9700 Pro to 9800 Pro SoftMod & Catalyst Driver Comparison

Why you should consider it: Learn how to upgrade for free!

Enthusiasts love a deal and what better deal is there than free! From time
to time I get out from behind the front page and meander through my colleague’s
forums and front pages to see just what they are up to. In my “walkabout”
I stumbled across a post showing how to softmod an ATI 9700 Pro to a 9800 Pro….for
free! It’s a no risk mod so why not? Along the way we tested out ATI’s new Catalyst
3.2 drivers to see what they bring as well.

This 9700 Pro to 9800 Pro “freebie” prompted another housekeeping
task here at Short-Media. Short-Media’s review benchmarks accumulate in a database
of numbers built over a period of months. During that time drivers change and
there is some reluctance to the labor intensive task of pulling past product
and re-benchmarking it. The important methodology behind benchmarking is consistency.
That consistency of hardware and software provides the soapbox base from which
we deliver our verdicts. Drivers change but as long as the same hardware and
software is used the outcome comparison should be sufficient to base a conclusion.

There comes a time when the past product has to be pulled from the shelf, dusted
off and re-benchmarked with the latest drivers. This time we are going to share
our findings with you as we move from ATI’s Catalyst 2.3 drivers to the Catalyst
3.2 drivers and if our softmod 9700 Pro to a 9800 Pro got us some “free
stuff!”

First there needs to be acknowledgement where it’s due. Schizophonic over at
ceS3D.com provided the genesis behind this and a double check over at Rage3D.com
backed up the process. The things you find out in the forums. My thanks and
appreciation to the many members in our own forums and forums around the Internet
for all that they contribute.

Turning a 9700Pro into a 9800Pro

The first step is to remove any previous ATI drivers from your system.

Step 1: Reboot into safe mode by pressing F8 during the boot
process.

Step 2: Use the ADD/REMOVE programs in the CONTROL PANEL to
remove the previous drivers.

Step 3: Delete the ATI folders found in the default C: directory
or wherever you chose to install them. There should be two ATI folders.

Step 4: Reboot and your system will attempt to detect your video
card. Click CANCEL.

Step 5: Go to the ATI site and download the latest Catalyst
display driver for your 9700Pro and OS.

Step 6: Put them someplace you’ll actually remember.

Step 7: Download the ATI Catalyst control panel driver.

Step 8: Again…put them someplace you’ll actually remember.

Step 9: Download this patch. (atimtag.exe)

Step 10: One more time. Put it someplace you’ll remember.

Step 11: Where’d you put that Catalyst 3.2 display driver…oh
yes. Double click on it to begin the installation process.

Step 12: Click YES to continue.

Step 13: Click NEXT to continue.

Step 14: The drivers will begin to extract and you can remain
with the default directory or change to another partition. It is important to
only change the drive letter. I chose to install mine to E: which is my program
drive. You can remain with C: if you so choose. Remember to keep all the drive
letters the same for all other steps too.

Step 15: When you reach the driver setup window click CANCEL.

Step 16: This will bring up a pop-up menu which you’ll click
YES to exit the setup process.

Step 17: After clicking YES you’ll be dumped out to the desktop.
Go find the patch file you downloaded and double click on that.

Step 18: The file is in German but the only button you need
to click is Installieren. It should default to the directory which you originally
saved the patch. It doesn’t install software but merely extracts a file. Just
note where the file is extracted to.

Step 19: Note where the file was extracted to. (Yes I’m beating
a point to death.)

Step 20: Navigate to the ATI directory where the display drivers
where extracted to. You’ll have to go four or so folders deep. (The 2KXP_INF
folder if using WindowsXP.) Find a file named ATI2MTAG and delete it.

Step 21: Move the ATI2MTAG file that was extracted from the
patch to that directory.

Step 22: Right click on MY COMPUTER and choose PROPERTIES.

