Sivadselim
New member
*** Please be aware that this post is quite old, now. ***
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST, CAREFULLY!!!! ESPECIALLY THE "EDITS" AT THE END.
If you've not figured it out, yet, overclocking a 9500Pro requires flashing the video card with a BIOS that's been "altered" to allow overclocking. Unfortunately, the vidRAM that the 9500Pros come equiped with varies from card to card, depending upon numerous things, such as (but not limited to), the card manufacturer, the vidRAM manufacturer, the date of manufacture, the location of manufacture, etc.. Each of these "variants" of the 9500Pro has it's own special BIOS;..........and then some. In some cases you will find 2 different "altered" BIOS'z available for your particular vidRAM. In this case, you will want to use the "altered" BIOS that is most similar to the original BIOS that was on your card when purchased. How to do this, exactly, should become clearer to you, after you read this post and the readme files contained in the "kit".
I know you're really excited about overclocking your card, but please, TAKE A DEEP BREATH! Be patient. Make sure you know EXACTLY what you're doing before diving in.
I have put together a "kit" containing everything you should need to flash a "fixed" overclockable BIOS onto your 9500Pro, no matter what vidRAM your card came with. You WILL, however, need to be able to identify your particular vidRAM (see the pix at the end of this post for some help).
Grab the "kit" right HERE!!!!!!!!!
The kit includes:
*** ATI Flash Utility w/ rewritten and more thorough instructions including how to back-up your original BIOS, FIRST
*** a super-simple boot-disc-making utility
*** RadEdit for examining and also editing existing BIOS'z
*** several (9) BIOS'z for 9500Pro cards that I've collected, made, or just plain stolen
*** JPEGs of "what the BIOS'z look like" when opened with RadEdit
Description of the different BIOS'z contained in the "kit":
***** If a BIOS is named "ORIGINAL_##" then it is DEFINITELY an "ORIGINAL" BIOS that came with a card! *****
* 9500WARP.BIN is warp11's overclockable BIOS for cards with Hynix 3.6ns vidRAM.
* 9500_33.BIN is TriC's overclockable BIOS for cards with Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM.
* 9500_30.BIN is darkmage's overclockable BIOS for cards with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM.
* HERC9500PAL.BIN is a BIOS that was apparently made for non-American, Hercules-branded 9500Pro's with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM. HERC9500NTSC.BIN was made from the HERC9500PAL.BIN BIOS by changing the TV standard from "PAL" to "NTSC" using RadEdit.
* ORIGINAL_30.BIN and FIXED_30.BIN are the original and overclockable (respectively) BIOSez for an ATI-branded Radeon9500PRO with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM. This BIOS "appears" different from the HERC BIOS when opened with both RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor.
* ORIGINAL_33.BIN and FIXED_33.BIN are the original and overclockable (respectively) BIOS'z for an ATI-branded Radeon9500PRO with Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM. This BIOS "appears" newer AND different than TriC's 9500_33.BIN BIOS when opened with RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor.
* darkmage's 9500_30.BIN and FIXED_30.BIN are EXACTLY identical when opened with RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor, so take your pick if that's the BIOS for you.
The "kit" does NOT contain the "original" BIOS from which 9500WARP.BIN, 9500_33.BIN, HERC9500PAL.BIN, and HERC9500NTSC.BIN BIOS'z were derived. Based upon my knowledge of how 9500WARP.BIN was constructed, it should be easy to return it to it's "original" state, using a HEX-editor. I am not certain of EXACTLY how the other three (3) were constructed, however similar approaches could be used in an attempt to make an "original" version of these BIOS'z, as well.
FIDDLING WITH YOUR CARD VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY!
Picture of INFINEON 3.0ns vidRAM:
Picture of INFINEON 3.3ns vidRAM:
EDITS!:
Since initially making this overclocking "kit", certain software methods that do not require a videocard BIOS flash HAVE become available. IMO the "flash" is the best route, however, if you're still squeamish about doing that, try one of the software methods.
Since first putting the "kit" together, I have also grabbed (thanks to razzd!) an "original" and "traceable" Hercules, Infineon 3.0ns, PAL BIOS that is NOT included in the "kit". It can easily be made NTSC using RadEdit. I've checked, and indeed, the ONLY difference(s) between this "original" Hercules BIOS and the "overclockable" ones in the "kit" is/are the single overclocking change, and, if the case may be, the single "NTSC TV Standard" change (and of course the checksum change). If anyone is interested in a copy of this "original" BIOS for a Hercules card with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM, let me know via my email address or here in these forums.
