Turn your 9800 pro into a 9800 XT

zerodamage · Jan 15, 2004, 04:43 PM

“If you aren't up to date with this thread, here's how it went. I wrote an article back on Halloween of 2003 showing how to flash a ATi Radeon 9800NP/Pro into a fully functional 9800XT. There was only one problem with this, the memory size... A few companies have released 128MB based 9800XT cards, and now we're finally getting our hands on the BIOS's...”

Source: 3dmax.net

Please leave any commens on how this works HERE

As in all things like this, keep in mind that DH can not be held liable for any problems and this also VOIDS your warranty

philou · Jan 15, 2004, 05:21 PM

i tried it on my AIW 9800 SE yesterday and it is NOT working with it. I had to reflash using a PCI vga card

zerodamage · Jan 15, 2004, 05:37 PM

Well this is for a 9800 PRO, not an SE. You need to have the 8 pipelines on by default for it to work.

BlueSteel · Jan 15, 2004, 05:43 PM

The "XT"-BIOS offered there is a Tyan 9800 Pro BIOS with modified hardware strings, not a "real" XT-BIOS.

The mod was done by "The Stilt" who has now modded several other 9800 Pro BIOS-files:

Built By ATi Radeon 9800Pro 128MB
Gigabyte 9800Pro 128MB
Sapphire 9800Pro 128MB
Powercolor 9800Pro 128MB
GigaCube 9800Pro 128MB
HIS Excalibur 9800Pro 128MB
Hercules 9800Pro 128MB
Sapphire 9800 Pro Lite OEM/Retail

Get the new files in this thread.

Remember that these are no real 9800 XT BIOS files but 9800 Pro-BIOSes with modified hardware strings (so the driver detects the card as a XT) and different clockrates (412/365 instead of 380/340). It is believed that a real 9800 XT BIOS would have some additional tweaks that allow for higher overclocks but so far noone with a 128MB XT card has extracted the BIOS yet.

-BlueSteel

**MIG-31** · Jan 15, 2004, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by philou
i tried it on my AIW 9800 SE yesterday and it is NOT working with it. I had to reflash using a PCI vga card

and i tought i were the one who don't fully read articles

zerodamage · Jan 15, 2004, 06:13 PM

I am talking to Saturn on IM right now, the dude who did the guide. I was incorrect. The bios is a 9800 pro bios modded to work like a 9800 XT bios. So the extra optimizations in the 9800 xt will work on the 9800 pro. The drivers see the 9800 pro as an XT so the optimizations are activated. Sort of like the 9700 pro to 9800 pro "patch" a little while ago.

If I am wrong, please slap me.

Thanks Saturn for helping out. Feel free to register and participate.

Here is a quote from Saturn via IM:

Quote:

The BIOS was just modified to unlock all of the XT features that are locked in the drivers. There have been reports of upto 15% gains clock for clock in games.

A part of our conversion that may help explain this a little more:
Saturn: modded XT bios
Zerodamage: So it IS a xt bios modified to work on the 9800 pro?
Saturn: no, a modded pro BIOS
Saturn: that unlocks XT features

me972 · Jan 15, 2004, 06:20 PM

will this bios work on my PowerColor 9800SE 8 pipes and 128MB 256bit memory???

will it turn in into XT??

and if it doesn't how can I reflash the card if the system wont boot cause of card???

BlueSteel · Jan 15, 2004, 06:23 PM

Just for the record, Saturn didn't mod the BIOS. He wrote the article about the 9800 Pro -> XT flash and got the whole thing started, but credit for the actual modding goes to "The Stilt".

-BlueSteel

zerodamage · Jan 15, 2004, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BlueSteel
Just for the record, Saturn didn't mod the BIOS. He wrote the article about the 9800 Pro -> XT flash and got the whole thing started, but credit for the actual modding goes to "The Stilt".

-BlueSteel

Yes, you are correct. I mistyped. *again*.

