Radeon 9500

[GT98]

Whats the difference between the OEM verison of this card vs the normal card? Any reviews on the two?

[Gurm]

Typical differences include... not a lot.

Well, the differences CAN be that the OEM is clocked a bit lower. But otherwise they tend to be the same. Maybe a slightly different part number, slightly different BIOS.

But otherwise mostly the same.

- Gurm

[Fat Tone]

If they follow the same pattern as the 8500, then mem speeds can be different and voltages can be too.

[Gurm]

Emm, that was for 8500LE's. Not 8500 OEM's.

- Gurm

[Indiana]

Do NOT get the R9500. It's only slightly cheaper than the R9500PRO and has much lesser performance.

(unless you want to try the risky r9500->9700 conversion, which according to some polls only seems to work for about 50% of the people that tried it)

[Wombat]

Can't you BIOS flash a 9500 to 9500Pro (and allow OCing)? I'm having a hard time keeping track, so I could be wrong.

[Indiana]

You can, but this doesn't work for quite some people. Lots of reports of checkerboard artifacts in PixelShader apps. Although the software-hack is at least easily revertable if it doesn't work...

There are two kind of "hacks": the first unlocks the disabled second 4 pipelines, giving a 8x1 R9500Pro from a 4x1 non-Pro. The second unlocks the 256 Bit RAM interface giving together with the first a R9700.
But as said only about half of the people have full success without ugly artifacts - I'd prefer a R9500Pro for nearly the same price that brings decent performance out of the box without the need for risky and uncertain hardware modifications.

[Kurt]

no point trying the impossible. apart from the "soft" trick ATi are pulling on the consumers to sell the same chips at different prices, there are likely to BE differences in these chips. i.e. they sell the borked ones as 9500 because all the features are not working and/or they can't sustain a certain speed, etc. remember speed bins?

You'd probably have more luck with a 9500pro ==> 9700 IMO... then there's always the memory problem, manufacturing quality...

[Kooldino]

Originally posted by Kurt
no point trying the impossible. apart from the "soft" trick ATi are pulling on the consumers to sell the same chips at different prices, there are likely to BE differences in these chips. i.e. they sell the borked ones as 9500 because all the features are not working and/or they can't sustain a certain speed, etc. remember speed bins?

You'd probably have more luck with a 9500pro ==> 9700 IMO... then there's always the memory problem, manufacturing quality...

Sounds logical. That's basically the industrty standard way of doing things.

[Novdid]

Originally posted by Kurt
no point trying the impossible. apart from the "soft" trick ATi are pulling on the consumers to sell the same chips at different prices, there are likely to BE differences in these chips. i.e. they sell the borked ones as 9500 because all the features are not working and/or they can't sustain a certain speed, etc. remember speed bins?

That is exactly what I was going to post, remember the old Coppermine Celeron CPU's?

[GT98]

Well not to worried about speed since its in a secondary box and I have R9700 in my main PC. Was thinking about getting it to replace the R8500DV I have in my mini-box and getting an TV card for it.

[thop]

Originally posted by Indiana
The second unlocks the 256 Bit RAM interface giving together with the first a R9700.

The 256Bit RAM is enabled by default on all 128MB 9500s btw.

[borat]

you cant go from 9500pro to 9700 as it does not have the 256bit bus that SOME 9500's have as i remember. Thp are you sure that the 256bit is enabled by default?i thought that on some cards the physical architecture was there for it but it was software disabled. also be sure of the 9500 you are gettng now as non 256bit ones are begining to make their way through to the stores in places.