Step 23: This will bring up the SYSTEM PROPERTIES interface.
Choose the HARDWARE tab and click DEVICE MANAGER.

Step 24: Under OTHER DEVICES will be a question mark beside
VIDEO CONTROLLER and VIDEO CONTROLLER (VGA COMPATIBLE).

Step 25: Right click on VIDEO CONTROLLER and choose UPDATE DRIVER.

Step 26: Choose INSTALL FROM A LIST OR SPECIFIC LOCATION (ADVANCED)
from the next dialog box and click NEXT.

Step 27: Choose DON’T SEARCH, I WILL CHOOSE THE DRIVER TO INSTALL
from the next dialog box and click NEXT.

Step 28: Choose DISPLAY ADAPTER from the next dialog box and
click NEXT.

Step 29: You’ll be presented with the ATI choices. Click HAVE
DISK.

Step 30: Navigate in the next window to where you copied the
patch file to. In my case it was the 2KXP_INF folder. Choose the C2_08040 file
and click OPEN.

Step 31: This will bring up a new dialog box with the chosen
file path. Click OK.

Step 32: This will return you to a new dialog box. UNCHECK the
box marked SHOW COMPATIBLE HARDWARE.

Step 33: This will give more choices of ATI cards to scroll
through. Scroll to the RADEON 9800 PRO model. Any one will do. Select it and
click NEXT.

Step 34: Mr. Gates will warn you but you are brave. Click YES.

Step 35: Mr. Gates will really warn you but at least you know
what you are being warned about. Click CONTINUE ANYWAY.

Step 35: Ta-dah! Click FINISH and reboot.

Step 36: Now here’s where it throws you off a bit. When you
reboot your computer will begin searching for a new video card and attempt to
install a 9700PRO video card. Remember there is a primary and a SECONDARY controller.
Whatever you do…cancel out of the installation and let Windows grumble about
it. You can check the system properties (See Step 22) to verify that the primary
drivers are in place. Now you can choose the VIDEO CONTROLLER (VGA COMPATABLE)
and start at Step 25 to install the ATI 9800PRO SECONDARY. That is just a bit
further down on the scroll of Step 33.

Step 37: When the 9800PRO Secondary is installed the system
will boot as per normal. Right click on your desktop to access the display properties
and double check your handy work. You can also re-update your display monitor
while you are there. Click the MONITOR tab to do that.

Step 38: Where’d you put the ATI CONTROL PANEL driver? Do you remember? Go
find it and double click and follow the normal installation instructions. Remember
if you changed the default drive for the other drivers…make sure that you
choose the same drive as well.

You’ll notice that the SMARTGART tab is no longer available with these your
“new 9800PRO”. That is per normal. The question is…was this worth
it?

Benchmarking

The CHAINTECH 7NJS Zenith test system.

• AMD 2600+ 333 FSB
  Processor
• CHAINTECH 7NJS
  Zenith motherboard
• ATI 9700 PRO Video Card
  Catalyst 2.3 & 3.2 drivers (Default settings w/VSYNC disabled)
• 2 x 256 MB Corsair PC3200 DDR RAM
• Sony 52x CD
• LG 40x CDRW
• 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 Hard Drive
• Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin heatsink
• AMK SX1000 modded
  PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1

Programs used

• 
  Sisoft Sandra 2002
• MadOnion
  3DMark 2001 SE
• Quake
  III Arena
• Commanche
  4
• GL
  Excess
• Drone
  Z
• SpecviewPerf 7.0
• Unreal Tournament 2003 flyby benchmark
• Adobe After Effects 5.5

This test will compare ATI’s CATALYST 2.3 to 3.2 with a stock ATI 9700 PRO.
The softmod was performed for the third round of benchmarks.

