In case you've been living under a rock, Click on this link to see my step by step guide in SOFTMODDING you 9700pro into a 9800pro

http://forum.ces3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=36

The omegadrivers have an option to softmod 9700-9800 while installing. Very clever.

Schizophonic,

Hey Bro, I just wanted to say thanks for the walkthrough. It brought my 3DMARK2001 score up to 16,918. My machine was a little hot when I ran 3DM2K1 too, so I will be in the 17k club next time I run it probably.
I'm also using powerstrip to OC it a little, nothing really aggressive, 375/324. I suggestions for tweaking this puppy some more? I mean, I'm not complaining because my rig is running smooth, but you know how tweakers are? Always looking for the edge. 8)

-Hawks

If you volt mod the puppy then you should easily hit 410 on the core and 341 on the mem. Its pretty easy and if you add a swiftech mcw50-t then the sky is the limit. I have been running both of mine stable playing games and benches at 490/361 for a few months now. You must not forget to mill the shim or remove it and you must have some descent case cooling to cool the ram...sure wish someone would market some waterblocks for the ram on the card?????Hint Hint :wink:

Can you mod non-pro versions into their superior non-pro versions ?
As in a basic 9700 to a basic 9800 ?

As far as hardware goes you could.....the main issue after that is cooling. Remeber that while the core is essentially the same and capible of the higher clock frequencies the ram chips on the standard 9700 are different which will limit you somewhat in overclocking. It really shouldnt make that much difference though since you can take a 9700pro and so long as you have adequate cooling mod it into a card that wont be out for more then a year.
The chips that senses and releases voltage is the same on both cards however the the bios which has been programmed is different therefore the voltage going into the chip has been reduced. That why you must do the volt mod. As for the softmods....I have heard and read various things from people and everyone is in contradiction at the moment however, it is starting to look like the newer drivers are responsible for the gain in bench points and not the softmod.