Tong Family

“OC FAQ”:http://www.ocfaq.com/forum_new/showthread.php?t=303. The folks at OCFAQ seem to know an amazing amount. Here’s the detailed scoop from a thread of theirs. There was quite an opportunity in the last ATI product cycle to turn 9500s into 9700s, but that window has closed, but is still open a tad for 9800 SE to 9800 non-pro
* Unlocking. ALL 9800 SE’s can have their 4 pipelines unlocked to 8, there is just an approximate 50% chance it will work without a problem. It will about doulbe performance.
* Memory. If your card contains memory aligned in a single horizontal row, or “I” shaped pattern, you have 128bit memory and there is no converting it to 256bit. For those of you with memory aligned in both horizontal and vertical patterns, or “L” shaped, you have 256bit memory. There is a 1500~2000 3D Mark 2001 point spread between these 2 types, so make sure you purchase the latter.
* The 256 bit has 256bit version has a core of 380 MHz and memory of 340 MHz as an additional check.
* Sapphire 9800SE: all models 128bit bus, so these aren’t preferred
* ATI cards: various, see W1zards chart, most of them are 128bit though so the odds are low.
* PowerColor: all 256bit (that I have seen), 2 different pcbs, one like the 9700, one like the 9800 most have 9800Pro clock speed. The part number is Powercolor R98SE-C3. They are $30 more because they also have better RAM. Someone did get a 128bit model once though, so caveat emptor. Don’t get the XR98SE-C3 as this has I shaped 128 bit memory.
* All in Wonder 9800SE: several brands, all 256bit memory since there is only a single reference design for these.
* “Extreme Overclocking”:http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread/t-64690.html. Club-3D cards are also supposed to be 256-bit and softmoddable.