Radeon 9800SE AIW>9800PRO AIW

[RoganJosh]

Just got my Herc 9800se AIW from Scan at 137 excl VAT - it's my first ATI card since the 6mb rage in an Apple G3 300 AV - quite some time ago I have started downloading the soft mod drivers: Catalyst 3.9 - v6.14.10.6396, but there are a number of other files including a patch, which i assume i need, but do i need the control panel and WDM Capture driver?

Excuse my ignorance regarding Radeons, as I have been using Nvidia based cards for donkeys.

[iamwhoiam]

here's mine:
http://www.ukns.org/pistolonly/3dmark2003_2.jpg

..but its up for sale

[Alignment]

I`m thinking about buying the Hercules 9800se aiw card.

Is it my understanding that some of the Hercules 9800se aiw cards can not be soft modded to a pro card??

If not why so???

[RoganJosh]

OK, so I installed the softmod drivers, and ran 3dmark2001 - and achieved 18023 - quite a bit better than my previous best of 14.3k with a gf4 4200ti 64mb. I'm currently downloading the control panel - is there any way of determining whether this mod has actually worked? Is 18k on 3dmark2001 a modded 9800se aiw > 9800pro aiw?

[Austin]

Alignment you take a big risk that the card won't mod with ANY 9800SE, it seems brand really doesn't play a big part. Most 9800SE are 4 piped because 1 or more of the pipes were faulty. So long as you get the faster version of the 9800SE (256bitDDR 380/340) you have 9600XT perf but will never o/c anywhere near like the 9600 cards can.

RoganJosh using my Barton @ 2.0ghz 400FSB and 9700PRO lightly o/c'ed I get 16650 in 3Dmark2001 and 5300 in 3Dmark03 with just default (high quality) driver settings. A 9800SE (256bitDDR 380/360) will score around that of a stock 9500PRO which is 12600 in 3Dmark2001 and 3600 in 3Dmark03 (rem this is at 2.0ghz). So if you're roughly around 2.0ghz 400FSB you should expect ...

9800SE: 2001=12000 03=3500
9800PRO: 2001=17000 03=5500

[RoganJosh]

I love the attitude in this forum, i think i'll stay - i patched my 3dmark03 (hadn't used it in quite some time) clocked my 9800se aiw>soft-modded9800Pro upto 400/360 and now scoring 6089 - still no quality/perf tweaks here's the URL
HOLY MOLY!

10 mins later

and my latest 3dmark2001 at 400/360 = 18909

[silent]

Originally posted by mightynimrod
Forgot to say, uninstall your original display drivers via add/remove programs, then use driverclean to clean out the last remaining traces of them, reboot then install the new "modded" drivers with your new card.

good luck

where can i find driverclean?

does it work with all pc drivers?

[Austin]

FOR BOTH ATI & NVIDIA CARDS:
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

Also try the following (at your own risk as always). Use Regcleaner for this.
http://download.com.com/3000-2094-88...ml?legacy=cnet
Uninstall all related drivers & sw (Display, Control Panel, etc)
Reboot
Use 'Search' to look for ati*.* (detailed view)
. Delete all files found in "Windows\System(32)" (may need Safe Mode)
. Delete the "C:\ATI" folder (where installer unpacked files to)
. Delete the "ATI Technologies" folder
. Delete the "ATI Control Panel" folder
Use Reg Cleaner to clear all the ATI entries
If possible install a std VGA driver (prevents Windows auto reinstalling after restart)
Reboot
Install your new divers, reboot and you should be cool!

[monkeyharris]

off on a slight tangent here but i just got myself a 9800se (and after testing 5 found one that works!) but never thought about how my danger den maze 4 would fit on and as a result iv had to cut off the corner of the metal phillips caseing around the tv section to accomodate it, so be warned water cooling these cards can be tricky

[silent]

thanks austin, but it says it won't work on xp? i wanted a nice regcleaner for years but could never find one

[Austin]

Okay this is from my notes then...

