Powercolour 9800se, 9600xt, 9600 Pro & Omega Drivers

juhel · Dec 13, 2004, 11:18 AM

Hi I Am A Newbie To This Forum, To Omega Drivers, & Video Card Modding!

I Need Some Help!!!

I Wanted To Know If The Powercolour 9800se Can Be Modded With The Omega Drivers?

I Am In A Dilemnarous (not A Real Word But Should Be!) Situation, I Need A Class Video Card, For Approx £100 I Can Get A Radeon 9600xt Or 9600 Pro Or A 9800se. Now I Have Heard That The 9800se Can Be Modded To A 9800xt!

All 256mb, But Does It Matter If Its 128mb?

Is This True?

If Not, Which Card Is The Better?

Any Other Alternatives............nvidia Cards? 128mb Fx5900........?

Thank You For Any Help!

TJ- · Dec 13, 2004, 01:04 PM

get the 9600XT...

The_Neon_Cowboy · Dec 13, 2004, 03:13 PM

Why is this is the "nVidia Display Drivers" forum ???

Quote:

Originally Posted by battleaxe187

get the 9600XT...

Yep

pr0digal jenius · Dec 13, 2004, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

Why is this is the "nVidia Display Drivers" forum ???

it's not...what are you talkign about?

lokken · Dec 13, 2004, 04:50 PM

Hi.

Radeon 9800se could indeed be easily softmodded to a near-full-fledged Radeon 9800 Pro. BUT, you must take several things into account:
- True Radeon 9800 PRO cards have a 256-bit memory bus. Radeon 9800SE could be based both on 128bits or 256bits memory Buses. Even some card manofacturers (sapphire and powercolor, for example) retails both 9800SE's, (one with the wide memory bus and other with the narrower 128 one). Always try to buy a Radeon 9800SE with a 256bit bus. This is even more important if you intend to tune up your card.
- Beside the memory subsystem, the main differences between radeon 9800PRO and 9800SE are the clock speeds, AND the number of active pipelines. The 9800PRO has 8 active pipes, while the 9800SE has only 4 active pipes. With the softmod, (search google, but it is included in the Omegadrivers themselves), you can activate the 4 remaining pipes of the 9800SE. Nevertheless, this is the risky part of the deal. Some 9800SE works great with 8 pipes active, while others have some of the 'extra' pipes broken, and heavy artifacts appears when playing. There is no way of knowing if your card could be modded or not before buying. You are taking a bet here.
- Finally, if you managed to get the 8 pipes active, the only remaining thing is to overclock your card, to 9800PRO specs, or if you are lucky, even to 9800XT specs (very unlikely).

A friend of mine has a Club3D 9800SE card working like a full 9800PRO card, (8 active pipes, core/mem speeds up to PRO levels). Other friend of mine got a Sapphire 9800SE and the softmod couldn't be done on his card... That's a 50% bet

So it's up to you.

9600 PRO/XT are very good cards, indeed. But 9800PRO are even better ones

. I would go for the SE. If you are lucky, you have a 300$ card, but for a thirth of the cost. If not, the 9800SE itself is indeed a good card, (I would say that almost as good as the 9600 PRO).

Nevertheless it is your choice. Also, you might consider the power supply on your PC. Power requirements are far lower on 9600 cards than on 9800 ones. Only go for the 9800 card if you have a +-300Watt power supply or higher...

L

lokken · Dec 13, 2004, 04:54 PM

Take a look at http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx...ar1=101&var2=0

Guide to 9800Se to 9800PRO.

Also, forgot to mention that Softmodding and overclocking a 9800SE might require some 'actions' on the cooling solution of the card, (adding thermal grease, or even replacing fans/heatsinks). It depends on the cooling solution used by the card's builder...

L

juhel · Dec 14, 2004, 10:50 AM

Thaks Alot Guys!

1 More Question..............any Difference In Performance With 128 Mb & 256 Mb???

lokken · Dec 14, 2004, 03:10 PM

You are going to see only marginal differences between 128 Mb and 256 Mb on most games. Only when playing the latest games, (lets say Farcry, HL2 and Doom3), you will notice a small performance grow, most noticeable if you use to play with AA turned on.

If you could get that extra memory for a few bucks, go ahead. But do not take your choice thinking about memory amount. That's my advice

L

juhel · Dec 16, 2004, 10:54 AM

thanks for all the help guys, this is the last message on this topic!