All tests were run at default video card settings with VSYNC disabled. Bios
was optimized for system but not tweaked for any performance settings requiring
specialized knowledge of overclocking. In other words the BIOS settings were
standard as far as anyone can set the time and date, ensure the ram is 2 or
4 way interleave and at CAS 2 and AGP is chosen as the first boot video card
(8x). The BIOS settings were kept as close to conservative or default value
or as otherwise specified. The ASUS A7N8X memory settings were set to OPTIMAL
and AGGRESSIVE as disclosed. Memory was kept at DDR333 settings for synchronous
timing with the 2600+ 333FSB processor. Individual performance will vary with
any particular or specific timings or tweaks enabled by you.

1024 MB page file moved to D: partition. Temporary Internet files moved to
K: partition at end of drive. OS installed to C: and programs installed to
E:. All programs were benchmarked at 1024×768@75Hz with the exception of SoftimageXSI
which requires 1280×1024 resolution.

All motherboards are tested “right out of the box”. No special
BIOS timings were set except for the time and date, boot order and health monitor
features. The BIOS was purposely kept to the factory conservative settings to
provide a base comparison. From there is only up.

For all tests an AMD 2600+ 333FSB processor and two sticks of Corsair memory
were used.

These may result in lesser or greater scores. Void where prohibited by law.
Don’t run with scissors. Chew each bite 32 times and always floss between meals.
Batteries not included. Wait one hour after a meal before swimming and use tonic
water to get stains out. Immerse a piece of tinfoil in a tray of warm water,
a tablespoon of water softener powder and a tablespoon of salt and dip silverware
in for instant cleaning.

3D Mark 2001 SE

Codecreatures

Commanche 4

GL Excess

Quake III high quality

Serious Sam

But note that in the pull down menu for Serious Sam the ATI
9700 Pro is still detected as a 9700 Pro.

Sisoft Sandra CPU Arithmetic

Sisoft Sandra CPU Multimedia

Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark

Specviewperf 7.0

The following two tests are targeted mainly towards CPU performance and will
show if any “flaws” are in board design affecting the ability of the
CPU to crunch through the data. While in render mode the two test programs virtually
bypass ram and GPU.

Adobe After Effects 5.5

Adobe After Effects is a tool to produce motion
graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the web. It is primarily
a 2D application using imported graphics or digital footage or self generated
effects. A project was created that was a combination of many video footage
files, resizing and rasterizing effects, text animations and multiple layer
effects. This “average” combination was felt to best demonstrate advantages
and/or disadvantages that a real world user may experience rather than isolating
and benchmarking a particular effect.

There is no official benchmark for After Effects
but tasks can be timed to show specific results. Rendering, or the task of building
and compiling frames, is mainly CPU intensive and After Effects generally bypasses
the video card and relies solely on the processor for speed. The time taken
to render 900 frames basically shows how fast the processor is working on the
given task.

Conclusion

There are improvements in some areas when moving from ATI Catalyst 2.3 to 3.2
but there appears to be some losses too. Drivers aren’t all about performance
gains across the benchmarks. ATI strives to produce drivers that maintain or
increase stability and allow users to enhance details within a game and maintain
decent frame rates. Remember that you may be giving up better looking game play
if you chose to shy away from a new driver due to forum talk of lesser performance.

There are always trade-offs to consider.

It appears from the tests conducted for this article that the Catalyst 3.2
drivers bring more to the table for stability and solving gaming issues rather
than overall benchmark gains. This is what I have gleamed from wandering our
colleagues forums.

The ATI 9700 PRO to ATI 9800 PRO softmod teased us with the promise of free
performance. This appears to be true for 3DMARK 2001 SE but not worth the effort
for the rest of the tests.

Some may have greater success and some may not. But it was fun for a moment
wasn’t it? Sometimes “free” may not be what you expect. Try it for
yourself and let us know your results in Short-Media
Forums.

My appreciation and respect to those in forums everywhere and a special acknowledgement
to the originator of this idea, Schizophonic over at ceS3D.com, and the forums
of Rage3D.com.