Graphics Best 15 quid ever!

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Highland3r, 9 May 2005.

  1. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Went to a computer fair on Saturday, and grabbed a 9500 NP 64mb card for 15 quid. Had a feeling it'd softmod to pro, and it has done. Grabbed a card with 3.0ns mem too, so with a little tweaking (ie vmods) it should fly.

    So, stock, ran a quick 3dmark to start off with. (bear in mind this is a 24/7 OS so is full of bloatware)
    Stock run

    After a little overclocking, it reached the heady heights of 410/310 still totally clean through 01
    Unmodded max

    All in all not bad for 15 pounds...

    Then came the softmodding. Took a fair hit on core clocks due to the extra 4 pipes, but nothing a little cooling and some volts cant fix... 350/310 was ~ the max, needs a little better cooling and should go further.
    Modded score

    Its not all about benchmarks though (they do show ~ a 1/3rd extra performance though) its been sat running cs source for the past 2 days totally happily. 1024, Maxed details in source, no aa or af though. Sits ~ 60 fps on nearly all maps with the occasional drop a little lower.

    Mighty impressive for a 64mb card, thats getting on for 3 years old now. Its a pitty they didnt have any of the 128mb versions, these often mod up to 9700 levels, adding 256bit memory bus.
     
  2. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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    ooooooo, nice. :)

    If only it had 128MB memory though, you might kill 19k then.
     
  3. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    19 should fall, just need a 2k install and DX8. VGA silencer should help a little too ;) Aiming for 20k with this card (and 4200 which is sat here too) in the month off after exams ;)
     
  4. webbyman

    webbyman Hax.

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    :baby: that's a great score :D one to be proud of with that card... especially for £15 :p
     
  5. TMM

    TMM Modder

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    niiice. :eek:
     
  6. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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  7. TMM

    TMM Modder

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  8. smoguzbenjamin

    smoguzbenjamin "That guy"

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    Not bad mate ;)
     
  9. alastor

    alastor Minimodder

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    Wish mine would softmod, only manage 15.3k at 410/330 with 4 pipes :waah:
     
  10. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Is it on L shaped memory?
    Installin 2k on the Dothan as we speak, hoping for a little more from this thing ;)
     
  11. yodasarmpit

    yodasarmpit Modder

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    Bloody hell, 20k on a 9500. :jawdrop:

    I won't tell you about the best £15 I spent
     
  12. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Wasnt summit dodgy was it? ;)
     
  13. alastor

    alastor Minimodder

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    Yeah it's the L-shaped 256-bit 128mb memory one, just no display at all with the softmod drivers installed :(

    Good luck with a fresh 2k install and all that nice Pentium 3 power :D
     
  14. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Try with the hacked ati2mtag.sys file for the cats you have :) Its a little more work, but runs like a dream :) Easy to reverse to :) Just swap file back and update the cards drivers.

    2k was a no brainer :( Not a single increase anywhere, despite re-installing twice :( Added another XP install, and it seems a little better... Need to play about with drivers, but cant get close to the other days run :(
    Card needs vmods/better cooling :(

    <edit> lol its a sea of blue smilies /me counts 7...! </edit>
     
  15. tank_rider

    tank_rider What's a Dremel?

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    Fecking nice scores, puts my 9700PRO to shame :(

    Have you got any hints on how to get my 9700 PRO working any better, i currently get 16K using 360/330 clocks, with a VGA silencer. Are there any software tweaks or things to play with. I didn't manage to get all the hard thermal glue used to stick the original heatsink on with, could this be a problem and limit the overclocking?
     
  16. alastor

    alastor Minimodder

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    Any idea if the hacked file works with the Omega drivers? Using Omega 2.6.25a at the moment (Cat 5.4), or should I just go for the official Cat 5.5 and patch those?

    Thanks in advance
     
  17. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Dont see why it wouldnt alastor :) Give it a shot and try :) Just grab the ati2mag for the 5.4 cats (http://www.techpowerup.com/softmod/ati2mtag.22141.zip)

    tank_rider, have you got a ORB 3dmark compare? Just choose custom detail settings, and drop them all to performance. This will give a small boost. Can also play with the order you run tests in for more performance.
    360/330 isnt too bad for a 9700, how much of the gunk was left? Might be worth setting on it with some alcohol and a credit card. Its a PITA to get off, but helps contact loads.
     
  18. Tolsk

    Tolsk What's a Dremel?

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    bah silly cpu based benchmark...
     
  19. tank_rider

    tank_rider What's a Dremel?

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    Highlander, heres my compare link.

    I dropped the setting to performance and got about an extra 200.

    There is still quite a lot of gunk on there so will give getting that off another go. Would it be ok to use white spirit, or meths?
     
  20. Highland3r

    Highland3r Minimodder

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    Both white spirit and meths leave a slight residue, so either ensure its completely removed, or wonder down to a chemists and get some "isopropyl alchohol" that'll shift it no probs :)
     
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