ATI Radeon 9100 (128M) for $49.99 before shipping AR

[xwinger]

I think 9100 is the same as the regular 8500? I don't think you can find 9100 at this low price anywhere especially for a 128M one. It is from TigerDirect. I never had trouble with TD, but then I never had to return anything to them.

Oh, the price is after a 20 rebate.

They also have a TI4200 for $99. I think that is a good price for a 128M card.

Link: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=28

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[Parasitic]

Not meanto threadcrapping, but I was under the impression NOT EVERY 9100 was made with 128-bit of memory pipeline. Be sure to know what brand this card is from before you buy it.

 

[xwinger]

Thanks for the pointer. From the web site, it says it is manufactured by ATI themselves (that is a plus, right?). I don't think ATI makes 64bit-pipelined 9100. However, if I am wrong, please let me know as soon as possible. I might still have time to canceled the order.

 

[GTFan]

This looks to be a great deal for an 8500-equiv card that can run 99% of the stuff out there at 1024x768x32 (min) with decent FPS. I paid $70 at googlegear for the Sapphire 64MB version a little over a month ago. At $50 AR this card rules, damn near as good as a Ti4200 for much less. You can't beat ATI's 2D display quality either.

 

[Ionizer86]

Watch out for Tiger though. Dishonest guys.

As for the card, I ordered a "Built by ATi" R9100 from Newegg. ATi's site doesn't have such a product, and when it came, it was a Sapphire card "Powered by ATi."

No prob tho, Sapphire's great too, and the card was green
<--has all green PCI/AGP/Dimm/mobo config.

 

[Password]

I think that the 9100 is the same as the 8500LE. Powered by ATI means that it is not built by ATI.
It's probably a Sapphire. I've owned the Sapphire 9100 64meg for about 6 months. It works great!

 

[simo]

9100 128Mb might actually be slower than a 8500 64Mb though due to crappy memory used, or a slower core if it's an OEM.

If you didn't get in on the Compgeeks offer, this one is sound enough (except it's through TD and rebate).

 

[Ionizer86]

No vid out, apparently. My card from Newegg had vid out, and they gave me an adapter so I could use the composite RCA plugs.

 

[xwinger]

Actually, I believe it is made by ATI, not powered by ATI.

From Tiger's web site:
Manufactured by: ATI Technologies
Manufacturer Part No: 9100128AGP-WHTBX
Shipping Weight: 2.0 pound
Limited Warranty: LIFETIME parts; LIFETIME labor

I heard that made by ATI is better because of better driver support (?). For most of the benchmark I saw, 64M and 128M are neck by neck. But I think 128M shall pull ahead for later applications that can use the additional memory. This card is 250/250. What is speed for 64M?

There got to be some advantages for the 128M over that of 64M. 128M consistently fetch 10 or 20 dollars premium over the 64M on the net.

I figure that even if Tiger direct give me a hard time on returns, I can always contact ATI directly.

 

[Parasitic]

Also the 128MB of Radeon 9100 may come with more relaxed memory timings than a Radeon 8500LE 128MB, and that will also factor in performance result; however, just edit the BIOS and you're good to go.

And R9100 is specified to run only 250/250, and most companies do only ship with 4ns memory. Overclocking may be more limited.

 

[simo]

Well if there's no video out then this may be either a 9000 or a BIOS-flash screw-up....?

 

[XxParrotxX]

The rebate says "White Box." This means OEM (nothing but the card), and only a 1 year warranty, not the standard ATI 5 year. It's up to you.

 

[xwinger]

"The rebate says "White Box." This means OEM (nothing but the card), and only a 1 year warranty, not the standard ATI 5 year. It's up to you. "

Yes, it is a white box. From Tiger Direct's web site, the part number is 9100128AGP-WHTBX. But it also said that it carries a Lifetime part and labor warranty. Of course, Tiger Direct could be lying.

I was really hoping for a TI4200 for 50 dollars, but I will probably have to wait another year to get deal like that and Serious Sams are seriously choking on my Radeon 32M card.

 

[xwinger]

To Parasitic,


"Also the 128MB of Radeon 9100 may come with more relaxed memory timings than a Radeon 8500LE 128MB, and that will also factor in performance result; however, just edit the BIOS and you're good to go.

And R9100 is specified to run only 250/250, and most companies do only ship with 4ns memory. Overclocking may be more limited. "

Do you have a link that will further elaborate the above statement?

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: GTFan
This looks to be a great deal for an 8500-equiv card that can run 99% of the stuff out there at 1024x768x32 (min) with decent FPS. I paid $70 at googlegear for the Sapphire 64MB version a little over a month ago. At $50 AR this card rules, damn near as good as a Ti4200 for much less. You can't beat ATI's 2D display quality either.

I have a 8500LE (250/250) that seems to run all the games I've played so far (at 1152x846 w/ 16X AF) pretty well.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: xwinger
To Parasitic,


"Also the 128MB of Radeon 9100 may come with more relaxed memory timings than a Radeon 8500LE 128MB, and that will also factor in performance result; however, just edit the BIOS and you're good to go.

