sapphire relabeling 9800 xt to 9800 pro!?

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Originally posted by Hollywood
Well...I finished the mods on my card and it's not looking too good. I've got this gigantic Alpha HSF on the GPU...it's making great contact, etc.

Then I did the voltmods. *Note: I used 10k VRs..if thats wrong..then it may be a reason...please correct my choice of VR if wrong)They worked...but not nearly as well as when I did my 9800Pro. At first it wouldn't even boot with the vcore @ 1.91v. I then had to gradually step the voltage down to 1.78 vcore. It boots there...but it still sucks. Now for the vmem...did that one too...However it didn't seem to do anything except make my card more unstable, as ANY voltage above 2.8 resulted in reboots under heavy load.

Max before voltmods: 430/270

Max after voltmods: 425/270 :mad: :(

So...I've removed all mods and flashed back to default. The card then works just dandy as a plain 'ol 9800 Pro for hours of stress testing. I ordered another one last night as this dog is going back to the pound.:mad:

VMEM:

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What did you use to insulate the legs on that pot? Looks nice.

Looks like same thing I use...regular old heatshrink wrap?

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Originally posted by TheDude
Looks like same thing I use...regular old heatshrink wrap?

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Yupper...regular 'ol heatshrink tubing....don't leave home without it.

Have to say...I really hope the next card performs better....'Cause I gave up an ATI 9800Pro that clocked 465/370 all day long for this....:(


It's all good though...it's not the first time I've been screwed on a hardware deal...and prolly won't be the last as long as I've got the sickness... ;)

/me getting nervous

I thought it was heat shrink but it looks glossier than the stuff I've seen.

What size did you use and what did you use to heat it?

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Originally posted by Soulburner
/me getting nervous

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Don't be bro...

The added 256MB of ram really helps with gaming and running high-res textures and such. Plus...I seem to of gotten the dog of the pack...so....keep your chin up and be positive. I'm ordering another one because I have a REALLY good feeling that it will be a good one... (I rubbed my lucky rabbits foot too...;))

The good news is that they really are XTs....they take the flash like gangbusters. The only thing is...are they failed XTs or simply downgraded to flush out overproduction??? We don't know as of yet...so we'll see.


P.S. - Another thing...I didn't burn in my card at all...I just went right to work on it...I'm taking my time with the next one...

-Holly

I didnt get mine at the egg cause im canadian, I ordered one through a local distributor DEFINATELY an XT, XT board XT ram XT core :D its an XT!

I flashed the XT bios and the card does 450/390 stock cooling, it gets pretty damn hot though...I might buy a Vantec heatpipe/fan for this puppy

i hope to god mine does well, id hate to get a card that performs worse than my 500:400 pro, though i still have the pro so if it does do worse ive still have it.

anyone got any info on whether the ASUS 9800 pro "XTs" are as crippled as the sapphire ones, that is if theyre crippled at all.

Mine gets incredibly hot after an hour or two of desert combat. Make sure you guys have active cooling blowing at it from the side or this thing will raise the temps in your case a good 10-15f

I got 2 of them today. Installed the first and flashed to XT bios, no problem. Boots fine but NO 3D!!? I have installed cats 3.7 to 4.2, reinstalled dirx, and still no dir3d. I can't run anything. Anybody know what I may have done wrong?

I've had some renewed success with my crappy Sapph9800P256/XT.

While the core is simply a dog...I've found a BIOS that has seemed to boost performance none the less. The ATI.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN is the one everyone is using...however out of frustration I began flashing to different types. Before with the ATI9800XT Bios my max core was 430...and that was WITH artifacts. Now it is artifact free at 430 and benches up to 450. What BIOS you ask??? The Hercules XT/Hynix BIOS. Grab it here and try it out if you want to gain some more core from these cards.

http://softmod.ocfaq.com/bios/Hercul...56.Hynix25.bin

Before:

Alpha PAL6035 HSF on Sapphire 9800 Pro 256 / XT

Bios: ATI.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN

Speed ATiTool safe: 418/378


After:

Alpha PAL6035 HSF on Sapphire 9800 Pro 256 / XT

Bios: Hercules.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN

Speed ATiTool safe: 431/390

Give it a shot if you're looking for more performance.

-Holly

gonna test this right now bro, thanks for the tip

That makes me wonder about the importance of the vid card BIOS. It obviously has an impact. Maybe I should try some different BIOS's for my 128 meg sapphire 9800 pro... I hope you guys get good results on your R60s with volt mods & the new BIOS

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Originally posted by Semper Fi
gonna test this right now bro, thanks for the tip

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Yeah man...sure thing...let us know if it works for you too. I'd like to know I started a trend... :p:

My 2nd one will be in Monday...Hope she's the one...

Hmm...That reminds me of a Beatles song...remade by Robbie Williams...

Excellent...looks like my idea to try out some different BIOSes has paid off.

The fact that you found the Hercules to be so good is interesting, as Hercules is also what macci uses ;).

2:20 am....card will either be here today or tomorrow (Friday). Can't wait to let her rip!

I got My card to 450/400 with no mods.
I got the core to 517 with a gpu mod set at 1.97v and 80 watt peltier cooling it.

Got the card today, testing in 3DMark2001 Nature allows 430/390 where minor artifacts start, 149fps with CAT 3.9.

Will flash the card now.

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Originally posted by Soulburner
Got the card today, testing in 3DMark2001 Nature allows 430/390 where minor artifacts start, 149fps with CAT 3.9.

Will flash the card now.

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Stock cooling?

Yup stock cooling.

Flash was successful, used Hercules BIOS.

Clocks remain the same, 430 core is where the artifacts start on the core, and 380 on the memory and absolute max it will run before locking up is 450/400 with heavy artifacts.

Gonna cool the core better and have at it, hope to see some good gains. No ramsinks yet though, may come tomorrow hopefully.

Does anyone know what this chip is?

Its getting in the way of my heatsink...

Ignore the paste, I was checking contact.

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%203%20Chip.jpg

If only it were a couple of mm shorter :mad:

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Originally posted by Soulburner
Does anyone know what this chip is?

Its getting in the way of my heatsink...

Ignore the paste, I was checking contact.

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%203%20Chip.jpg

If only it were a couple of mm shorter :mad:

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Simply offset the HSF...It doesn't need to be perfectly centered on the core as the cooler portion of the HSF base will wick heat away anyhow...

Well that's the thing, I can't.

You'll see why when I take my next pic.

This thing BARELY fits on here. Its like if the caps were 1mm over it wouldn't fit.

Its rediculous how perfectly it fits between some of the components on this card, its like they were put there on purpose.

The only problem is that little chip, it rises up just a few mm too far preventing perfect flat contact with the GPU.

Ramsinks did come today so I can do those too. No problems with those.

Can you mod the hs to fit?

Hmm....well I suppose that I could somehow drill a crevice in the heatsink for that little chip to fit in...it would allow that corner of the heatsink to come down all the way I believe.

The card is almost ready, if I don't get satisfactory results then I will look at doing that.