Flashing Bios of 9800 Pro to an XT: Info needed :)

[HookeyStreet]

Hi,

I hear its possible to flash the bios on the 9800 Pro to make it the power of a 9800XT. How is this done and is it simple?

Thanks in advance,

Daz

[pablofrogo]

Flashing is simple:

1st: make sure your card can handle the speeds 398core/350mem
2nd: download the GeCube 9800 XT 128 MB BIOS from the BIOS page (http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/)
3rd: download Flashrom, which is also available via the bios page (get the latest: v2.40)
4th: Go here (http://forums.ocfaq.com/showthread.php?t=2755) and check Slayerstaps's guide to flashing your bios.

[Frozen]

Make sure it handles 412/365 actually

[pablofrogo]

Yea, but the GeCube one says 398/350, real XTs use 412/365... Whatever, do what frozen says just to be sure.

[HookeyStreet]

Thanks :) This is my card, will it be able to handle this upgrade?

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=5915&GroupID=336

[HookeyStreet]

My 9800 Pro is made by ATi and has Samsung Ram, is this a problem???

[pablofrogo]

Thanks :) This is my card, will it be able to handle this upgrade?

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=5915&GroupID=336
Does your card look like the picture? If so it's a 9800pro with 256mb DDR2 memory, I don't know a bios for that.

[HookeyStreet]

Hi, Im not sure what the difference is between my card and the stock picture on Microdirect ( no doubt some one on here will know ;) ) but my card is 128MB not 256 (sadly) :(

[Frozen]

YOull have to check the core.

[kRaZeD]

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR 8X AGP DVI TV Out OEM its a 128mb not 256 mb pablo :P

[pablofrogo]

I can read kRaZeD :p but the picture is of a 9800pro 256mb DDR2

[HookeyStreet]

Hi,

ATiTool says the following:

Device ID - 4E48
Chip Type - R350
Memory Size - 128 MB
Memory Bus Width - 256 Bit
Active Pipelines - 8
Default GPU Clock - 378.00 Mhz
Default Mem Clock - 338.00 Mhz

[BiGShiRley]

What u should do is put some strawberry jam on it b4 u install it on your MOBO that will do the trick needs to be strawberry tho ok

[HookeyStreet]

I will give it a try m8 ;) sounds tasty

[SmiGDig]

Flashing is simple:

1st: make sure your card can handle the speeds 398core/350mem
2nd: download the GeCube 9800 XT 128 MB BIOS from the BIOS page (http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/)
3rd: download Flashrom, which is also available via the bios page (get the latest: v2.40)
4th: Go here (http://forums.ocfaq.com/showthread.php?t=2755) and check Slayerstaps's guide to flashing your bios.

Does doing this give any performance benefits other than the overclocking via a software utility with a standard bios?

I also do believe it is supposed to be 412/365, i saw that on some other forums discussing the differences between the 9800ro and XT...

[Simon6795]

I successfully flashed my Sapphire 9800 Pro 256MB to 9800 Xt. Using ATITool i clocked up to XT speeds but when i flashed the XT BIOS i got an extra 400 3DMark 03 points compared to just O/C to XT speeds with 9800 Pro, apparantely the XT BIOS uses more aggresive memory timings so that is where the extra performance came in. If your thinking about Flashing your card i recommend getting better cooling for it, i got a VGA Silencer Rev 3 but the new models are out soon. My card uses a R360 core only way of telling is to look under your heatsink, ATITool if it detects 9800 Pro will display R350 regardless of whenever u got the R350 or R360 core.

[SmiGDig]

I successfully flashed my Sapphire 9800 Pro 256MB to 9800 Xt. Using ATITool i clocked up to XT speeds but when i flashed the XT BIOS i got an extra 400 3DMark 03 points compared to just O/C to XT speeds with 9800 Pro, apparantely the XT BIOS uses more aggresive memory timings so that is where the extra performance came in. If your thinking about Flashing your card i recommend getting better cooling for it, i got a VGA Silencer Rev 3 but the new models are out soon. My card uses a R360 core only way of telling is to look under your heatsink, ATITool if it detects 9800 Pro will display R350 regardless of whenever u got the R350 or R360 core.


Yes I do have better cooling, I have the Rev. 4 VGA Silencer. I also have the R360 Core. I'll try this out and let you guys know how it works out.

[SmiGDig]

Hey guys,

I just got everythign ready and followed the guide exactly using Winflash.

I loaded the BIOS to winflash and then told it to program. The screen went black as I believe it should and nothing happened for 10 minutes. The screen wouldnt show an image or anything. I then hit the reset button since the guide said to reboot the computer, I didnt know if I would have to do that or ATI tool would. Now my comp is dead and the video wont load. Can I fix this in any way? I'm leaving for school saturday so I'm either going to have to order a new card or fix this in some way.

