Radeon 9550 to 9600 Bios Mod

[W1zzard]

Introduction

ATI has recently released the 9550 series, which is a low cost down-cut version of the 9600. Unlike the 9500NP/9800SE/X800 Pro there are no additional pipes to be unlocked, but you can overclock it. Clock speeds are 250/200. Since the 9600 chip can clock A LOT faster than that, ATI added an overclocking protection in the Catalyst drivers. When you set clocks, they reset back to default after a few seconds or when a game is loaded.
There are modded drivers out there (including our softmod drivers (http://softmod.techpowerup.com)) which circumvent that lock, ATITool (http://atitool.techpowerup.com) can even remove it at runtime, but many people would prefer to use ATI's original drivers - that's where the Bios flash described here comes into play.

Performing the mod

Before flashing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/107/images/9550.gif


Download a 9600 Pro Bios which matches your card's configuration.
For example, if you have Samsung 4.0/5.0 you could use the Powercolor 9600 Pro 128 MB Bios dated 2003-08-23 11:56. Our large Bios collection can be found here (http://bios.techpowerup.com).
Make sure that the card works stable at the clocks the Bios you want to flash uses. The 9550 I tested on reached 450 MHz core and 265 MHz mem.
Flash the Bios file to your video card using the -f parameter. For example flashrom -f -p 0 9600.bin.
A little sidenote: Many people complain that they get a "file not found" error when trying to flash the Bios under DOS. The problem is that DOS does not know long filenames, so all files are truncated to some funky names like Powerco~1.bin. Either use the dir command, when in DOS, to find out the short filename or rename it to something shorter while still in Windows.
More extensive flashing instructions can be found here (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34). They talk about atiflash - you use flashrom since atiflash does not support the 9550, usage is the same.
After flashing, Windows will recognize a "RADEON 9600 Series" video card with a device id of 0x4152 which is NOT clock locked.


After flashing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/107/images/9600.gif

[eudea]

deal all,
i am newbie here. yesterday i bought gecube 9550 extreme edition. and i have tried the catalyst 4.8 for this card. and it was known as 9600series. when i run everest, it known as 9600xt. but the clock is still standar 9550 (core 250 mem 230).
then i tried the bios collection, i use gigabyte 9600 pro (core 400 mem 300) and then flashed it to my card, and the card was just blank. not showing any post mode. then i put my pci card to flash the 9550 extreme edition back again. fortunetly it works. so now, i am still stuck with this 9550xt witt 9600xt in windows but low clock ? is there any one who have experience ? please tell the bios that i should use for this card ? thank you.
oh ya, i forgot something. I try atitool to find the max mem and core, and I got 300 mem and 470 core is still good in standard hsf.
looking forward for some enlightment here... thank you.

PS: please forgive for my bad english.

[W1zzard]

use atitool - available from this site as well

[cer_luca]

hy y have a asus radeon 9550 and i have tried flashing the bios and dont whork
please help my

[batteryone]

my Gigabyte GV-R955128D too , I can not flash it by any bios 9600pro . :(

[Yaris]

Interesting. I have flashed my Gecube 9550 to 9600pro (from 250/196 to 398/203) using Rabbit to correct memory timings. It worked. Some improvement. 1200 points in 3DMark2001, 6000 in Aquamark3.
Shall I keep the changes? Is there a chance for my card to get damaged?

[bighead]

I am using Gigabyte GV-R9550 too !
How can I mod core/mem of this card ???
Can I flash that card to 9600non-pro ???

[W1zzard]

battery: what do you mean "wont work" ? did you try a bios which matches your card's memory configuration?

[Chiseanne]

I have a Radeon 9550SE from Powercolor with 128 MB. Is it possible to flash it to 9600pro like the 9550 ?
The difference is the ram - it has only a 64 bit bus.
So would the flashing work or would it kill the grafic card ? :confused:
I dont know if the 64 bit bus is Hardware restricted or if its soft moddable like the pipes.

Thanks for help in advance,

:)

Chris

[W1zzard]

the bus is hardware restricted.. i think its possible to flash the card to a 9600 - you just need the right bios with 64bit .. no recommendations for this from my side

[Chiseanne]

Ok thank you that helped )

Any idea where to get that bios. I dont think I saw one in yor collection.

regards,

Chris

[W1zzard]

no idea .. get a pci card to flash back then try a few bioses

[batteryone]

I used Atiflash tool to flash many bios 9600Pro to my Gigabyte 9550D but it get error when check ID Rom . I tried to used Gigabyte tool in CD include card , it is the same , not any bios work . After that , I editted bios of own 9550D card : change core/mem from 250/200 to 400/250 ( very stable in my card ) , it was flash ok by Gigabyte tool but had new problem - Win xp could not detect my card even thought Ati tool display core/mem 400/250 , it run default card . Now I reflash old bios and wait to your help . Help me , thanks a lot .

[ati.bob]

I think you should use FlashROM instead of ATIflash.

I also recommend you to try and use other types of BIOS editor like RadEdit.. I'd tried RaBit before and it's terrible, had to reflash my VGA BIOS using a PCI card

[epps]

i've got a Gigabyte GV-R955128D and i don't know what bios to use..
i was thinking at..

Gigabyte 9600 Non-Pro 128 MB 2003-07-15 23:10 2004-03-14 11:51 324 / 189

Gigabyte 9600 Pro 128 MB 2003-05-12 17:12 2004-03-14 11:51 398 / 297

Gigabyte 9600 XT 128 MB 2003-12-18 11:13 2004-03-14 11:51 500 / 300

if someone else flashed a GV-R955128D, please tell me what bios did you used
thanks.

[ati.bob]

What is your default core and memory speeds?

To flash to a specific BIOS and one that has a higher clock/memory speed, you have to try to overclock your current card to that level and gain 100% stability (no errors/artifacts) before you really tries to flash to a 9600NP/P/XT BIOS..

You can also edit the 9600Pro/XT BIOS and down-clock its core/memory speeds.. I think by default the 9600 Non-Pro BIOS *SHOULD* work without much stability problems..

[epps]

thanks for you imput ati.bob
but there is anyone else with the same board (GV-R955128D) thats turned it into a 9600 ?
is 450 / 300 stable ?

[mcpaddy]

Interesting. I have flashed my Gecube 9550 to 9600pro (from 250/196 to 398/203) using Rabbit to correct memory timings. It worked. Some improvement. 1200 points in 3DMark2001, 6000 in Aquamark3.
Shall I keep the changes? Is there a chance for my card to get damaged?

Me too, works perfect from 67fps to 103fps (using the 3D view with fps in the atitool, no glitches). This card accept a litle more of overclock but isn't too much and comes unestable.

Yaris you said "... using Rabbit to correct memory timings.". What is "Rabbit?".

!!Thanks!! to the author of the article & the web crew for the BIOS archive. :)
Good luck for the other 9550ers.

[ati.bob]

Rabbit? Nooo.. It's RaBit (1 "a" only).. It's an ATI BIOS file editor.. have the ability to edit BIOS clockspeeds and RAM timings.. Google it for more info.. :)

[rpintus]

Interesting. I have flashed my Gecube 9550 to 9600pro (from 250/196 to 398/203) using Rabbit to correct memory timings. It worked. Some improvement. 1200 points in 3DMark2001, 6000 in Aquamark3.
Shall I keep the changes? Is there a chance for my card to get damaged?


helo .!
tell me how you flashed the gecube 95550 to 9600pro

[rpintus]

to rpintus@sapo.pt

[ati.bob]

If you need instructions on flashing BIOS from 9550 to 9600, go to the first page of this thread... :rolleyes:

Article on BIOS modding : 9550 > 9600 (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=463&page=1)

[locoidal]

hello all (i`m from spanish and my inglish is....bad bad bad..)
i tell you that i have an club-3d ati 9550 128 bits with 256 mg of ram (elixir)
the frecuencies are 250/200
then i read the great article.... and i try the bios club-3d 9600 pro (elixir)
it´s fantastic....no problem and no errors with the flash procedure..all ok
then windows tell me that i have an 9600 series(exactly 9600 xt)
the new frecuencies are 398/203 and no glitches..all ok..
p.s
i think that the problems may happen when a big overclock with memory
(in my case this overclock is none..only 2mhz)

[yaris]

helo .!
tell me how you flashed the gecube 95550 to 9600pro

I have used hynx bios files found here (http://www.gecube.com/supportDriver.php?op=bios) (9600-C3 and 9600Pro-C3)

[ScHuLtZ]

For all those people with the gigabyte cards, i think the problem is because the pro uses diffrent ram, so waither or not you can edit the pros bios and give that a shot, i should be getting my gigabyte 9550(128bit version) tommorow, so ill do a bit of "tinkering" and let you guys know how i go.

[amd]

i have a gecube 9550 ee with hynix memory rated at 2.5 nanoseconds. At default, it reads (from ati tool) a 9600 pro card.

I managed to overclock my card at 475 mhz(core clock), 320(640 mhz) without any artifacts, later i modded the bios with this default speed and works like a charm.

If you can manage to get one you'll not regret it
http://www.gecube.com/productCategory.php?proID=66

[batteryone]

Anyone tried to flash 9600pro hynix gecube bios to Gigabyte 9550 128bit successful?

[ScHuLtZ]

Nope, mine won't flash damn it, it says the bios dosn't match the card, even though im forcing the flash, ill have to do more tinkering i think.

[traile_25]

i got a powercolor 9550 with 256mb can anyone help me find a suitable bios for it so that i can flash it to 9600 pro....hope you can help me sort things out please

[Nobru_rv]

Why u wanna flash your cards?Just softmod it and OC it. If u want to have higher clocks in your bios than just dump your bios with atitool,edit clocks with RADEDIT,and flash back to your cards.

[highstrung]

i have a sapphire 9550se atlantis 128mb card. same question kindof as the guy above... its a 128 mb card but has 64b memory on the ati tool..i tried 5 different bios to flash to 9600 none worked (pixelated screen) anyone know what bios i could flash this thing to? :confused: i get this error

Existing memcfg = 0x7040
New memcfg - 0x6140
ASIC memconfig doesnt match with bios file 'w/e.bin'


hellllllllllllllllllllllp what bios would be compatible w/ my card?>?????

[traile_25]

Why u wanna flash your cards?Just softmod it and OC it. If u want to have higher clocks in your bios than just dump your bios with atitool,edit clocks with RADEDIT,and flash back to your cards.


I'm new to overclocking and flashing bios of my videocard I really havent tried overclocking my card upto now I'm still running at stock speed I read the article hoping that I can somewhat raise the clock of my card sorry for being a newbie just wanted to get help form you guys... :(

[Nobru_rv]

I'm new to overclocking and flashing bios of my videocard I really havent tried overclocking my card upto now I'm still running at stock speed I read the article hoping that I can somewhat raise the clock of my card sorry for being a newbie just wanted to get help form you guys... :(

No problem mate. Im just telling you what can you do BEST for your card. flashing 9550 to 9600 has no sense to me.
Do this:
1. Run atitool and find MAX core (-10mhz) run about 3600 sec
2. Run atitool and find MAX mem (-10mhz) run about 3600 sec
3. Dump your bios with atitool
4. download RADEDIT from inet.
5. open your bios in RADEDIT.
6. Put your clocks in it (max clocks that you found - 10 mhz)
7. Flash your bios back to your card.
8. Enjoy your OC-ed 9550.

