konai_konai666

I think I might've just made a breakthrough for this card. After ( yes, foolishly & dangerously durring a windstorm) testing all the 9800SE-Pro BIOS's overnight ( no sleep yet) @ the infamous ATI Bios Collection for stability and performance-improvement, i'm relieved to say i've found the best one for this card! -I'm above stock 9800Pro speeds ( 24/7 now) and couldn't even handle the stock ones for more than a few mins before this, I got a 2000pt increase in Aquamark3 and 300 in 3DMark03. I'm getting no artifacts in any app yet after a few hrs of burning and was even briefly annoyed, unsuccessfully trying to get Doom3 to show those white dots I used to get all over within minutes at my old max stable OC of 360/360. I can now feel safe running the thing at 390/365+ no doubt . The magic BIOS I used was this: Powercolor 9800Pro 378/337MHz Samsung2.8ns
Using RaBiT ( Radeon BIOS editor), i've found that the only difference between this and the official ATI 98-8004.BIN is that the tWR timing is set to 2 instead of the default 3. Though the official ATI BIOS netted me much worse clock/bench results than my default 9800SE BIOS, this one is amazingly different in performance. -Enjoy at your own risk!!!

Please note carefully: If you are planning on trying this hardmod, please understand that it will viod your warranty. Niether I, nor PimpRig will accept responsibility for any possible damages or mistakes you may succumb to before attempt of, attempting on, or post of this mod.
As I have made my own choices on how safe I'd like to be, I expect you can make yours. As a crucial tip, I strongly urge you to be fully prepared and fool-proof before attempting a BIOS flash, a PCI-Videocard will be required to see ( while reviving the dead card), in the event of a failed BIOS flash. Please refer to the guide pictured below to proceed..

Quote: ATI RADEON 9800NP>9800PRO BY FLASHING GUIDE - Courtesy of SaturnTR I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGED HARDWARE DURING THIS GUIDE As you all may know, the Radeon 9800 Non Pro and the Radeon 9800 Pro as both the same cards, but the Radeon 9800NP has a lower core clock, and slower memory clocks. Hopefully this guide will help you get the most from your Radeon 9800NP card. First, you will need a bootdisk that will get you to a DOS prompt. I recommend http://www.bootdisk.com if you don't already have a bootdisk. Secondly, you will need a copy of the Radeon 9800Pro BIOS, which can be located here: http://www.digitalsynapses.com/9800mod/98-8004.BIN Now you will need a BIOS flashing utility for your card, which can be located right here: http://www.digitalsynapses.com/9800mod/flashrom/ Now that you have everything you need, move the Radeon 9800Pro BIOS (98-8004.BIN) to the bootdisk, and also move flashrom files to the bootdisk. Okay, now you have the disk containing everything you need to flash your Radeon 9800NP into a 9800Pro. Before you flash, check to see what brand of memory is on your card. Unless you have Samsung 2.2ns, 2.8ns, 3.0ns, or 3.3ns do not flash. If you have any of the above Samsung memory and your cards memory tops at say 330MHz, you should be OK to flash, as the 9800Pro BIOS slightly raises the voltage going to the memory, allowing for higher clocks. Now that we've passed that little hurdle, we can now prepare to flash. First, reboot your computer with the floppy disk inside of your drive. This should bring you to an A: prompt...Once you get to an A: prompt type: flashrom -s 0 original.bin Your original BIOS is now saved to the floppy, and you are ready to flash. Now type this once your BIOS is saved: flashrom -p 0 98-8004.BIN (Important: The Char. Above is a zero, not an "o") Once you have completed this, you should have received a message saying BIOS flash was successful. Reboot your PC, and it should take you into WindowsXP, or whatever OS you are using and detect your card as a Radeon 9800Pro. If your memory was not able to handle this flash, simple place a PCI video card in beside your Radeon 9800, and proceed to flashing to the original BIOS that is on your floppy disk. If you don't have a PCI video card you can possibly try flashing blind, which means you will flash to original BIOS with no screen display. I hope my guide has helped you push your Radeon 9800NP even further. My OC on original NP bios was 479/357, and after flashing I obtained 479/425 absolutely stable. Your results will vary depending on how well your card OCs. Remember, if you screw up your card, YOU screwed it up, not me. I simply provided the needed steps and software for flashing your card. I am not a repairman. Have fun guys!

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$SOLID$ Necro

Time for a V-mod, ram sinks. and a new cooler


Great job!

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konai_konai666

Thx.. I can't think of anything that made this work so well other than a BIOS-contained voltage adjustment. As you can see tho.. I think its time for water soon>>

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vf1000ride

Konai, I have one of the 9800se cards and had a couple questions if you don't mind. Did you try the softmod to bring it up to the 9800 pro before doing a bios flash? The reason being is mine won't softmod without all kinds of video corruption. Does the bios mod do roughly the same thing or am I comparing apples and oranges. I was affraid that I have a chip that the extra pipelines aren't any good and that the bios update will yield the same video corruption as the softmod. My card overclocks well but could always use a little more out of it. Thanks

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konai_konai666

Mine would softmod but with problems. It should be fine with softmodded drivers.

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