Regarding showing up as a 9700Pro, that's what all of the overclockable BIOS'z do. I'm not sure if this makes a difference or not, but with my 9500Pro and "fixed" BIOS I go into the Device Manager > Display adapters > right-click Properties > Driver tab > Update Driver button. In the Driver Update Wizard, choose the choice that says "Display a list of known drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver". When the list comes up, change the choice to "Show all hardware of this device class". Now you can choose "9500Pro/9700" as your display adapter. Do this with your "secondary" display adapter, too (9500Pro/9700 - Secondary). I'm not sure if different driver components get loaded or not when you do this, but it eliminates some, but not all, of the "problem" of being detected as a 9700Pro; IF that bothers you (it bothered me). I have not benchmarked to see if it really makes a difference or not.
If you have problems flashing, try changing the name of the BIOS that you're trying to flash, to something like FIXED.BIN and/or ORIGINAL.BIN and re-saving on your boot disc.
Although it's a bit hazy, what IS clear is that the "kit" will not work properly for overclocking the FIC cards, HIS cards, or any cards with Infineon 3.6ns vidRAM. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, it works fine for "most" all other cards. An overclockable BIOS is NOT yet available for the FIC and HIS cards nor the cards with Infineon 3.6ns vidRAM. The BIOS on those cards is not "fixable" by the method first described by warp11. For some of these cards, the ATIflash utility WILL NOT WORK, and you must use another utility called FLASHROM that can be found HERE. The flashing instructions and commands are the same as those for ATIFlash and are found in the ATIflash_readme in my "kit". A few people have reported overclocking success with some of the aforementioned cards, using both warp11's BIOS for the Hynix 3.6ns vidRAM, TriC's BIOS for Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM, and my BIOS for Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM, depending upon which vidRAM and BIOS their card was originally equiped. However, you may want to try other BIOS'z, as well. PLEASE EXPERIMENT. Come back and tell us your results. From most indications, I can tell you that the Infineon 3.6ns, if you happen to get this vidRAM, is not a good overclocker.
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST, CAREFULLY!!!! ESPECIALLY THE "EDITS" AT THE END.
If you've not figured it out, yet, overclocking a 9500Pro requires flashing the video card with a BIOS that's been "altered" to allow overclocking. Unfortunately, the vidRAM that the 9500Pros come equiped with varies from card to card, depending upon numerous things, such as (but not limited to), the card manufacturer, the vidRAM manufacturer, the date of manufacture, the location of manufacture, etc.. Each of these "variants" of the 9500Pro has it's own special BIOS;..........and then some. In some cases you will find 2 different "altered" BIOS'z available for your particular vidRAM. In this case, you will want to use the "altered" BIOS that is most similar to the original BIOS that was on your card when purchased. How to do this, exactly, should become clearer to you, after you read this post and the readme files contained in the "kit".
I know you're really excited about overclocking your card, but please, TAKE A DEEP BREATH! Be patient. Make sure you know EXACTLY what you're doing before diving in.
I have put together a "kit" containing everything you should need to flash a "fixed" overclockable BIOS onto your 9500Pro, no matter what vidRAM your card came with. You WILL, however, need to be able to identify your particular vidRAM (see the pix at the end of this post for some help).
Grab the "kit" right HERE!!!!!!!!!
The kit includes:
*** ATI Flash Utility w/ rewritten and more thorough instructions including how to back-up your original BIOS, FIRST
*** a super-simple boot-disc-making utility
*** RadEdit for examining and also editing existing BIOS'z
*** several (9) BIOS'z for 9500Pro cards that I've collected, made, or just plain stolen
*** JPEGs of "what the BIOS'z look like" when opened with RadEdit
Description of the different BIOS'z contained in the "kit":
***** If a BIOS is named "ORIGINAL_##" then it is DEFINITELY an "ORIGINAL" BIOS that came with a card! *****
* 9500WARP.BIN is warp11's overclockable BIOS for cards with Hynix 3.6ns vidRAM.
* 9500_33.BIN is TriC's overclockable BIOS for cards with Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM.
* 9500_30.BIN is darkmage's overclockable BIOS for cards with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM.