BurL · Jan 15, 2004, 06:45 PM

I have a BB ATI 9800pro and I get artifacts in 3dmark03 only when shadows appear starting in test 2. I've tried it at default 9800pro clock speed but still I get artifacts. Anyone else with this problem? Would better cooling fix it(I only have stock cooling for my card)?

BlueSteel · Jan 15, 2004, 06:51 PM

Which BIOS did you try? The one promoted on the first page of the thread (which is actually a modded Tyan 9800 Pro BIOS) or the correct file your you BB ATi-card on page 7? Check the link in my first post here.
Artifacts with the Tyan BIOS are a known problem on several cards.

-BlueSteel

BurL · Jan 15, 2004, 07:04 PM

I've used the tyan ,bba, and the gigacube bioses. The tyan gave me atifacts from reboot, then i put the bba bios on and no artifacts until the shadows started in 3dmarko3, so, then I put the gigacube bios on and same thing, It worked until the shadows started. The shadows look like a bunch of triangles put together and u can see black outlines of the people, pipes and walls. I'm running the regular 9800pro bios now to see if the artifacts disappear...............and they're gone. Any idea's on how to fix this? Or maybe I should just stick with the stock stuff.

BlueSteel · Jan 15, 2004, 07:19 PM

Kinda strange that this also happened with the BBA-bios...in fact that file should be the exact same bios you have on your card except for the hardware ID-strings and the clockrate.

Have you tried extracting your BIOS and comparing the internal dates of your BIOS and the modded BBA-one to check if there may exist different versions? Use RADedit to view the dates.

If the files are different you could post your file on the 3D MAXX-thread, I'm sure "The Stilt" would try to mod your BIOS file to XT.

Have you tried the bba-bios with stock Pro-clockrates btw?

-BlueSteel

zerodamage · Jan 15, 2004, 07:28 PM

There is an explanation and it has to do with 3dmark being confused or something. It is normal for this (at this time anyway) and I would say that the game results are what matters anyway.

BWX · Jan 15, 2004, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zerodamage
There is an explanation and it has to do with 3dmark being confused or something. It is normal for this (at this time anyway) and I would say that the game results are what matters anyway.

I sometimes get wierd artifacts that I only ever see in 3dmark 03 test 2 and 3 also- (w/BBATI9700p), but still, only ever with that test- all games work fine.. Never messed with bios to see if a flash woulf help or not.

BurL · Jan 15, 2004, 08:06 PM

I'm running the bba xt bios now at stock speed no artifacting in games but still in 3dmark03, but like zero says "its normal". Anyway thanks for the help, I went and ordered a zalman hp80c with fan so I can clock higher, I also want to get ramsinks for my video memory but, I was wondering what kind will fit with the zalman on the card?

Logla · Jan 15, 2004, 08:45 PM

Can someone help me here. I'm trying to flash the BIOS (in DOS of course). I want to backup my original bios first but when using "flashrom -s 0 my_bios.rom" I get an error saying can't find adapter 0. Help!!

Logla · Jan 15, 2004, 08:57 PM

Anyone?

EDIT : Sorted. Downloaded the latest version and all ok now. Ready to flash!! Hope to god my card can take it.

BlueSteel · Jan 15, 2004, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BurL
I also want to get ramsinks for my video memory but, I was wondering what kind will fit with the zalman on the card?

Well, I've done this "mod" myself a few days ago. The problem is if you want to cool your memory you have to cool all 8 chips evenly, makes no sense cooling only the half on the front of the card. The heatpipe's back heatsink is very close to the back of the card, you'll have just about 6mm space for ramsinks.
My solution was to buy these ramsinks from CoolerMaster, cut them in half (since they're made for system ram) and glue them to the ram chips using thermal adhesive. They are 5mm high, the smallest heatsinks I could find.

If you have any questions feel free to pm me.

-BlueSteel

Logla · Jan 15, 2004, 11:07 PM

Got mine flashed but the overdrive functions don't appear in my control panel. I have removed the drivers and re-installed to no avail. Anyone had the same problem?

