I think i have a sickness...

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:58 pm

I just spent 275$ for another videocard, and i already have 9700 pro. God i hate myself, but not enough to cancel my order, lol.

Anyway, after doing some usual research before purchasing, i found out that Sapphire 9800 pro 256MB DDR1 cards r based on eth same pcb and same core/memory as the 9800XT. I got a refurbished one for 275$ off of newegg, and will reflash the bios to the real XT bios. Hardware is teh same (voltage might be different though). It shoudl run stock xt speeds with no problems, but oc'ing it may be difficult without volt modding.

Anyway, the core is r360, the ram is hynix 2.5 ns, and it has 256MB DDR1 (lower latenices, better for OC'ing than ddr2).

I'll upate on how my adventure goes, if it works out, some of you might be interested in this also...especially since the retail version of this crad is only 310...compared to what the real XTs cost, this is not bad.

Scorch · Post by **Scorch** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:00 pm

oh yeah, well.... I got a GF4 Yi 4200! So nyah!

you really are crazy. Hope everything goes as planned!

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:20 pm

well, i have some valid reasons to egt anotehr videocard, i just wonder if they are valid enough, lol

i need 2 display support, b/c my second monitor is just sitting here collecting dust, sicne AIW 9700 pro only support one display + tv-out...that's eth main reason for switching.

I wanted to get 9800 pro 128mb, with samsung ram, to overclock it, but started doing research, and, well, decided that 256ram on a videocard is not a waste anymore, even though it doesn't do much for performance increase, the newer games still play smoother with less stuttering. afetr seeing the prices for 256mb version of 9800, i sort of backed away, until i found out that i can get an XT 256MB, for under 300...now it makes more sense to spend extra 70-90$ for XT which is 256MB.

This and my 2.4c CPU/RAM running 1:1 at 275FSB(3.3Ghz/DDR550) should keep me satisfied for another year or so. Yeah, i needed another 512MB of ram, so i am selling my old 2 x 256MB and already purchased 2 x 512 OCZ PC4200 enhanced latency RAM

)

Woo!

Btw Scorch, long time no c.

Scorch · Post by **Scorch** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:27 pm

well, dual monitor support is a valid reason, so I guess I forgive you

I'm sorry to say I lost the sickness a while ago. My current computer isn't even overclocked at all!

It even has the side panel on!!!

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:31 pm

Scorch wrote:well, dual monitor support is a valid reason, so I guess I forgive you I'm sorry to say I lost the sickness a while ago. My current computer isn't even overclocked at all! It even has the side panel on!!!

shame on u, lol

btw, i forgot to mention, since ram is 2.5, in any case, it shoudl voerclock better than ergular 9800 pro with 2.8 ram.

KompresZor · Post by **KompresZor** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:46 pm

Max your a mad-man.....
keep up the good work

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 9:31 pm

KompresZor wrote:Max your a mad-man.....
keep up the good work

heeey komp, nice 2 c u

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 7:48 am

Max....you're insane!

Warlock · Post by **Warlock** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 8:46 am

Max_T wrote:I just spent 275$ for another videocard, and i already have 9700 pro. God i hate myself, but not enough to cancel my order, lol.

its the "they have one so must i" virus that u get when u 1st touch the insides of a computer,

its like Krom right now after i got a GigaBit network and told him how fast and nice it is hes allready getting ready to build him self one now

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 9:19 am

lol.....should i tell him how fast all this is gonna be? i got his icq

bash · Post by **bash** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:13 am

Mad Max? Who knew? Dude, you need to get to a support group for folks obsessed with deals. Let's hope the membership cost is relatively high or else I'm sure you'd buy two.

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 11:41 am

bash wrote:Mad Max? Who knew? Dude, you need to get to a support group for folks obsessed with deals. Let's hope the membership cost is relatively high or else I'm sure you'd buy two.

haha, good 1 bash

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:06 pm

why dont you send one of you cards my way

donate to the get ccb056 something to replace his pci tnt2 card fund

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:44 pm

LOL CCB, MD is looking to snag my 5600 for when 5950 Prices drop

R e v · Post by **R e v** » Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:55 pm

Max_T wrote:I just spent 275$ for another videocard, and i already have 9700 pro.

