Unlocking the 9800 se

Nu7jOb

hmm... wanna 9800pro for se money !
read bout the se potential by using the omega drivers but heard some horror stories bout some versions of the se not un-locking the extra 4 pipelines.
according to this http://www.thegoom.com/artikel/artikel.pl?artikel=117
there are three versions available (use a translator tis in german)
two of the cards can be unlocked and over clocked till they scream, but one of them cant !

1) needless to say the one that cant is the only one i can find ! (sapphire)
this is based on a 9500 card

2) there is a 9700 based card which seems to be made by powercolor (according to toms hardware) but powercolor dont have it on their website and it doesnt seem to exist any where else !

3) the last (mystery) card is based on a 9800 card and will O/C like the clappers... can i find it ? ...can i f@*& !

most of the SE cards available are AIW versions (hercules, etc) and therefore will be slower anyway

is there any way to win ? ideas ? suggestions? places to get the powercolor?

shinzon

I got a hercules 9800 AIW se card there recently, i overclocked it to a 9800 pro using the drivers at www.ocfaq.com

All 8 pipelines are unlocked no artifacts and it goes like the clappers


Shin

As stated though your taking a chance with these cards as not all mod up

Sir Random

Originally posted by Nu7jOb
2) there is a 9700 based card which seems to be made by powercolor (according to toms hardware) but powercolor dont have it on their website and it doesnt seem to exist any where else !

OcUK have just bought hundreds of these cards and are selling them cheap right now.

RicardoSmith

They are selling PowerColor 9800np and 9800seAIW (no remote).

cheradenine

The all in wonder cards are actually meant to be both faster and more likely to unlock in general, at least so I heard because for some reason they have to be based on the 9800 pro type chipset that runs on the 256bit memory interface (the L shaped memory instead of the I). The I shaped ram ones on 128bit simply wont ever mod I believe. I was looking at getting a Hercules aiw myself as it's rumoured to have the best chance of soft modding, until someone pointed out that komplett had the powercooler 9800 pro for only about 30 euro more with no chance of getting a dud.

cheradenine

ps- anyone know how the np 9800's on OCuk perform for the money? Or wether flashing the pro bios onto them works reliably?

Sir Random

From OcUK:

Originally posted by Gibbo
"Hi there

The AIW Powercolors have been booked in and the actual cards look identical to the Hercules cards. L-Shape RAM configuration so 256bit interface and they have Samsung RAM and at a guess from the numbers it must be 3.3ns. "

They should have a very good chance of soft modding to a 9800Pro

cheradenine

The only thing i'm wondering about though, is that if you're not going to use the AIW (like me), the 9800 powercolor is slightly cheaper, and as far as I know the mod from 9800 non pro to pro (if you have the right memory) is more relaible than getting the 9800 se to run like a 9800 pro.

RicardoSmith

Neither mod is that reliable, probably about a 25% chance but at stock the 9800np is a lot faster than a 9800seAIW. When modded the 9800seAIW would be slightly faster than the 9800np but the same if the 9800np is also overclocked (or flashed) to 9800pro speeds.

The powercolor 9800seAIW doesn't have the remote that other brands have but you can buy them seperately. But that would bring you up to the price of another brand anyway. From what I read theres a fair chance of killing the 9800np with a bios flash. Theres lots of reports of that. The softmod is safer.

Bang for buck at stock speeds the 9800np is a good deal. The 9800seAIW less so as if it doesn't mod is a good bit slower than the 9800np.

Nu7jOb

Woohoo !
just had a look on overclockers and sure enough there she was !
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/powercolor_ati_graphics_cards.html
for 215.07 (converted to yoyo's)

...wasnt too sure bout it so checked against the AIW card on the german hardware review sites shop
link from
http://www.thegoom.com/artikel/artikel.pl?artikel=117
sure enough the hercules card is the very same

next step, to visually confirm on powercolors site the card is as advertised,
sure enough there she is, a 9700 aiw PRO!
http://www.powercolor.com.tw/page2/productlist.asp?page=6&prodid=28&id=1&sn=28&temp1=6

whats happened here (I think) is powercolor (to cut costs) have just taken some old 9700 aiw base cards
(which were prob heading for the bin or the bargain basement)
and stuck 9800se chips on them !
you've got to laugh really, the photo's on powercolor and overclockers sites
are the same for two different products....

mwuhahhahaha !

Just spotted the hercules on overclockers ! same card faster ram !!!!

so should have it next week some time
ill let use know how i get on !

RicardoSmith

The guys on Overclockers seem to be getting ones with 3.3 Samsung ram. There not the best overclockers, but they might be pushed a little further.

Dr Bolouswki

Will this one do it?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=123113&cks=SER

Nu7jOb

...hmmm have seen conflicting reports bout de sapphires
from their website the piccys seem to indicate its based on the 9500 board. so, no then
yet on the other hand some of the guys on ocfaq.com seem to think they have unlocked em ok ! ... go figure !

I got me hercules btw and she unlocked np, didnt even bother with the oem driver
tried CoD and got the chequerboard effect same in x2 same in Q3
studied the ocfaq and downloaded the tweaker from rage3d.com and set the Z buffer compression to low tried Q3 and it was still there but nowhere near as bad
actually dont notice it after a while oh yeah Q3 runnin at 90 odd fps
CoD runnin at a steady 60 fps @ 1024 x 768 =D
cant figure out why the tv tuner willnae work ... ah well thats a job for another day

on the whole the incidence of the "chequerboard" effect with diff peeps seems to be on the rise.
I would take this as an indication that the origional "good" wafers are becoming thin on the ground.

Let the buyer Beware !