I found no difference in EX.
9550 128mb 128bit oc-ed to 450/240
9600 128mb 128bit oc-ed to 450/240

I tried 3dmark01se and 3dmark03.Difference is maybe 30 points.
In games i see no difference. Both run perfect.
my 2 cents.

[vollprofi]

Gigabyte and Asus-Cards are special because of their own PCB-layout.
Gigabyte allows only Gigabyte-Bios. Asus for example has own layout and special chips for asus-tools like "smartdoctor".
However - does anyone have a gecube 9550 Extreme-Bios for me?
Best regards

[mengfui]

I'm using Gexcube R9550 Extreme running at core/mem 400/600 default
same as R9600 pro speed.

[highstrung]

if anyone has a sapphire 9600se atlantis 128 card...please contact me highstrungD12@hotmail.com i need your help!!!!!!

[Unregistered]

When i flash bios for my Gigabyte (GV-R955128D) it says: (Error: block protect not disabled, status=OE, ERROR OFL01). I know my serial ROM not be unlocked, so anyone can tell me how can i unlock it?

[LouMineti]

I got the Sapphire r-9550 256mb DDR, I was wondering if anyone knows which bios I should use for the flash?

[ati.bob]

For those who are looking for suitable BIOS for you ATI 9550 or even other cards, refer to this (http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/) section...

Find the manufacturer of your card (Sapphire/ATI/Asus/Gigabyte..) and make sure you select the correct RAM type for your card.. [The exact memory size and make sure it has the same memory bandwidth/configuration (***-bit)]. Also make sure you get the exact memory chip types/speeds (**-ns) because some card will not work with incorrect memory chip configuration..

Finally, MAKE SURE YOU CAN CLOCK YOUR CARD TO THAT SPECIFIC CARD SPEED BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO FLASH IT!! :D

Disclaimer: Do anything at your own risk! :o

[interesting]

i just want to know questions about ati radeon graphic card series.
please tell me what's device ID of radeon 9550 and radeon 9600 with other radeon video card
i don't know if you can answer me ,but i thank you first.

[ati.bob]

Sorry.. I didn't really got your question.. can you be more specific? :)

[Unregistered]

I'm looking for Gpu and memory voltmod instruction for my sapphire 9550 (128bit) card.
Does 9600 and 9550 have same layout and core?
Some pics would be nice.

Thanks ;)

[sicnhead]

I have looked everywhere for anything on ocing a abit 9550 without sucess. If there is anyone that has tried or knows how please let me know. Thank you.

[batteryone]

Use this bios ( core/mem 405/255 ) flash by Gigabyte flash tool in include CD : 9550 --> 9600xt . You can re-edit core/mem to make you card into the best . ( after download bios Please change file type from .txt to .rom ) . Good luck .

[ati.bob]

batteryone.. please upload that file in ZIPped format.. this is because sometimes TXT files are transfered in ASCII format instead of the BIOS's binary format.. this will sometimes cause the file to be unusable..

[batteryone]

ok - SORRY , I DID NOT RECOGNIZE this .

[sicnhead]

this file is for changing the abit 9550 to a 9600xt bios?

[kikkelis kokkelis]

What BIOS should I use if I want to flash my Sapphire R9550 128Mb?

[wazzledoozle]

If anyone knows about Mira branded memory, info would be greatly appreciated. I have come to the suspicion that Mira relables other manufacturer's chips :eek:

[Celeronfreak2000]

Wazzledoozle, Mira branded memory are actualy manufacture by PQI, a Taiwanese company.

I purchased Powecolor 9550 256MB, it uses MIRA chipset on it.

I was able to o/c 400/225.

What I did was backup my old bios and edit the bios changing the Device ID, oc my backup bios and reflash it.

[ScHuLtZ]

Use this bios ( core/mem 405/255 ) flash by Gigabyte flash tool in include CD : 9550 --> 9600xt . You can re-edit core/mem to make you card into the best . ( after download bios Please change file type from .txt to .rom ) . Good luck .
I seem to not be able to flash my bios because it says that there is an error deleting the memory so i checked the card with atiflash and it said it was locked, so, my question is how did you unlock your card if at all you did?

[GoLLuM4444]

can you not just force it with -f?

[ScHuLtZ]

Nope, tried all that, didnt work.. tried diffrent mobo settings, even tried a diffrent mobo and it still says that it cant clear the mem..

[Vader]

Sorry my english

Please, I need answers urgently

I considering to buy GeCube Radeon R9550 Exreme (it should have GPU core 400 MHz, mem. clock 500 MHz), but I would like to know about this card noise from its large fan, cooler

I read some reviews:

on http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/gecube-1.html they wrote
A real quality product, it offers good stability in work and a low-noise cooler (no joking, with this configuration the cooler is completely quiet).


on http://bit-tech.net/review/331/2 they wrote
I must add that although it looks nice, the fan is rather loud, louder than your average graphics


Does anyone here have experience with GeCube Radeon 9550 Extreme and can give me a answer about noise on this card? Is it loud?

And what about this cards stability, drivers? What Catalyst is the best for this card?


i am newbie here. yesterday i bought gecube 9550 extreme edition. and i have tried the catalyst 4.8 for this card. and it was known as 9600series. when i run everest, it known as 9600xt. but the clock is still standar 9550 (core 250 mem 230).

How can this be?!? GeCube Radeon 9550 eXTreme should have GPU core 400 MHz, mem. clock 500 MHz)!!

Does this mean that I can buy this GeCube eXTreme and that it works only at core 250 mem 230 like simple Radeon 9550?!


Please, I need answers urgently

[ati.bob]

I'll try to answer your problems step by step..

Cooler problems..
Probably one of the cooler from the review is faulty or maybe it maybe loose when they are doing the actual review.. my Sapphire card also kinda have this problem.. just recently the fan is humming a little loud.. when I tried to apply a little pressure to the fan blades, the noise was gone and it's humming silently again.. But if it's really loud, you can get a silent aftermarket cooler like Vantec Iceberq copper.. or Zalman ZM80D-HP.. :D

Experience with the card..
I only had experience with Sapphire 9550 cards.. not the XT version of course.. however, I must make myself clear that there are no "official" version of 9550XT as the 9550XT is set to run at a higher clock speed compared to normal 9550s...

Stability?
that should be no problem... as most GeCube cards are quite good..

The problem with the "under-clocked" 9550"XT"
That is probably an overclocked 9550 that are flashed with 9600 BIOS.. and probably that card has the BIOS lock implemented (not really sure).. the plain vanilla 9550 can actually reach that kind of speed.. as long as you get a card with fast mtmory chips (less than 4ns.. get a card with 3.3 or 2.8ns memory chips if you can).. you can clock it up to a "9550XT" standard.. :D

[bladehell]

So i see the features of 9800se. 9800se have very nearly features of 9550 .so I think it is possible to mod 9550 to 9800s


9550 core 250/400 128bits 4*1 pipelines
9800se core 325/580 128bits 4*1 pipelines

[ReconCX]

the gpu's aren't the same, one's a rv350/360 the other is r350

[ati.bob]

That's right.. you might ended up with a card in coma again.. :D:D

And one thing.. many 9550 cards (except the special "XT" versions) have slow 5ns chips.. for example.. my Sapphire 9550 card also has 5ns Samsung RAMs that is specifically designed to work not more than 200MHz.. but I can only tweak it to a stable speed of 230MHz.. :( Any suggestions to increase its speed??

[bladehell]

So i can see to tom's hardware that 9800se is rv350

So i see the features of 9800se. 9800se have very nearly features of 9550 .so I think it is possible to mod 9550 to 9800s


9550 core 250/400 128bits 4*1 pipelines
9800se core 325/580 128bits 4*1 pipelines

And so many card radeon 9xxx XT is a rv360 and not many 9xxx is rv360.
what do you think that?
is it possible?

[ReconCX]

hmmm if that's true, i might test it a bit, however, not with solid evidence that the 9800SE is a RV360. As the theory that was concluded on this page: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=1135&page=4&pp=10

it seems that BIOS flashes DO make a difference on a card. Who knows.?

[ati.bob]

Extracted from tPU! GPU Database..

Card: 9800 SE (128-bit)
Chip: R350 / R360
Interface: AGP
Memory: 128MB DDR
Core clock: 325Mhz
Memory clock: 290Mhz
Bus width: 128 Bits
Vertex Pixel pipelines: 4 / 4
Features: DX9.0, PS2.0, VS2.0

Card: 9550
Chip: RV350
Interface: AGP
Memory: 128/256MB DDR
Core clock: 250Mhz
Memory clock: 200Mhz
Bus width: 128 Bits
Vertex/Pixel pipelines: 2 / 4
Features: DX9.0, PS2.0, VS2.0

Nope.. you can't flash it.. 9800/SE/Pro/XT have R350 or R360 core while the 9550/XT have the RV350 core.. the vertex pipelines between the two is also different.. :D

[bladehell]

Oki i can't ... sniff... .so i anwser who the man wanted o/c over 230.i m

[ati.bob]

Ok.. another improvement.. now I can OC the memory to 250MHz x 2 but it will be most stable with 240MHz x 2.. I did that with several memory timing tweaks and a BIOS flash.. :D

[Rene]

When im will flashing the bios on screen blink ERROR: block protect not disablet status=E0 ! Please help my! im use flashrom -f -p 9600.bin! As unlock this for write new bios in eprom!

Sorry for my english im from poland

[ati.bob]

Erm.. if you read around this thread and some of the 9550 thread, you'll find that you are not the only one experiencing this problem.. my guess is that most Gigabyte 9550 cards are locked so it can't be flashed.. maybe you need to use the BIOS flash utility from Gigabyte to flash it..?

[Unregistered]

I would like to thank u, my powercolor 9550/256mb is now indeed a 9600pro/256mb.

[Unregistered]

Hey ati.bob... PLEASE send me a rom of your bios sometime.. I really need a 128-bit bios flash.

[Unregistered]

Did anyone ever figure out how to flash this card? I get the same "block protect not disabled" error that everyone else seems to be getting. Did the mfg actually lock the chip? I've never heard of this being done on a gfx card before.

[Unregistered]

use atitool - available from this site as well

or use rivatuner - this one works in windows 98 too.
got 470/230 on my card - HIS radeon 9550 (256 MB)

[ati.bob]

Hey ati.bob... PLEASE send me a rom of your bios sometime.. I really need a 128-bit bios flash.

I'll post it right here then.. :D By the way.. you need the original BIOS or the modified version?? The attached ZIP file is the original Sapphire 9550 128-bit 128MB BIOS...

[Unregistered]

[QUOTE=Nobru_rv]No problem mate. Im just telling you what can you do BEST for your card. flashing 9550 to 9600 has no sense to me.
Do this:
1. Run atitool and find MAX core (-10mhz) run about 3600 sec
2. Run atitool and find MAX mem (-10mhz) run about 3600 sec
3. Dump your bios with atitool


as atitool runs only on win2k up, U can use rivatuner for other Win versions.
for flashing you can use flashrom instead of atitool.

HIS Radeon 9550 (250/200) overclocked to 470/220. runs like charm.
Aquamark 3 test 24900.

