Is the 256MB version worth the extra money or would a 128MB be fine? Also, what the difference between the Pro and the XT?
I want a 9800 Non-Pro and then to flash the BIOS to a Pro BIOS, but I'm guessing my chances of getting an NP are dwindling every day. (If I do get my hands on an NP, could I flash it to the Pro and then to the XT? Or just to the Pro? I could I go straight to the XT?)
a2jfreak had this to say Is the 256MB version worth the extra money or would a 128MB be fine? Also, what the difference between the Pro and the XT?
I want a 9800 Non-Pro and then to flash the BIOS to a Pro BIOS, but I'm guessing my chances of getting an NP are dwindling every day. (If I do get my hands on an NP, could I flash it to the Pro and then to the XT? Or just to the Pro? I could I go straight to the XT?)
IMHO, 256 MB is not needed. We don't saturate 128 MB's yet with textures, etc, let alone 256 MB's.
The difference between the Pro & XT are the following.
9800 Pro: R350 Core, 380/680, no thermal probe, no ATI-sanctioned overclocking
9800 XT: R360 Core, 412/730, thermal probe, ATI-sanctioned overclocking with Catalyst software (automatically overclocks core depending on temperature).
The chances of finding a 9800 Non-Pro with Spamsung memory is quite remote. This is why there are so many sales with the Radeon 9800 NP right now, ATI's trying to get rid of them and have 3 distinct upper-level cards to choose from The 9800SE (ew), the 9800 Pro & 9800 XT. The 9800NP is slowly being phased out.
If you do get a Spamsung-memory enabled 9800 NP, you have the option of flashing it with the 9800 Pro BIOS to make the card be recognized and perform EXACTLY like a 9800 Pro. From there, you can overclock the card, quite possibly to 9800 XT speeds, but you may need ramsinks and a better core cooler.
DON'T flash the BIOS of your card with a 9800XT BIOS, as the 9800XT is a different core-revision than the 9800/9800 Pro (R360 -vs- R350) and I have no idea what possible problems may crop up from doing that.
The Radeon 9800SE is a value part that performs WORSE than the 9600. What ATI has done is take the 9800 VPU's that won't work with all 8 rendering pipelines enabled and have shut 1/2 of them off. So, the 9800SE is effectively a castrated 9800 Pro. Some 9800SE's come with a 256-bit memory interface (such as the Hercules 3D Prophet), but others only come with a 128-bit memory interface. Even worse... there are reports of some with a 64-bit memory interface.
These 9800SE's do soft-mod well, but not all of them. If you are going to soft-mod one, the Hercules 3D Prophet is the 256-bit memory one that has had the most success in softmodding, but as with every card, you aren't guarunteed a successful softmod.
9800 Non-Pro's with Samsung (Flash Will Work):
Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Non-Pro
Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 Non-Pro
PowerColor 9800 Non-Pro
Built By ATI Radeon 9800 Non-Pro (very very few)
9800 Non-Pro's with Infineon (Flash Will NOT Work):
Built By ATI Radeon 9800 Non-Pro (mostly)
Tyan Tachyon G9800 Non-Pro
Club3D Radeon 9800 Non-Pro
Connect3D Radeon 9800 Non-Pro
Dell Radeon TX 9800 Non-Pro (underclocked from ATI specs) There may be more.... can't remember all the vendors
Pretty much, limit yourself to those top 3 choices. The BBA Radeon's are a crap-shoot, and those Sapphire's that are famous for having the 3.3ns Samsung are somewhat difficult to find.
This may have changed since the 9800 NP's are being phased out, so it's best to visually check the card BEFORE you commit to purchasing it.
This is what one of those who got an Infineon Card had to say for their results.
"If you read earlier, you would know that I got my 9800NP (Infineon 3.0 memory) at Fry's. And I read several posts here about Pro BIOS flash so I would give it a try.
Firstly let me write down official ATI's 9800 clock speed:
With RivaTuner or Rage3D Tweak, my 9800 NP has Core 324.0 and Memory 290.3. All is well.
1st flash: bad news
After flash, it seems to be working fine. XP boot looked fine. Those tweak tools showed Core 378.0 and Memory 337.5. But when I ran 3DMark2001SE, I saw big stripes of horizontal or vertical lines during benchmark tests. Graphics were messed up. This is not working. I rebooted XP, the desktop again looked fine but when I ran America's Army, the menu part was already messed up so I did not need to actually run the game.
2nd flash: good news
I used the modified BIOS which should give Core 380 and Memory 325. After flash, the tools showed my card has Core 378 and Memory 317.25. I ran 3DMark2001 successfuly, with no artifacts, and gained about 20% 3DMark2001SE score. I then played America's Army for about 30 minutes without any lockup or graphic issue. I believe it's truely stable with this BIOS.
So I think this is really a happy ending. I don't think I would pay additional $50 for 9800 Pro if a deal is in front of me. My 9800 NP GPU went from 324 -> 378MHz and Memory went from 290 -> 317MHz. I am very happy to have such a result.
You all should go out to CC to buy this 9800 NP while you can. Quick !!"
Now I just have to decide if the difference is worth 100 bones....
Of course, Core is still the same no matter what memory you have on the card though. And 317 on the memory is just as good as stock. My NP (Infineon) does great on the core (500) but piss on the memory (330), Therefore, it's a terrible overclocker in my eyes.
I know I was going to wait till HL2/Doom3's release before I upgraded my vid card, but the more I read about the 9800NP-to-Pro flash, the more I want to get one.