Dec 13, 2004, 11:18 AM	#1
juhel DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	Powercolour 9800se, 9600xt, 9600 Pro & Omega Drivers Hi I Am A Newbie To This Forum, To Omega Drivers, & Video Card Modding! I Need Some Help!!! I Wanted To Know If The Powercolour 9800se Can Be Modded With The Omega Drivers? I Am In A Dilemnarous (not A Real Word But Should Be!) Situation, I Need A Class Video Card, For Approx £100 I Can Get A Radeon 9600xt Or 9600 Pro Or A 9800se. Now I Have Heard That The 9800se Can Be Modded To A 9800xt! All 256mb, But Does It Matter If Its 128mb? Is This True? If Not, Which Card Is The Better? Any Other Alternatives............nvidia Cards? 128mb Fx5900........? Thank You For Any Help! Last edited by juhel; Dec 13, 2004 at 11:21 AM. Reason: WRONG FORUM

Dec 13, 2004, 01:04 PM	#2
TJ- DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Infinity Posts: 3,679 Rep Power: 0	get the 9600XT... __________________ new sig comming soon

Dec 14, 2004, 10:50 AM	Thread Starter #7
juhel DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	Thaks Alot Guys! 1 More Question..............any Difference In Performance With 128 Mb & 256 Mb??? __________________ AMD64 3000+ Winchester (Skt939) 2x512 MB DUAL CHANNEL GEIL MEMORY (PC3200) 120 GB IDE MAXTOR HDD ASUS A8V-DELUXE MBD 6600GT 128MB

Dec 16, 2004, 10:54 AM	Thread Starter #9
juhel DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 11 Rep Power: 0	thanks for all the help guys, this is the last message on this topic! __________________ AMD64 3000+ Winchester (Skt939) 2x512 MB DUAL CHANNEL GEIL MEMORY (PC3200) 120 GB IDE MAXTOR HDD ASUS A8V-DELUXE MBD 6600GT 128MB

Dec 13, 2004, 04:50 PM	#5
lokken DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	Hi. Radeon 9800se could indeed be easily softmodded to a near-full-fledged Radeon 9800 Pro. BUT, you must take several things into account: - True Radeon 9800 PRO cards have a 256-bit memory bus. Radeon 9800SE could be based both on 128bits or 256bits memory Buses. Even some card manofacturers (sapphire and powercolor, for example) retails both 9800SE's, (one with the wide memory bus and other with the narrower 128 one). Always try to buy a Radeon 9800SE with a 256bit bus. This is even more important if you intend to tune up your card. - Beside the memory subsystem, the main differences between radeon 9800PRO and 9800SE are the clock speeds, AND the number of active pipelines. The 9800PRO has 8 active pipes, while the 9800SE has only 4 active pipes. With the softmod, (search google, but it is included in the Omegadrivers themselves), you can activate the 4 remaining pipes of the 9800SE. Nevertheless, this is the risky part of the deal. Some 9800SE works great with 8 pipes active, while others have some of the 'extra' pipes broken, and heavy artifacts appears when playing. There is no way of knowing if your card could be modded or not before buying. You are taking a bet here. - Finally, if you managed to get the 8 pipes active, the only remaining thing is to overclock your card, to 9800PRO specs, or if you are lucky, even to 9800XT specs (very unlikely). A friend of mine has a Club3D 9800SE card working like a full 9800PRO card, (8 active pipes, core/mem speeds up to PRO levels). Other friend of mine got a Sapphire 9800SE and the softmod couldn't be done on his card... That's a 50% bet So it's up to you. 9600 PRO/XT are very good cards, indeed. But 9800PRO are even better ones . I would go for the SE. If you are lucky, you have a 300$ card, but for a thirth of the cost. If not, the 9800SE itself is indeed a good card, (I would say that almost as good as the 9600 PRO). Nevertheless it is your choice. Also, you might consider the power supply on your PC. Power requirements are far lower on 9600 cards than on 9800 ones. Only go for the 9800 card if you have a +-300Watt power supply or higher... L

Dec 13, 2004, 04:54 PM	#6
lokken DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	Take a look at http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx...ar1=101&var2=0 Guide to 9800Se to 9800PRO. Also, forgot to mention that Softmodding and overclocking a 9800SE might require some 'actions' on the cooling solution of the card, (adding thermal grease, or even replacing fans/heatsinks). It depends on the cooling solution used by the card's builder... L

Dec 14, 2004, 03:10 PM	#8
lokken DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	You are going to see only marginal differences between 128 Mb and 256 Mb on most games. Only when playing the latest games, (lets say Farcry, HL2 and Doom3), you will notice a small performance grow, most noticeable if you use to play with AA turned on. If you could get that extra memory for a few bucks, go ahead. But do not take your choice thinking about memory amount. That's my advice L