Logla · Jan 15, 2004, 11:31 PM

I notice the clock speeds appear no different either. I reckon this BIOS is a load of crap. I would love for someone to tell me (and prove to me) otherwise.

brc64 · Jan 16, 2004, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Logla
Got mine flashed but the overdrive functions don't appear in my control panel. I have removed the drivers and re-installed to no avail. Anyone had the same problem?

I don't believe you're going to be able to take advantage of the 9800XT's overdrive feature, since the 9800 Pro doesn't have the thermal diode (or whatever) to monitor the GPU's temperature with.

- Me

BWX · Jan 16, 2004, 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by brc64
I don't believe you're going to be able to take advantage of the 9800XT's overdrive feature, since the 9800 Pro doesn't have the thermal diode (or whatever) to monitor the GPU's temperature with.

- Me

I was thinking the same thing-- It needs the temp to function.

reno · Jan 16, 2004, 05:18 AM

I think I'll stick to NOT running the chance of breaking my 320 dollar video card

.

BWX · Jan 16, 2004, 06:00 AM

If you have a pci video card backup to use to reflash the bios there really isn't a chance you will "wreck" it though. Just install the original bios and back to normal.

Jincuteguy · Jan 16, 2004, 06:18 AM

I tried to flash it but I just couldn't boot it up on a floppy disk. The guide said to extract those flashrom files to a disk, and then put the bios file on the disk also. I did that and restarted my comp, the program didnt boot up, it keep saying please remove the disk and press any key to continue.
Can anyone help? thx.

Logla · Jan 16, 2004, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jincuteguy
I tried to flash it but I just couldn't boot it up on a floppy disk. The guide said to extract those flashrom files to a disk, and then put the bios file on the disk also. I did that and restarted my comp, the program didnt boot up, it keep saying please remove the disk and press any key to continue.
Can anyone help? thx.

You have to make a proper MS-DOS boot disk. Stick a blank disk in the drive, open my computer, right click on the A: drive and select format (I'm sure you know this already) - now heres an option to create an MS-DOS boot disk. This makes the disk bootable and copies the MS-DOS startup files on there. Just copy the flash files onto the disk after that and your good to go.

Logla · Jan 16, 2004, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by brc64
I don't believe you're going to be able to take advantage of the 9800XT's overdrive feature, since the 9800 Pro doesn't have the thermal diode (or whatever) to monitor the GPU's temperature with.

- Me

True that it doesn't have the diode but the catalyst drivers are supposed to pick up on the fact that the card is an "XT" and then enable all the options in the driver suite and control panel for the XT. Mine doesn't.

The clock speeds appear to be exactly the same as the normal 9800Pro and all that seems to change, is the name of the card. What a con.

me972 · Jan 16, 2004, 12:45 PM

willl this 9800XT bois WORK with my card??? has any one done any testing....

with normal bois and Omega drivers I'm able to O/C to Core/Mem 420/780MHz with no probelm and added cooling..

would appritiate an answer as soon as possible people I'm dying to try this but dont want to mess up my card.

Thanks.

BurL · Jan 16, 2004, 03:50 PM

Ok, thanks blue (I ordered the zalman with fan and the memsinks) and zero for the help. It works great except for the shadow thing in 3dmark03. All my games run perfect with better iq imo. Im running default 9800pro speeds 380/340, until I get my new cooling for it. Im running the gigacube xt bios, seems to work better on my card. Thanks again, and thanks to whoever redid the bios Im very pleased with the outcome. logla when I installed it the clock speed was set to 411/364 i had to use radclocker or some program like that to underclock it, and the iq seems to be better imo.

