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Radeon 9550 Mod help!!!

LoopyLee

LoopyLee

LoopyLee

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Joined
27 Nov 2005
Posts
155
I have a Radeon 9550 Rv350 core with 256 ram 128bit 4 pipe line card.

I have read on some sites that you can change the bios of the card to make into a 9600 card that is not locked as 250GPU & 200Mem.

I know this GPU can run faster as read some people have clocked this as high as 400mhz.

I want to change the bios and make it so I can clock this card as it is currently locked.

I have got ATI tool but wont let me save the settings when clocked so when pc restarts I have to reclock the card all the time.

The card is a basic on with no fan on it but a cheap heat sink on the GPU.

If anyone could give me the a suggested bios upgrade to remove lock and ture core to a higher default.
 
two ways to do this, either flash bios or used the hacked drivers. i used hacked drivers that allowed my overclocks to stick on the 9250 card i used to have.
 
I would profer the hacked driver option for warrenty of card.

Have you a link for this option as I dont know what m looking for.
The other option is a last resort. but what would be the best bios for this card? and would this have different speeds as default for different bios types?
 
just turned up the card to 350mhz GPU and 225mhz mem. Using ATI tool.

Clocked the card and saved it as a profile and it now loads that profile as default. (great tool).

Wanted to know how far I should push the card as no fan and dont want to blow it.

Is it hard to fit a fan?
 
Ive seen the core on these go to 450ish, not much more on the memory, but with no fan be v carefull ,use ATI tool to gradually increase untill you get artifacts, then back it off a bit, do the core and memory one at a time, check game stability after. Fitting a better fan is pretty easy as long as there are holes in the pcb to fit one
 
Are all the fan fixings the same and if not would anyone have any recomendations?

I have been keeping my eye out for a s/hand 9800pro would this be a readl big upgrade ?
 
no fan? i would be very cautious about overclocking this card. best to get better cooling on it, like a AC silencer or something then you can have no worries of going over 400mhz on the core.
 
Final count got GPU to 380mhz from stock 250mhz and mem only a 2mhz increase as artifacts started 202mhz.

How does this compare to a 9800pro ?

Would i see a hugh increase if i got a second hand one what do they run at stock?

What would I be able to clockthe 9800pro to if I got onee with good cooler?

and is there a faster 9800 then the pro?
 
pointless getting a second hand 9800pro, your better off getting a second hand 6600gt since it has lots more power and shader model 3.0 support along with purevideo support.

unless the 9800pro can be had for 30 odd quid.
 
i just put a 256mb sapphire card in my old chaps new rig.

The BIOS is dependant on the card and ram you are running on it, ours unfortunatly has "MEZZA....wtf?" memory and will only clock to a max of 210mhz. with this in mind i managed to source a 9600 non PRO that used the same 5ns memory so just flashed it to that and its perfect :) GPU was clocked at 400 stock afterwards and the core is recognised as as RV360 (9600) rather than the 350 (9550) and will run stable at 450mhz all day long, have set the day to day settings up in Ati Tool as 410 gpu and 200 mem.

Ben
 
if your not bothered about hardware video decode acceleration then the 6800le or nu is a very good option too. a secondhand 6800nu can be had for the 70quid mark and has very good high rez performance thanks to its 256bit memory interface. also the fun in unlocking pipelines could be successful and you will see a large boost in speed.

depends on what your budget is.
 
agreed on the LE too :). Mines a corker

i went from a clocked 9800 pro that would hit 5700-800 in '03, to my current LE that can hit a notch over 10500 points, i managed to get 4 extra pipes and both extra shaders open.....Leadtek models seem to unlock n clock well btw if you can find one :).

Search for 6800LE on here, there are loads of threadds started by me n other peeps about the cards

Ben
 
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Sounds good to me I will looks at the 6800le depends on what the G/Friend will let me spend. Going to fair today so for time been will keep an eye out for a good fan and clock the nuts off this.

If I leave it 6-12 months should be able to pick a real fast card up for next to nothing with the pci-e taking over now ;)

How hard is it to open the pipelines on the LE ? is it actual work on the card or software that does it for you ?
 
iv seen a shop selling a 6800nu that has 512mb of ram for 115inc vat. its an asus card and not bad for the price.

how much is your budget? and do you want to buy second hand or new?
 
yeah i saw that card too......be careful

i checked asus' site and supposedly according to there spec sheet its 512mb DDR2......on 128bit architecture, could be like having 6800 chip on 6600 archi'.

Asus website spec

someone on Nvidia forums has got 2800 on '05 from it, my 128mb LE hits 4000+ and it blue screens on any drivers above 78.xx, which is useful!

On the unlocking of pipes mate, all you need is a program called riva tuner that is available free online, and there are full guides on what to on google from loads of sites too. its just a check box based system to open n close the pipes and then testing them, if stuff runs with only minute amount of artifacting, still dont risk it is my best advice. and remember to reset any overclocking you have running before opening or closing pipes or shaders :)

Most of the LE's will open to 12 out of the 16 pipelines and 1 of the extra shaders.
 
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