This is very important i get it taken care of soon.

Thanks, Adam

[Simon6795]

did you make a backup of your original BIOS? If you have got an old PCI video card i think you can boot from that and reflash your Pro with its original BIOS. Make sure your flashing the right card though!! Your card should work fine again if you can reflash the original back. Check out the Articles section for help flashing your card back.

[Simon6795]

Adam, there is a section about recovering from bad flashes at the bottom of this page:http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34

[SmiGDig]

Thanks, I don't have one so I'm gonna go run down to the nearby computer shop and see how much I can pick one up for.

Also, If by any chance I can't get this fixed... what do you guys recommend I get as a replacement? I would need to get it from newegg as I'm going to RMA this card and order a new one at the same time, that way they will just refund me for the RMA. ThAt's how they did it on somethign else I had.

[Aeria]

Does this card

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1561251313&product_uid=55198&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&filter_display=both&filter_order=date_asc&offset=30

have an r360 or r350 core? which bios should i use to flash it to xt?

[sersalpha]

I think that the Gecube 9800 XT 128MB BIOS will work for either as long as it can handle 398/350.

[Simon6795]

Only sure way to find out which core u have is to remove the heatsink and look on the chip. did u get your card sorted out adam?

[sersalpha]

I've had 2 Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Atlantis cards from Newegg come with R360 cores - you might want to try getting your hands on one of those

[darkfighter]

ok i got a Sapphire 9800pro 256bit 128 MB
how can i see if i can flash it to a GeCube 9800 XT 128 MB ?
my Card supports 403.38Mhz Core / 362.81Mhz MEM

[sersalpha]

see this post (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=466)

[darkfighter]

ok i tried now to look if i have a R360
but how the F**K do i get the Fan of ?

[Simon6795]

If your fan is attached with plastic "lugs" then you need to get some long nosed pliers and gently squeeze the lugs together, you need quite abit of force so be careful!! Also make sure you have some fresh thermal paste on hand so u can refit your heatsink.

[darkfighter]

no that doesnt work i think
cos i tried it.
there are some screws in the plastic things. round sticks that need to be screwed out
btw is there no way to see if it is a R360 like looking for the Serial Number or sth like that.
without looking on the chip

[sersalpha]

Are you sure that you're not mistaking screws for springs? Unless the hsf unit is screwed into your video card, it's secured by two tapered-head pins that can be tricky to get out. Pressing on the top of the pin may not move the head of the pin. Give it another go with the pliers, paying special attention to the part of the pin that's closest/resting on the pcb. Be careful not to crush the pins.

[Slayerstaps]

Just pull the black pins out with plyers then squeeze the black pins on the back to get the sink of...

[displaced]

Hi everyone,

(first post -- thanks to this forum I've got my ATI-manufactured 9800Pro up to XT clock speeds running nicely!)

Unless I've misunderstood, you can find out what your core is without dismantling the card. In ATITool, use the option to dump the BIOS to a file. Then, look for a .bin file (BIOS.BIN?) in the \Program Files\ATITool folder. Open that up in Notepad and disable word-wrap if it's enabled.

On the second line (IIRC), it'll say the core version. I found that I was lucky and got a 9800Pro with an R360 core.

I think this is mentioned in another thread somewhere -- I read it when trawling the web for info on my new card.

So put the pliers away ;)

~displaced.

[edit]

By the way, should I use the GeCube BIOS on my ATI-made card, or can I find an 'authentic' ATI 9800XT BIOS that matches my RAM type and flash that instead? I'm gonna dremel me some old heatsinks to fit the RAM and arctic-silver/superglue them to the RAM chips before I think about flashing.

[Trimm]

I'm not too sure but i believe the Club3d bios is 128mb Xt in its original form. I'm using that right now and it doesn't seem to be causing any problem.

Edit: Nope, it seems that there are no true 128 XT board.

[displaced]

Thanks for the reply!

So, I just grab the GeCube 9800XT 128MB Hynix ROM from http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/ and use that, as mentioned up-thread. The standard core/mem clocks for it are lower than regular XT -- has anyone safely used the 'Details' link to configure a custom BIOS? I'd want to raise the clocks to XT standard, and set the TV-out to PAL.

(still haven't got round to dremel'ing my old heatsinks to fit the board's RAM yet, so I'm in no hurry .... just want to get this right!)

Cheers,
~displaced.

[displaced]

Hehe... Got the heatsinks installed OK, but then realised I don't have a spare PCI VGA card to use as a backup in case I get a bad flash and need to reflash.

Tempted to go ahead anyway... but better safe than sorry :)

[XRogerX]

hello all , ATITools say i have a r350 and the chip says i have a R360, but when i dump the biso for it , it tells me that i have a R350