Jan 15, 2004, 04:43 PM	#1
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Turn your 9800 pro into a 9800 XT “If you aren't up to date with this thread, here's how it went. I wrote an article back on Halloween of 2003 showing how to flash a ATi Radeon 9800NP/Pro into a fully functional 9800XT. There was only one problem with this, the memory size... A few companies have released 128MB based 9800XT cards, and now we're finally getting our hands on the BIOS's...” Source: 3dmax.net Please leave any commens on how this works HERE As in all things like this, keep in mind that DH can not be held liable for any problems and this also VOIDS your warranty

Jan 15, 2004, 06:20 PM	#7
me972 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 696 Rep Power: 0	question will this bios work on my PowerColor 9800SE 8 pipes and 128MB 256bit memory??? will it turn in into XT?? and if it doesn't how can I reflash the card if the system wont boot cause of card???

Jan 15, 2004, 06:45 PM	#10
BurL Liver SUCKS!!!! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 228 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I have a BB ATI 9800pro and I get artifacts in 3dmark03 only when shadows appear starting in test 2. I've tried it at default 9800pro clock speed but still I get artifacts. Anyone else with this problem? Would better cooling fix it(I only have stock cooling for my card)? __________________ If I had a bean burrito I would smash it all over my chest.

Jan 15, 2004, 07:04 PM	#12
BurL Liver SUCKS!!!! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 228 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I've used the tyan ,bba, and the gigacube bioses. The tyan gave me atifacts from reboot, then i put the bba bios on and no artifacts until the shadows started in 3dmarko3, so, then I put the gigacube bios on and same thing, It worked until the shadows started. The shadows look like a bunch of triangles put together and u can see black outlines of the people, pipes and walls. I'm running the regular 9800pro bios now to see if the artifacts disappear...............and they're gone. Any idea's on how to fix this? Or maybe I should just stick with the stock stuff. __________________ If I had a bean burrito I would smash it all over my chest.

Jan 15, 2004, 07:19 PM	#13
BlueSteel DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	Kinda strange that this also happened with the BBA-bios...in fact that file should be the exact same bios you have on your card except for the hardware ID-strings and the clockrate. Have you tried extracting your BIOS and comparing the internal dates of your BIOS and the modded BBA-one to check if there may exist different versions? Use RADedit to view the dates. If the files are different you could post your file on the 3D MAXX-thread, I'm sure "The Stilt" would try to mod your BIOS file to XT. Have you tried the bba-bios with stock Pro-clockrates btw? -BlueSteel Last edited by BlueSteel; Jan 15, 2004 at 07:28 PM.

Jan 15, 2004, 05:21 PM	#2
philou DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 29 Rep Power: 0	i tried it on my AIW 9800 SE yesterday and it is NOT working with it. I had to reflash using a PCI vga card

Jan 15, 2004, 05:37 PM	Thread Starter #3
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well this is for a 9800 PRO, not an SE. You need to have the 8 pipelines on by default for it to work.

Jan 15, 2004, 05:43 PM	#4
BlueSteel DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	The "XT"-BIOS offered there is a Tyan 9800 Pro BIOS with modified hardware strings, not a "real" XT-BIOS. The mod was done by "The Stilt" who has now modded several other 9800 Pro BIOS-files: Built By ATi Radeon 9800Pro 128MB Gigabyte 9800Pro 128MB Sapphire 9800Pro 128MB Powercolor 9800Pro 128MB GigaCube 9800Pro 128MB HIS Excalibur 9800Pro 128MB Hercules 9800Pro 128MB Sapphire 9800 Pro Lite OEM/Retail Get the new files in this thread. Remember that these are no real 9800 XT BIOS files but 9800 Pro-BIOSes with modified hardware strings (so the driver detects the card as a XT) and different clockrates (412/365 instead of 380/340). It is believed that a real 9800 XT BIOS would have some additional tweaks that allow for higher overclocks but so far noone with a 128MB XT card has extracted the BIOS yet. -BlueSteel

Jan 15, 2004, 06:23 PM	#8
BlueSteel DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	Just for the record, Saturn didn't mod the BIOS. He wrote the article about the 9800 Pro -> XT flash and got the whole thing started, but credit for the actual modding goes to "The Stilt". -BlueSteel

Jan 15, 2004, 06:51 PM	#11
BlueSteel DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Rep Power: 0	Which BIOS did you try? The one promoted on the first page of the thread (which is actually a modded Tyan 9800 Pro BIOS) or the correct file your you BB ATi-card on page 7? Check the link in my first post here. Artifacts with the Tyan BIOS are a known problem on several cards. -BlueSteel

Jan 15, 2004, 07:28 PM	Thread Starter #14
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	There is an explanation and it has to do with 3dmark being confused or something. It is normal for this (at this time anyway) and I would say that the game results are what matters anyway.

