ATI 9600 non-Pro help

[E_Net_Rider]

I believe that to be the card I have although bios says it is Pro. It is 128MB, 128bit.
I'm new to OC and performance improvement and need some advice for this card. Using Currently running Catalyst 8.5.
BIOS Part Number BK-ATI VER008.011.003.000
Device ID 4150 Chip Name RV350.
Stock clocks are running 324/203 MHz.
ATITool, it is very stable at 429.92/263.77, which is backed off slightly from peaks of 435.38 & 266.40. I could probably run tests longer to find a slightly better performance.
Is there need to flash bios?
Are there more pipes available?
What current cards would compare to this one?
Will this card take advantage of MOBO dual channel RAM, via aperature?, or is there some special tweak available?
Looking for suggestions.

 

[ShogoXT]

Not for the 9600. The unlockable ones your looking for were either the 9500 (turns into 9700) and the 9800se (turns into 9800pro). The 9600 is a completely different card made for budget minded people back when they were popular. You did pretty good on the OC and thats the difference between the 9600 regular and pro, just clock speeds. OH and the memory used I think.

Dual channel memory I think is a standard nowadays. Basicly hook up 2 of the same type of DDR memory (probably DDR PC3200 considering what your asking). Make sure the motherboard supports it though. Not too sure the benefits of setting ram speeds, but ideally I think you want it in sync with your CPU FSB.

As for current cards comparing. By todays standards your card is aging. I wouldnt be suprised if budget cards like the 3450 would beat it.

 

[E_Net_Rider]

Thanks for input. Maybe a little clarification will be helpful, even as said it is ageing.
I do know the SE version had 64bit. And visually comparing my 9600 to SE or Pro, there are definite visual changes in design. A bit confusing is that the bios had always reported it as a Pro under WME, and why I got burned when I bought a non-returnable Arctic cooler for the Pro. It will not fit. Mine is ATI made also. So I am confused by the bios. And that made the question if there was another that would work.
The one I have is passive cooling.
I got this card very early in that grouping of GPUs and was Christmas deal at BestBuy of nearly $100 off list, still costing $100. Not sure they even had 9800 on shelf at that time.
Looking at many pictures, I've seen some that have smaller RAM chips than mine with the same 128MB, but maybe are not ATI build. To sum up, the Pro has some parts located very differently than mine.
Recently I've seen both 128 & 256 MB versions, but they are still DDR as mine is.

My question relating to MOBO RAM & dual channel arises because I have no idea how newer video cards make use of MOBO RAM. I have not seen any block diagrams such as Nvidia often shows for their MOBO chipsets as of yet. My best understanding is that the MOBO RAM is used for storage of those small video files that get painted repeatedly to create a scene, much faster than going to HDD each time you need it. And that is what brings in the question whether the GPU can access that file in MOBO RAM directly, maybe via bus mastering. And take advantage of the wider path of dual channel (128 bit vs. normal of 64 bit.) Or does it have to go through the CPU. And maybe is not taking advantage of 128 bit path to dual channel (128 bit) because of compatibility of that era. Like maybe the bios for the video card or software was not written to detect and implement such.
ACE Event Log. I've been seeing a number of errors related to ATI such as this. Shared Multi VPU 4 aspect is not available! XP Pro is still pretty new to me.
Your statement concerning dual channel is fairly accurate. My understanding is Intel is not picky about the RAM speed vs. the CPU. I have come across many posts saying that with AMD you need to set the FSB of both the same. Benchmarks for me have shown only a small advantage of running RAM faster than CPU.
My "old rig" is NF2, Sempron 3300, (2) 1GB 2-3-2-5 PC3200 matched dual channel.
The Sempron actually runs at 3200, 400FSB and generally tests the same as Barton 3200 because it has same cache.
But that is only important if I can figure the relationship to the video card.

 

[intel igent]

have you tried using GPUz to get info about your card?

 

[E_Net_Rider]

I hope this worked. picture as attachment.

 

[intel igent]

well there ya go!

it's a 128bit RV350, i'd try some search's in the ATi subforum to see if there are any mod's available for it

maybe try and PM W1zzard see if he remember's anything about these......

 

[ShogoXT]

well there ya go!

it's a 128bit RV350, i'd try some search's in the ATi subforum to see if there are any mod's available for it

maybe try and PM W1zzard see if he remember's anything about these......

I sincerely dout it, but you can try. Any bios updates I believe would only be the same as your overclocking.