9800 non pro - memory chips - which manufacturer?

[Andy Pandy]

Was originally thinking of getting a 9600 Pro (Connect 3D or Sapphire) but I
may now stretch to a 9800 (non pro) after reading some reviews, in
particular ones where the 9800 non pro can be overclocked to be almost if
not as good as a 9800 pro. Also some can be flashed with pro bios which
sounds even better.

I understand from reading these reviews though that getting the right ram
chips is important and this seems to be a bit of a lottery... (samsung being
the ones that seem to overclock the best and the faster rated the chips the
better)

I have seen (in the UK) a Connect 3D 9800 for about £215 and a Sapphire 9800
for about £220 - these seem quite good deals to me but am wondering which
one to go for ie. does anyone have any experience as to which ram chips both
these manufacturers ship their cards with?

Not sure if the retail pro's come with any extras (eg. games) - usually the
Sapphire bundles seem better in this respect.

Anyway, hope someone out there can help me?

Andy

 

[Ben Pope]

Was originally thinking of getting a 9600 Pro (Connect 3D or Sapphire)
but I may now stretch to a 9800 (non pro) after reading some reviews, in
particular ones where the 9800 non pro can be overclocked to be almost if
not as good as a 9800 pro. Also some can be flashed with pro bios which
sounds even better.

The difference in the BIOS is essentially the default clock speeds. I
wouldn't bother flashing, just use an overclocking utility.

I understand from reading these reviews though that getting the right ram
chips is important and this seems to be a bit of a lottery... (samsung
being the ones that seem to overclock the best and the faster rated the
chips the better)

Samsung chips used are either 3.3ns (chip ends in -33) or 2.86ns (-2A) -
giving you 300MHz and 350MHz rated speed.

Ben

 

[Mike P]

The bios flash is letting people with the samsung 3.3 memory clock higher.
Mine is clocking just above pro speeds so I'm not bothering, at least until
the card gets older. A couple of points are
1) don't do the flash if you have infineon memory.
2) even without overclocking the card is very fast, I won't run mine at
higher speeds until hl2 comes because there is no benefit except maybe at
1600 res, benchmarking excluded.

Cheers,
Mike P

 

[Brian Madsen]

Hi,


Just bought a Sapphire 9800 non-Pro with Samsung 3.3 ns chip (rated at 300
MHz). Flashed the bios and now they are running at default Pro speed (337,50
MHz). Great chips!!! Some even managed to overclock these chips even further
to 425 MHz - see http://forums.pimprig.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8439

Found this piece somewhere on the internet - can't remember where
-snip-
The flash DOES work but you need to be careful what you use!! I made the
plunge and flashed to what was billed as the "latest" 9800 Pro bios
(filename 98-8004-NEW.rom) which actualy sent me backwards in my oc'ing. Had
to go back to go back to 412/325 from np OC of 412/344 to get rid of
artifacts. Boy was I dissapointed!! I was getting ready to flash back to the
np when I though I might as well try the other bios I found in posts here.
Flashing to the "standard" one (filename 98-8004.Bin) made my 9800np scream
just as the forum posts suggest. It's magic!! Running at 425/380 with no
problems. I'm not trying to go any higher as I'm estactic to be at 425/380
on a $250 Sapphire 9800.
-snip-

How to flash the non-Pro bios to Pro:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=33695811

I recommend the Sapphire 9800 non-Pro - it is a great card with lots of
potential.


Regards
Brian Madsen
Denmark

 

[Ben Pope]

The bios flash is letting people with the samsung 3.3 memory clock higher.

Thats interesting, maybe it is driving it a little harder or changing the
timings?

I can't imagine that you will be able to clock at anywhere near 350MHz
though.

Ben

 

[Dan]

You should flash your card.
Something for nothing...

The bios flash is letting people with the samsung 3.3 memory clock higher.
Mine is clocking just above pro speeds so I'm not bothering, at least until
the card gets older. A couple of points are
1) don't do the flash if you have infineon memory.
2) even without overclocking the card is very fast, I won't run mine at
higher speeds until hl2 comes because there is no benefit except maybe at
1600 res, benchmarking excluded.

Cheers,
Mike P