[VirpZ]

For Sapphire 9550 256MB samsung 5ns owners

If u have 256MB samsung 5ns sapphire go to bios collection and download 9600 Pro 256MB Samsung 4ns The secret is: If u want to change something DONT USE Rabit cuz it looks better with more options but that program sucks since u do allright and got BLANK... Use RadEdit to change clocks and thats all cuz mem configs on that BIOS file are the same that u have on ur Sapphire 9550 256MB w/ Samsung 5ns

Before flash I cant reach 415/215Mhz without artifacts now i can go 425/255MHz :D very stable

Sry for my terrible english & gl to u all

[josephteo548]

Hi, i would like to know what 9600pro or xt bios you all are using for yr gecube 9550 extreme edition card. My have 3.3BGA memory, i know some come with 2.5.

[Unregistered]

Just thought i'd let you all know that i have tried to flash my card several times with different matching bios's with no luck,it has the error 0FL01 that the bios does not match the current,that was even using -f to force it ..


Regards
NuTTa

[Nergal]

My brother has an ASUS 9550Gamers edition(128MB with 5.0hynix)

I read somewhere here that gigabyte & ASUS can't use other bioses?
I now got the "GeCube 9600 Pro 128 MB " bios moded and ready to try it.
However, if there is an 100% affermitive that it won't work, I'll take the 9600SE from ASUS.

[xPacMan]

and the 64bit cards, exists any possiblity to MOD this to a 9600? I have a GeCube 9550 128mb 64bit.... I runned at 475/235 without problems, but my perfomance no have high gains, I make 7507 point in 3Dmark2001 overclocked and 69xx without overclock, the performance of this card is correct?

wait responses

sorry my english is poor too - I from Brazil

Athlon XP 1900+ @1600 Mhz VCORE 1.67 - Palomino 0,18u AGOGA
MSI K7N2 Delta - L
2x256MB Nanya PC 266 Dual Channel - 2.0 - 2 - 2- 5
VGA Gecube Radeon 9550 128mb 64bit

[josephteo548]

Yes, your scores should be correct, because yours is a 64bit memory card, it would perform lower than the 128bit memory 9550.
As for the bios, i am not sure myself. haha. :o
As u can see i posted a question about it above....no reply yet though........ :(

[ReconCX]

i was wondering, how much did you guys spend on your 9550's? I spent about exactly $100 on mine.. maximum overclock is around 525/337x2...

[ati.bob]

I spent about US$84 (after conversion) on my Sapphire Radeon 9550 card.. modded it into "near" 9600 Pro speed (except on the memory side).. 440MHz for the core, and 240x2MHz for the vRAM... all using stock cooling on the GPU (no cooling yet for the RAMs..) :D

[HDut]

Guys a have GeCube 9550 256mb / 128bits memory Mezza -5 :mad: , where i find bios for this VGA ??
Sry for my english
Pls Help-me find

[ZiGG]

I have a Gigabyte r9550 128mb whith Hynix 4 Ram ... but i also have the same problem whit the locked bios ..... any suggestions how to unlock it .... :)

[BART_WODZISLAW]

download omega drivers

[ReconCX]

... please read around and search before asking general questions like this..

as stated,

you can download omega drivers/softmod drivers

or use atitool and simple check the "unlock 9550" box in the settings....

[BART_WODZISLAW]

hey ReconCx I have question to you, do you have on card some cooler?
I have gigabyte radeon 9550 128/128 and I Have do biosmod to r9600pro and I wonder or I have to install cooler
could you to answer on my question. I'm from poland Thanks for answer

[ReconCX]

replied to your pm

[gpenk]

hi iam newbie in here
iam have Gexube 9550 xt with Entrontech 3,3 ns memory so if win xp detect 9600 with core/mem 400/250,I want to flashing bios become 9600 XT somebody can help me :) :) ...
(victor_jopinangkaan@yahoo.com)

[ati.bob]

Go and search around the forum.. there are plenty of explanation on modding 9550 cards..

I'll explain it again...

9550 cards comes with RV350 core NOT RV360 NOR R350/R360 core.. so don't flash it with a 9600XT BIOS which is for RV360 GPU only!!! An XT card usually comes with additional features like thermal probing, etc.. so flashing a 9550 card which doesn't comes with those feature might cause your card unusable..

9550 cards that are labeled XTs are not using RV360 cores.. they are labeled XT because they are usually pre-tweaked/overclocked to 9600 speeds or they are capable of 9600 speeds.. ATI does not officially release XT editions for the 9550...;)

[GoLLuM4444]

You may well be right but I think there was another thread where it became apparent that you can flash a 9550 to use a RV360 bios, just not the xt one as the temp. monitor etc. screws it up as you said. I'm pretty sure that you can flash 9550s to 9600 pros designed for RV360.

:D 100 posts.

[ati.bob]

hmm.. you may be right.. a R9550 may possibly be flashed with a RV360 BIOS.. but it might cause problems later.. so better avoid it.. and one thing I should point out is that most 9550 cards when flashed with 9600 BIOS always seems to report they have RV360 cores.. although it's evident that all 9550 havr RV350 cores.. :D

[gpenk]

thanks ati.bob about u explanation ,
but what Gexube ATI radeon 9550 xt good for OC?? and
if i use Softmod driver or Omega what the effect for my vga card..
what different between biosmod and Flashbios , that same ..??
i have been read the forum they success to change 9550 xt to 9600 xt (biosmod) .. that true..??? how..make that
sorri my english very2 bad :)

[Skandal]

Hi, i didn't buy my r9550 cuz i'm thinking wich is better, an Asus board that will cost me 81euros(about the same in dollars) with 128Mb 128bits of bus, or a Club3d 256Mb 128bits of bus that costs 90euros, both can be overclocked, but it think that the asus one will be more stable....... Say what you think......

[Clubvibe]

hello there. great work on the flash tools, so i see.

Just to get things clear i'm asking for your help.

I just bought an Asus A9550 Gamers edition (which is an ati radeon 9550 128-bit) I don't know the exact chipset and bios info because i first have to install it into my computer ;)

I want to flash this card to an 9600Pro and this thread is helping a lot BUT I would like to know 2 things:

1. Where do i get Atiflash?!
2. Which bios can i use best?!

Hope you can help me Oc'ing my 9550 into a beatiful 9600 Pro :) thnx in advance

[Clubvibe]

sorry for the dubbel post but editing won't work if your not registered (i'll be registered soon ;))
Do i need to use atiflash?! or are there some other flashtools?
And can i Overclock my '9600pro' after the flash (or am I to gready here ;))
And can i still install custom drivers like omega after this flash?!

just an general question about ati Oc'ing. Which ati tweak tool and drivers do you prefer?

Atitool i suppose for the tweaking (or is rivatuner better?!)
and do you use omega drivers? official drivers? or DNA-drivers?

[ReconCX]

PLEASE read the first post of this thread, you'll find all ur answers there!

[Clubvibe]

PLEASE read the first post of this thread, you'll find all ur answers there!

i did read that post and I already know how to get atiflash (my mistake)
but not al my questions are answered? Are they?

I still want to know which bios i can use the best with my Asus card (the chip says 'samsung 434 TC40. is this samsung 4.0 or 5.0?)
And can i overclock it after the flash?

I'll read the first post again. more carefull this time ;)

[ReconCX]

U'll just hafta figure out which BIOS works for your card. it's a guess and check game. Make sure to match up the mem with the BIOS.. chances are, you got 4.0ns but google it to be sure.

[RobH]

Newbie - first post.
Great site, ATITool and the bios download with clock change on the fly are superb. A per my signiature I managed to get take my Connect 3D 9550 from 250Mhz to 445.5Mhz (was stable until the 460's) and RAM from 200 to 222.75 (exactly half the core) giving 42% boost to 3DMark2003. CS:Soure Stress test now 63 FPS. The RAM gave artifacts going any higher (Samsung 5ns). I'm now flashed as 9600Pro using the Saphire 9600Pro 256Mb drivers with 4ns Samsung, with memory Mhz downclocked when I downloaded it. That was my 3rd attempt at using the 9600/Pro drivers, I tried the PowerColor 9600Pro, and the HIS 9600np, both caused by 3DMark to drop from 3058 to 2840-2860 with the same clock settings, wierd. My only guess was the memory timings were slower somehow on those bios (both were 398/203 5ns memory bios). Also my card would not take any 9550 bios execpt the one it came with, but it had no problems with the three 9600 bios. I tried the Sapphire 4ns bios to test my memory timing idea and it seemed to work, still stable, and my 3D mark went to 3082, better than with the original bios, and now o/c unlocked too. I've not tried taking off the heatsink yet - but would 460Mhz + indicate this is not RV350? It's a new card (Nov 04), model C3D6055. Anyway, thanks to all who put this site together and wrote the mod software.

[Clubvibe]

i'm sure it's an samsung 5.0. Omega drivers are telling me this by the bios facts wich are the same as a bios in techpowerup's bios database. The problem is... There are no 9600pro 128 mb with samsuung 5.0 bios available in the database. can i still flash it with an 4.0 bios?!

or is Tweaking the card with the omega dirvers (radlinker) or Ati-tool enough?!

[RobH]

The TC40 on your RAM chips means 4.0ns, (my card has TC50 - 5.0ns). Bye the way the first article says don't use ATIFlash on a 9550, it doesn't work (apparently), use FlashRom, it does work fine.

[Clubvibe]

so i noticed... i didn't read carefull enough.. well if i'm back in a couple of minutes it means the flash worked. wish me luck!

[Clubvibe]

The flash worked great! I used the Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro 128 MB 400 / 230 bios and i believe this settings are stable.

I suppose i don't have to put on an extra cooler on the card. if not please tell me.
I'll run Ati tool if i can get it even faster without damaging anything.

[Unregistered]

will this mod work with the xtasy edition of the 9550

[Unregistered11]

Yeah what do us visiontek owners with the 64bit piplining download?

[Clubvibe]

64bit can't be flashed. sorry

[Unregistered]

they cant be flashes to the 64bit version of the 9600? I am using the Hinx chip.

[Unregistered]

How about the 9600SE edtions most of those are 64bit cant we upgrade to those or are we still screwed?

[CLU]

I have read a few different articles on OCing the 9550 all of them said they were doing it without added cooling.(other than a heat sink) i have a ati radeon AGP 256mb card, it only has a heat sink. is adding a fan not needed when OCing this card? should i add one to be safe.
Also it is recomended that i make a backup of the bios befor i flash it to a 9600. it says that i can can do this with ati tool but i can't figure out how.
thanks

[testuser]

I have tried to make my abit radeon v9550 with zalman video cooler a v9600 but my video card
gives now a black screen and i can't undo it.
Can someone help me

[CLU]

ok fine, i figured out how to dump my bios with ati tool, and cooling isnt my number one problem so how bout i ask a new question.
does it matter what 9600 bios i flash my card too? i know that i must use a 256mb one but does it matter if a use a powercolor or Gigabyte. should i use a pro or xt? also atitool has setting unduse misc. to disable the clock lock, if i do this is it even necesary to flash the bios?

