Identifying The Moddable 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro (Continued)

Eight 8-Pin Chips

See the eight 8-pin chips in the picture below? In non-moddable cards, they have heat sinks glued to them. Moddable cards don't have those heat sinks.

So, look out for the eight chips and if your card doesn't come with heat sinks for those eight chips, it's a good sign that you have a moddable card.

VGA-Out Connector

Finally, take a look at the VGA-out connector. The moddable cards come with the new low-profile connector. If you look at the picture above, the "blue" housing of the connector is very thin. The non-moddable cards have the normal profile connector whereby the "blue" housing is a lot thicker.

Temperature Monitoring Chip

This is a necessary component for the OVERDRIVE and temperature monitoring functions to work. Without this chip, temperature monitoring functions won't exist.

This monitoring chip is none other than the National Semiconductor LM63 chip. It monitors the diode temperature and controls the fan speed with its pulse-width-modulated circuitry.

I read some reports that even if you have ALL the key elements mentioned above, it is still possible that your card may not have this chip. But please do NOT worry. Your card will still be moddable even without this chip. The only thing is your card will not have the temperature monitoring or OVERDRIVE tab enabled. Some may find this useful, but many do not.

NOTE : These are merely guidelines to get the correct card to mod. There is NO absolute guarantee that you will get a R360 core or a card with the LM63 chip, even if you strictly follow this guide.