bit of advice and warning. I really wish that everyone that want to try this mod success. I, myself, will buy R9700Pro if I want the performance of R9700Pro when it is at a price I can afford

Mocca

Nvidia or ATI, it's all depend on what you like and system optimization :lol:

 

[phsstpok]

The early engineering samples that were reviewed used 256-bit memory. I remember thinking how could the reviews be representative of the final product if the memory bandwidth is twice as high. Of course, I didn't know they had a way to castrate the memory bandwidth.

<b>99% is great, unless you are talking about system stability</b>

 

[papasmurf]

wow that explains the cost issues nicely, does this trick work on the 9500 pro's, because they have all 8 pipelines you should be able to get to 9700 speeds...probably a dumb question, I'm pretty sure it would work, This may be my next card I need something fast and cheap and I love to mod my parts, it is much more satisfying than to just buy the top of the line.

smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?

 

[10GHZ]

dont think so.. since the R9500 pro only comes with a 128bit memory interface. while the 128mb R9500 comes with 256bit.

 

[10GHZ]

i think it depends on which brand of R9500 u get. the tested Sapphire 128mb R9500 is reported to be a complete success, no artifatcs what so ever, even when the card has been overclocked over the 9700pro level(see my early post with the link). not sure about the other brand. the artifacts is a known issue when a 64mb R9500 is modded.


see below
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1041958046
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by 10GHZ on 01/09/03 11:27 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[papasmurf]

now I'm real confused according to this site:
<A HREF="http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/radeon9500/" target="_new">http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/radeon9500/</A> the 9500 has a 128bit bus too, the only diff between the 9500 and the 9500pro is the abount of pipelines and this hack doesnt even deal with them, it only makes the 9500/pro have the full 256bit bus

smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?

 

[10GHZ]

thats a 64mb Radeon 9500, it only has a 128bit memory bus.. so if you mod it, it'll turn into a Radeon 9500 Pro 64mb.
but the 128mb version radeon 9500 has 256bit memory bus, so when you mod it, it turns into a 9700

 

[papasmurf]

both the pro and the non pro have the 128 bus! stop confusion! ahhhhhh!!! the only differance is the non pro has a lower clock and half the pipes, the pro version is modable too and it will be faster than the non pro when modded as it will have all pipelines and a higher potential for an overclock

smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?

 

[amebapk]

no, the 9500 pro can't be modded.
9500 non pro 128MB can be modded to 9700.
9500 non pro 64MB can be modded to 9500 pro 64MB.
that's it!

 

[10GHZ]

"If we look back at the Radeon 9500, 9500 PRO & 9700 Preview we'll remember that the Radeon 9500, that ATLANTIS 9500 is based upon, is basically a lower powered R300 chip that exists within Radeon 9700 PRO. Whereas Radeon 9700 PRO features a core clock speed of 325MHz, has 8 pixel pipelines, a 256-bit memory bus and 128MB of 610MHz DDR RAM, Radeon 9500 only has a 275MHz core speed, 4 pixel pipelines, a 128-bit bus (two 64-bit 'crossbar' controllers) and 64MB of DDR RAM at 540MHz. While the potency of the Radeon 9500 chip has been scaled back somewhat from the 9700 PRO, the plus side is that the entire DirectX9 feature set of R300 is still available in Radeon 9500 and hence ATLANTIS Radeon 9500."

clearly, it says the "64MB" none pro 9500 has a 128bit memory bus, NOT the 128mb

 

[papasmurf]

if all this mod does is make the 9500's 128bit bus a 256 bit bus then it would still be crippled by its pipelines, it would not reach 9700 levels is the pipeline issue corrected as well?

smurf A- I saw you leave with smurfette
smurf B- oh man as soon as we got out of the bar she started smurfing me
smurf A- shut the smurf up
smurf A- right in the smurfing pariking lot?