[ati.bob]

The brand preference of the BIOS is not really important.. but some manufacturer's BIOS might have been tweaked.. but largely it's unimportant.. and you are recommended to only use a 9600 Non-Pro/Pro BIOS since the XT BIOS supports an RV360 GPU chip and is largely incompatible with a RV350 chip.. after flashing the BIOS, it is not necessary to put the "disable clock lock" option in ATITool since most flashed BIOS comes with unlocked clock control.. if you can overclock your card and maintain it after you run some games.. it's OK to leave the setting unchecked.. :)

[CLU]

well i flashed my bios, tyhen rebooted. all i get is a black screen :(
used a pci card to boot up and write this post. how do flash it back or to another bios. if i make a new boot disk and doo the same thing will it work? or will it try yo rewrite the bios on this old 7200. if that happens i cant get back here for more help. on a side note now that i am in windows i can enable the 9550 now recognized as a 9600 and extend my desktop onto it, but as i said it will not show me anything on boot

[ati.bob]

do you back up your old 9550 BIOS? if you do, just make a bootable floppy and put both the FlashROM application and your BIOS file into it.. then when it reboots.. type flashrom -i where it will list out a list of display adapters on your system.. then.. look for the device ID (0 or 1).. locate the device ID for your 9550 graphic card.. it should have a chip ID of "RV350".. then.. remember the ID and type flashrom -p -f "device ID" "bios file"

[CLU]

whew thanks. ok everything is back to normal.too normal, i still cant oc the card, is there any hope for me? should i try another bios or try the softmod road?

[ati.bob]

you should try another BIOS.. from a different manufacturer.. preferbly a 9600 Non-PRO/9600 PRO BIOS.. :D

[Unregistered11]

Anyone find a bios that is 64bits?

[ati.bob]

Use a 9600SE BIOS.. it should function of 64-bit 9550 cards.. :D

[CLU]

things just keep getting worse :(
well i tryed 3 bios' now and no luck, in fact i have had the worst luck. after having to pull the agp card out to reboot on the PCI the third time i decided to flash back to the 9550 and quit for the day. heres where i screwd up big time and forgot to put the agp card back in and i accidentaly flashed my pci card to a 9550. now i have put my old radeon back in so i could make this post. how can a flash my pci 7200 back to a 7200?

[ReconCX]

LOL I did the EXACT same thing when i screwed up my card. if you have onboard video, then it's a life saver, just reflash it back to a 7200.. I learned however, NOT to use another ATI card as my PCI backup because of this. My 7000 never fully recovered (very bad artifacting, but boots up so i can reflash my 9550) so I returned it within 14 days =D

Now i'm on ebay looking at a VooDoo 5 5500 PCI... dual chip...mmmm... want a piece of history =)

[CLU]

saddly no onboard video. Right now i am using an old all-in-wonder radeon. i found a bios image on some site that i think will work for my 7200, but now i am worried that i will flash the allinwonder with the 7200 bios. could you tell me the comands to use with flashrom so i can make sure i flash the pci card and not the agp?

[CLU]

well i got the PCI 7200 working again so its back to square one. however i am now getting a "fuzzy" display any geusses on how to fix this?

[ReconCX]

somehow, i think it's probably damaged. I just don't think a 7200 with it's 150/150x2 i think? can handle an instant jump to 250/200x2, not to mention the memory timings, and the voltage. Especially if you don't active cooling (I only seen passive on 7xxx series cards) You're lucky it still works ^_^

[CLU]

i can't find a 9600 bios that will work on my 9550, am i doing somthing wrong, i just flash it useing the cd image from the bios collection

[ati.bob]

Hmm.. if every BIOS can't help.. maybe you should just dump your current BIOS (I espect you have already done that?) and edit it using RaBit..

[E71]

Hi. I'm new to overclocking in general and quite frankly scared to death of losing my budget graphics card since I can't afford another but I really really would like to overclock it to 9600. It's a Sapphire 9550 128Mb and I'm afraid the memory chips on it aren't of any brand I've come across on your site. It's 'elexir' brand. Does that mean I can't follow your guide to flashing it into a 9600 ?

Thanks

[ati.bob]

Yeah, just go ahead and choose a different manufacturer for your RAM chips.. some might work, but some might not.. just remember to stick with the speed what your card can handle..

by the way, how fast is your card's memory chip? 5ns? 4ns?

[E71]

I think it's 5ns, it says the following all over the chips:
N2DS12H16BT-5T

Should I assume it's 5ns or is there another way to find out?

Thanks for your time by the way, much appreciated.

[Unregistered]

Used ATITool, clicked Settings and it gave me the following:
Catalyst Version: 4.10
Device ID: 4153
Chip Type: RV350
Memory Size: 128 MB
Memory Bus Width: 128 bit
Active Pipelines: 4
Default GPU Clock: 250.00 MHz
Default Mem Clock: 200.00 MHz

If it is 5.0, the Sapphire 9600 series BIOS downloads I found that are:

Sapphire 9600 Non-Pro 128 MB Jul 23rd 2003 4:39 AM Apr 18th 2004 10:10 PM 324 / 203
Elixir 5.0
-
9600 SE 128 MB Oct 30th 2003 2:19 AM Jul 25th 2004 5:00 PM 324 / 182
Mosel Vitelic 5.0
-
9600 SE 128 MB Oct 24th 2003 5:32 AM Dec 26th 2004 12:12 PM 324 / 196
Elixir 5.0
-

Non of which are Radeon 9600 Pro... do I still have a chance with any of them and which is best one to pick do you think?

Thank you

[ati.bob]

Yeah, you have a card with 5ns memory chips.. With a 5.0ns RAM, the default speed of these chips are at 200MHz.. so you may try any of the 9600 Non-Pro BIOS and try to overclock it to see how much the memory can handle.. use ATITool to find out.. with some tweaks (especially after flashing the card with the 9600 BIOS), you should be able to get the maximum capable speed for both the GPU and memory chips..

[E71]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to try this one:
Sapphire 9600 Non-Pro 128 MB Jul 23rd 2003 4:39 AM Apr 18th 2004 10:10 PM 324 / 203
Elixir 5.0

This is probably a stupid question but... is there a way I can backup my original firmware just in case the new firmware causes problems?

Thanks

[ati.bob]

Just use the command flashrom -s [adapter ID] [file name] to save the BIOS to the directory where the flashrom program is..

[ajokz]

hi all! I'm very excited with this article. I want to change my 9550's bios to 9600 pro. I'm using"HIS excalibur 9550 128 mb, 128-bit". what should I do?

[ati.bob]

read the first post.. it should cover almost all aspects of your 9550 to 9600 conversion.. continue to read to know more about tweaking your 9550>9600 mod card..

[Dedodido]

Used ATITool, clicked Settings and it gave me the following:
Catalyst Version: 4.10
Device ID: 4153
Chip Type: RV350
Memory Size: 128 MB
Memory Bus Width: 128 bit
Active Pipelines: 4
Default GPU Clock: 250.00 MHz
Default Mem Clock: 200.00 MHz

If it is 5.0, the Sapphire 9600 series BIOS downloads I found that are:

Sapphire 9600 Non-Pro 128 MB Jul 23rd 2003 4:39 AM Apr 18th 2004 10:10 PM 324 / 203
Elixir 5.0
-
9600 SE 128 MB Oct 30th 2003 2:19 AM Jul 25th 2004 5:00 PM 324 / 182
Mosel Vitelic 5.0
-
9600 SE 128 MB Oct 24th 2003 5:32 AM Dec 26th 2004 12:12 PM 324 / 196
Elixir 5.0
-

Non of which are Radeon 9600 Pro... do I still have a chance with any of them and which is best one to pick do you think?

Thank you


quick note re those, if you go mad and change your mind on what bios to use, make sure you don't use the 'SE' ones, as I have recently found out they are for 64 bit cards, whereas yours is a 128 bit card, and that probably wouldn't work. I would have attached the ISO image I used, but it's for the 256MB version =/

[ajokz]

hi! I'm a newbie.
I'm using win xp. I really confused reading how to flash my 9550 bios to 9600 pro at this articel's first post. can anybody help me? what tool do I have to use?

[ajokz]

9550====>9600pro
I have made a dos boot disk, then I could make a backup bios. but when I type 'flashrom -p 0 rv360(I named the bios rv360). it said that asci memory or what doesn't match. what is wrong? the bios?

[ajokz]

9550====>9600 pro
my card is HIS excalibur, so I used bios HIS 9600 pro modified an original from this site bios collection. when I type flashrom -p 0 9600.bin(as it is named), there was an error: asic memory doesn't match bios file. type 1 to continue
so, I used HIS 9600 non pro modified and original. but there was an error also: ssid doesn't match bios file.

it is okay to force the bios? or I picked up the wrong bios?

[Dedodido]

ajokz -

A few things you should know before you try to do any flashing of your bios, it's relitively easy to understand, even I got it and I've only been here for 3 days!

First things first, after you've got the boot disk with flashrom unzipped onto it, use it to boot into DOS and then use the command 'flashrom -s 0 oldbios.bin'. That will save your current bios as the file 'oldbios.bin' on the floppy disk, so that you can put it back and set everything to normal if anything goes wrong.

After you've got that done, you need to find a bios on the bios database that will work with your card. The database is found here (http://www.techpowerup.com/bios).
To find out what kind of BIOS you can use, you'l need to find out what kind of memory is used on your card. So, open up your PC (with it turned off and un plugged ofcourse) and look at the part number code that is printed on the memory chips. When you've got that copied down, go to this page (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/106) and match up the code you've got written down with the codes in the list to find out what memory it has; make note of the manufacturer, the size, and the speed.

Now go back to the BIOS page and look for a BIOS that says '9600' (it doesn't neccisarily have to be the PRO version, you can also use the non-pro version, as they all use the same core). Make sure that in the '9600' BIOS that you use, it's clock and RAMDAC speeds are at what your card can handle, these are the numbers separated by a / (if you want any more info on that ask).
Also make sure that the memory make it says below these numbers is the same as what you've found out is on the chip, otherwise they won't be compatible, and that the speed it says for the memory is also the same.
Finally, the memory it says in the title of the bios has to be the same as the amount of memory you have on the card. You can see how much there is from the memory type table.

NOW MAKE SURE YOU'VE PUT THE CARD BACK INTO THE AGP SLOT
When you've found your BIOS, download it and save it as '9600.bin'. Then put it onto your boot disk, and reboot the PC with the disk in the drive. Then when you're at the command prompt, type 'flashrom -f -p 0 9600.bin' to force flash the bios. If this then works and you can then progress to overclocking, if it doesn't, then just reboot again with the boot disk, type in 'flashrom -f -p 0 oldbios.bin' to restore your old bios, and then do some more rooting around in the BIOS database until you find one that works.

For information about overclocking, visit here (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/33) and it'll tell you everything you need to know.

Hope this helps :)

[ajokz]

Thanks, Dedodido. I have done it well. I did just like what you said. now my 'Radeon 9600' has core clock and memory clock: 297/243. Now I want to changed it into 324/273. :)

[Dedodido]

no problem, good luck with your overclocking ^_^

[Mio]

I do not believe that R9550 has no support for 8 pipes. GPU RV350 is absolutly the same. Have someone tried Hmod or bios mod to unlock it?

[Dedodido]

I don't think the chip has 8 pipes to be honest. I'm pretty sure it only has 4. I think I can remember reading somwhere that when they released the 9600, everyone was expecting it to just have 4 of the 8 pipelines from a more expensive model disabled, but they actually rebuilt the chip using only 4 pipelines to reduce the cost.

