ATI Softmod FAQ

Q:	What kind of card do I have to buy?
A:	You will need a Radeon 9500 Non-pro (NP) or a Radeon 9800 SE. The pipelines can be unlocked on all PCB layouts. For best performance it is recommended to get a PCB with 256-bit memory interface. The layout of the memory chips determines the memory bus width of the card. L shaped layout means 256 bits, I shaped means 128 bits. The memory bus width can not be changed - it is how many traces go to the memory chips. ATI (falsely) advertises 9500's with L shaped memory (=256 bits) as 128 bits. They probably do this to make the difference between their products seem bigger. The same applies to the 9800SE series. 9500NP RED PCB L shaped memory 4 pipes 256bit Turns into 9700 NP 9500NP RED PCB I shaped memory 4 pipes 128bit Turns into 9500 PRO 9500NP BLACK PCB L shaped memory 4 pipes 256bit Turns into 9700 NP 9500NP BLACK PCB I shaped memory 4 pipes 128 bit Turns into 9500 PRO 9500NP 64MB 4 pipes 128 bit Turns into 9500 PRO 9500 PRO 8 pipes 128 bit Can not be modded 9600 series Can not be modded 9800 SE with 9800/9800 PRO layout (HDD power connector) 4 pipes 256bit Turns into 9800/9800 PRO depending on clock speed 9800 SE with 9700/9700 PRO layout (FDD power connector) 4 pipes 256bit Turns into 9800/9800 PRO (the PCB has no performance effect) depending on clock speed 9800 SE with I shaped memory and FDD connector in middle of PCB 4 pipes 128bit Turns into the equivalent of a 9500 Pro but with an R350 core. 9800 SE AIW with L shaped memory 4 pipes 256bit Turns into 9800 AIW 9800SE BLACK PCB I shaped memory 4 pipes 128 bit Turns into the equivalent of a 9500 Pro but with an R350 core. 9800 SE with TSOP memory 4 pipes 128bit Turns into the equivalent of a 9500 Pro but with an R350 core. no pic 9800 SE AIW with I shaped memory 4 pipes 128bit Turns into the equivalent of a 9500 Pro but with an R350 core and AIW functions. 9800 SE with other layout Unknown
Q:	Will this work with a 9000/9200/9500 Pro/9600/9700 card?
A:	Nope. Those can't be turned into anything better but you can still overclock them.
Q:	Which brand/manufacturer should I buy?
A:	There's no difference in moddability between the cards. All OEMs have to use the same GPU, most of them the same PCB layout. The less important components the OEMs can change have no effect on the softmod.
Q:	What is artifacting/checkerboard effect?
A:	Artifacting is when you get undesired dots, patterns or checkerboard effects on screen. Anything that looks different from the standard expected image is considered an artifact. Artifacts are caused by undocumented defects on the GPU core. When running with the second four pipelines disabled these defects do not affect your card, but when the pipelines are enabled by the softmod the errors show as artifacts. Worst case scenario, the unused pipelines have a possiblity of being broken, resulting crashing and not booting up. You might get a card that works flawlessly or one that doesn't. It's a gamble. To see the actual success rates of 9500 / 9800SE modding, see the polls on the left side of this page.
Q:	I have artifacts. Is it possible to enable only 5, 6 or 7 pipelines?
A:	Sorry. This is not possible. The GPU only supports running with four or eight rendering pipelines.
Q:	If I have artifacts when using hacked drivers, will I also have them if I hardmod the card?
A:	Yes. You will.
Q:	How can I fix artifacts?
A:	Unfortunately there is no 100% fix for artifacts. In most cases the pipelines are simply damaged and will produce artifacts no matter what you do. A few people could fix artifacts doing one or more of the following: Disable Hierarchical-Z (Use google to find an utility called "RTool") Force Anti-Aliasing Force Anisotropic Filtering Force 16-Bit color Changing BIOS, voltages, cooling or clock speeds will not fix artifacts caused by a defective pipeline.
Q:	Can I damage my card with the softmod? What if it doesn't work?
A:	You can not damage your card by using this driver. If it does not work for a reason just reinstall the original unmodified driver. It is also not possible to detect if a card has been softmodded before.
Q:	How can I guarantee I get a card that works?
A:	You can't. Even the same supplier has cards that work, and those that don't.
Q:	Do I have to flash another BIOS for the softmod to work?
A:	No. All you have to do is use the patched driver.
Q:	How can I overclock my 9500/9700?
A:	The BIOS often ships locked on OCing. In this case you need to flash it with an unlocked bios (see the bios collection here). However, many confirm that the Sapphire cards come unlocked by default. Also see this article that describes how to overclock your video card.
Q:	Do different bios' matter when OCing?
A:	Yes. Different bios' spec'd for different memory make a small difference in performance. However, core clock does not seem to have compatibility problems (some people even flashed a 9800 bios on a 9500). The overall performance difference between bios' is rather small and may not be worth the effort.
Q:	Is there support for Windows 9x/ME? When will you add support for 9x/ME?
A:	Currently I do not plan on having patched drivers for these platforms. You may try Rivatuners Soft9700 script for 9x/ME.
Q:	I installed your patch but my card still shows up as "Radeon 9500".
A:	This patch does not change the cards displayed name. Run benchmarks to verify that the patch worked.
Q:	Will you update your patch when a new driver is released?
A:	I will do so as long as there is demand for it and it makes sense to use the cards, probably a few years.
Q:	I installed your drivers and can't find any place where I can change settings.
A:	You probably didn't download ATI's Control Panel. It is no longer part of the driver. Get it from ATI.
Q:	What is that "Secondary" adapter in my Device Manager?
A:	It is used for dual head/DVI/TV output. For the softmod installation it's enough to update only one of your adapters, the other one will be updated automatically because they both use the same driver files.
Q:	What is this Radeon 9500 -> 9800 thing?
A:	During development of Radeon 9800 drivers ATI found a way to increase performance for 9500/9700 drivers too. However they decided not to include these improvements for the 9500/9700 series at this time. They will be included in Catalyst 3.3 if they prove to be stable. To verify the improvements I used 3DMark2001 standard pixel shader test with 6x Anti-Aliasing. This gave me a ~10% increase. You can NOT turn the R300 chip (used on 9500/9700 cards) into R350 (used on the 9800) by software. These optimizations are now included in all drivers since Catalyst 3.4.