New Wizzard drivers for 9500->9800

[TheSaint51]

http://www.maxdownloads.com/~ian/wizzard/

Sometime between yesterday and today Wizzard updated his hacked Radeon drivers so that now you can:
1. Hack 9500 into 9800 (sort of, read the faq)
2. Get 9500 to perform better without unlocking the pipelines (for those who get checkerboarding after modding but can't return the card).
3. Hack 9500/9700/9700 Pro into 9800 (again, I don't think you get a true 9800, but there is improvement, read his faq)

Pretty hot for those of us who caught the red-pcb 9500 deals. I tried the 9500->9800 drivers and my games no longer have minor lag, plus I got an ~100-point increase in my fill rates in 3dMark 2003.

If you think this still shouldn't be considered a deal please bear in mind this is directly related to the radeon 9500 hot deal and some people only check the hot deals forum at AT and don't have time to look at all the other forum categories.

 

[kevman]

awesome!!!!

come on L-shaped card!!! fingers crossed


K

 

[FordLorider]

I want to be so excited but after my last experience with getting 2 "bad" cards from googlegear, I am not so gitty! Hopefully the next 2 from allstarshop will treat me better!

 

[oLLie]

Originally posted by: FordLorider
I want to be so excited but after my last experience with getting 2 "bad" cards from googlegear, I am not so gitty! Hopefully the next 2 from allstarshop will treat me better!

I got 2 from allstarshop, one worked, one didn't. Good luck

 

[FordLorider]

Yeah, from what I am seeing, it's not even close to the 70% success rate that everyone is thinking...probably more like 1/3 that it works.

 

[xenolith]

Anecdotal evidence I've seen on many websites/forums show there's a 60% chance the hack WILL work. You also have to take into account that many more people post on forums when the hack doesn't work than those that do. You might also consider how many people simply didn't perform the hack correctly too.

 

[EvilYoda]

aye, a bit expensive for me right now, to leave the physical card up to chance...I'm not worried about my abilities to mod/hack the card, but I haven't kept up to date on the story about the cards. I guess that I need a red-PCB card, right? Is there any way to ensure that I will get such a card?

whooooo, I sound like a newbie, I'm gonna shoot myself.

 

[duhh]

Tried the new Cat 3.2 drivers on my sapphire 128 mb 9500 "l shaped" board. 9500-> 9700 mod doubled the fill rate. Difference between using the 9700 and 9800 driver = 19 in single fill rate, 22 in multi fill rate. Dont hope for too much, but its a free upgrade, so u cant lose.

My mbaord and ram are drastically overdue for replacement, so that is most likely the limiting factor.

 

[FordLorider]

Yeah, both my boards had checkerboards, but 3dmark2003 scores doubled after the softhack.

 

[lostdude]

w00t!

My card from allstarshop work prefectly with his last hacked driver and I can overclock to over 9700 spec with no problem...

Sweet

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

used this on my 9700, it bumped my pixel shader 2.0 (3DMark03) from 22.5 fps to 23.4. Not much but I'll take it.

 

[DealChimp]

I've gone through 2 that wouldn't hack...checkerboards on both of them. I even tried the freezing thing suggested @ hardforums, but no go. :frown:

I'd say the success rate is less than 50% and you're probably better off paying a bit more for a 9500 pro. The possibility that you'd end up with a modable card is enticing, but its a big disappointment if it doesn't work. I believe even the new 9500 non pro's on the black PCBs can be unlocked to 8-pipeline operation, essentially just like a 9500 pro, at a higher success rate (though the potential gain is less since you're still at 128-bit memory) since they're using more recently-produced R300 chips that are less likely to have flawed pipelines. Still, I would have to recommend the real 9500 Pro.

 

[xenolith]

Also, don't forget Omegadrive's (2.4.07a) drivers, which are based on ATI's Cat 3.2 drivers. All I had to do is install it and I get 9800's 2.1 Smoothvision. I've also heard the 9800 feature set will be included in Cat 3.3 for 9500/9700 cards.

 

[human2k]

Sapphire 9500NP 128mb BULK from newegg with Wizzard Softmod 9800 = happyness for me.

 

[NauTiKa128]

Originally posted by: human2k
Sapphire 9500NP 128mb BULK from newegg with Wizzard Softmod 9800 = happyness for me.

Same here! Got the card Monday.. Just did the hack last nite and speeds in 3Dmark03 pro doubled I think.. and no checkerboard patterns! I am too happy rite now.. heh.

 

[sirfergy]

Anyone know if the ones sold at Amazon would be hackable?

 

[przero]

NauTiKa128 - What kind of numbers did you get in 3DMark03? Before and after?

 

[FPSguy]

Bump - Catalyst 3.4 drivers now up.