[ajokz]

hi, Dedodido. after changed into 324/273. my monitor shows something that is called... artifact? that means that my card can't handle this setting? :)

[W1zzard]

9550/9600 chip has 4 pipelines inside the silicon... nothing to unlock

[Dedodido]

ajokz - yup that means that the card is over heating, resulting in artifcats in your screen. If you added extra cooling for the card, then it might be able to handle it, but that also costs extra money and can be difficult to install. Without extra cooling you'll have to take them down a little bit untill you stop getting artifacts.
The best thing to do, is when you've got what you think are the max clock and memory speeds, scan for artifacts and leave it running for an hour or two. If it doesn't find anything, you're good to go. If it does find anything, take them down a little bit more and try again.
:)

[ati.bob]

@ajokz
Are you using a heatsink-only cooler on your 9550 card? you might want to try adding a casing fan or a PCI slot fan to blow at the heatsink..

[ajokz]

I'm using HIS 9550 i-fan edition. is it possible to use 9800se's bios? cause 9800se uses rv350/rv360

[ajokz]

I also open my casing and use fan for home use

[Dedodido]

I don't think it is possible to flash it with a 9800 BIOS, especially an SE version...

The 9800 uses a compltely redesigned core, with only 4 pipelines instead of 8.

[wazzledoozle]

I'm using HIS 9550 i-fan edition. is it possible to use 9800se's bios? cause 9800se uses rv350/rv360
The 9800SE uses the R350 core, the 9550 uses the RV350. Completely different chips.

[W1zzard]

soldering on the core sucks ..

the first 2 resistors have been examined so far .. now for the 3rd

[Unanswered]

Thanks to all of you. just bought a Sapphire 9550 120mb card and flashed it to a GeCube 9600 xt.
Used a GeCube9600pro bios found in this site but seems it was wrong cause my com says its xt?!?

Just wondering....
After dumping my 9550 bios using atitool and comparing it with the 9600 bios (using RaBit) that not only are the clockspeeds different but also most of the memory timings.

Could i have gotten the same performance boost if i just edited the old bios to reflect 9660 timings then overclocked it to the same speed???

Cuz using atitool i found out that max core/mem of the card (9550 bios) was 440/240 (stable) and the fps i am getting using the now flashed card is way higher (from 10% to 20% depending on game - used fraps) even though its at its default mem/core of 400/200.

And to Unregistered since we use the same card try the GeCube 9600 pro with hynix 5.0 mem just be sure it has hynix mem 5.0 ns.

Thank to everyone for making my Oc'ing as painless as possible.

[Mio]

Oki, one more quescion, if i flash R9600 bios to R9550, is any other change except unlock overclocking? Mean, coan lose something? DX9support or lose points in
3DMark?

Someone who posts has same PC as me, @3200+ 512DDR etc, but has 2800 points in 3Dmark03, I have 3100 with original bios only with updated basic core frequency.

[Dedodido]

Mio - I don't think it's really possible to loose anything by flashing the BIOS, I've looked all over the web on this matter and havn't seen anyone having any problems apart from choosing the wrong bios. If you use the wrong BIOS, just make sure you have a backup of your original BIOS so that you can try a different one. (You might want to check with some of the experts round here though, I'm only a newb :P)

e.miron - did you manage to OC it without flashing the bios to 9600?? Usually it looks like it's done it, but a few seconds later or when you launch a game, it'll automatically set it back to the stock speeds because of what's in the catalist drivers. If you check with your computer after going off for a while I'm prety sure it will have reset them. That's why you need to flash to 9600.

[tmarkala]

Use this bios ( core/mem 405/255 ) flash by Gigabyte flash tool in include CD : 9550 --> 9600xt . You can re-edit core/mem to make you card into the best . ( after download bios Please change file type from .txt to .rom ) . Good luck .

I have Gigabyte Radeon 9550 and I've done what you said... But after flashing, my card isn't recognised by Windows! :mad: Does anyone know how to solve it?!? :confused:

Batterryone, if you have the answer and you're still reading this massages, PLEASE mail me!! :o

[Unregistered]

aaa

[Unregistered]

I have same problem with my abit9550cdt/128mb/128bit/samsung3.6ns

Problem is weri interesting but first i must find somebody who nows english better then my

[e.miron]

e.miron - did you manage to OC it without flashing the bios to 9600?? Usually it looks like it's done it, but a few seconds later or when you launch a game, it'll automatically set it back to the stock speeds because of what's in the catalist drivers. If you check with your computer after going off for a while I'm prety sure it will have reset them. That's why you need to flash to 9600.

These frequencies came from factory.And I played halo for a few hours and the frequencies that i have overclocked with still remained.and yes, you just have to mark that line in atitool or radlinker that says ` remove clock lock .

[Dedodido]

aah, you did it that way, forgot about doing it that way.

[e.miron]

Introduction

ATI has recently released the 9550 series, which is a low cost down-cut version of the 9600. Unlike the 9500NP/9800SE/X800 Pro there are no additional pipes to be unlocked, but you can overclock it. Clock speeds are 250/200. Since the 9600 chip can clock A LOT faster than that, ATI added an overclocking protection in the Catalyst drivers. When you set clocks, they reset back to default after a few seconds or when a game is loaded.
There are modded drivers out there (including our softmod drivers (http://softmod.techpowerup.com)) which circumvent that lock, ATITool (http://atitool.techpowerup.com) can even remove it at runtime, but many people would prefer to use ATI's original drivers - that's where the Bios flash described here comes into play.

Performing the mod

Before flashing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/107/images/9550.gif


Download a 9600 Pro Bios which matches your card's configuration.
For example, if you have Samsung 4.0/5.0 you could use the Powercolor 9600 Pro 128 MB Bios dated 2003-08-23 11:56. Our large Bios collection can be found here (http://bios.techpowerup.com).
Make sure that the card works stable at the clocks the Bios you want to flash uses. The 9550 I tested on reached 450 MHz core and 265 MHz mem.
Flash the Bios file to your video card using the -f parameter. For example flashrom -f -p 0 9600.bin.
A little sidenote: Many people complain that they get a "file not found" error when trying to flash the Bios under DOS. The problem is that DOS does not know long filenames, so all files are truncated to some funky names like Powerco~1.bin. Either use the dir command, when in DOS, to find out the short filename or rename it to something shorter while still in Windows.
More extensive flashing instructions can be found here (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/34). They talk about atiflash - you use flashrom since atiflash does not support the 9550, usage is the same.
After flashing, Windows will recognize a "RADEON 9600 Series" video card with a device id of 0x4152 which is NOT clock locked.


After flashing:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/107/images/9600.gif




My ati tool already shows RV 360. It`s a gecube 9550 gu c3p card 128/128 with stock settings 432 core/554 mem. I raised it at 455 core and 600 mem.Do I still need to flash it in 9600 ?

[Polaris800]

Hey peeps, After spending the last 4 hours looking through these posts I am still edgy about bios flashes. Can the sapphire 9550 256MB actually be flashed to a sapphire 9600Pro 256MB with little effort? Even though there are differences in the mem being 5ns and 4ns respectively. There are some posts up that are helpful but hard to understand clearly. I'll keep hammering at the thread to find info but some clear info would be great.

[Dedodido]

e.miron - does your computer think it's a 9600 already? check on the device manager.

Polaris800 - In my opinion that could be a little risky, boosting the memory clock from 200-300Mhz could fry the chips =/

[Realist]

Installed this bios today as a test on my ATI 9550. It did install ok but keeps freezing when I play half life 2.

So I put the old bios back and all is fine again.

Any ideas why?

[Fret_LT]

Exactly the same thing as e.miron has. and yes indeed win's thinks it's 9600 series. can it be that manufacturer flashed bios before me and e.miron ?!?!?!! ;) wit 9600pro bios?? cause it's really not the standart frequencies r9550xt must have.. i believe..

[marc_safc]

have a powercolor ati radeon 9550 (256mb)

want to overclock it to 9600 pro speeds (398/203)

set the clock to the the above in ATI tool and generated no artifacts, plus have an arctic cooler on the card.

where do i start tho lol? And how do i find out what type of memory i have so i get the correct bios?

[marc_safc]

nevermind just flashed the card to a radeon 9600 pro :D

[Tambo]

Posts: n/a Sapphire 9550 256 to 9600Pro 256

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey peeps, After spending the last 4 hours looking through these posts I am still edgy about bios flashes. Can the sapphire 9550 256MB actually be flashed to a sapphire 9600Pro 256MB with little effort? Even though there are differences in the mem being 5ns and 4ns respectively. There are some posts up that are helpful but hard to understand clearly. I'll keep hammering at the thread to find info but some clear info would be great"


I also have this particular card. However, after reading 17 pages of this thread i am none the wiser. Can anyone give me specific instructions for the Sapphire Radeon 9550 with 256mb. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Unregistered]

how you can be sure that the bios is absolutely compatible with your card
for exemple if my card is a MSI RX9550 256Mb and the memory type is Samsung 4.0 can i use the bios from Sapphire 9600 Pro 256 MB witch is the same Samsung 4.0 or it the bios has to be from the same manufactor in that case MSI

[Unregistered]

why there is checksum error? what can I do to fix it? thx.

[critofur]

how you can be sure that the bios is absolutely compatible with your card
for exemple if my card is a MSI RX9550 256Mb and the memory type is Samsung 4.0 can i use the bios from Sapphire 9600 Pro 256 MB witch is the same Samsung 4.0 or it the bios has to be from the same manufactor in that case MSI

Ah, good to know the MSI has 4.0 RAM, wonder if all of them do? I just started reading about 9550 -> 9600 BIOS flashes today, but it seems like people who know say BIOS brand usually doesn't matter, so the Sapphire should be fine _IF_ your particular card can run at 9600 Pro speeds.

I might get that same card you have, depending on what people say responding to my thread asking which 9550 to get and I'll prob. flash that (Sapphire 9600 Pro 256MB) BIOS, though I may start with the speeds set lower to test first then maybe go higher later. :D

[critofur]

I seem to not be able to flash my bios because it says that there is an error deleting the memory so i checked the card with atiflash and it said it was locked, so, my question is how did you unlock your card if at all you did?

Did you have any luck figuring out how to flash your Gigabyte 9550 -> 9600 BIOS? The Gigabyte 9550 cards were looking nice to me, but not if I can't do the 9600 BIOS :confused:

[Razvan]

Go and search around the forum.. there are plenty of explanation on modding 9550 cards..

I'll explain it again...

9550 cards comes with RV350 core NOT RV360 NOR R350/R360 core.. so don't flash it with a 9600XT BIOS which is for RV360 GPU only!!! An XT card usually comes with additional features like thermal probing, etc.. so flashing a 9550 card which doesn't comes with those feature might cause your card unusable..

9550 cards that are labeled XTs are not using RV360 cores.. they are labeled XT because they are usually pre-tweaked/overclocked to 9600 speeds or they are capable of 9600 speeds.. ATI does not officially release XT editions for the 9550...;)

Well, I have a Gecube 9550 XT card and I have to say that AtiTool detects it at "settings" with RV360 Core... Can you explain why ???

[ati.bob]

All I can say is that all R9550 cards that is BIOS-modded have a tendency to be identified as having RV360 cores while in reality that it has RV350 cores.. this happens to almost every case of BIOS-modded R9550 cards..

As for your GeCuve 9550 card, from what I've heard, their (GeCube) 9550 eXtrene Edition/XT cards are factory-overclocked and pre-BIOS modded to 9600 BIOS.. so technically it is still a 9550 with RV350 core, but identified as R9600XT with RV360 core by Windows..

