ATI Optimizing for Dummies (=ME!) Help needed.

rogerdugans · May 6, 2004

I just picked up a Radeon 9600 SE (128mb ram) for low money and I am less than thrilled by it's performance: not huge gains over the 8500 I have on loan.

I am brand new to ATI cards since I primarily run Linux, and ATI is well known for having...less than stellar drivers for linux.

BUT That is why I bought the card: more testing, and no fear of damaging someone else's stuff!

So what I am asking for is help to optimize the 9600 in windows and/or on a bios level: I want to test in both OSes for perfomance and so on.

I really don't want to keep Win2K on the test machine any longer than I have to, so I will probably end testing in windows within the next few days:

Any help to get it running as well as possible is appreciated.

ket · May 6, 2004

erm.....i got some great advice, take one bucket of water, proceed to drop 9600se in it

honestly, that card is horrible, 64bit mem interface :| it really is a POS, you would of done much better getting a 9600NP, it has 128bit mem interface

but if you have say $150 i would of got a 9600pro\XT they will stomp all over the 9600se\np. honestly, there really isnt anything you can do to get decent performance out of that 9600se

rogerdugans · May 6, 2004

Being cheap is good...and bad!

I HAD looked at somewhat better cards, but the cost savings for this one were too good to pass up.
It's what I have, and I will use it- the trick now is to get it to run as well as it can.
I AM sure it is possible to get it to run better than stock/default settings, I just don't know how- my hope is that someone here will be able to help.

ket · May 6, 2004

if ur lucky it will be able to be BIOS modded to some stable OC results you find, to OC it just use rage3d its an ace proggy, good luck gettin that card to do anything

Cyrix_2k · May 6, 2004

Wait... The 9600se actually performed better than the 8500!?!?!? I thought the 64-bit memmory would kill it's performance!

ket · May 6, 2004

^^in all theory........the 96se should of performed MUCH worse than the 8500, even a 9000np has 128bit mem interface, best budget card to look out for is the 9000pro, them things OC like mofos i saw ppl with like 370mhz core and loke 500mhz mem speeds on thoughs things about a year or so back

rogerdugans · May 6, 2004

Sneak peak of results
Windows testing:
UT2K3 was about the same for both cards
UT2K4 was horrible with 8500, ok with 9600 SE

Testing will continue.

ket · May 6, 2004

^ u are kidding? that 8500 has gotta have something wrong with it not to run ut2k4 better than the 96se, although ut2k4 is dx9 and 8500 is dx8 @ best, if not dx7.....but still...ut would just use up to the max dx supported in hardware by the card....hmm.....call me ignorant but i refuse to beleive a 8500 is being outdone by a crappy 96se :|

rogerdugans · May 6, 2004

Don't worry bro- fps is only slightly better...
But it is still significant: with the 8500 at defaults(800x600) in windows I get 28 to 30 FPS and some stuttering.
The 9600 gets 40 FPS and no stuttering.

I think I will test in linux now, and since I have been getting insulted- NOT by you guys, but another friend of mine....I may have to return this card after all.

Sometimes being cheap just doesn't pay.

Cyrix_2k · May 6, 2004

ket said:
^ u are kidding? that 8500 has gotta have something wrong with it not to run ut2k4 better than the 96se, although ut2k4 is dx9 and 8500 is dx8 @ best, if not dx7.....but still...ut would just use up to the max dx supported in hardware by the card....hmm.....call me ignorant but i refuse to beleive a 8500 is being outdone by a crappy 96se :|

Same here

BTW, I own a 8500 and it's DX8.1 complient. That's part of the reason I can't, no, I REFUSE to believe a 9600se outperforms a 8500... The 8500's a pretty powerful card and I can get pver 10k 3dmarks with it too

I was even playing farcry at medium detail @ 1024x768 (15in LCD) just fine

rogerdugans · May 6, 2004

Sorry guys- no screenies and Linux is back on the machine.
Those are the results I've gotten so far though.......

Neither card has had ANYTHING done to improve performance: the most I have done is to turn off eye candy for testing.
From what I am learning, I expect that the 8500 would easily be able to be improved upon from where it is @defaults, but the 9600 SE is not- therein may lie the difference.

theELVISCERATOR · May 7, 2004

rogerdugans said:
I just picked up a Radeon 9600 SE (128mb ram) for low money and I am less than thrilled by it's performance: not huge gains over the 8500 I have on loan.

I am brand new to ATI cards since I primarily run Linux, and ATI is well known for having...less than stellar drivers for linux.

BUT That is why I bought the card: more testing, and no fear of damaging someone else's stuff!

