PowerColor 9800SE 256Mb DDR £72 - any good?

[waynefeltham]

Hi all

This is my first post.

I've been reading that many 9800SE cards can be softmoded to 9800 Pro.

I was all set to order from Ebuyer (128mb version for around £90) when they told me that they had to cancel my order due to lack of stock :(

I did a quick search on Kelkoo and found the following:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=8086

Can this be right?...a 256mb version (which if I'm reading my posts correctly is the better type to softmod) for only £72???

Anyhow, I've got one due for delivery tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes ;)

Cheers


Wayne

[waynefeltham]

Update:

Okay, the card arrived and it didn't have the L-shape memory layout (although I've heard that this was only for older cards?). It DOES have 256Mb of RAM though.

Anyway, I wanted to see what chip it had (350 or a 360) and so removed the heatsink...bad idea :( The heatsink is held on by 2 plastic "pins" with tiny springs on the top that maintain the pressure. When I pulled it off, one of the springs went flying accross the room and is now lost DOH!

It took me a while but I managed to fabricate a new spring (in the process of which I dropped a tub of nails on the card!!!!!) and installed the card...it was okay and still worked!!!

I download version 4.11 of the softmod from the downloads section of this site and installed it.

Unfortunately, I get artifacts when runnin 3DMark2001SE. I don't know if this is due to damaged pipes or poor cooling though? - Anyone know how to determine this (other than upgrading the heatsink/fan and keeping my fingers crossed?...is there anything I can download that will test the pipes individually????)

Cheers


Wayne

[mobo77735]

i have a 9200 all in wonder 256 mb and i also get atrifacts with 4.11 but runs ok with 4.10