There's a more "secure" way of checking your GPU core ID which is through the ATIflash/FlashROM application.. try typing "flashrom -i" wich will list out the information about the adapter(s) installed on your system.. under the "Device ID" section, you should see the "actual" GPU core that your GFX card have.. (for me, I've got the ID RV350 listed) I'm not sure if this technique is 100% accurate, but it's working for me now..:)

[Nobru_rv]

All I can say is that all R9550 cards that is BIOS-modded have a tendency to be identified as having RV360 cores while in reality that it has RV350 cores.. this happens to almost every case of BIOS-modded R9550 cards..

As for your GeCuve 9550 card, from what I've heard, their (GeCube) 9550 eXtrene Edition/XT cards are factory-overclocked and pre-BIOS modded to 9600 BIOS.. so technically it is still a 9550 with RV350 core, but identified as R9600XT with RV360 core by Windows..

There's a more "secure" way of checking your GPU core ID which is through the ATIflash/FlashROM application.. try typing "flashrom -i" wich will list out the information about the adapter(s) installed on your system.. under the "Device ID" section, you should see the "actual" GPU core that your GFX card have.. (for me, I've got the ID RV350 listed) I'm not sure if this technique is 100% accurate, but it's working for me now..:)

Atiflash or flashrom cannot detect your core. It detects core through the bios id. For all 9600,9550 cards it says rv350.Even for 9600xt (tested on sapphire 9600xt). As i remember,my friend bought 9550xt platinum by gecube,and its written RV360 on its core. It has also 2.5NS hynix on it.... I will post a pic if i have the chance ....

[new guy]

I tried to flash the bios to the 9660 pro it worked but was casuing problems. So then i dumped the bios and edited the bios for the higher clock speeds reflashed the bios. The drivers from ati wont recognize the card with the higher clock speeds/flashed bios, but when i reflash it to the orignal bios its works fine. Any solutions on how to fix this? Or should i use the moded drivers?

[ati.bob]

Atiflash or flashrom cannot detect your core. It detects core through the bios id. For all 9600,9550 cards it says rv350.Even for 9600xt (tested on sapphire 9600xt). As i remember,my friend bought 9550xt platinum by gecube,and its written RV360 on its core. It has also 2.5NS hynix on it.... I will post a pic if i have the chance ....
Oops, my mistake..:p:p:p

[Unregistered]

Posts: n/a Sapphire 9550 256 to 9600Pro 256

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey peeps, After spending the last 4 hours looking through these posts I am still edgy about bios flashes. Can the sapphire 9550 256MB actually be flashed to a sapphire 9600Pro 256MB with little effort? Even though there are differences in the mem being 5ns and 4ns respectively. There are some posts up that are helpful but hard to understand clearly. I'll keep hammering at the thread to find info but some clear info would be great"


I also have this particular card. However, after reading 17 pages of this thread i am none the wiser. Can anyone give me specific instructions for the Sapphire Radeon 9550 with 256mb. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hello guys, I have Sapphire 9550 256MB too... so if somebody could help us about the flash, we'll be very grateful. THANK YOU!!!

[ati.bob]

Read the first few post before asking any more questions..

http://forum.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=463&page=1&pp=10

[DigitriX]

Read the first few post before asking any more questions..

http://forum.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=463&page=1&pp=10


I have the same Sapphire 9550 256MB (Memory: Mezzo, or something like that... 5ns) and I can't see anything about that?!? I have one simple question: What BIOS should I use? Just tell me the right BIOS for that video card. Thank you.

[ati.bob]

Here's a few 9600 Non-Pro/Pro 256MB BIOSes that you can try..

http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/?search=9600+256&Submit=Search

I'd suggest the Powercolor BIOS, but you could try others too if you had any problem, just get a PCI card, plug it in, then boot up with the PCI card and re-flash your AGP card..

[Unregistered]

I have the same Sapphire 9550 256MB (Memory: Mezzo, or something like that... 5ns) and I can't see anything about that?!? I have one simple question: What BIOS should I use? Just tell me the right BIOS for that video card. Thank you.

I have just flashed my Sapphire 9550 256Mb card with the Sapphire 9600 Pro 256Mb bios.

My 9550 has Samsung chips and a clear fan.

Works a dream.


BIOS used was: http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/Sapphire.9600PRO.256.Samsung40.040826.bin

Sapphire 9600 Pro 256 MB -- Aug 26th 2004 7:49 PM -- Oct 21st 2004 4:09 PM -- 400 / 227.5 -- Samsung 4.0

[DigitriX]

I have just flashed my Sapphire 9550 256Mb card with the Sapphire 9600 Pro 256Mb bios.

My 9550 has Samsung chips and a clear fan.

Works a dream.


BIOS used was: http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/Sapphire.9600PRO.256.Samsung40.040826.bin

Sapphire 9600 Pro 256 MB -- Aug 26th 2004 7:49 PM -- Oct 21st 2004 4:09 PM -- 400 / 227.5 -- Samsung 4.0

Good, but mine has Mezzo 5ns chips.... should I try the Samsung 4ns ?

[WEmaniac]

Anyone got experience on how to flash ''sapphire 9550-samsung 5.0ns'' with cooling fan to a 9660pro? Which Bios suits this card better and how fast it could possibly become. By the way, I have no floppy disk drive on my computer, therefore is there any way to boot into DOS mode without it to run the Flashrom command? Looking forward to get help from any of you knowing that, cheers!!

[tornadof111]

hi all,
today i've bought R9550 by sapphire with HYNIX chip, i would like flash it in 9600pro, but i can't find 9600pro bios with same memory chip. Can you help me?

[Gustavo]

Hi all.

I would like that the users of the Gigabyte Radeon 9550 tried this BIOS.
http://america.giga-byte.com/VGA/FileList/BIOS/bios_r96p7de_f11.exe

This BIOS belongs to Gigabyte ATI RADEON 9600 PRO, model GV-R96P128DE
http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-R96P128DE.htm

Look, the same PCB of the 9550(and TSOP memory).
http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-R955128D.htm
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/14-125-141-02.JPG
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/14-125-169-02.JPG

I think that you were trying to use the BIOS of the model GV-R96P128D. It's completely different.
http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-R96P128D.htm

If someone use the BIOS that I indicate and work correctly, please inform here. Thanks.

And sorry about my English.

[Unregistered]

Good, but mine has Mezzo 5ns chips.... should I try the Samsung 4ns ?

The chip son my card are Samsung 5ns, and the bios I used was noted as being for 4ns Samsung chips. If you Mezzo chips are good enough then they should be OK, but all I can say is try it an see. If your card frys dont blame me :o)

[Unregistered]

Anyone got experience on how to flash ''sapphire 9550-samsung 5.0ns'' with cooling fan to a 9660pro? Which Bios suits this card better and how fast it could possibly become. By the way, I have no floppy disk drive on my computer, therefore is there any way to boot into DOS mode without it to run the Flashrom command? Looking forward to get help from any of you knowing that, cheers!!

If you have a USB Key you can probably set this up as boot disk. See http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/107 for info on flashing the bios and the potential spped improvements.

My chips are 5ns Samsungs and I previously posted this message:

I have just flashed my Sapphire 9550 256Mb card with the Sapphire 9600 Pro 256Mb bios.
My 9550 has Samsung chips and a clear fan.
Works a dream.

BIOS used was: http://www.techpowerup.com/bios/Sap...ng40.040826.bin
Sapphire 9600 Pro 256 MB -- Aug 26th 2004 7:49 PM -- Oct 21st 2004 4:09 PM -- 400 / 227.5 -- Samsung 4.0

[mibrion]

Sorry for asking again but after reading all the messages i don't know what to do...sorry for beeing a newby....
I have the gecube r9550 Gu-c3p card ...i saw that the Gu-C3 is the one that evrybody like but i still wanna know if i can do something to mine ...
thanks

[3gpaBko]

I have the same card as Gustavo
I`ve tired using different bios, but no result, after flashing my card become dead and PC didn`t run.
Could somebody help me to choose the propper bios for this card.

I`ve this card this card (http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV-R955128D.htm)
GV-R955128D
Memmory: Hynix 4ns
Clocks: 250/200

Best regrads

[Unregistered]

I have an ati 9550 256 mb. I want to upgrade to a 9600 pro model but i dont know which bios of 9600 pro i have to download . I have samsung 5.0. I think there are no bios upgrade for my graphic card. Thx

[ReconCX]

I hate to break it to you but chances are, if your 9550 doesn't even have active cooling then it's gonna be hard to do anything to it.

[dbo7]

i have msi 9550 128 bit with 128 mb and my core and memory are 250/200 . but it doesn't have a fan on heat sink it came without fan. so my question is if i try to flash it to 9600 series will i need a fan ? or can i just use without one?

[Buell]

excuse me, but to thing maids change the bios of the 9550 with that of the 9600 if it then is possible modify the timing of the card simply using Rabit on the original bios?

[darkmith]

HI, first i'd like to introduce myself: my name is Pedro Asborno, currently living in Argetina and i have recently bought a Connect3D ati radeon 9550 with 128MB DDR.

I'd like to know wich bios i should use, because i've read the entire post but only saw one post referring to connect3D cards and couldn't figure out whi bios to use :(

Thanks for reading and even more if you can help! :)

be the way, members can also mail me so i'll be glad to read and reply your mails!

Greetings, Pedro E. Asborno

Ps: sorry if my english is bad :)

[javier]

i´m a newbie, so my apologies in advance for any inconvenience i may say:

i´ve got a powercolor 9550 256mb and read lots of posts about having it flashed to a 9600pro or even a xt, will the stock fans in my 9550 resist the heat increase??

Wouldn´t it be wiser to just remove the overclocking lock with modded drivers and see how much extra speed you can get of your card, and then use the averclocked settings only when in 3d applications??

and, is there really any diffrence between a 9550 and a 9600pro, besides from the core and mem frequencies? does the latter do something special (shaders, etc) that the 9550 can´t??

too many questions, i know. Sorry for my poor english and thanks

[darkmith]

i've managed to OC my Connect3d radeon 9550 now it's working at 450mhz core an 230mhz mem, i used atitool and it rocks!

[Me3124]

Is it possible to make a gecube 9550 EXTREME into a 9600XT ?







Thanks, Me

[ReconCX]

please please please SEARCH for the answer to this question! I believe I have answered this question about 2 million times!

You CANNOT flash your 9550 into a 9600XT because the 9600XT features a temperature probe that the 9550 does not have!

Besides, most of the 9550's can't even reach 9600XT speeds (500/300x2).

Just use ATITool to max your speeds...

----

I'm about || this close to writing a faq for the 9550....

[Unregistered]

...
Just use ATITool to max your speeds...
...


I have a Gigabyte GV-R955128D 9550 and had issues using ATI tool. It worked fine for changing the clocks but if I put the system in standby or hibernate, the video would not become active after I brought the system back up. This was true both with the stock BIOS and after successfully flashing the card with a BIOS posted early in this thread.

I eventually tried the Omega drivers and Radlinker and as long as I don't use the "Advanced" clock settings, I don't see the fail to resume issue. I've only tried this with the modded BIOS settings but I suspect it would also be true with the stock BIOS. Running on XP.

The BIOS I used was posted by batteryone on page 5 of this thread. The default settings gave some artifacts when testing with ATI Tool but no visible artifacts in bechmarks. The CD that came with the card didn't have the flash tool on it but I found a 9600 BIOS download on Gigabytes site that included the flask tool. I used the BIOS posted by batteryone and NOT the 9600 BIOS I dowloaded from Gigabyte.