I have the same disease. I broke down and bought a 9800xt.

'Far Cry' looks pretty good on it, though.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 7:04 am

Help me out here Max ... I have a 9800 Pro 256 ... Can I actually flash it to an XT? If so do I just download the XT bios updates? If not where do I get the BIOS?

KompresZor · Post by **KompresZor** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 7:10 am

Max_T wrote:
KompresZor wrote:Max your a mad-man.....
keep up the good work
heeey komp, nice 2 c u

u 2 Max

ya Max don't keep us in the dark, did it work or have'nt you had time to do it yet.

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 11:34 am

Iceman wrote:Help me out here Max ... I have a 9800 Pro 256 ... Can I actually flash it to an XT? If so do I just download the XT bios updates? If not where do I get the BIOS?

who is it made by? What does it say on the ram chips? do they have heatsinks or not? If they do, you most likely have ddr2, which means it's not an XT board.

Just tell me what does it say on teh memory chips. The final step would be to check what core you have, it's printed on the gpu itself, so you might have to take eth heatsink off and see if it's r350 or r360. If it is r360 and your ram is hynix 2.5 or samsung 2.2 you have the XT board.

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 11:38 am

KompresZor wrote:
Max_T wrote:
KompresZor wrote:Max your a mad-man.....
keep up the good work
heeey komp, nice 2 c u
u 2 Max
ya Max don't keep us in the dark, did it work or have'nt you had time to do it yet.

The videocard should be here thursday, and the vga cooler should be here wednesday.

I got my ram and heatsink yesterday, installed everything. Need some time to burn everything in. The temps don't go above 58C, which is about 11c lower under full load that i used to have. PLus these r not the real temps, b/c abit boards don't measure teh temps right, it should be another 10c lower (this has been proven on abit forums). Right now, i am running at 267FSB at default cpu voltage and 2.8 RAM voltage, whcih actually undervolts a bit, down to like 2.7v. running 1:1 FSB. So far, prime95 stable overnight. A quick sandra memory bandwidth bench, i get 6218 (default settings)

More to come once i burn everything in, and tweak it a little.

I am pretty sure ram voltage is what's gonna limit my overclock, b/c 2.8 is as high as IC7 goes, and even that undevolts, this ram can take 3.0 easily, and that's still udner lifetime warranty. Oh well, maybe i'll be brave enough to do a vdimm mod on my ic7, hehe

quick UPDATE: running 270 FSB 1:1 stable...default cpu voltage, 2.8 (2.77 actual) memory voltage. 53c (43c actual) under full load. Not bad

Can't wait for my videocard. Might do the vdimm mod in teh meantime, and see if i can get to 275-280 fsb 1:1

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 8:06 pm

update: got my card last week, it worked for 5 minutes, then the screen went crazy, basically once it heated up, it went bad...i had to return it, newegg did a refund since they didn't have another refurb to exchange. They credited back my 275...in a few hour si checked the site, and there was anotehr refurb, for 232$....i couldn't resist, and decided to give it another chance...well, got the new one in today...got the mem up to 365MHz no artifacts and got the core up to 412MHz with very few artifacts...but, it has that crappy cooling which is not enough for XT speeds, i am gonn abe putting my VGA silencer on it in a few minutes, that will get rid of any aertifacts. After i flash to th ereal XT bios, i am sure i'll be able to overclock it even more, i just need to get the temperatrue sensor working, so i could check the temps on the core.

This one is a keeper.

A real 9800 XT for 232$...can't beat that

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 9:20 pm

put the good cooler on, 412/365 no artifacting, and the heatsink is warmish, not even hot yet...this core will do more than XT speeds, hehe, will get some ramsinks, and will push it further, but for now, i'll just flash it to the real XT bios

)

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:15 am

flashed to the real XT bios...now i have a full 9800 XT.