* HERC9500PAL.BIN is a BIOS that was apparently made for non-American, Hercules-branded 9500Pro's with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM. HERC9500NTSC.BIN was made from the HERC9500PAL.BIN BIOS by changing the TV standard from "PAL" to "NTSC" using RadEdit.
* ORIGINAL_30.BIN and FIXED_30.BIN are the original and overclockable (respectively) BIOSez for an ATI-branded Radeon9500PRO with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM. This BIOS "appears" different from the HERC BIOS when opened with both RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor.
* ORIGINAL_33.BIN and FIXED_33.BIN are the original and overclockable (respectively) BIOS'z for an ATI-branded Radeon9500PRO with Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM. This BIOS "appears" newer AND different than TriC's 9500_33.BIN BIOS when opened with RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor.
* darkmage's 9500_30.BIN and FIXED_30.BIN are EXACTLY identical when opened with RadEdit and/or a HEX-editor, so take your pick if that's the BIOS for you.
The "kit" does NOT contain the "original" BIOS from which 9500WARP.BIN, 9500_33.BIN, HERC9500PAL.BIN, and HERC9500NTSC.BIN BIOS'z were derived. Based upon my knowledge of how 9500WARP.BIN was constructed, it should be easy to return it to it's "original" state, using a HEX-editor. I am not certain of EXACTLY how the other three (3) were constructed, however similar approaches could be used in an attempt to make an "original" version of these BIOS'z, as well.
FIDDLING WITH YOUR CARD VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY! Picture of INFINEON 3.0ns vidRAM:
Picture of INFINEON 3.3ns vidRAM:
EDITS!:
Since initially making this overclocking "kit", certain software methods that do not require a videocard BIOS flash HAVE become available. IMO the "flash" is the best route, however, if you're still squeamish about doing that, try one of the software methods.
Since first putting the "kit" together, I have also grabbed (thanks to razzd!) an "original" and "traceable" Hercules, Infineon 3.0ns, PAL BIOS that is NOT included in the "kit". It can easily be made NTSC using RadEdit. I've checked, and indeed, the ONLY difference(s) between this "original" Hercules BIOS and the "overclockable" ones in the "kit" is/are the single overclocking change, and, if the case may be, the single "NTSC TV Standard" change (and of course the checksum change). If anyone is interested in a copy of this "original" BIOS for a Hercules card with Infineon 3.0ns vidRAM, let me know via my email address or here in these forums.
Regarding showing up as a 9700Pro, that's what all of the overclockable BIOS'z do. I'm not sure if this makes a difference or not, but with my 9500Pro and "fixed" BIOS I go into the Device Manager > Display adapters > right-click Properties > Driver tab > Update Driver button. In the Driver Update Wizard, choose the choice that says "Display a list of known drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver". When the list comes up, change the choice to "Show all hardware of this device class". Now you can choose "9500Pro/9700" as your display adapter. Do this with your "secondary" display adapter, too (9500Pro/9700 - Secondary). I'm not sure if different driver components get loaded or not when you do this, but it eliminates some, but not all, of the "problem" of being detected as a 9700Pro; IF that bothers you (it bothered me). I have not benchmarked to see if it really makes a difference or not.
If you have problems flashing, try changing the name of the BIOS that you're trying to flash, to something like FIXED.BIN and/or ORIGINAL.BIN and re-saving on your boot disc.
Although it's a bit hazy, what IS clear is that the "kit" will not work properly for overclocking the FIC cards, HIS cards, or any cards with Infineon 3.6ns vidRAM. AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, it works fine for "most" all other cards. An overclockable BIOS is NOT yet available for the FIC and HIS cards nor the cards with Infineon 3.6ns vidRAM. The BIOS on those cards is not "fixable" by the method first described by warp11. For some of these cards, the ATIflash utility WILL NOT WORK, and you must use another utility called FLASHROM that can be found HERE. The flashing instructions and commands are the same as those for ATIFlash and are found in the ATIflash_readme in my "kit". A few people have reported overclocking success with some of the aforementioned cards, using both warp11's BIOS for the Hynix 3.6ns vidRAM, TriC's BIOS for Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM, and my BIOS for Infineon 3.3ns vidRAM, depending upon which vidRAM and BIOS their card was originally equiped. However, you may want to try other BIOS'z, as well. PLEASE EXPERIMENT. Come back and tell us your results. From most indications, I can tell you that the Infineon 3.6ns, if you happen to get this vidRAM, is not a good overclocker.
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