I also added a 50 mm fan that I just crazy glued to the heat sink to keep temps down. I'm running it at 391.5/243 and ATI Tool doesn't show any artifacts in extended testing. I can go higher without visible artifacts in benchmarks but the ATI Tool test detects some. The modded BIOS defaults were something like 406/262.

Pretty decent bang for the buck for a $60 delivered price...

Mike

Mike

[GoLLuM4444]

please please please SEARCH for the answer to this question! I believe I have answered this question about 2 million times!

You CANNOT flash your 9550 into a 9600XT because the 9600XT features a temperature probe that the 9550 does not have!

Besides, most of the 9550's can't even reach 9600XT speeds (500/300x2).

Just use ATITool to max your speeds...

----

I'm about || this close to writing a faq for the 9550....
lol I hear you.

[Florin]

Mike, I have a Gigabyte GV-R955128D 9550 too!

I have 2 questions:
1. Did you use some special glue(I'm thinking at the heat(so it will not melt)...and if something will be wrong with the card - warranty) or it's not important ?

2. Did you use some heatsink for the memory or it was not necessary!


Everyone:
By the way....i notice that everyone with this kind of card had hynix memory.....My radeon has "Samsung" :)
For cooling...i found something from TITAN- COOLER VGA TITAN TTC-CUV2AB / RHS
http://www.titan-cd.com/english/vga.asp

What do you think?...


Best regards,
Florin

[dodol]

good news for 9600 Np owners

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This my true story
i have 9600 NP (sapphire) 325/400 and with passive heat sink
i run ati tool and it's only reach 416/500 max core clock
to prove my max core, then i think to attach additional heat sink and fan.
It's simple way and also cheap
I buy an allumunium heat sink (flat) and fan not from the computer shop
but from electronic parts shop the reason is more cheapest
And don't forget buy a sillica grease (thermal paste) it will increase condutivity between the original vga heat sink and additional sink that we attach onto it.
In my work new sink attached upper the original vga sink, and the fan attached upper the new sink.
And i tight them all. (depend on your design and vga card you have)
I take the voltage for fan, from the casing voltage (make it paralel)
Last check, make the new sink have a good conductivity to absorp calor from the original sink. And the fan run properly
Then put it back to agp slot
Running the computer open the ati tool and try find max mem core and GPU core
My result increased up and reach 460/580 max core
But the stabil core is 450/520

Regard


Try it with your own risk
(I hadn't picturize of my project,yet. but latter i'll attached it if i got one)

[TFV]

...hmm, Mike has flash the bios from batteryone...The problem is that I have Samsung memory(on the GV-R955128D) - K4D261638F-TC40 - 4.0 ns(but not Hynix)! :( So far, everyone had for GV-R955128D Hynix and not Samsung!

There is any chance for me to use...."For example, if you have Samsung 4.0/5.0 you could use the Powercolor 9600 Pro 128 MB Bios dated 2003-08-23 11:56", becouse I don't think that batteryone's bios will work for me!!!....


Still many people complain that ....They could not do the soft mod!(Some of you think that the Gigabyte'9550 are locked)...

So why lots of peoples think that using only Atitool for OC(with..remove clock lock) will not work!!!

I did not try anythink so far, but I want to know what it will be the best solution(especially because there were problems with softmod with Radeon GV-R955128D)!!!! :confused:

10x,

[nyioo7@hotmail.com]

hi guys i have a question. if i flash the bios of my 9550 card to 9600 series it will void the warranty right. but what if i flash it back to orginal bios , than does the warranty still void or will they notice if i return it .?

[Echbart]

If you flash it back they wont see that you flash it.....

[nyioo7@hotmail.com]

does that mean warranty doesn't void?

[Echbart]

yes

[nyioo7@hotmail.com]

i have msi 9550 128 mb and flashed it to powercolor 9600 pro @ 400 / 250 and it was working fine. but one day i was testing ati settings to set the best setting for my games, after 6 or 7 time i opened and closed the games the whole screen just crashed and every thing just stopped. i thought i have destroyed my card because it happened once with my 9200 card which is now broken and unuseable. so i reboot it by pressing reset button and flash it back to original bios and it is working fine now.

so any idea what happened ?

is it because of i closed the side panel of the case? cuz i had it open before .

oh also i put the fan myself and it is working at 3600 rpm . do i need a faster one?

AMD Athlon XP 3200+
MSI K7N2 Delta2-LSR
1 GB kingston 3200 dual
MSI ATI Radeon 9550 128 mb 250/203
Maxtor SATA 80 GB

[TFV]

Hi,


After I read all the posts, i've decide that it will be better just to use Omega drivers!
I bought a fan and memory heatsinks(10$), I have install the new drivers and I changed the clocks(GV-R955128D) from (250/400) to 400/460!:)

It's working very fine!!!! The card is oc all the time, not just couples seconds(becouse of the Omega drivers)

Best regards,
TFV

[Unregistered]

I have the Sapphire 9550 256Mb. The fan is loud, like a small leafblower. Anyone with this card know of a workable vga fan or cooler to replace this loud fan?

Thanks,
J.

[Caveman]

I have a Gigabyte 9550 SE (I didnt do my homework...)

I am thinking of flashing the ASUS 9600 SE (64-bit bus) onto the card. The big question I have is:

Is the 9600 SE clock UNlocked? Will it work, is another good question, i guess we'll find out.

[Caveman]

It worked, 325 x 200, I didnt recognize it as a 9600 SE in the device manager though...

I did not reinstall the Cat 5.4's, mabe if I did, it would... dont really care to though.

ATI tool insists that it is still clock locked...

[eS^]

Hello, i have been reading up alot on the 9550's performance and stubbled accross this site.
i currently run a gf2 64, which i oc'd.
yet, i purchased the Abit Radeon 9550 256DDR 128BIT for my new AMD64 3200+ on an Asus K8V yet i was missin that extra bit for the 9600 xD
on reading the user manual of my card, i found it has the same features as the R9600 XT from Abit.
could you please verify this for me? im not an experienced flasher and dont own a PCI card that would save my butt... lol
thanks

[eS^]

Hello, i have been reading up alot on the 9550's performance and stubbled accross this site.
i currently run a gf2 64, which i oc'd.
yet, i purchased the Abit Radeon 9550 256DDR 128BIT (R9550-256CDT) ...
VPU CORE CLOCK: 250MHz
MEMORY SIZE: 128MB
MEMORY FREQUENCY: 400MHz
MEMORY INTERFACE: 128 Bit
MEMORY PACKAGE: TSOP
MEMORY TYPE: 8×16 DDR
MEMORY SPEED: 4ns
RENDERING PIPELINES: 4
CONNECTORS: VGA, TV-Out, DVI

.... for my new AMD64 3200+ on an Asus K8V yet i was missin that extra bit for the 9600 xD
on reading the user manual of my card, i found it has the same features as the R9600 XT from Abit.
could you please verify this for me? im not an experienced flasher and dont own a PCI card that would save my butt... lol
lots of posts mention the impossibility of doing a 9550 to 9600 XT flash, if this is true, please indicate which flash i should perform for best performance.
thanks

[Unregistered]

Mike, I have a Gigabyte GV-R955128D 9550 too!

I have 2 questions:
1. Did you use some special glue(I'm thinking at the heat(so it will not melt)...and if something will be wrong with the card - warranty) or it's not important ?

2. Did you use some heatsink for the memory or it was not necessary!

Best regards,
Florin

I have 2 GV cards with different BIOS version. the F1 (older buy date) and the F20 (newest).

With F1 I can flashed it with non-pro 9600 or moded 9550 bios using atiflash or flashrom (no bios lock)

But, the new F20 I found the same error described on the thread (bios lock). I can't mod the bios or flash the 9600 bios to it even using gigabyte flash utility (GVF14), so I installed softmod driver and OC it with atitool.

For the Q:
1. I'm using superglue (qiuckly bond/bonds in second). Apply just on the corner of the fan then quickly stick it to the heatsink, don't over apply incase you need to remove the fan for warranty service. It hold just fine.
2. No memory heatsink, but i recommend.

Regards,
Rudy

[janek222]

sorry for trouble, but I have only one question.
is there any posibility that bios from saphire card (9600 pro) will works on may HIS (9550)?
the only problem i've seen is the memory type (saphire - samsung, HIS - hynix), 400/250 i have already but I would like to use original drivers.
there is also another problem. when i've installed SuSE 9.3 pro, system recognize my HIS 9550 card, but i couldn't use 3d acceleration. it seem's that ati graphics drivers even in linux can check that card is moded. I don't know for sure, but when mandrive will ends downloading i'll check this.
so if anyone knows something about my primary question please help me :)

P.S. sorry for my english, i don't practise to offen :/

[janek222]

and there is another one.
i read somwhere, that 9550 to 9600xt mod is possible to make. system sees it like 9600xt but it works as 9600 pro. what do you think about that?
i.ve look out, and it's hard to find a good bios on hynix. if its true and ati original drivers don't see any problems with that, i find out gecube bios on hynix 4.0.
now i work at 432/250. its need to be 500/250 but i think that its possible to make ;)
working with ati original driver its all about for me (of course with good core/mem)

P.S. sorry for the standard and "being everywhere" question (post above), but i read also, that type of mem (5.0, 4.0 etc.) is important, not manufacturer. i could just try out, but i dont have a PCI card, so crash may be painfull ;)

PLEASE, HELP

[janek222]

first of all, i solved almost all problems.
for some reason (and i realy don't know how it could happend) when i look at my card i saw SAMSUNG TC50 mem - strange, beacuse i was convinced that i have hynix.
second - i found a good bios form me (only problem was that is for samsung 4.0 but i tried out that and all works fine :] ) 400/230 and 1454 - 3DMark 05 score is fair enough for me :) (i do a little mod to timings pernament in bios - but this isn't a problem for ATI original drivers)
I know that I can mod harder this card (works fine at 432/250) - but on Omega drivers...
and the last one. I still can't use a 3D acceleration in SuSE, but it seems to be a system problem (like I said, I check this when Mandrive finished up)

I hope that info can help somebody else....
CYA

[TFV]

I have a GV-R955128D(Gigabyte)...with Samsung 4ns memory(strange...usualy this type of video card has hynix memory).

Anyway....with Atitool, My max. frequency were 410 for core and 243 Mhz for memory...!!! i don't know ...but for a 4ns. memory my expectations were higher than that(i used heatsinks for memory too...that is true that the heatsinks are square..not rectangular...like my memory chips(..and they don't cover the entire surface of the mem))... :(

In the same time at 243 Mhz i touched the heatsinks. They were ...warm..but for sure not hot!..So i don't understant...why only 243(i oc the gigabyte video card at 400/230)!

What i want to ask is if there is any relation(regarding oc) between Vcore and memory frquency!
What i want to say is that ...first step....i used Atitool for finding max. Vcore...and after that..i have reset vcore to default
...second step...i did the same to find mem frequency!

There is any chance ....if I set Vcore to max...Can Atitool to give me a better result regarding mem frequency(more than 243Mhz)




any opinion or advice is appreciate! :)

thank you,
Florin

[Joeleong]

Need help newbie here.

I can manage to OC my powercolor 9550 128mb to 450/240. But if I flash to 9600pro can I get better performance?