So what I am asking for is help to optimize the 9600 in windows and/or on a bios level: I want to test in both OSes for perfomance and so on.

I really don't want to keep Win2K on the test machine any longer than I have to, so I will probably end testing in windows within the next few days:

Any help to get it running as well as possible is appreciated.

What is your cpu/mobo/mem stats?

btw this system makes water coolers wonder why they bothered with the expense and results...(on air).

Nandro · May 7, 2004

I thought UT2K4 was dx8.

felinusz · May 7, 2004

Roger, if I were you I would return the card, or exchange it for a 9600 Pro if you can afford the price difference, and get one from that store. You could also sell your 8500, and maybe even buy a 9600 XT

.

btw this system makes water coolers wonder why they bothered with the expense and results...(on air).

How loud is it? Can it handle the heat load of a GPU peltier? Did you have a *lot* of fun picking the cooling parts and putting them all together?

Just playing man

theELVISCERATOR · May 7, 2004

felinusz said:
Roger, if I were you I would return the card, or exchange it for a 9600 Pro if you can afford the price difference, and get one from that store. You could also sell your 8500, and maybe even buy a 9600 XT .

How loud is it? Can it handle the heat load of a GPU peltier? Did you have a *lot* of fun picking the cooling parts and putting them all together?

Just playing man

its loud to civilians...hehe but it was a no brainer to put together...

Cyrix_2k · May 7, 2004

felinusz said:
Roger, if I were you I would return the card, or exchange it for a 9600 Pro if you can afford the price difference, and get one from that store. You could also sell your 8500, and maybe even buy a 9600 XT .

The 8500's not his card to sell...

Cyrix_2k · May 7, 2004

theELVISCERATOR said:
its loud to civilians...hehe but it was a no brainer to put together...

But there lies the difference. Sure, high-end air can match teh performance of low-end water, but it's loud. A high-end water cooling system is able to run silent and STILL beat your high-end air solution. When we [wc'ers] want a peltier, we can simply add a rad or turn up the fans if we wish. Our WC'ed CPU's can take more volts too. WC'ing's also a *lot* of fun and it's an investment. By simply replacing a single *cheap* (less then high-end air)(BTW, Cathar's P2 is now beating the Cascade SS and the P2 is copper and takes 10mins to machine!!!) we're able to use it on a new rig.

theELVISCERATOR · May 7, 2004

Cyrix_2k said:
But there lies the difference. Sure, high-end air can match teh performance of low-end water, but it's loud. A high-end water cooling system is able to run silent and STILL beat your high-end air solution. When we [wc'ers] want a peltier, we can simply add a rad or turn up the fans if we wish. Our WC'ed CPU's can take more volts too. WC'ing's also a *lot* of fun and it's an investment. By simply replacing a single *cheap* (less then high-end air)(BTW, Cathar's P2 is now beating the Cascade SS and the P2 is copper and takes 10mins to machine!!!) we're able to use it on a new rig.

yes yes.....but I am not seeing a favorable price/performance ratio for the equipment, time and possible damage resulting from say...an air bubble...hehe...to justify all the hassle of wc...

Cyrix_2k · May 7, 2004

theELVISCERATOR said:
yes yes.....but I am not seeing a favorable price/performance ratio for the equipment, time and possible damage resulting from say...an air bubble...hehe...to justify all the hassle of wc...

Yeah, you CAN"T justify WC'ing through the price/performance ratio. Air will deff win that one. It's all the other benefits of WC'ing that justify the price. The fun factor alone justifies its price for me. I also need my computer to be silent because it's in my bedroom. The expandibility and reliability of a WC'd system is also a nice benefit.

BTW, an airbubble won't ruin your equipment. Heck, I ran my system WHILE I was bleeding the air out it

Cyrix_2k · May 7, 2004

Another benefit, you can usually run a WC'd computer 100% passive. Right now I have ZERO fans on and my systems perfectly stable!! Even if the CPU IS at 66.5c!!

I didn't mean to turn my rad off BTW. My hardrives are loud enough I can't tell if my fans are on or off!!! I found out it was running this hot when I touched the tubing and it was hot, so I checked my Harware monitor and it gave me the temp. I just turned the fan on now and temps should be about 8c above ambient with silent fans running.

OMG, with the fan (120+CFM YS TECH) on full power, it feels like a heater under me; it's dissapating ALOT of heat. The top of the rad is so hot I can't keep my finger on it while the bottom of the rad is cool to the touch. The other side of the top is room temp. (Dual pass rad. I'm going to convert it to single pass soon)

ATI Optimizing for Dummies (=ME!) Help needed.

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