Radeon 9800 Pro vs Nonpro Flashed

[David Lee]

I have a 9800 Pro on order at a very good price but I saw something at the
web site that has me worried. They are now selling nonpros at a higher
price than what I paid, a poor price indeed. They are offering to flash them
with the pro bios. So how can I tell if I get a real pro model or a flashed
nonpro. Both are oem. Thanks

 

[Ben Pope]

I have a 9800 Pro on order at a very good price but I saw something
at the web site that has me worried. They are now selling nonpros
at a higher price than what I paid, a poor price indeed. They are
offering to flash them with the pro bios. So how can I tell if I get
a real pro model or a flashed nonpro. Both are oem. Thanks

Buy from reputable suppliers?

If you post up the model number printed on the board, somebody should know
its original form.

Since the non-pros are clocked slower, it may be possible that they use
slower RAM - if the RAM is being run out of spec, it's quite possible that
it's been overclocked by them, although these days it's not unusual for a
manufacturer (if that is the correct term) to overclock by default. Such is
the requirement to save money these days...

Ben

 

[Bratboy]

Always some company willing to stoop to stuff trying to make the extra
bucks. I would NOT be comfortable trusting a place doing this to send you
what you order, JMHO tho, they may be okay. Especially since its OEM
versions so no real way I know to tell which you get. The pics look
identical for both cards pro/np so no clues there. Be diffrent if the card
your getting was a retail as then no question but with OEM always a risk.
Any chance you can cancel and order a card from Newegg? All reports thus far
are that all the SapphireOEM 9800np's from them use samsung mem thus far
which flashes to pro nicely for like 240 dallars total (havent checked price
lately tho). Feel free to post the companies name so I can make sure not to
visit, I get nervous around companies that start offering both an item and
one they will modify to match the item hehe.

 

[John Hall]

You know, I think you have a real concern. I bought a non pro 9800 and
flashed the bios with the pro bios and would defy anyone to determine that
my card was originally a non pro. I only flashed the bios after running the
card at the same speed as a pro card long enough to determine that there
were no problems. Many of the non pro cards are in fact pro cards with a
bios that makes them slower clocked.

BUT, many of the non pro cards also have slower memory and cannot be
successfully run at pro speeds over the long run. So beware. Personally,
if I were you, I would buy a non pro card which is significantly less in
price and see if I could overclock it. If successful, then flash the bios
and you have a relatively cheap pro card. If not, you still have a damn
fine video card that is only slightly slower than a 9800 pro, and faster
than a 9700 pro, and has all the features of the 9800 pro except clock
speed.

JK

 

[Mike B]

Many of the non pro cards are in fact pro cards with a

bios that makes them slower clocked.

Ok, I'm a bit of a newb here. I bought a 9800 in a Dell that says "PRO" in
the device manager, but was advertised as a non-Pro. How do I *really* tell
which version I have? I have never flashed a bois due to all the warnings I
have heard about.. Any help would be appreciated.

-M

 

[John Hall]

You got a "Pro" dude. The non pro versions of the card simply show up in
the device manager as a 9800.

JK

 

[Bratboy]

well a main dif isa the clock speed so install something like rage3dtweak
and then look at oc tab. If core is at 378 its a pro if its lower then np.
Same with meme. the np's is clocked at 290 for the mem the pro at I think
340.

 

[David Lee]

So what would it show if the bios had been flashed?

 

[John Hall]

RADEON 9800 PRO

JK

So what would it show if the bios had been flashed?


"PRO" less something

 

[Mike P]

I've read about some of those cards having drivers detect them as pro but
still using np speeds/ That's the way to tell, check your oc tab.

Mike

 

[old_dog]

Because it will say so on the box?

Or, if you're paranoid, check out the mem chips. A pro should have 2.8ns or
better (smaller figure)memory I think.

If you can't make sense of whats printed on the chips, I'm sure there are
people here who can help you.

 

[Mike B]

Because it will say so on the box?

Umm.. yeah. Should I even waste my time telling this dude that many people
get their cards in PC configurations that not only ship without a box, but
no manual too?

Guess I just did.