Jan 15, 2004, 08:06 PM	#16
BurL Liver SUCKS!!!! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 228 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I'm running the bba xt bios now at stock speed no artifacting in games but still in 3dmark03, but like zero says "its normal". Anyway thanks for the help, I went and ordered a zalman hp80c with fan so I can clock higher, I also want to get ramsinks for my video memory but, I was wondering what kind will fit with the zalman on the card? __________________ If I had a bean burrito I would smash it all over my chest.

Jan 15, 2004, 08:45 PM	#17
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	Can someone help me here. I'm trying to flash the BIOS (in DOS of course). I want to backup my original bios first but when using "flashrom -s 0 my_bios.rom" I get an error saying can't find adapter 0. Help!!

Jan 15, 2004, 08:57 PM	#18
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	Anyone? EDIT : Sorted. Downloaded the latest version and all ok now. Ready to flash!! Hope to god my card can take it. Last edited by Logla; Jan 15, 2004 at 10:21 PM.

Jan 15, 2004, 11:07 PM	#20
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	Got mine flashed but the overdrive functions don't appear in my control panel. I have removed the drivers and re-installed to no avail. Anyone had the same problem?

Jan 15, 2004, 11:31 PM	#21
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	I notice the clock speeds appear no different either. I reckon this BIOS is a load of crap. I would love for someone to tell me (and prove to me) otherwise.

Jan 16, 2004, 05:18 AM	#24
reno Painlord of Ichor Join Date: May 2002 Location: bloinkin! Posts: 1,610 Rep Power: 0	rgh I think I'll stick to NOT running the chance of breaking my 320 dollar video card .

Jan 16, 2004, 06:00 AM	#25
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	If you have a pci video card backup to use to reflash the bios there really isn't a chance you will "wreck" it though. Just install the original bios and back to normal. __________________

Jan 16, 2004, 06:18 AM	#26
Jincuteguy DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 200 Rep Power: 0	I tried to flash it but I just couldn't boot it up on a floppy disk. The guide said to extract those flashrom files to a disk, and then put the bios file on the disk also. I did that and restarted my comp, the program didnt boot up, it keep saying please remove the disk and press any key to continue. Can anyone help? thx.

Jan 16, 2004, 12:45 PM	#29
me972 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 696 Rep Power: 0	PowerColor 9800SE 256bit bus and 128 MB RAM with 8 Pipes modable. willl this 9800XT bois WORK with my card??? has any one done any testing.... with normal bois and Omega drivers I'm able to O/C to Core/Mem 420/780MHz with no probelm and added cooling.. would appritiate an answer as soon as possible people I'm dying to try this but dont want to mess up my card. Thanks.

Jan 16, 2004, 03:50 PM	#30
BurL Liver SUCKS!!!! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 228 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Ok, thanks blue (I ordered the zalman with fan and the memsinks) and zero for the help. It works great except for the shadow thing in 3dmark03. All my games run perfect with better iq imo. Im running default 9800pro speeds 380/340, until I get my new cooling for it. Im running the gigacube xt bios, seems to work better on my card. Thanks again, and thanks to whoever redid the bios Im very pleased with the outcome. logla when I installed it the clock speed was set to 411/364 i had to use radclocker or some program like that to underclock it, and the iq seems to be better imo. __________________ If I had a bean burrito I would smash it all over my chest. Last edited by BurL; Jan 16, 2004 at 03:58 PM.