9700np help :)

just got hold of a used 9700 non pro (sapphire one)
put it in my system and its come up in device manager as a 9700 pro.
ive had a look at the core and mem speeds and theyre the same as a non pro.
has it been flashed with the wrong bios or has it got the correct bios but i have to overclock it to pro speeds?
im new to overclocking gfx cards so i dont have a clue whats going on.
or could it be the drivers getting it wrong?
i just downloaded the drivers from the ati site.
any help would be great, cheers
:)

and is there anyway to flash gfx cards' bios' from windows at all?
if not can someone just give me a quick talk through what it involves


thanks alot

Firstly theres nothing to gain from flashing, unless your 9700np is locked, for which there is still easyer ways round. Sapphire cards are rarely locked so dont worry about that.

The drivers are [partially] getting it wrong. The ATI drivers used to say "9500/9700 series" - which means r300 core.
However the more recent drivers look at the cards pci device ID, for which yours must be 4E44, to get the naming.
9700 Nonpro cards typically have the PCI device id of 4E45, but sapphire non-pros have 4E44 instead - this is also why they are unlocked - the drivers and the card itself thinks its a underclocked pro, both esentially the same cards.

If you want to overclock your card it should easlly manage pro speeds, 325/310 - however memory (310) is often the weak point so use 300 instead.
I recommend you change the stock cooler for artic cooling silencer which ebuyer sell for £7.
With good cooling any r300 card will manage 370-410mhz core before volt modding.

thanks for that SD, is it going to make a huge difference to overclocking ptoential if the ram on the pcb isnt samsung?
ive read that its only really wise to OC if its samsung memory?
:)

Also try the omega drivers, they can help overclock and may also help you with your np/pro question.

i tried the omega drivers but they didnt perform very well.
i might have missed something but games didnt look as good.
isnt atitool better as it wont do damage to the gpu if i go ott on it?

The omega drivers come with ati tool.

If its not samsung then its proabably infinion or in rare cases hynix (of 4 cardsone of mine is). Infineon doesnt overclock very well atall dont expect much more than 310 although I found 315 max.

its Infineon,
and iy hasnt got any heat sinks on it either, best to put some of those on it first?
What program did you use SD to get the higher speeds?
:)