Powercolor or ATI driver?

[Charley]

Hi everybody,

I got a Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro 128mb ddr, and I wonder if there would be more powerful by applying the Powercolor driver, or the ATI.com driver?

Does anyone here can answer this question?

Thank you very much!

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[cleeve]

The newest Ati CATALYST driver is always your best bet.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Plekto]

Both. Adequate airflow and cooling is key to the lifespan of electronic components. The idea is to get it as close to room temperature as possible, at which point its lifespan rises from a few months or years to infinite. Most people forget that the idea isn't to keep it from melting and failing, but to make it as healthy as possible.

Also, a cooler board draws less power, which puts less strain on the motherboard and power supply.

Me? Three fans out the rear and for my intake... I removed a floppy drive cover and the air gets sucked in that way - it's twice as efficient as any fan in the front trying to suck air in by osmosis around the various slots in the front of the case. Plus, the air gets drawn over my hard drive, keeping it about 70 degrees instead of the 100+ it used to be. The small slot works better than a large one, as well, since the air pressure through a small opening causes a speed-up and not only better circulation, but a slight drop in temperature going in.

Before I had a fan in the front and the thing is - the airholes in the metal where the fan goes - they cause the noise to double and get rid of 2/3 of the airflow sue to backpressure. Try running the fan outside of the case and then in it. My first case mod is always to get a blank case and a Dremel and grind out the entire fan area. I buy a metal grille for the fan instead - a proper thin wire one. db goes way down and airflow doubles. Better yet is a big open hole with the fan in it and just don't put your fingers back there.

 

[Charley]

Okay! Are you guys considering the Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro 128md ddr as a good graphic card? I got no problem in games with this card, except if I am putting it at high-resolution.

Would it be nice to change the cooler on my GPU?

Is there a big difference between 9600Pro from Powercolor and Real ATI 9600 Pro?

Is there a big difference between 9600Pro and 9600XT?

I'm about to try overclocking my 9600Pro to 500mhz(core)/
315mhz(memory) with Powerstrip.

My specs:
-ASUS P4P800 865PE w/ bios 1019
-Pentium 4 2.6c fsb800
-2 x 512mb Samsung DDR400 PC3200
-Powercolor ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128mb ddr
-WD800JB hard disk
-Maxtor OneTouch 160go external usb2.0/firewire
-450W Power supply
-Sound Blaster Live! Platinum
-LG 52X DVDROM
-LG 52X CD-Writer

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[cleeve]

1. Sure, 9600 PROs are good cards. Powercolor isn't the best manufacturer, but I still have a Powercolor 9500-modded-to-PRO in one of my secondary computers that's served me amazingly well.

2. Yes, but not necessary. You will see results much better than stock by simply by removing the thermal tape that sits between the stock cooler and GPU, and replacing it with thermal grease (Arctic silver is great).
Once you've reached the limits of this method and you want higher clockspeeds, aftermarket coolers are next to try.

3. Some of Powercolors "PRO" cards are "PRO ez"... which means reduced memory clockspeeds. But if yours came with 400 core/300 memory stock speeds it's a true 9600 PRO.

4. The only difference is, once again, clockspeeds. The 9600XT is running at 500 core/300 memory. Most 9600 PROs can reach this speed with sufficient cooling, in alot of cases with stock cooling. But like I said, at the very least, replace the thermal tape with real thermal paste.

5.If you want to try stock, go for it. But if you see artifacts (white dots or texture tearing) in games, pull back the clockspeeds. It's running too hot, or it can't handle the overclock.

And pay attention to Plekto's notes about good case cooling. It's good advice... a video card can only get as cool as your case allows it to.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Charley]

Probably that the ASUS ATI cards are the best on the market, isn't it ?

Thank you very much guys for all your replies!

I've heard about flashing the bios of the 9600 Pro with the 9600 XT bios to get the same performances as the Radeon 9600 XT. Does anyone here experienced this tweak?

Thank you again!

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[cleeve]

If you end up with a miracle 9600 PRO with superfast memory (doubt you'll find that on a Powercolor 9600 PRO) it might work, but you'd get 99% the same result simply by overclocking the 9600 PRO to XT speeds, if your memory can take it.

All the BIOS will give you is more agressive memory timings... not worth the instability for the tiny performance increase IMHO, if you're going to overclock the memory as high as you can anyway.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Charley]

wow! Your cooling system is amazing! I'm going to put a heatsink on my gpu and put a better fan too.

Thank you!

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The only time I'd take your Mfr's drivers over ATI is if your card has functions that require those drivers to work properly (like VIVO, special overclocking [Sapphire's A.P.E], etc.).

In addition Ditto all of the above from Cleeve and Wusy, and whomever else sounds like they make sense (like to put myself in good company).


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[Charley]

My best overclock was:

425 core / 250 memory

This is not a real ATI for sure

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

425/250, that's a PRO-EZ. Probably TSOP memory too. Oie!

Stock on a PRO should be 300mhz on the memory.

Mine goes 535/365, so a little different. Of course stock would be nice but PowerCrapper and Gag'n'Puke (err GigaCube/GeXcube) have a history of this fishy naming strategies. I <i>HATE</i> when that happens to people!


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[Charley]

I am seriously thinking of changing my GPU for something else. Maybe an ASUS 9600XT would be nice!

Do you guys have any suggestions? I am looking for a "best bang for the buck" GPU card that will be able to run in 1024x768 with good details without anyway problems!

Thank you very much!

Charles Morin
Sales Director
EENiX Networks .: www.eenix.com

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I wouldn't suggest going from a Pro-EZ to an XT, it's a jump, but depending on the price, you would likely get alot better noticeabel improvement out of something like a GF6600GT AGP or at least an R9800PRO.

The question of whether an ASUS R9600XT is $50-100 (after selling original card) better than an R9600PRO-EZ leaves me with 'no' as the answer.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[cleeve]

Bloody miserable Poercolor "EZ" versions...

If you can return it for a real PRO, do it.

If you can't, spend a little time on the heatsink... take it off, remove the #%$^ thermal tape, and replace with thermal grease... then try again. The memory won't go any higher, but the core might.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>