If can pump up the performance with 9600pro Bios, which Bios to use to flash my Powercolor 9550 128mb Samsung 5.0ns memory?

THX

[VEGETTO]

Hello, i would like to mod my RX9550-TD256 to an 9600 series but i haven't been able to do it because whenever i upgrade with a different bios, i'll get a lot of artifacts even running MS-dos, so do you know what bios this video card could work with, i'm getting tired of trying a lot of vios with no results and also i'm regreting changing my 3year old GF4 ti 4400 for this ATI.

Thanks for your time, greetings form Colombia, south america

[VEGETTO]

MSI RX9550-TD256
256mb samsung 5.0ns
i've been able to overclocked to 450mhz core/225mhz memory
thanks for your time again

[devils]

I have Sapphire Radeon 9550 128-bit with 256MB memory from Hynix 5.0ns.
I can OC to 445/220x2 but I can 9600. Which BIOS is the best for me? I find it on this page, but I didn't find it.
I read that I can 9800 from it. It is true?
Please, you help me.

Sorry, but my english is not good.
I come from Slovakia.

[gR3iF]

:D np hm u can probalby use any bios with 4 pixepipelines and the speeds you reach but i think take an 96 bios

[Unregistered]

i flashed the BIOS of my connect3d 256mb 9550 to the gecube 256mb 9600 pro, and it all works perfectly - HL2 now has high framerates on high graphics settings (but no AA or AF)

[Unregistered]

I have a Powercolor 9550 256MB Samsung Memory 128Bit
I tried using the bootable cd to flash my vid card to the powercolor 9600Pro 256MB Samsung Bios
The error i get is that the bios is locked, how do i unlock the bios to flash the new bios.

Thanks

[Unregistered]

I bought a Sapphire Radeon 9550 and want to flash to 9600 Pro. The card has Samsung 507 memory. I am curious as to weather there's a difference in Samsung 4.0/5.0. Please clear this up for me

Paul

[Unregistered]

I flashed card success... but the system bios displays very slowly now... is there a reason for this and or a fix?

[Agility]

I have this graphics card form GeCube named Radeon 9800 (R360 VPU) 128-bit. The Catalyst states tat its a 9800XT card while the box says it's 9800PRO. So which one do i follow? And how do i flash it with a better BIOS? Hynix memory btw...

And btw GeCUBE sucks. Bought for only 6 months and the fan got spoiled for no reason. Took it out and used my own house fan to blow the computer >_>.

[MrGuest]

Hi.

I'm trying to replace my Sapphire R9550 128mb (250/200 5.0ns Elixir) bios with Sapphire R9600 NP 128mb (also Elixir 5.0).

I'm not sure what exactly I can/can't do...

Can I get another manufacturer's bios on use it or does it have to be from the same manuf. ?

Does the memory brand have to be the same (in my case, Elixir) ?

For some reason, I was expecting the new device ID to be 4152 but it's actually 4150 on the R9600 NP...

Is that a bad thing? Would that be incompatible, problematic, or slower?

[Hendry]

Dear Wizard,

Recently, I have bought sapphire radeon 9550 256mb ddr (USD. 80) and felt unsattisfied, so i'd like to change the card into Saphhire 9600XT which cost only USD. 140.
A couple days ago, i was read an article mentioning about flash 9550 into 9600 pro, instead of buy a new card, i'll take this risk since it much afford then you have to buy a new card.
Please tell me the step by step instruction to flash my card into 9600 pro.
Well, i do not know what kind of memory i have (E.G. Samsung, Hynix, Etc) to looking the 9600 bios,
i also have downloaded some new bios from this site to matches the card (Powercolor 9600pro 256mb, sapphire 9600 pro 256mb ddr). Could you advise which bios will be match properly with my card and how to flash the card. (Step by Step methods).
For your information, i have update my catalyst driver from softmod, and it worked properly.
The default memory of 9550 was 250/200 and it was locked for overclocking, so i installed the driver and my card is able to overclocked. Well, i'm not sattisfying with the changing, instead of using softmod driver, i would extremely pleased if my windows / Ati Tool can detect the existing 9550 to 9600 pro.
Many thanks for your assistance, i was desperately need your help to flash my card.

[Faisal]

hi!
i have bought connect3d ati radeon 9550 128mb card,i have read all the post about radeon 9550, people suggesting about overclock the memory speeds, can anybody help me out to tell the whole procedure of how to do it, and what effects will it have afterwards......
please mail me at faisal17pk@hotmail.com, send all the links for the software reguired for that and also about the fan i have to installed on it, as it doesnt have any fan already installed on it ...
i wll be thankful to you...
take carez......
bbye

[mamamie]

i have a asus ge/td 128 ,i want to flash to 9600.but it always says "ERROR block protect is not disabled" press "1" to continue
what that means??

[Hendry]

This is my second time posting my experience, well yesterday i was curious to finding way how to flash my sapphire radeon 9550, 256mb ddr to 9600 pro. Thanks to this forum, i found that my 9550 is using Hynix 5.0ns, 128bit, well to overclock into 9600pro i need to find the same bios from this site.
After searching the match Bios, i can't find the Bios with the same speed memory (Hynix 5.0), so i turn into Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro, 256mb, 128bit BIOS, and expecting that this kind of Bios might be work.
I started to Boot my computer with Bootdisk and save my old bios with Flashrom parameter. Next, i flash my card with the rename file 9600.bin (you might have to rename the file since MS DOS doesn't recognize long character), well the bios flash begin to start and took a few second to proceed.
After that some messages were appeared in the screen showing the bios flash has been sucessfully changed, also there were a funny tones from the cpu speaker after the flash process.
Well now i get a card based on 9600 pro (450 / 227.5) instead of (250/200) and saving USD. 50 in advantage. Not sattisfied on that changing, i'm using ATiTool to overclocking an overclocked card become (500/250). Well it did work, now i'm able to play any game (including HL2, Doom3) without crash, and the incremental of the FPS is significantly raise.

Well, this is the end of my posting, i hope this tips might be able to help someone with the same problem.

[Chaval]

I managed to OC my Club3d 9550 256 -128 to 427/220, for safety I changed to 400/210.
Im very happy with the results now, in BF2 1024/High settings (Lights/Shadows low) Im getting an average of 33 FPS instead of the original 23, ok for me.

Now, I saw a post of a guy saying he got arround 100 FPS in ATITool, there I have an avr of 45 FPS.
Does It have to do with the other hardware involved (CPU) or is there more OC for me to do?
Do I have to flash my Bios, cos softmodding is working fine or?

[Unregistered]

how i can know the version of my memory if i know is samsung i have a msi rx9550 td256 with fan

[Unregistered]

wich bios do you used?
reply to diegones1@hotmail.com
MSI RX9550-TD256
256mb samsung 5.0ns
i've been able to overclocked to 450mhz core/225mhz memory
thanks for your time again

[VEGETTO]

how i can know the version of my memory if i know is samsung i have a msi rx9550 td256 with fan

i have the same video card, but i haven't been able to upgraded with any 9600 bios
msi rx9550 td256 is samsung 5.0ns memory

have you been able to make it run under 9600 bios?

[Unregistered]

i have the same video card, but i haven't been able to upgraded with any 9600 bios
msi rx9550 td256 is samsung 5.0ns memory

have you been able to make it run under 9600 bios?
no i haven't but i overclocked it core 486/ mem 224.10 and its perfect i used the softmod drivers and ati tool

[SPHERE]

hi i have a 9600se here in front of me (hynix 64 bit) and im wandering if there is some way of modifying a 9600pro bios from 128 bits to 64? can anyone do this or tell me how?

help would be much apreciated :)

[WestPoint]

can i change my msi 9550 256 128bit (250,200) to 9600 pro or xt? It has 256 mb i which bios should i use,there is no 9600 msi with 256 mb,if i flash it will 256 remain?

[SPHERE]

use a bios from another manufacturer ;) id flash to a pro if i was u :) make shure the bios is for ur ram :)

[WestPoint]

how can i flash MSI ATI RADEON 9550 256 mb with fan,(250,200) to 9600,can it be flashed?

[WestPointagain]

should i flash to sapphire non-pro 9600(samsung 5.0 memory like mine on msi 9550 256 mb) or to GeCube
9600 pro (samsung 5.0 also)??

[SPHERE]

manufacturer doesnt mater use the one with your mem and the right clocks and mem interface (64bit or 128) ;)

[Unregistered]

Hi everybody,
i have a sapphire 9550 256 mb flashed with 9600 bios.
Firstly i would say thay i had the maximum performance with a 9550 bios ( with 405 core/220 memory ) : 3480 3dmark03, with omega 2.6.25a drivers.
with the 9600 bios i have less performance, and also i have the pc's bios VEEEEEERY SLOOOOOOW !
It is really a waste of time, each time i want to pass fro 166 -> 200 fsb step by step !!!!
please help me !
if i can't find a solution, i will reverse to 9550 bios ( with this, my sapphire does not run new omegas 5.6 and even original 5.7 ... )

[Unregistered]

Hi everybody,
i have a sapphire 9550 256 mb flashed with 9600 bios.
Firstly i would say thay i had the maximum performance with a 9550 bios ( with 405 core/220 memory ) : 3480 3dmark03, with omega 2.6.25a drivers.
with the 9600 bios i have less performance, and also i have the pc's bios VEEEEEERY SLOOOOOOW !
It is really a waste of time, each time i want to pass fro 166 -> 200 fsb step by step !!!!
please help me !
if i can't find a solution, i will reverse to 9550 bios ( with this, my sapphire does not run new omegas 5.6 and even original 5.7 ... )
for the moment the problem does not exist, i flashed yesterday a bios from sapphire 9600 256 mb and my PC hanged.
Now i need a PCI VGA to reflash my 9550 ... :(

[SPHERE]

Hi everybody,
i have a sapphire 9550 256 mb flashed with 9600 bios.
Firstly i would say thay i had the maximum performance with a 9550 bios ( with 405 core/220 memory ) : 3480 3dmark03, with omega 2.6.25a drivers.
with the 9600 bios i have less performance, and also i have the pc's bios VEEEEEERY SLOOOOOOW !
It is really a waste of time, each time i want to pass fro 166 -> 200 fsb step by step !!!!
please help me !
if i can't find a solution, i will reverse to 9550 bios ( with this, my sapphire does not run new omegas 5.6 and even original 5.7 ... )
the 9600 bios u flashed to may have been for a diferent ram type could that be the case?

[Unregistered]

the 9600 bios u flashed to may have been for a diferent ram type could that be the case?
even if i change just the device ID from 4152 to 4150 with rabit just to let the system recognize 9600xt instead of 9550, the PC's bios becomes tooooooooo slooooooowwwwwwwwwww

[Unregistered]

9550 bios is a lot better then 9600 upgraded so dont flash you wont get anything goood!

[Unregistered]

9550 bios is a lot better then 9600 upgraded so dont flash you wont get anything goood!
Finally i did it !
my 9550 is recognized as a 9600 XT, and the pc's BIOS is no slow no more ...
What i did ?
Just change the device ID to 4152 ( it was 4153 for my 9550 and 4150 for the 9600 bios ).
Now it's ok, but i have temperature problems, because 3dmark2003 hangs up (exit from the program or pc crash ).
Anyway i will sell this card, i have just ordered an asus ASUS V9999LE 12 pipe guaranteed for 146 euros !