ATI RADEON 9500 64MB, 9500 128MB,
9500 PRO, 9700 and 9700 PRO
in DirectX 9.0:
Part 1 - Game benchmarks and 3DMark2001,
and Soft9700!

ATI RADEON 9500 64MB
All 5 cards have the same chipset, i.e. the die. Now look at the encircled areas. As you might know, our colleagues from Overclockers.ru found a way to modernize the R9500 up to the R9700.
ATI RADEON 9500 128MB
Look at the resistor on the R9500 and R9500Pro or R9700 and find the difference. See the details in the news.
ATI RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB
This trick works. But we do remind that you lose the warranty once you start soldering.  As for the other cards, it's impossible to turn the 64MB RADEON 9500 into R9700 because of the bus reduced to 128 bits on the hardware level.
ATI RADEON 9700 128MB
The RADEON 9500 PRO suits this, but you have to find the BIOS from R9700, and then modify it for 64 MB memory and 128bit bus. The BIOS from R9500 PRO doesn't suit because of peculiar operation of this card with memory (two-bank structure).
ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB
All the things above prove that ATI won't produce a separate chip for the RADEON 9500, and the whole line of 5 cards is equipped with the same R300 with just slight alterations on its body. However, we don't give up and keep on looking for a possibility to turn the R9500 into R9700 on the software level, i.e unlocking 4 hidden pipelines on the R9500.

I mentioned above that 4 out of 5 cards have their cores working at 275 MHz. Our tests and this fact imply that ATI found an excellent way to use the dies unable to run at 325 MHz. It proves that the prime cost of the whole line is not so high as we could think early in autumn 2002. 

Soft9700

Now we are going to speak about the Soft9700. When we just starting examining the RADEON 9500 and found out that it was based on the same die R300, Aleksei Nikolaichuk (AKA Unwinder, developer of the RivaTuner)  and me suspected that the chip was chopped at the software level. The situation with the memory buses is clear: the RADEON 9700/Pro and 9500 128MB have 256 bits, the 9500 64MB and 9500PRO have 128 bits. But it's was quite vague about normal 8 pipelines. I also mentioned about the way of using 8 pipelines on the hardware level by a bit of resoldering. 

And now we have found a software way! Aleksei has been working on it for 3 weeks and has finally found the protection and the way to avoid it! With the patch for the RivaTuner you can modify one of the files of the distributive of the drivers and install the drivers from this distributive! We tested both cards - RADEON 9500 64MB and 9500 128MB, and got a positive result: the first one was almost the RADEON 9500 PRO, while the other behaved like RADEON 9700. The results differ from the original ones by a couple of tenths of FPS, that is why it makes no sense to show them on the diagrams separately. Note that both R9500 cards can overclock, that is why it's easy to get even RADEON 9700 PRO! The developer of the RivaTuner promises to integrate this patch into the next version of the utility so that everyone can use it. 

A bit on connection between the hardware redesigning (resoldering) and software one. In case of the R300 PCI DeviceID is programmed in the BIOS. In case of the R9500PRO/R9700(PRO) - both high and low bytes are programmed, that is why if you flash the BIOS from R9500 into the R9500PRO the driver will identify the card as R9500 and use only 4 pixel pipelines. In the R9500 the resistor on the chip forbids programming of the high byte of PCI DeviceID making impossible to change the ID in the BIOS. But nothing prevents from forcing ID on the drivers level. That's exactly what we did. 

All the other aspects are already covered in the reviews listed above. 

Overclocking

For overclocking of the RADEON 9500 PRO we used the modified BIOS with the protection from changing frequencies was removed. It can be taken at http://www.rage3d.com. For speeding up the RADEON 9700 PRO we used the Hercules card with the modernized chip: 

With the frame removed the cooler is pressed tightly to the chip and we get 385 MHz instead of 360 MHz (to make it more stable I lowered the frequency to 380 MHz). The memory was running stably at 350 (700) MHz. 

All the other cards were overclocked to 325/310 (620) MHz in order to compare the resultant performance with the RADEON 9700 PRO (it's curious to set equal frequencies to look at the effect of four additional pipelines and/or the bus extension to 256bits). 

Test system and drivers

Testbed: 

• Pentium 4 based computer (Socket 478): 
• Intel Pentium 4 3066 MHz processor; 
• ASUS P4T533 (i850E, HyperThreading ON); 
• 512 MB 32bit RDRAM PC4200; 
• Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB; 
• Windows XP. 

The test system was coupled with ViewSonic P810 (21") and ViewSonic P817 (21") monitors.

In the tests we used ATI's drivers 6.255 (DirectX 9.0 used). VSync was off in the drivers, texture compression was off in the applications. Texture detail level set to High Quality. 

