Just seen these started popping up ... wondered what the performance is like?
Anyone know anything about them as I can't find any reviews!
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Just seen these started popping up ... wondered what the performance is like?
Anyone know anything about them as I can't find any reviews!
hello m8 the SE is only a good card if it can be softmoded if not then its the same a a 9600 pro you have 2 tyes 128 bit and 256 bit the 256 bit is 55%softmoded the 128 bit crap
:confused: Info is sketchy but putting it simply the 9800SE comes in 2 flavours. 128bitDDR with slower clocks which is slightly slower than a Rad9600PRO and the 256bitDDR 9800SE which is a little faster I assume around 9600XT speed. However the 9600 has a lot of headroom in it thanks mostly to 0.13mu, the 9800SE are much closer to their max clocks and use hotter 0.15mu. So bonuses of the 9600 series is that they run cooler, use less power, give off less heat, o/c MUCH better, XT has intelligent fan control and all 9600 are designed/optimised for 4pipes and 128bitDDR. You'll never achieve 9800 perf from them but you won't have to gamble either.
:cool: There is a faint chance that a 9800SE(256bit) could have the 4 dormant pipes enabled but since they are designed to use up the 9800 PCB's which had 1 or more fault pipes it is VERY unlikely. Modding the 9800SE(128bit) is just as (un)likely, doing so gives you a 9500PRO (albeit an o/c'ed one) rather than 9800PRO so is really not worth the risk. That's why the 9800SE seem so pointless compared to the 9600PRO or XT. On paper ...
9800PRO (0.15) 380/340 256bitDDR 8pipes 21.8GB/s 3.2Gp/s
9800SE_1 (0.15) 325/250 128bitDDR 4pipes 8.0GB/s 1.3Gp/s (unofficial)
9800SE_2 (0.15) 380/340 256bitDDR 4pipes 21.8GB/s 1.6Gp/s (unofficial)
9600PRO (0.13) 400/300 128bitDDR 4pipes 9.6GB/s 1.6Gp/s
9600XT . . (0.13) 500/300 128bitDDR 4pipes 9.6GB/s 2.0Gp/s (word is the RAM will be faster on final boards)
afaik enabling the pipes will work, just that if any are broken it will artifact, if this happens then id assum u just disable them again, sell the card for not much less than you payed (stating it wont softmod) and buy another until u get one or spend too much :)
I'm not too fussed about trying to Softmod as Ive seen several softmodded cards die quite quickly!
I think I'll stick with getting a 9600XT then!
Get a 2nd hand 9800 non pro rather :D