Runs like a champ, I'm very happy wit the upgrade

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:46 am

i'm at 412/365 myself, but i cant go any higher without getting minor artifacts.

i have the 128mb variety though. this cant be flashed to XT, correct?

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 12:50 am

it can, there are BIOSes available for 128MB version of 9800 pro, however, they are sort of hacked, b/c ther aern't any 128MB XTs. But they do work fine thought. People report better overclocks and higher 3dmark scores. But, i would only suggest doing the flash if you know that you have the r360 core on your 9800 pro...if you have r350, don't flash to XT bios, hacked or not.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 1:00 am

hmm, i should check. my luck its the wrong one

i have this gigantic helicopter sounding cooler on my card, so its gonna be a ★■◆● to check the core

putting it on sucked, so i know taking it off and putting it back on will suck even more.

any chance i can look up my core with a model number or soemthing?

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:37 pm

not really, sapphire ships most new 9800s with r360 core, so does ATI. Don't know about others. I guess it's much cheaper to put r360 on all the cards, instead of keep producing both r350 and r360.

I only know that the card i got is definitely a real XT, all it needed was a BIOS flash. Everything else i can't say for sure, u'd need to actually look at the core. Some people flashed without looking, and it worked, but when they had r350, it acted funny, but it was working though...so you will be able to flash back, but soudns kinda risky, i'd rather check the core itself.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:09 am

checked it, i have r360, wewt!!1

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:06 pm

Max, if you can ever get a hold of an old socket a heatsink (I'm talking pre-1GHz chips here), get it machined into ramsinks. Definitely overkill for your needs, but they'll definitely get the job done.

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:44 pm

i know, i don't have any old heatsinks :/ I can just get some ramsinks for like 10$, not big deal

Anyway, i am running 418/371 right now. No artifacts, no ramsinks yet. Won't push the core much more, no need to.

What can i say, i got a kick@$$ systme right now. 2.4c at 270FSB (3.24GHz) 1:1 cpu/mem ratio. 1GB memory is running at 270FSB 2.5-4-4-7 timings. The 9800 XT is running at 418/371...and all this without any vold mods or anything, pretty decent.

[DWL]Punk · Post by **[DWL]Punk** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 6:56 pm

mines better

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 7:01 pm

specs?

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 9:32 pm

I demand pictures!

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 9:40 pm

next time i open the case, i'll take some

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:07 pm

i managed to get my 9800 pro up to 436/364 with no volt modding, bios updates, or anything special. you think i would even benefit from a new "XT" bios?

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 12:42 am

not really...people say XT bios gave them higher 3dmark scores, clock for clock, so you can try it if you want to, but make sure you get the right one, especially matching the ram on your videocard.

Make sure it's a 128MB version, if you only have 128MB of video ram.

Dnd4evr · Post by **Dnd4evr** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 6:18 pm

Nice job and thanks for the post. I love finding things like this. I'm on the fence about which video card for a new system I want to build (DOOM 3 is coming ya know). This has given me something new to consider (I may be sick too).

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Sun Apr 11, 2004 8:58 pm

lol, well at the end of this month the new generation of video cards is coming out, so you may want to consider that too

[DWL]Punk · Post by **[DWL]Punk** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 12:34 pm

my heatsink wont come off no matter how hard i try.
is there any other way of knowing if you have a r360 or not?

i have no heatsinks on the ram so i guess thats ok

9800 pro 128MB

Max_T · Post by **Max_T** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 12:47 pm

no other way, you have to physically remove the heatsink, be careful though.

the benefit of flashing to an xt would be temp monitoring and a slight speed bump clock per clock. You can edit the xt bios to be clocked at the sme speeds as your current pro, but u'll get temp monitoring and maybe a speed incerase by flashing to an xt bios.

buy 1st, you have to verify u have r360 core. Don't risk it if you don't feel comfortable doing this

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 1:00 pm

would anyone have any info on when the r360 cores would've hit the retail channels?

I think i have a sickness...

I think i have a sickness...

Re: I think i have a sickness...

Re: I think i have a sickness...