ATI 9250 out, 9800 Pro in

[diddly]

Hi all. Am purchasing an ATI 9800 PRO to replace the 9250 I have now. Is there a specific procedure for replacement? ie; Do I just remove old card and install the new, or do I need to uninstall drivers first etc?
I have the ATI Catalyst drivers version 5.10 installed now, but they are not up-to-date. Thanks for any advice.

[dab420]

Swap in, check driver instructions. In my experience, ATI drivers love other ATI cards.
Might want to update once new card is installed anyways.

[mobo57]

You can try just doing the swap, may work, just depends. Chances are though you'll probably have to uninstall and re-install to get it up and running properly. I recently swapped out a 9800 pro for a AIW 9600XT. Didn't work. Had to go through the whole process. Good thing is you're staying with the same brand. At the minimum even if it doesn't work properly, you shouldn't get any serious system crashes or lock-ups.
I prefer to do a full removal of old drivers before installing replacement equipment. Sometimes the drivers arn't configured to recognize the specs of the new equipment.

[diddly]

Thanks guys. Will post back when installed. Will likely be ~ 1 week :).

I have the ATI Catalyst drivers version 5.10 installed now, but they are not up-to-date.
Duh. Speaks for itself :D.

[Midknyte]

5.10 isn't that bad, but there are more current drivers. look at the top of the video forum.

AIW cards have extra hardware like a tv tuner, so it required extra drivers. going from the 9250 to a 9800 should still be the same set. however, it would be a good idea to update the drivers .

[Someone Stupid]

The newest drivers will probaby give you the best compatibility, but unless you run into such issues (and you probably won't), I don't think they are needed. With all that said I do see where Midknyte is coming from, just it isn't the stance I generally take on cards which aren't on ati's list of priorities any longer. Even the X800 series is fading off ATi's list of priorities looking at release notes. All the performance they could get out of it has been done from their standpoint... now it's just fixing the odd new game here and there that may or may not have issues depending on your setup. Release notes are your friend.

[diddly]

Finally got the card. Comes with VGA Arctic cooling silencer. It's a 2nd hand, 128 Mb version. Clock speeds seem a little low to me though. 324/290. I can OC it to a stable 380/350 but would like to know if this seems right?
Got the latest drivers too.

[diddly]

Anybody?

[pandaz3]

I think it is under clocked right now, It seems to be close to 9500 Pro speeds or what I ran mine at (9500 Pro) but i could not get past 270 on Memory. It seems to me and Mr. Memory (who is old and feeble) that the speed you are aiming for are in the ballpark, but I never owned a 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro. Try it incrementally.

[diddly]

Thanks pandaz3 :). Am in the process of attempting to flash the BIOS now.