For comparison we used results of the following video cards: 

• Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4600 (300/325 (650) MHz, 128 MB, driver 42.02); 
• ABIT Siluro GF4 Ti4200-8x (GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP 8x, 250/256 (512) MHz, 128 MB, driver 42.02); 
• Albatron Medusa GeForce4 Ti 4200P Turbo (250/275 (550) MHz, 128 MB, driver 42.02); 
• Triplex Millennium Silver GeForce4 Ti 4200 (250/256 (512) MHz, 64 MB, driver 42.02). 

Drivers' settings

The DirectX 9 drivers are already released, that is why we can study operation of the ATI's cards supporting DX9. There are no gaming tests for this API, that is why we use the old tests but under the DX9. 

All the settings of the drivers are described in the reviews given above (the drivers 6.255 do not differ in this respect). 

Test results

Aleksei Nikolaichuk (AKA Unwinder, developer of RivaTuner) helped me modify operation of the RADEON 9700 by cutting the bus to 128bits (this is actually the RADEON 9500 PRO). The tests will be given further, and the small difference between the R9700 128bit and R9500 PRO proves again that the latter has a 128-bit bus. 

Also look at the tests of 4 out of 5 cards running at 325/310 MHz, i.e. at the frequencies of the RADEON 9700 PRO. The comparison shows that the memory bus and the crippled core (4 or 8 pipelines) do influence the results. 

All the cards except R9700 and R9700PRO were compared with the GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x priced at about $200 for the beginning of 2003 (i.e. the RADEON 9500 64 and 128MB are cheaper). The R9700 and 9700PRO are compared with the Ti 4600 (in first case the prices are comparable, and in the second one there is no one to confront with). 

In some tests we compared operation of several cards in 16- and 32-bit colors for estimation of balance. 

3D graphics, 3DMark2001 - game tests

These tests give just a general idea. The full analyses can be carried out only in separate tests. 

What can we see? The R9500 64MB falls far behind (except the AA mode), a little better results of the 128MB R9500 and excellent scores of the R9500 PRO in the modes with AA and/or anisotropy. The monsters R9700 and R9700PRO fight successfully against their competitor also in heavy conditions of AA and/or anisotropy. 

The R9500PRO lost a lot because of the crippled bus, and it also is the furthest from the R9500 128MB despite the 256bit bus of the other. 

The R9500 64MB (128bit) is the most balanced card, such a bus is quite enough for its 4 rendering pipelines, except for AA or anisotropy. The R9700 slows down with the transition from 16 to 32 bits in spite of its 256bit bus, i.e. 8 pipelines working at 275 MHz need a tad faster memory. 
 

Here the R9500 64MB performed better, and although it still loses much without AA and anisotropy, we must account for the price difference and a brilliant victory with the AA and anisotropy enabled. The R9500 128MB had it even better. 

Comparison of the 16 and 32 bit colors prove what I said above about good balance of the R9500 64MB compared to the R9700. 
 

Well, the situation is excellent for the whole line. 
 
 

The test which used to be the best test for ATI is now a stumbling block for the R9500-R9700 line. Probably, NVIDIA optimized operation of its cards so thoroughly that even the usage of the trumps like AA and/or anisotropy doesn't allow for the expected effect. Note that here it is the anisotropy that makes the R9500-9700 slow down, while the decrease of the GeForce4 Ti is not as great as before. I think something's wrong here. Because of a great number of effects this filtering type can hardly be noticed. That is why it's possible to play some tricks. It's not a hint, I just have such impression about NVIDIA. As for the speed decrease of the R9500-R9700 caused by the anisotropy, this test loads the video memory a lot, and as we know, this type of filtering also loads the memory much in case of all ATI's cards (the core is less loaded compared to the GeForce). Hence such drops. 

3D graphics, game tests

For estimation of 3D performance in games we used the following tests: 

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (MultiPlayer) (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Checkpoint-demo, test settings - maximum, S3TC OFF, the configurations can be downloaded from here

 
• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter v.1.05 (Croteam/GodGames) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Grand Cathedral demo, test settings: quality, S3TC OFF 

 
• Quake3 Arena v.1.17 (id Software/Activision) - OpenGL, multitexturing, Quaver, all settings - maximum: detailing level - High, texture detailing level - #4, S3TC OFF, smoothness of curved surfaces is greatly increased with variables r_subdivisions "1" è r_lodCurveError "30000" (at default r_lodCurveError is 250!), the configurations can be downloaded from here 

 
• Comanche4 Benchmark Demo (NovaLogic) - Direct3D, Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, highest quality

 
• Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo v.1027 (Digital Extreme/Epic Games) - Direct3D, Vertex Shaders, Hardware T&L, Dot3, cube texturing, default quality, ANTALUS 

 
• AquaMark 2.3 (Massive Development) is a game that demonstrates operation of a card in the DirectX 8.1, Shaders, HW T&L. 

