Radeon 9800SE AIW>9800PRO AIW

[mightynimrod]

I totally agree with you there Austin.....

If anybody is contemplating getting a 9800pro....DON'T

The 9800SE is still the best value card about due to the AIW features alone.
If it mods....hoooray
If it doesn't Fleabay it and buy another....Do this till you get a good-un!....you won't regret it...i certainly haven't.

I currently get 6100 in 3d mark 2003 with the card clocked at 400/365 Barton 2500@3200 speeds.

Hopefully with a waterblock on it and some decent thermal gook (AS5) underneath i should get some more from the core...
Likewise with some Tweakmonster ramsinks on the memory hopefully i'll get a bit from that too.

Austin m8.....it's been nice!

[mightynimrod]

Originally posted by d_fresh1
ah back frm a long absence

the modding success rate is something like 60-70% + , this is including new batches as well...i expect that to decrease by at least a quarter in the next few weeks tho

Reckon you could be right there....

Glad i got one while the going was good

Seriously....i wish everyone that does get one the best of luck!

Graphics cards of this type of performance are way too expensive £300-£400 and it gives everyone a chance to get a right bargain £140-£170!

[m2c4u]

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD02NTU=

If you haven't read already.

[mightynimrod]

Originally posted by m2c4u
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD02NTU=

If you haven't read already.

Yup...read it dude....

Thanks anyway

[nips]

Ok even tho i've placed my order from Ebuyer £169 for a Hercules card they dont have any in stock yet :-( , but i also came across http://www.lowestonweb.com who r doin them for £144....but r unbranded so i assume generic ATI vesions.

Now my question is should i cancel my order at Ebuyer for this one as they have loads in stock......will my chances of softmodin differ from the 2 brands?

Suggestin the one Hexus used was Hercules and also on the review/comments at the Ebuyer site someone managed to softmod it too, does that suggest at the moment there is a good success rate with the Hercules yield?

[Austin]

It's unlikely but certainly feasible that one brand may lend themselves to a slightly higher success rate, even if it is just in the short term. However the Hercules card also uses RAM o/c'ed by default and the cooler is pretty poor too ... so the saving by using Lowest may be well worth witht he added bonus you won't need to deal with Ebuyer.

[fullspizz]

Just to add my 2p's worth.
I have the Hercules 9800se AIW and mine has soft-modded as well, although I cannot crank up the memory without getting artifacts. It performs better than my 9700pro did though and I get all the features as well.
Bargain, but just to reiterate: -There is no guarantee that they will all soft-mod

[Lord Jago]

Im a complete newbie when it comes to video card BIOS flashing.
Can you tell me the exact BIOS you used from OCFAQ to softmod your Hercules 9800SE AIW

I have ordered one and it get delievered tomorrow. I have downloaded Flashrom from OCFAQ so all i need now is to know the exact BIOS (full name) that you used to turn it into a 9800 Pro AIW.

Many thanks............

Lord Jago

[mightynimrod]

You don't need to flash the bios......just download the modded 3.9 drivers along with the control panel and WDM drivers....

It was only the 9800 non pro that req'd a bios flash to turn it into a pro.

Hope you get sorted

[monkeyharris]

id like to flash my bios too as i find it preferable to using drivers to mod the card. so if anyone does know where to find the correct bios to turn thehercules 9800se aiw into the 9800pro aiw then id really appreciate it

[Lord Jago]

The only issue i see with driver softmoding is that you have to rely on that version of the driver. As we know 'Call of Duty' has a little issue with the current drivers available. Although there is a temp fix, as soon as a new driver comes out, we have to find a softmod version of the latest driver. This is not a problem for every one, but in future it could be if they discontinue making softmod versions.

The good thing about the softmod driver is that you can see if your Hercules 9800SE AIW works properly with all 8 pipes enabled. Once you have established that it all works ok, there is no reason not to softmod the BIOS on the graphics card. Can't be any safer than that can we?

So those of you who have successfully softmodded the BIOS on the Hercules 9800SE AIW, please can you tell the rest of us Newbies the EXACT BIOS you used to softmob you card, and where we can download it from. If you didn't get it from OCFAQ.com

Many thanks.........

Lord Jago.

[nEwB]

Hi.
Ive thinking of getting a 9800SE and softmod it. Now ive found a Powercolor 9800SE for a nice price.
My questin is.
Is it the same chance to softmod that one or should i go for a Hercules instead.

Regards
nEwB

[KAIN]

Also just as note the ram on the 9800SE AIW is lower spec than the on the 9800Pro, and the most expensive component on any modern graphics card is its ram. Especially the faster ns ram.

[mightynimrod]

Originally posted by KAIN
Also just as note the ram on the 9800SE AIW is lower spec than the on the 9800Pro, and the most expensive component on any modern graphics card is its ram. Especially the faster ns ram.

You know your onions don't you


LOL


Sammy 3.3 on mine, a lot of the 9800 pro's have 2.8 sammy on em.....so yeah KAIN'S right faster memory will increase your speed/overclock.

I have currently managed to get a score of 6100 in 3D Mark 2003 with mine.....so well chuffed, it's plenty fast enough for me

[Spritzup]

Just to let everyone know, I have an ATI AIW 9800PRO and the clock settings are 378/338

[Austin]

380/340 (ish) is what's quoted in most reviews too but then it's normal for those guys to get either the very best offerings or special 'optimised' stuff. AFAIK it has been normal practice for AIW cards to use slightly lower clocks than the non-AIW version so it may just be the odd manu still sticking to this old trend. I am surprised at Sapphire though, their site seems to claim 325/310 (9700PRO/9800 clocks) but maybe it's either a miss-print or they actually do a few diff variants (and don't list them all yet).