Catalyst Mod for R9700pro

[10GHZ]

<A HREF="http://www.pcpop.com.cn/view.asp?type=news&id=9038" target="_new">http://www.pcpop.com.cn/view.asp?type=news&id=9038</A>

apparently, modding the catalyst driver 6307, gives the R300 further performance gain, in some case up 2 40% !!!!
this was done mainly by editing the ati2mtag.sys file in the driver set. but how???

 

[Crashman]

did you read the THG review for the 9800? It would seem that the R350 doesn't have any additional hardware instructions to run the newer version of SmoothVision, but rather that the newer version of Smoothvision runs on the same hardware, and is selected by the driver itself after determining card type.

What does this mean? It means if you had a 9500 128MB non-pro on a 9700 PCB, not only can you "turn it into a 9700" non-pro, but that you can now turn it into an underclocked 9800 Pro, all through hacked drivers.

This is yet one more indication that the "R350" we see now is NOT the R350 that appeared on ATI's roadmap, but rather an R300 that was slightly reworked to provide higher clock speed. Sort of like comparing CPU steppings.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[DrJeckyl]

You know what's bugging me about these mods?
If I remember correctly, the 9500 & 9500 pro use a 128 bit mem interface, and the 9700 & 9700 Pro use a 256 bit.....even with voltage mods and driver hacks, it doesn's seem as though you would end up with a true 9700 as an end result. I haven't looked into the difference in the mem modules on those boards in detail, but I will guess that they are not the same--do not perform the same (3.3ns on the 9500Pro and ? on the 9500 non-pro....I have a 9700Pro, and I believe that the 9700 non-pro uses the same modules, but not the 9500 series)
Anyways.......please feel free to enlighten me.

-- the Doc

 

[Crashman]

Well, according to everything I read:

The 9500 non-pro that was on the 9700 PCB had a 256-bit memory pathway. It would almost have to be that way to be on the same PCB. These were simply weird cards.

It might have been based on how the chip itself addressed the memory?

After reading dozens of success stories converting a 9500 non-pro to a 9700 non-pro, I can only assume that these strange cards had that capability. These of course were early production cards, later cards came with their own PCB.

It might have simply been a situation of getting more than what you paid for in these cards because it was not economically feasable for them to start another line based on the differnt PCB at that early stage of production. Kind of like how it's not economically feasable for motherboard companies to produce boards without sound any longer.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[10GHZ]

thats exactly it.

 

[10GHZ]

and also about what you've said that the "R350" we see now is not the R350 that appeared on ATI's Roadmap. i think thats the case as well, 1stly, it dosnt offer THAT much performance difference when compared to the R300, simply because, as you've said, it is only a slightly tuned version of R300, the technology in a way is still the same. ATI said that they will move to 0.13 micro process for the "upgraded" version of the R300, but in the end, that didnt happen. Maybe they are also experiencing difficulty implementing this technology?? so instead of releasing a rush job which likely to screw somthing up in the process, they choose to take it slwo and not really wanting to go down the path of the R200. IMHO, i think the release of the R350 is pure marketing, does this applies to the NV35 as well....maybe?? does Nvidia really have somthing up its sleeve? i think not. either way.. all of us ATI fans are hoping that the R400 will hopefully live up to our expectation.

 

[DrJeckyl]

Interesting.......so ATI simply restricted the 256 bit capabilities within the bios & drivers.
Man I feel cheated LOL.....I believe that card was about 200usd less than the 9700pro when I purchased mine.
Anyways, since I'm here......any recommendations for some good heatsinks for my card? I think it's time to push it even more :tongue: . I think I'm going to keep the chip cooler. I thought of going with a crystal orb, but ATI has done a good job with the stock cooler.

-- the Doc

 

[Crashman]

Well, now that they have a new PCB with fewer layers for the 9500 non-pro, you won't be seeing any new oportunities.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[DrJeckyl]

Oh, it's ok....I already have a 9700Pro, but great for all of you that decided to go cheap LOL j/k. Just looking for some good heatsinks now to get even more mem performance from it.

-- the Doc