Anandtech Radeon 8500 preview up!

[Daemon_UK]

Now I just don't get it....

ATi 8500 is more feature packed then Nvidia, I think we can agree on that.

ATi 8500 just needs its drivers polished up, so they can (hopefully) be on par with Den 4.0. Or even if its 5 fps of the mark, thats enough for people.

Now, with Nvidia releasing a refresh of their already excellent Geforce 3. To retake the speed crown from themseleves is completely silly from my standpoint.

Comeon Nvidia!, I just don't want another Geforce 3 clocked ever higher, whats the point of that???

I want EYE-CANDY at a decent speed!! At least ATi is going some ways towards that!

If the ATi 8500 is priced lower than a Geforce 3, and frame rates are compariable with options turned on such as MSFAA (Quinquix) and Tru-Form), then they will quickly have a winner on their hands!!

All the peps like myself with Kyro II's, Geforce MX's, Voodoo 3/5's will have something to upgrade to at Xmas or just after

 

[Shagga]

I like the TRUFORM feature a lot. My GF3 will just have to stay in my rig a bit longer.

 

[Czar]

Damn Matrox

*still owns Matrox Millenium G400"

 

[Byte]

If there are as much driver leaks as Nvidia, i'm getting a Radeon 8xxx as soon as it comes out!

 

[kingz]

I really hope ATI can lower that price. NVIDIA's GeForce 3 "Ultra" will probably be out when the Radeon 8500 comes out, so the regular GeForce3's will probably be around $250. Then again, the Radeon is running 3.6ns RAM, which is quite expensive. I really like that TRUFORM screenshot though, and AA looks good on the Radeon.

 

[mchammer187]

I think this was a big screwup for ATI, how did they let this thing be benched because I'm sure they had to compare it with the Geforce 3 before. I am still optimistic thoughg especially about price GF3 was going to be 500 and beyond when it was announced but that did not happen so hopefully the same thing will will happen with the Radeon 2. The technology is there I just hope ATI gets there act together in the next 4 weeks.

 

[damocles]

The only prohibitive factors would be the price which at $399 will be a tough buy for many and the drivers which will hopefully, for ATI's sake, improve significantly by the time the Radeon 8500 hits the streets.

Unless it improves dramatically and decreases price i don't see how it will compete when Geforce 3's can already be had as low as $294. There is no denying it has a great feature set but it's just too pricey IMHO

 

[KpocAlypse]

<< Damn Matrox

*still owns Matrox Millenium G400&quot; >>



My g400 just fell 3 months ago to a ATI radeon 64....Man i miss that G400...That was a great card.

Anyway it was a nice read, but for $399, ummm, i'm not so sure....

 

[Mem]

I know it`s only a preview but am I the only one disappointed with the performance?...anyway it has some nice features.

 

[Athlon4all]

I was impressed for the most part with the 8500's potential to beat the GF3, peticulairly in ATi's implementation of Anti-Aliasing, not in the image qual, but the performance increase on the 8500 over the GF3 with AA, and not to mention TRUFORM, the beauty about TRUFORM is that it seems like that we're gonna see it go to use in current games very soon after it's release, so I think it has great potential, but until Drivers improve, that's all it is, potential. It will need to be re-evaluated in the 2nd or 3rd week of September, just before cards actually start to show up.

I wasn't impressed though with the 7500, I saw it basically as a Radeon Ultra, a Ultra that is $50 more than a GF2 Pro and barely beat it and sometimes didn't. But, though like somebody mentioned, it probably has potential in the ocing department though, depending on what RAM card makers put on it. So, we'll have to see where it's at in another month or so.

The one thing that I am very curious about though, is how will the 7500 stack up against a GF3 MX that is coming. I seriously think that ATi is acutally going to produce a 8000 that will be lower clocked than a 7500, but have all the major features of 8500. People may be arguing that it's having trouble as it is beating the GF3 and saying that how will it beat a GF3 Ultra? Well, we all know that all nVidia is going to do is increase the Core/Memory clock of the GF3 on the Ultra, and as a result that won't do anything to combat TRUFORM, and the better T&amp;L engine, etc. So, it shall be interesting matchup.

Another thing, is that assuming the GF3 MX will have the features of the GF3 core (Vertex/Pixel Shader, Quincex AA, etc), then Crush 17/18 (GF3 MX core and PC2700 support, coming Q2 2002) will still have the edge of the ATi chipset, because it will be shipping with the RV200 right? So it won't be a DX8 part, while the new nForce will have a DX8 part so, we'll see.

 

[Davegod75]

All this stuff on the radeon 2 and i've never heard anything about and AIW version. Will there be a AIW radeon 8500???/

 

[bigbootydaddy]

<< All this stuff on the radeon 2 and i've never heard anything about and AIW version. Will there be a AIW radeon 8500???/ >>



for the bargain price of

[que dr evil]
ONE MILLION DOLLARS..
[/end dr evil]

booty

edit: I didnt see it, but did it say anything about true SMP support?? been waiting forever ati...

