9800se problems

About a month or so ago I bought a 9800se for my dad's computer thinking it would be ok. I pretty much just installed it and had it folding for me since then, but in the last week or so I have been trying to do some benchmarking with it and it just plain sucks.

Here is the configuration of the rest of the parts:
NF-7 mobo
XP1700+ o/c to 2.3ghz (11.5x200)
512mb kingston hyperx pc2700
80GB WD SE drive
sapphire 9800se 128meg

I am using the most recent version of the omega drivers (d/led yesterday). I o/c the board to 350core, 315 mem and with all of this I only get about 4200 points with 3dmark2k3.

My main rig that is almost identical but the cpu is 100mhz slower, and I have a 9500n/p o/c to 350/310 gets 5300 points.

So what gives? I thought these 9800se's were supposed to be pretty good but it is choppy on ms flight sim 2004 at 1024x768x32. I think this weekend I am going to do a complete reinstall and see if somehow I have some driver issues, but I doubt that is the problem.

Is this about what everyone else is getting with this card?

The 9800SE has half the pixel pipelines of real 9800's. Have you tried running the hacked Omega drivers with the softmod to enable the other four pipes?

Should have read more before buying. IMO. Not crapping but i almost bought one when they first came out too, but i read up:

Good related thread.

I am using the hacked driver for the omega drivers but it doesn't seem like they are working.

Are the timings on your RAM tight? Is the RAM running the same speed as the FSB? You're using PC2700 RAM, which normally doesn't hit 200MHz, so that makes me wonder.

ok, second question: the memory is in the L configuration so does this mean that I have the 256 bit memory? If not how can I tell?

as for the timing comment, the only thing I can say is that I am running the same memory at the same timings on the same model motherboard with the same bios and the performance is very different. this is really about the difference between the 9800se and the other 9500n/p that concerns me. I just don't think the 9800 should be doing this poorly.

I get ~3300 at default and ~3600 oc-ed.
Main reason is my gametest1 is a lot lower because of the slower system. Test 2, 3 and 4 are less system dependant.

9800se ~ a high speed 9500np (4pipe)

so are you saying that I should just be happy with what it is doing right now? It just sucks so bad. I wish I could trade it for another 9500 like I have. It is so much better. Oh well, good thing it is for my dad and not for me

D2DM said:

9800se ~ a high speed 9500np (4pipe)

Click to expand...

I think it's slightly faster than a 9600 Pro, actually.

9500 np is not better.
softmodded 9500np to 9700 is better


Yes.. faster than a 9600pro
With "9800se ~ a high speed 9500np (4pipe)" I meant both have versions of 256 (and 128bit) and both are/have versions that can be softmodded.
Not the case with 9600(pro)

well I too have both versions and my softmodded 9500 is kicking the softmodded 9800se's butt. this is my problem, I thought the se would be better than it is, but it isn't working out that way

Those scores are great for 9800 SE, i got 4200 OCed when i had the 9800 SE...still it is better than 9600 Pro

ok, well then I guess it is ok. I am just dissappointed by the comparison between the SE and my 9500. I thought there would be less of a performance difference. I was hoping that the SE would at least get 5k points. Oh well. Thanks for all the help.