Who Here Has A Ati Radeon "9500 Pro"

[Wolfmight]

What would u give it from a scale of 0-10?
What FPS do u get in games like Splinter Cell, UT2k3, etc?

I've heard this card is faster than the 9600, and only cost around $200.
Wondering wat some real user comments are for the card.

[theprisoner]

Its just a scaledown version of a Radeon 9700, I would spend a few more bucks and get the 9700.

[Wolfmight]

Originally posted by theprisoner@14 August 2003 - 20:29
Its just a scaledown version of a Radeon 9700, I would spend a few more bucks and get the 9700.
your talking $150 more for the Radeon 9700 pro.. kinda lot more money. 9800 pro is even more extreme.. $250 more.

Talking "pro" here, not the regulare.

Also i found out 9500 pro has 8 pixel pipelines.. all the geforce cards have only 4. Pretty sweet

[adamp2p]

NO! I have the 9500 non pro, and it performs exactly like the 9500 pro because I activated the 4 idle pixel pipelines.

read about how you can get 97/9800 performance out of the 9500 NON PRO (save serious cash) here (http://duhvoodooman.com/9500mod/9500mod_1.htm)

[Wolfmight]

Hmm you have a point there, but that's modding.

Basicly i think of it this way:

Buying the 9500 has a risk of not getting the "rare" version.

Buying the 9500 pro for the extra money is a guarantee for the higher speed without risk of getting the newer crappy 9500 non-pro that's been patched.

And that 128 to 256 mb interface thing.. causes problems in some games it said.

hehe, i read about the ATI Radeon 9600 and how it's even worse than the 9500. man, what's up with ATI on those 2 versions. :lol:

[adamp2p]

Well Wolfmight, it appears you are not reading very carefully. If you would have read the entire article, you may have noticed that no hardware modding is required to covert the 9500 non pro into a 9500 pro.

All you need to do is get the Sappiretech version of the 9500 non pro and then install the Omega Catalyst drivers, which have the hacked driver which activates the 4 idle pixel pipelines. That is what I did. Using AIDA 32 and via benchmarks, I verify that all 8 are indeed enabled.

[Wolfmight]

Originally posted by adamp2p@15 August 2003 - 18:47
Well Wolfmight, it appears you are not reading very carefully. If you would have read the entire article, you may have noticed that no hardware modding is required to covert the 9500 non pro into a 9500 pro.

All you need to do is get the Sappiretech version of the 9500 non pro and then install the Omega Catalyst drivers, which have the hacked driver which activates the 4 idle pixel pipelines. That is what I did. Using AIDA 32 and via benchmarks, I verify that all 8 are indeed enabled.
yea, but then u are gamebleing to get that "Rare" version.

might lose yo money still..

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by Wolfmight+16 August 2003 - 01:57--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Wolfmight @ 16 August 2003 - 01:57)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-adamp2p@15 August 2003 - 18:47
Well Wolfmight, it appears you are not reading very carefully.&nbsp; If you would have read the entire article, you may have noticed that no hardware modding is required to covert the 9500 non pro into a 9500 pro.&nbsp;

All you need to do is get the Sappiretech version of the 9500 non pro and then install the Omega Catalyst drivers, which have the hacked driver which activates the 4 idle pixel pipelines.&nbsp; That is what I did.&nbsp; Using AIDA 32 and via benchmarks, I verify that all 8 are indeed enabled.
yea, but then u are gamebleing to get that "Rare" version.

might lose yo money still.. [/b][/quote]
Nope, no matter what you the least you will be able to get is a 9500 pro out of a 9500. Guaranteed.

[opivykid]

The 9000 is really good...

[Wolfmight]

ah ok, well thanks for the info adamp2p.

what&#39;s a good program for overclocking the card after i use the "modded" drivers?

[Wolfmight]

Originally posted by opivykid@15 August 2003 - 19:14
The 9000 is really good...
eh? :blink:

[adamp2p]

What you do is use Omega&#39;s Catalyst drivers. link to his website, he is the best driver coder there is (http://www.omegacorner.com/)

There is an ATI overclocking util built into the installation program. Check out the link.

Built into the install is the option to use the hacked driver. I was doubtful myself about whether this would work or not, as I am a cynic in general.

But after I installed the drivers my pixel fillrates doubled. I was throroughly convinced.

I guess it kind of makes sense Wolfmight, when you think about it, because when ATI manufactures a product, it generally costs more to develop the cheaper product then to simply call the expensive part the cheaper part and sell it for a little less, and disable a few pipelines.

Enjoy, my friend.

B)

[adamp2p]

removed

[3RA1N1AC]

Originally posted by adamp2p@15 August 2003 - 17:02
Nope, no matter what you the least you will be able to get is a 9500 pro out of a 9500. Guaranteed.
unless the manufacturer decided to go the cheapskate route and install RAM on it that can&#39;t handle the clock speed of the Pro.

[Wolfmight]

They seem to want to make more money by investing a little as possible ..

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC+16 August 2003 - 14:59--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (3RA1N1AC @ 16 August 2003 - 14:59)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-adamp2p@15 August 2003 - 17:02
Nope, no matter what you the least you will be able to get is a 9500 pro out of a 9500.&nbsp; Guaranteed.
unless the manufacturer decided to go the cheapskate route and install RAM on it that can&#39;t handle the clock speed of the Pro. [/b][/quote]
http://duhvoodooman.com/9500mod/9700-9500specs.gif

Once again mr brainiac, you are not paying very close attention. The clock speeds are exactly the same.

[3RA1N1AC]

my bad.

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@17 August 2003 - 07:37
my bad.
No harm done, my friend.

[3RA1N1AC]

using crappy RAM is the "traditional" way of producing cheaper video cards, but i didn&#39;t realize the Radeon 9500 is an exception to that rule-of-thumb.

[Wolfmight]

I read on the Rage3d forums that u can overclock a 9500 pro to run close to a 9700 pro.. (you can make the memory and clock faster, but u cant change the memory interface of 128bit.)

[adamp2p]

That is exactly the case. I personally chose to get the 128 MB 128 bit interface becuase, for one, &#036;144 including shipping sounded good to me, and I was sure that the one I purchased could be converted to at least a pro.

From what I hear it is possible, but more difficult to get your hands on one with the 256 bit interface.

I personally am more than pleased with the card I got. I must say, though, that Omega&#39;s hacked driver install made the software modification very very simple.

The only problem is that I had to unplug it for a little while (until I get my new power supply in a couple of days) because the card needs a lot of power. BTW, I just ordered a new power supply from PC power and cooling.

As soon as I get the new power supply, I am going to also implement a RAID 0. That should have me all set...I never knew how enjoyable computer games could be until I got a good graphics card... :)

[Wolfmight]

what wattage? I got 300w.

[adamp2p]

http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/products/...raquiet_atx.htm (http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/products/power_supplies/ultra_quiet/silencers/index_ultraquiet_atx.htm)

400 ATX

I just spent &#036;150 on this baby...I better add that my debt...when it comes I will have 300 watts too, edit: the folks at Xbit informed me I will have 400 watts, is that true?... B)

Yep, max 450 watts&#33; Nice&#33;