 

[RGN]

hmm, looks like I buy another nVidia card...

 

[KpocAlypse]

The Radeon don't have SMP support? ACK! O.k screw the duellie p3 idea.....

 

[ToBeMe]

Well.....this is pretty much a let down. I mean yeah, the 8500 has potential and with better driver support by release..........oh wait......this IS ATI we're talking about......well......Hmmmm

Sad but true thing was mentioned above nVidia is more than likely poised with a interim release, say the GF3 Ultra, and in another month will be that much closer to their next generation. Add to that the fact that nVidia has the ability to release driver updates at a rate of about 75:1 compared to ATI and I doubt this will fair much better than their last release.....

Don't take me wrong, I like the Radeon and will probably buy an 8500.......but it always seems ATI comes up &quot;A Day Late And A Dollar Short&quot;.......Oh, and the BS about Tom crying about the Det. 4 release......what difference does that make???? If nVidia had released them a week earlier, or today, the fact remains that GF3 would still have the edge......and the bull about &quot;ATI could have built better drivers to beat it&quot; is BS too.......how many sets of drivers have they released this year so far?????? It's not like that's a real strong area for them!

Hopefully though, with all options enabled the 8500 will stand a bit taller on release......one thing that puzzled me a bit, where was the GF2 Ultra in the Benchmarks? I would have liked to see it in there too because IMHO the 8500 and GF2 Ultra would have run about dead even!

 

[joohang]

<< Damn Matrox

*still owns Matrox Millenium G400&quot; >>


<-- loves his G450

 

[Adul]

I shall reserve judgement until a later date. I need a new 3D card soon, my tnt2u is getting long in the tooth.

 

[kingz]

I'm I the only one who thinks TRUFORM is one major kick arss feature not to be missed? If it does offer &quot;no performance hit&quot;, I think FPS and half of the benchmarks won't mean jack anymore! Did you guys see the head on guy in the CS screenshot? SMOOTH!

The only thing is still the price. I'm sure street price will be lower, but by how much? I think it would have to be ~$300 when it comes out to make people want to buy.

 

[majewski9]

I am buying a Radeon LE and I am now kinda of second guessing my decision. I mean the Radeon 2 will be out next month! I don't know what to do! My current graphics card I found in a P100 and was a replacment for my old video card that wasn't too great either. I can't even play mpeg 2 video! I need something now!

Yeah all Nvidiots did you read the first few lines where it said ATI fixed win2k problems. Enough said.

 

[mchammer187]

/me hoping for 275 at launch and prays for kick arse drivers

 

[bjc112]

i think i'' still try and pick a a geforce 3 instead... the radeon lost in almost every benchmark.. not that 5 fps is a big deal... but............................

 

[EdipisReks]

i was going to buy a radeon 64 MB VIVO in october to compliment the new system that i am going to start building in september, but if the 8500 comes down to a decent price and gets some nice drivers i may wait another month and pick one up in november. i don't care about the raw speed as much as i care about video features and image quality. it looks like the FSAA is even faster on the 8500 than it is on the geforce3, and to me, that is VREY VERY impressive.

--jacob

 

[Athlon4all]

Where'd this post go? Guess P4X266 news took it over. I agree, that FSAA increased performance is very big for me also.



<< I'm I the only one who thinks TRUFORM is one major kick arss feature not to be missed? If it does offer &quot;no performance hit&quot;, I think FPS and half of the benchmarks won't mean jack anymore! Did you guys see the head on guy in the CS screenshot? SMOOTH! >>


I don't even play many games, and I think TRUFORM is one of the biggest features also. U aren't alone.

 

[Yzzim]

<< and the bull about &quot;ATI could have built better drivers to beat it&quot; is BS too.......how many sets of drivers have they released this year so far?????? It's not like that's a real strong area for them! >>



Now that's BS.

Just take a look at how many drivers ATI has released for the Radeon since Noverember 9th, 2000. Around 28 different drivers for Win98/ME alone.
Performance is outstanding with both Win98 and Win2k. The driver updates have really helped with the Radeon. I remember numerous times of updating the Radeon drivers and getting an extra 100 points in 3DMark2k1.
Granted, ATI has been known to lack with driver updates, but they've really changed their ways with the Radeon. Let's just hope this lasts with the 8500...I see no reason why it wouldn't.

 

[ToBeMe]

<< Now that's BS >>


OK.......then why did it take them over half a year to finally get decent 2K drivers? As for comparrison, I worded that comment porrly......I'll admit that, what I meant and was implying was in comparrison to nVidia as far as drivers.... I just doubt it would have made any difference if the Det. 4's HAD been out.......they (ATI) were determined to release the 8500 and did so with many feature inoperable so I doubt they would have/could have had better drivers either.....