Quick help plz

[MonkeyBlitch]

I just got a OEM ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, but I am not sure if its the pro version. On the bag it says ATI RADEON R95000P 128MB DDR. When I click on options and in details it says its manufactured by ATI Technologies Inc. and the driver disc came from Sapphire. Anybody know if its the pro? did ATI ever manufacture a 9500 128MB non pro? How can I tell if its the pro? It has the 4 memory modules 2 on top and 2 on side? wasn't that supposed to be 4 straight across at the top?

[pam123]

Go to Display Properties > Settings.
There in the box for display it will read 9500pro/9700 if it's a 9500pro.
You can also check device manager where you should also see the same thing.

[MonkeyBlitch]

It says 9700/9500 SERIES.

[MonkeyBlitch]

I checked at ATI's website and put the BIOS part number and got this:

BUILT BY ATI Product Part Number Search Results



Results On: 11394232101

Product Description BIOS Part Number 102 Part Number
RADEON 9500 128MB VGA DVI-I TVOUT - AIB 11394232101 1029423231

[MonkeyBlitch]

Plz help!

[pam123]

Come Monday morning, or earlier if tech support answers phones on the weekend, you should call ATI.
That will either clear up the mystery or get your card replaced.
By the way, where did you buy it and, if you have to, could you prove you weren't the guy who switched the cards?
Back when the 9700pro was the card everyone had to have there were a lot of cases of people paying $400 for a box with an aged Voodoo card in it.
The common warning at that time was to open the box in the store and in front of the salesman.
Over at Rage3D there were also several instances of people paying for the 9500pro and getting the np.
Call ATI as soon as you can and make sure you keep the sales slip, invoice, etc.

Some invoices and sales slips have numbers that match those on the card as well as the product box, they could well be the proof you need.
ATI doesn't like resellers who make them look bad. You'll get your hearing.

[MonkeyBlitch]

I installed Catalyst 3.5 and it shows the display properties > settings as Radeon 9500. No Pro displayed any where. Did ATI manufacture a 9500 non pro? I bought it at a local pc store and its OEM. How can I prove it? Anybody please help me!!!!!!

[MonkeyBlitch]

I need some help quick, if i don't find out this is the pro version today then I have to return it to the store and order something else!~!!

[Force Flow]

I'd say since the disk came from Sapphire, the card was made by Sapphire.

Where did you buy the card from? Go to their website and compare your card to what was listed. Definately conpare it and what you have to what you invoice says.

Go the other way and see what the pro version looks like, if they're different, then chances are you just got the 9500.

Also, I think it's been verified 2 way already that it's a non-pro:
There in the box for display it will read 9500pro/9700 if it's a 9500pro.
It says 9700/9500 SERIES.
No mention of "Pro"
RADEON 9500 128MB VGA DVI-I TVOUT
Again, no mention of "pro"

This reminds me of looking at the windows version in 98FE. When in the system properties in 98FE, there is nothing notated that it is 98FE. In 98SE, it is notated that it is 2nd edition.

[pam123]

ATI confined itself to the pro cards when the radeons were released.
But Sapphire is ATI's maufacturer and they made OEM cards as well as cards under their own name which where np as well as pro. Thus the "built by ATI" that you saw. That's why there were OEM 9500pro cards.
If you want a 9500pro buy the retail ATI card at newegg but I warn you that the pricue is still up there at $198.
I'm still not sure if you got caught in an honest error, it was a running joke at Rage3D about how to keep the cards straight, or an attempted swindle, the later 9500s couldn't be moded into 9700s and they weren't that much cheaper than the 9500pro. Once no one wanted them any more you can see the temptation to pass them off as pros.
I still think ATI should be told, but that's your choice. Just retrun the card and start again.

[MonkeyBlitch]

Why does it say manufactured by ATI Technologies then? The card looks exactly like the 9500 pro except the memory is setup different. I won't buy it at newegg. I saw it for less somewhere else. Someone told me this about the card:

You have got yerself a Nice card RARE, That card can be turned into a 9700 Pro Easy for REAL, The Pro can NOT be.

E.g-

9700 Pro 256 Bit 324/275 mem Im guessing on MEM

9500 NON Pro is 275mhz/275 i think BUT the MEM BUS can be Upped too 256 I think The PRO can not I own a 9500 Pro and my current newbie is below.

What should i do? keep it or ask for a 9600 pro? since I can't get a refund.

[pam123]

The 9500 card with the L-shaped memory was built on the same pcb as the 9700. So it was possible to reconnect the 4 pixel pipelines and return it, with overclocking, to 9700 performance. Or at least it was when it worked. I've got no percentages on that to give you but serious artifacting was a major problem with that mod.
It isn't true that you can't mod the pro to near 9700 performance, it requires a flash of the video card bios though and is also tricky and subject to failure.
ATI had Sapphire remove the 9500s with that pcb from the market, so they're rare. You should also know that ATI also altered the catalyst drivers at that time so that they would cause truble with the cards that had been modified. If you do a search you'll find the thread I posted about that.
I've already given you my view on what to do with the card, if you can't get a refund and they'll give you a 9600pro instead you'll have to make your own choice.
Sapphire makes all "built by ATI" cards as well as ATI cards that are sold under it's own name.

[MonkeyBlitch]

Thanks for your help! I also found this info:

ATI RADEON 9500 128MB

The Original 1st production 9500

Red board with 'L' shaped memory layout

Rare card!! - no long being produced

FAST 3.3ns RAM

(Other cards might have 3.6 or 4ns, check before you buy)

AGP8X- Fastest available

3D GRAPHICS CARD

DUAL MONITOR SUPPORT

Not only is this video card faster than the GeForce Ti-4200 and on par with the Ti-4600 it also has cleaner 2D graphics. Your online stream video, divx, DVD, VCD and other videos will play much more smoother than other video cards with it's SMOOTHVISION 2.0 and SMARTSHADER 2.0 technology.

RED PCB Version (same as the 9700 PCB board)

[Blakhart]

Now you need to unlock it for 256bit mem bus goodness.

[MonkeyBlitch]

Yeah pretty much!