 
• Code Creatures Benchmark Pro (CodeCult) - is a game that demonstrates operation of a card in the DirectX 8.1, Shaders, HW T&L.
• RightMark Video Analyzer v.0.4 (Philip Gerasimov) - DirectX 8.1, Dot3, cube texturing, shadow buffers, vertex and pixel shaders (1.1, 1.4). 

Note that the drivers 6.255 work incorrectly with the mouse pointer in OpenGL applications causing jerking in games of the RADEON 9500 PRO and higher. Somehow, it doesn't affect the R9500. It can be cured by disabling acceleration of the mouse pointer in the display settings (move the acceleration pointer to the left by 1). It doesn't affect the 3D speed but the mouse pointer moves a little slower. 

Quake3 Arena, Quaver

As always, NVIDIA has its OpenGL drivers optimized for the engine of Quake3, that is why in this test only the RADEON 9500 PRO is a bright leader. 

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, Grand Cathedral

Here is the evidence of the optimization of the drivers for this game. Look at the smooth victory of the whole line, even though the settings and scenes are much tougher than in the Quake3. 

Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Multiplayer), Checkpoint

Again the engine of Quake3, and again the GeForce4 Ti comes forward. However, the test is more dependent on the processor, that is why the ATI's cards suffer less from the anisotropy. Also remember that exactly in this game the anisotropic quality of the R9500-9700 falls down markedly, almost to the level of R8500 on the surfaces of 45 degrees (though now it's 60 degrees). 

Comanche4 DEMO

The RADEON 9500 PRO, as well as R9500 128MB have very good scores. 64 MB of the R9500 let down this card in this test (Comanche4 doesn't like cards with such memory size though, judging by the graphics, 64 MB are quite enough for all textures and other things). 

Unreal Tournament 2003 DEMO

Well, 4 vertex pipelines of all the cards of the ATI's line boost the performance greatly! 

AquaMark

The ATI's fans must be really happy now. This game uses numerous polygons with semitransparent textures to create an effect of depth of water. Apparently, the NVIDIA cards also process these polygons with anisotropy, hence such a dramatic drop. The ATI's cards are more tricky here, and we do agree: why to do unnecessry work. 

RightMark 3D

This test, which loads the accelerators with work with shaders a lot also shows that the R9500-9700 have no problems here, the speed of execution of the DirectX 8.1 1.1 shaders is very high. Taking into account that this scene doesn't have sloping surfaces, and the ATI's anisotropy is implemented by 100%, I'm really glad the R9500 PRo and higher outdo their rivals at this load. 

Code Creatures Benchmark Pro

This test is so tough that it makes no sense to enable AA and anisotropy. So, the speed is very low. The R9500 loses to its rivals (4 pipelines are obviously not enough for such complex scenes), and the changes take place starting from the R9500 PRO. There must be a powerful chip in the first place, and only then a wide memory band, though we can estimate a 256-bit bus according to the gap between the R9700 PRO and Ti 4600. 

Conclusion

Today we don't touch the quality issues, it will be discussed in the YUAN's  RADEON 9700 PRO review which will soon hit the streets. In the second part you can take a look at the unique tests for DirectX 9.0 where we will estimate operation of the shaders 2.0. 

1. The RADEON 9500 64MB deserves attention provided that its price is lowered to $100-110, otherwise its cheaper competitors would press it out (only the DX9 support might attract users - do remember that the 3DMark2003, this very popular packet, will arrive very soon) 
2. RADEON 9500 128MB is a unique card in all aspects; firstly, it's currently produced only by Sapphire, secondly, it's based on the R9700's PCB and that is why it has a 256-bit memory bus which often helps a lot in the AA and/or anisotropy modes to win the battle; thirdly, the card can be modernized into the normal RADEON 9700 (and even into RADEON 9700 PRO in the overclocking mode) 
3. RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB is the best choice for those who doesn't feel a desire to mess about modernization and prefers to use the card as is. Or, at least, overclock it. On the whole, the card outshines the GeForce4 Ti 4200-8x. 
4. RADEON 9700 will suit those who want a powerful accelerator at $250-270; it looks superior compared to the Ti 4600. It will be a good option for overclockers as well because the BIOS allows lifting frequencies up. 
5. RADEON 9700 PRO is still a king today. High-End market, the price is matching. I would advise that you wait for the GeForce FX to makes things clearer regarding the speeds, and the prices of the R9700 PRO will probably start falling down. 
6. There is a way to turn RADEON 9500 64MB into RADEON 9500 PRO and RADEON 9500 128MB into RADEON 9700 on the software level! 

In summary, I must say that operation of the drivers 6.255 under DirectX 9.0 was flawless but for the situation with the mouse pointer in the OpenGL when we had to accelerate it. On the whole, the speed of the games and tests in the DirectX 9.0 didn't fall down. I hope the programmers at ATI will correct the error as soon as possible.