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View Full Version : About to buy a card... Check this out...

cvearl
03-25-03, 10:47 AM
I recently bought a Radeon 9700 non pro. Yes I know some of you already know this. But I thought this was worth mentioning.

I had a friend bring his "Built by ATI" 9700 Pro over and compared physically with my 9700 non pro OEM sapphire. Identical on both sides to the naked eye including the RAM and heatsink/fan. Only diff was his heatspreader on the back was red and mine was silver.

Before anyone attempts this, my 9700 was the RED PCB with the 7Fin ATI fan and Samsung memory. It is the identical twin to the RETAIL 9700 Pro.

I then went to a web site and downloaded ATIFLASH.EXE and a copy of the latest "Built by ATI" 9700 Pro BIOS version 8004 NTSC.

I backed up my BIOS to be safe and flashed my card to the RETAIL ATI Pro BIOS. BAM!!!!! It's a pro! I never would have believed it unless I had seen it with my own eyes. All indicators from the device manager and info screen in the ATI control pannel indicate 9700 Pro right down to the BIOS version, product and vendor ID tags and such.

All benchmarks are exactly where they should be. Performance is perfect so far. Stability is there as well. 3DMARK2001SE ran in a loop overnight and was still chuggin away in the morning. No graphical anomolies to speak of.

For anyone interrested, this was a great route to go. For a card that costs $369 CDN ($220 US), it cannot be beat. It reminds me of the Celeron 300A fiasco years ago running at 450Mhz but this was easier. I know this proceedure is no secret. Just wanted to throw one more confirmation into the pot.

3DMARK2001SE is now 13,651 and 3DMARK03 is now 4625.

Charles.
saturnotaku
03-25-03, 10:53 AM
Did your clock speeds change as a result? Are you running at 325 core/310 memory?

Oh yeah - and can a mod move this to the other video card forum?
ragejg
03-25-03, 10:55 AM
can't you go to 9800?

Heard it werks:)...
(maybe not for non-pro's tho, i dunno)
azanon
03-25-03, 11:17 AM
Why not just overclock it instead of going through all the trouble (and risk) of flashing the bios. The only difference between a Radeon 9700 and a Radeon 9700 pro is the Core and Memory speed so flashing the card does nothing special that powerstrip couldnt do.
tamattack
03-25-03, 12:07 PM
Charles, looks like you're now having a great time with your new purchase. But didn't you blow through your (at one time) price cap of C$300?
tamattack
03-25-03, 12:08 PM
Originally posted by saturnotaku
Oh yeah - and can a mod move this to the other video card forum?

Waitamint?!? Didn't you used to be a mod here?
tamattack
03-25-03, 12:08 PM
Originally posted by azanon
Why not just overclock it instead of going through all the trouble (and risk) of flashing the bios. The only difference between a Radeon 9700 and a Radeon 9700 pro is the Core and Memory speed so flashing the card does nothing special that powerstrip couldnt do.

There are reports that the ATI cards overclock better via bios flash than via software overclocking.
saturnotaku
03-25-03, 12:17 PM
Originally posted by tamattack
Waitamint?!? Didn't you used to be a mod here?

I haven't been a mod here for about 2 months now. I'm just an ordinary, average member now. :)
Rogozhin
03-25-03, 01:48 PM
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rogo
cvearl
03-25-03, 02:58 PM
Originally posted by saturnotaku
Did your clock speeds change as a result? Are you running at 325 core/310 memory?

Oh yeah - and can a mod move this to the other video card forum?

Yup it's now at 325/310 just like a Pro version.
cvearl
03-25-03, 03:00 PM
Originally posted by azanon
Why not just overclock it instead of going through all the trouble (and risk) of flashing the bios. The only difference between a Radeon 9700 and a Radeon 9700 pro is the Core and Memory speed so flashing the card does nothing special that powerstrip couldnt do.

The way I see it is that now it is at 325/310 all the time on every boot. With or without powerstrip. Also, keep in mind that this 9700 non pro is clock locked in the BIOS. Powerstrip cannot overclock it and there were unlocked BIOS's for 9700 non pro that you could use to over clock with. But since I'm flahsing anyway, why not just go to pro and be done with it was how I felt.

Charles.
cvearl
03-25-03, 03:02 PM
Originally posted by tamattack
Charles, looks like you're now having a great time with your new purchase. But didn't you blow through your (at one time) price cap of C$300?

Ya :( $369. Oh well. Still a good deal. If the 9600 Pro had come out I would have bought it. I had to spend the money in my cookie jar as my wife was starting to eye it.

Charles.