The ATI Radeon 9800XT

Although the Radeon 9800 Pro is very fast, even the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro isn't ATI's current flagship card. The Radeon 9800XT has that honour. In fact, it is ATI's answer to NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5950 Ultra.

The Radeon 9800XT is based on the R360 core. However, it is still using the same manufacturing process as the R300 released back in 2002. Like the Radeon 9800 Pro, 9800XT is just another card with higher clock speeds.

Sapphire Radeon 9800XT

Below are the speed differences between the Radeon 9800 range:

* - with OVERDRIVE enabled
** - prices taken from Pricewatch (03/2004)

Now, what is interesting is the new batches of 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro graphics cards are actually Radeon 9800XT cards! There is virtually no difference between the two cards, except for the BIOS.

The 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro's BIOS restricts the card to its official clock speeds of 380MHz core and 350MHz memory. It also disables the OVERDRIVE and thermal diode features of the 9800XT.

But if you reflash the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro with a Radeon 9800XT's BIOS, you unlock its hidden features and the card automatically runs at 412MHz core and 365MHz! Just like any other Radeon 9800XT.

Excited? You betcha! That's why instead of settling for the 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro, I chose to spend the extra USD 100 (RM 380) and get myself the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro instead.

And why not? The Radeon 9800XT is even more expensive than the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro! About USD 100 (RM 380) on the average. Well worth the effort.

That brings us to the purpose of this article - how to mod a 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro into a true Radeon 9800XT! Let's get on with it!