Comments
ATI Holiday Promotions
Damn good price in $CDN funds for the 128 MB version. The 256 MB version is exorbantly overpriced.
I want a 9800 Non-Pro and then to flash the BIOS to a Pro BIOS, but I'm guessing my chances of getting an NP are dwindling every day. (If I do get my hands on an NP, could I flash it to the Pro and then to the XT? Or just to the Pro? I could I go straight to the XT?)
// Edit: What's wrong w/ the 9800SE?
IMHO, 256 MB is not needed. We don't saturate 128 MB's yet with textures, etc, let alone 256 MB's.
The difference between the Pro & XT are the following.
9800 Pro: R350 Core, 380/680, no thermal probe, no ATI-sanctioned overclocking
9800 XT: R360 Core, 412/730, thermal probe, ATI-sanctioned overclocking with Catalyst software (automatically overclocks core depending on temperature).
The chances of finding a 9800 Non-Pro with Spamsung memory is quite remote. This is why there are so many sales with the Radeon 9800 NP right now, ATI's trying to get rid of them and have 3 distinct upper-level cards to choose from The 9800SE (ew), the 9800 Pro & 9800 XT. The 9800NP is slowly being phased out.
If you do get a Spamsung-memory enabled 9800 NP, you have the option of flashing it with the 9800 Pro BIOS to make the card be recognized and perform EXACTLY like a 9800 Pro. From there, you can overclock the card, quite possibly to 9800 XT speeds, but you may need ramsinks and a better core cooler.
DON'T flash the BIOS of your card with a 9800XT BIOS, as the 9800XT is a different core-revision than the 9800/9800 Pro (R360 -vs- R350) and I have no idea what possible problems may crop up from doing that.
The Radeon 9800SE is a value part that performs WORSE than the 9600. What ATI has done is take the 9800 VPU's that won't work with all 8 rendering pipelines enabled and have shut 1/2 of them off. So, the 9800SE is effectively a castrated 9800 Pro. Some 9800SE's come with a 256-bit memory interface (such as the Hercules 3D Prophet), but others only come with a 128-bit memory interface. Even worse... there are reports of some with a 64-bit memory interface.
These 9800SE's do soft-mod well, but not all of them. If you are going to soft-mod one, the Hercules 3D Prophet is the 256-bit memory one that has had the most success in softmodding, but as with every card, you aren't guarunteed a successful softmod.
Hope this helps
Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Non-Pro
Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 Non-Pro
PowerColor 9800 Non-Pro
Built By ATI Radeon 9800 Non-Pro (very very few)
9800 Non-Pro's with Infineon (Flash Will NOT Work):
Built By ATI Radeon 9800 Non-Pro (mostly)
Tyan Tachyon G9800 Non-Pro
Club3D Radeon 9800 Non-Pro
Connect3D Radeon 9800 Non-Pro
Dell Radeon TX 9800 Non-Pro (underclocked from ATI specs)
There may be more.... can't remember all the vendors
Pretty much, limit yourself to those top 3 choices. The BBA Radeon's are a crap-shoot, and those Sapphire's that are famous for having the 3.3ns Samsung are somewhat difficult to find.
This may have changed since the 9800 NP's are being phased out, so it's best to visually check the card BEFORE you commit to purchasing it.
/me goes NP hunting for a bargain.
Avoid Infineon like the plague, unless you don't plan on overclocking.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7307&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
The Slick Deals Thread mentions a website which has a lowered Infineon BIOS which can be found here:
http://www.digitalsynapses.com/articles/9800npflash/
This is what one of those who got an Infineon Card had to say for their results.
"If you read earlier, you would know that I got my 9800NP (Infineon 3.0 memory) at Fry's. And I read several posts here about Pro BIOS flash so I would give it a try.
Firstly let me write down official ATI's 9800 clock speed:
9800 Pro - Core 380 MHz, Memory 340 MHz
9800 non-pro - Core 325 MHz, Memory 290 MHz
With RivaTuner or Rage3D Tweak, my 9800 NP has Core 324.0 and Memory 290.3. All is well.
1st flash: bad news
After flash, it seems to be working fine. XP boot looked fine. Those tweak tools showed Core 378.0 and Memory 337.5. But when I ran 3DMark2001SE, I saw big stripes of horizontal or vertical lines during benchmark tests. Graphics were messed up. This is not working. I rebooted XP, the desktop again looked fine but when I ran America's Army, the menu part was already messed up so I did not need to actually run the game.
2nd flash: good news
I used the modified BIOS which should give Core 380 and Memory 325. After flash, the tools showed my card has Core 378 and Memory 317.25. I ran 3DMark2001 successfuly, with no artifacts, and gained about 20% 3DMark2001SE score. I then played America's Army for about 30 minutes without any lockup or graphic issue. I believe it's truely stable with this BIOS.
So I think this is really a happy ending. I don't think I would pay additional $50 for 9800 Pro if a deal is in front of me. My 9800 NP GPU went from 324 -> 378MHz and Memory went from 290 -> 317MHz. I am very happy to have such a result.
You all should go out to CC to buy this 9800 NP while you can. Quick !!"
Now I just have to decide if the difference is worth 100 bones....
I know I was going to wait till HL2/Doom3's release before I upgraded my vid card, but the more I read about the 9800NP-to-Pro flash, the more I want to get one.
Good thing I work at CompUSA now.