Doing The ASUS Mod

After we posted this Radeon 9800 Pro to Radeon 9800XT mod guide, we received many e-mails. Here is one from RedMan about modding the ASUS Radeon 9800 Pro to the Radeon 9800XT!

The most important thing to note is to get the same brand BIOS (Pro/XT) from the same vendor/maker. You can't cross flash another vendor BIOS with similar hardware, that's asking for a $300-$500 paper weight that is non-returnable.

I got a better vendor suggestion than the Sapphire 9800Pro 256MB ($299.00 New Egg - In Stock).
(Have you seen the complaints on overheating and artifacts with this model on Sapphire Web-site Forums? It does have the WORST stock-cooling-fan unit for a video card).

Try an ASUS Radeon 9800Pro 256MB Video Card. $355.00 (New Egg - In Stock too!)

Why you ask?
Asus makes excellent motherboards.
Asus makes ATI and NVidea Video Cards.
No complaints on fans/cooling for either set of video cards!
The Stock-cooling fan is MODIFIED right off the bat. Asus ditched the original and used a different design. It is THE SAME as the CURRENT 9800XT model !!! ($410.00-$475.00 New Egg - In Stock, also) .

Go to ASUS web site download the XT Video BIOS.

Update! : There are two ASUS Radeon 9800XT BIOS image files to choose from - NTSC.zip and PAL.zip. Choose the appropriate BIOS for the TV system that you want. Extract the file and look for 'winflash.dat'. That is the BIOS image.

Do NOT use the flash program provided, because it will not recognize the 'PRO' card and NOT flash it! Copy the ROM file to a 'bootable' 3.5 floppy.

Use FlashROM (it and related files, should be on that same disk as the downloaded Asus XT BIOS file) as you suggested earlier to :

a) backup the Original 'Pro' BIOS and
b) flash the XT video BIOS ('winflash.dat') to the 'Pro' card.

When finished Re-boot and Re-install the Radeon Drivers.

Hey, It REALLY WORKS!!! No Hardware damage, runs XT stock speed and No Heat/Artifacts issues like the Sapphire Cards (with the funky cooling fans that don't do squat for cooling)!

Save $100 - $150.00 with @ 20min. of work (download/flashing BIOS).

Hmm choices ... $400-$500 for an Radeon 9800XT 256MB Card or $299 - $350 for an Radeon 'Pro' turned 'XT' model (in 20 min.) Taking YOUR advise to flash a 'Pro' to 'XT' Video BIOS.

NOTE : The Asus Video BIOS in the Pro and XT does NOT allow the ATI Overdrive feature to run on ASUS Radeons (if using official/stock ATI Drivers). If your gonna overclock you will have to use PowerStrip or Asus Smart Doctor to overclock either the Pro or XT models. Keep that in mind also.

THANK YOU AGAIN for the valuable tip!!! Now to get faster memory & Windows XP...

To everybody in the U.S. New Egg has both the Sapphire and ASUS Radeons 9800Pro/XT 256MB In stock. Get 'em while they last...

Thanks for the tip, RedMan!