And R9100 is specified to run only 250/250, and most companies do only ship with 4ns memory. Overclocking may be more limited. "

Do you have a link that will further elaborate the above statement?

Xbitlabs

 

[Lanyap]

Typical TD. They always seem to screw up the descriptions. They put enough inconsistancies in the desciption so that you really don't know what they're selling. You can't rely on calling them because their CSR don't know crap. Notice that the label on the GPU heatsink fan says "Powered by ATI" and there is no ATI logo on the PCB. Everything indicates this is not "Built by ATI" so there is no telling who the manufacturer is for this generic ATI card.

Also notice that the rebate goes to TCA.

TD + TCA = NOT A GOOD DEAL


Sorry xwinger, don't mean to threadcrap on you. You really have to watch TD.

 

[xwinger]

O.k.,

I just received the card today. I am going to install it this afternoon and let you know what I found.

In case anybody is interested.

 

[Killrose]

This is a great price for 128mb card. The gpu should overclock well and even if the ram is 4ns, most all 4ns will easily do 275MHz. Even at $60 this is a great deal as long as they don't ding you too much on shipping.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: xwinger
O.k.,

I just received the card today. I am going to install it this afternoon and let you know what I found.

In case anybody is interested.

What is the ram speed rating?

 

[xwinger]

O.K.,

First the bad news, it is NOT build by ATI. It is build by VisionTek. Also, it is in an oem white box. So, bad bad Tiger Direct.

Now, in terms of how the performance goes, I used the performance numbers in the Tom's Hardware Guide as a reference.

In Tom's Hardware Guide's video section, the 3dMark 2001 SE2 for 7200 is 3675, for 8500LE 64MB is 9627 (or 2.62 times that of 7200), for 8500 64MB is 8603 (or 2.34 times that of 7200), for 8500 128MB is 9892 (or 2.69 times that of 7200), for TI4200 128MB is 11750 (or 3.20 times that of 7200).

I have two computers, let me denote them as computer A (where the 9100 will eventually go) and computer B.

Computer A has ATI Radeon 7200 SDR, Athlon XP1700+, Biostar M7M1A (an old AMD 761 chipset), 512 MB memory and window 98. The new Visiontek 9100 will go into this computer. In the Bios, all memory timing was set using the most conservative values.

Computer B has ATI Radeon 8500LE (build by ATI), Athlon 1899+, Abit KG7 (AMD 761 chipset also), 768 MB memory, and Window 2000. In the Bios, all memory timing was set using agressive values.

Therefore, the same card shall run faster in computer B than in computer A.

3DMark 2001 SE2 is 2048 in computer A. The 3dMark value for computer B is 6855 (or 3.35 times that of in computer A). This surprise me a little bit because that is greater than the ratio of TI4200 over that of 7200. But I guess since computer B is a faster system than computer A, it is somewhat understandable.

Here is the shocker. The 3dMark 2001 value for the computer A after I installed the Visiontek 9100 is 7593 (or 3.71 times that of 7200).

I am not quite sure how to make sense of this number. It is significantly better than the ATI 8500LE (and that one was in a system with better motherboard, better memory, etc.). More surprisingly, I got a number that I suspect can even beat the TI4200.

Frankly, I am not sure I trust these numbers. Maybe with the newer ATI drivers, the 9100 128MB not only can beat 8500LE 64MB, it actually can get close or even beat TI4200. Anyway, I am extremely happy with what I got.

I don't know how fast is my memory. The memory on board the 9100 is Nynix 309A HY50V281622DT-4, whatever that means.

Do any of you know how to overclock my graphic card or find out how fast my graphic memory is?

 

[RagingGuardian]

I was going to order one of these before I noticed there is no S-Video out on the card. I did order a 64mb 9100 from Newegg though so it had better perform atleast as well as yours. I heard some of them are castrated with 64bit memory bus. Your card has 4ns memory so it should hit 275, even though I have no idea how hynix memory overclocks.

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: RagingGuardian
I did order a 64mb 9100 from Newegg though so it had better perform atleast as well as yours. I heard some of them are castrated with 64bit memory bus.

I have never heard of a Radeon 8500 (retail or le) or a 9100 with 64 bit memory bus

 

[Killrose]

I think: Nynix 309A HY50V281622DT-4 is actually Hynix 4ns ram which will easily do 275+MHz

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: RagingGuardian
I did order a 64mb 9100 from Newegg though so it had better perform atleast as well as yours. I heard some of them are castrated with 64bit memory bus.

I have never heard of a Radeon 8500 (retail or le) or a 9100 with 64 bit memory bus

Actually some are showing up at Newegg, so beware. They only have 2 Memory modules per side indicating a 64bit bus.
I noticed this on some Rdaeon 7500's as well. So make sure the card you are buying has 4 memory modules per side and not 2 (and don't beleive the pictures they show of the product).