ATI Catalyst 2.3 rock!

[WarSong]

I just upgraded the drivers for my Radeon 8500LE@300MHz/300MHz from ATI Catalyst 2.2 to 2.3 and my 3DMark2k1SE 330 went from 5631 to 6061 with my P3-700@933!! That's more of an improvement than the overclocking of my vid card did. I just got out of playing BF1942 for 2 hours and it's rock solid. Sweet driver upgrade. I'm one happy camper.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

at first i regretted buying my radeon 8500 (start on this year), but its sooooooooooo good now with these drivers! Almost catching the Ti4200 but not quite..

 

[PING]

Do you guys have problem with vsync? I tried cat 2.3, but went back to 2.2 because of vsync problem with Counter-Strike. There seem to be no way to turn vsync on under the control panel. I tried RageTweaker but to no avail.

 

[Tates]

at first i regretted buying my radeon 8500 (start on this year), but its sooooooooooo good now with these drivers! Almost catching the Ti4200 but not quite..

I agree the drivers team at ATi have done a bang up job getting the 8500 up to snuff. BTW, My highest 3DMark2001se score of 11,022 is just 1 shy of the Ti4200 mark for my rig's catagory (11,023). I'ld say that makes them at least even. In fact, I recently purchased, then sold, a Ti4400 because I like the 8500 so much. I think the IQ is better, I think the ATi Control Panel is more user friendly and richer in features than nVidia's and you can't forget Trueform.

In fact, I am usually one of those types that grabs the newest and great video card when it hits the street, but the 8500 runs everything so well, I can't see doing anything but waiting until the price of the 9700 Pro drops to $200 before I switch.

As always, JMHO

 

[eplebnista]

 

[joecool]

Originally posted by: Tates

at first i regretted buying my radeon 8500 (start on this year), but its sooooooooooo good now with these drivers! Almost catching the Ti4200 but not quite..

I agree the drivers team at ATi have done a bang up job getting the 8500 up to snuff. BTW, My highest 3DMark2001se score of 11,022 is just 1 shy of the Ti4200 mark for my rig's catagory (11,023). I'ld say that makes them at least even. In fact, I recently purchased, then sold, a Ti4400 because I like the 8500 so much. I think the IQ is better, I think the ATi Control Panel is more user friendly and richer in features than nVidia's and you can't forget Trueform.

In fact, I am usually one of those types that grabs the newest and great video card when it hits the street, but the 8500 runs everything so well, I can't see doing anything but waiting until the price of the 9700 Pro drops to $200 before I switch.

As always, JMHO

i'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say i think the 8500 is actually BETTER than the ti4200 (& maybe the 4400 & 4600)! the benchmark scores are close (8500 even wins some) and the fps rates in many games (admittedly not all) are also close (again, with the 8500 taking the crown in some). i couldn't agree more about the control panel, and frankly, i think the 8500 just plain looks better! i recently picked up the msi ti4600 but after playing with it for a few days i've switched back to my good old 8500. even if i didn't like the images from the 8500 better, the speed difference is so marginal that there's just no way it's worth the price premium. i got my 8500 for $130 from newegg and frankly, i think that's the vid card deal of the year!

go ATI ... can't wait for those 9700's to come down a little in price!

-joe

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: joecool

Originally posted by: Tates

at first i regretted buying my radeon 8500 (start on this year), but its sooooooooooo good now with these drivers! Almost catching the Ti4200 but not quite..

I agree the drivers team at ATi have done a bang up job getting the 8500 up to snuff. BTW, My highest 3DMark2001se score of 11,022 is just 1 shy of the Ti4200 mark for my rig's catagory (11,023). I'ld say that makes them at least even. In fact, I recently purchased, then sold, a Ti4400 because I like the 8500 so much. I think the IQ is better, I think the ATi Control Panel is more user friendly and richer in features than nVidia's and you can't forget Trueform.

In fact, I am usually one of those types that grabs the newest and great video card when it hits the street, but the 8500 runs everything so well, I can't see doing anything but waiting until the price of the 9700 Pro drops to $200 before I switch.

As always, JMHO

i'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say i think the 8500 is actually BETTER than the ti4200 (& maybe the 4400 & 4600)! the benchmark scores are close (8500 even wins some) and the fps rates in many games (admittedly not all) are also close (again, with the 8500 taking the crown in some). i couldn't agree more about the control panel, and frankly, i think the 8500 just plain looks better! i recently picked up the msi ti4600 but after playing with it for a few days i've switched back to my good old 8500. even if i didn't like the images from the 8500 better, the speed difference is so marginal that there's just no way it's worth the price premium. i got my 8500 for $130 from newegg and frankly, i think that's the vid card deal of the year!

go ATI ... can't wait for those 9700's to come down a little in price!

-joe

I have an ATI 8500 AIW and i want to see some proof of these claims. Do you have links to any articles/benches? Thanks.

 

[merlocka]

www.tomshardware.com

www.anandtech.com

www.firingsquad.com

www.digit-life.com

www.hardocp.com

 

[Xtasy]

I think you ati 8500 pple are getting a little ahead of yourself. The ati 8500 scores really considerably high on 3dmark2k1, but this is only a benchmark!!! Looking at the real world 3d performance (from benchmarks from reliable sights), i would say it is not close to the geforce 4 ti4200 and is pretty much tied with the geforce 3 (orig. or ti500).

 

[BFG10K]

I agree that the 2.3s rock but not for 3DMark reasons.

I have an ATI 8500 AIW and i want to see some proof of these claims.

The 8500's drivers have improved to the point that it often beats a Ti4200 and occasionally even beats the Ti4600.

Good benchmarks here.

 

[PING]

I don't have geforce 4 to compare it to, but I'm happy with my Hercules 8500le I got from fry's for $100. I just wish ATI will provide an option to have vsync ON all the time.

 

[cliftonite]

What does vsync do and how do i enable it?

 

[KIAman]

I used the rage3d program to turn on v-sync in D3D mode, and it worked for CS, which I run in Opengl. Wierd.

 

[BFG10K]

What does vsync do

Basically it limits your maximum framerate to no higher than that of your current refresh rate.

and how do i enable it?

Use the driver control panel.

 

[alkemyst]

How's the 2D compared to the GF4's with the 2.3 drivers?

hoping for the best on wednesday or thursday for my 8500 128MB install. TNT2 Ultra has been my card for the last few years.

 

[Auric]

What does vsync do
---
Basically it limits your maximum framerate to no higher than that of your current refresh rate.
---

Well that is what it does but the purpose is to eliminate visual tearing.

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
I agree that the 2.3s rock but not for 3DMark reasons.

Agreed. Decent performance boost across the board and sometimes even a spectacular boost (Sam 2) for my retail 8500. Also they fixed the "bad weather lockup" in Madden 2003.

Oh yeah, and a 400 point boost in 3dmark2001 se just for the heck of it.

 

[PING]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

What does vsync do

Basically it limits your maximum framerate to no higher than that of your current refresh rate.

and how do i enable it?

Use the driver control panel.

That's the problem with ATI's control panel, there's no option to "enable it." There's an option to have it "always off" or "Application preference."

Now the problem is, if you're playing Counter-Strike using cat 2.2 the vsycn is ON. with cat 2.3 vsync is OFF.

 

[Keltron]

I avoided the card because of it's FSAA lag, but i will be defenitely buying a 9700