UNINSTALLING RADEON DRIVERS
Guide to uninstalling radeon drivers in windows 2000 and XP
1. Go into the Control Panel and under the ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE icon uninstall the ATI MultiMedia software and/or the ATI DVD software.
2. Uninstall the ATI drivers also found in the Add/Remove section. Once removed, it will prompt you to reboot....do so.
3. When returning to windows, the NEW HARDWARE FOUND wizard will come up and will tell you that it has found a new VGA card and will prompt you for drivers. Hit CANCEL!
4. Now, go to START - SEARCH - FOR FILES OR FOLDERS and do a search for all files and folders using the filename ati*.*
This search will normally give you 3 to 4 files found in your c:/windows directory and subdirectories (including the Windows/System directory). Select these files and erase them. Now go to your Recycle Bin and Empty your bin.
5. Next...time to go to your Registry. Go to START -- RUN -- regedit
Here go to key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -- SYSTEM -- ControlSet001 -- Control -- Video . Here there should be 4 entries. 3 of them are default Windows XP entries and the 4th one is put in by the ATI drivers. Expand each one by one until you see ATI entries. Once found, erase the entire key.
Now repeat the same step above for the ControlSet002 key and the CurrentControlSet Key. Normally, whenever you erase a key in the ControlSet001, XP automatically deletes it in the CurrentControlSet section too. So if the ATI key is not found in the CurrentControlSet section, don't worry about it.
Once all keys are deleted, proceed to the next step.
6. While still in the registry, go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -- SOFTWARE section. Here you should find an ATI Technologies key. Select it and delete it. In that same section, look for an Installed Options key. Expand it and there you should find another ATI Technologies key. Select it and erase it.
7. Still in the registry, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -- Software and there you should find another ATI technologies key. Select it and erase it. Once all this is done, close the registry. the registry is now clean.
8. Close all windows and reboot.
9. When in windows after the reboot the NEW HARDWARE FOUND WIZARD will pop up again. Cancel that. Now find the new ATI drivers that you have downloaded and extracted and run the SETUP file. Once complete, reboot and you are done. You may want to reinstall your ATI MMC software and DVD software if you use them.

UNINSTALLING NVIDIA DRIVERS:
Detonator Destroyer (no good in Win2000/XP?).
Driver Cleaner (!nfil) http://infiltrat.users.btopenworld.c...DCSetup_11.zip
Deckard: "In XP do this as Det Des won't work. Reboot in Safe Mode, use Add/Rem to rem drivers, then in dev man rem the display adapter, use 'add hw' and select std VGA, close & reboot.
When Win tries to reinstall card exit, dbl click on the new driver file. If probs then again go to Safe Mode, uninstall, reboot in Safe Mode again and then try the new driver."
Austin: You may also need to search out and remove all nVidia .dll etc files and INF files too.

[Lambbuster]

is it essential to uninstall the previous drivers you have?

I have some old detenators for my ti4200, now just ordered my herc 9800se.

Just need to make sure,

Phil

[Austin]

Usually you need to at least uninstall all previous drivers and related apps, it's preferable if you can 'clean' the registry and system files too. If you kept updating the drivers over the old ones it is likely to be worse. I have successfully got FX44 and CAT3.9 Omega simultaneously installed on XP-Pro so I can chop and change between nVidia and ATI, seems to work. Cross your fingers, but be prepared for some hassle.

A fresh install can save you all kinds of potential probs and is a good idea from time to time, ensures you keep fresh backups as well! A reinstall may be all that's needed, that way you should keep all your existing apps, updates, personal files etc.

BTW. This isn't just when going from nVidia to ATI (or vice versa), I had loads of hassle when going from GF2MX400 to GF4TI4200.

[Alkan]

The Hercules AIW 9800se sounds like a great card, If only i can get mine to work.

Just bought one from overclockers. Installed the card and software but I am unable to run the test in Aquamark3 or any graphics intense games.

The screen freezes, monitor turns itself off then on, then screen either remains blank or I get a screen full of blured colours (no images).

HELP !

Alkan

[RoganJosh]

Either the softmod has failed or your PSU is inadequate for the job - what is your PSU?

[sparky191]

Originally posted by Austin
" I'd have to imagine that is a normal clock for a 9800PRO_AIW and would therefore mean the 9800SE_AIW (all 256bitDDR & 380/340?) successfully softmodded is superior to a true 9800PRO_AIW."

Anyway factor in price...

9800SE_AIW = £140-170

9600PRO_AIW = £180

9800PRO_AIW = £380

The 9800SE_AIW should use 380/340 clocks with 256bitDDR making it a tad faster than the 9600PRO_AIW. The 9600PRO_AIW should o/c well unlike the 9800SE so should retake the lead BUT the 9800SE stands a chance (10%?, 50%?) of becoming a 100% true blue 9800PRO_AIW (or superior if the 9800PRO_AIW = 325/310). The 9800PRO_AIW is really the 'best' card but it costs twice the price of the 9800SE! Bottom line at stock the 9800SE_AIW should be better than the 9600PRO_AIW (which still costs more) and you stand some chance of getting a true 9800PRO/XT_AIW out of it.

That makes the more sense than any of the other stuff I've seen posted. For anyone like me who considering an upgrade (I've a GF4ti4200) its a cost effective upgrade. My only concern is ATI compatibilty with older games which I still play. You can't play EAW with it for example.