FIC AT008 Radeon 8500 question

[rondeemc]

I am looking to buy a new video card an this one looks interesting for around $75 shipped (auction site). I have never used a FIC product before, how is their quality? Any issues I should be aware of? This is going in a Dragon Plus with 1.4 Athlon and 512 of Crucial.

Specs:
Retail FIC AT008 Radeon 8500 64MBDDR AGP Video w/TV
250MHz/.015 Micron/DB15 VGA,DVI-I,TV Out


More info from a review:
As mentioned earlier, the actual performance of the RADEON 8500 can be somewhat "hit or miss". Depending on which RADEON 8500 version you purchase, you could wind up with a GPU and Memory speed of 275 MHz, 250 MHz, or 230 MHz. Before purchasing any RADEON 8500, I would recommend you verify exactly which version your going to get. The FIC RADEON 8500 / AT008 we are reviewing here today comes with the GPU and Memory clocked at the mid-level speed of 250 MHz. Since the FIC RADEON 8500 / AT008 doesn't come with heatsinks strapped to the back of the memory, it was easy to determine what kind of memory FIC uses. FIC decided to use high speed 3.6 ns Hynix memory, which is the standard memory used on RADEON 8500s. The 275 MHz versions also use 3.6 ns Hynix memory, so overclocking the FIC RADEON 8500 / AT008's memory to 275 MHz+ shouldn't be a problem.


Any other suggestions in this price range?

Thanks

 

[Willoughbyva]

I think there was a link in hot deals for a place that was selling the retail 8500 for 100.00. I know nothing about how reputable the seller is. I think it was enpc.

Good luck

Will

 

[rondeemc]

Heard to many horror stories about enpc, seem to have a history of not shipping, shipping the wrong/used product, and not being there when you need to return a unit because of their mistake.

 

[Killrose]

Don't mess around. Get the 8500LE from Newegg for $99.00. They are clocked 250/275mem, and are made by Ati.

 

[rondeemc]

Actually based on one article these are rebadged ATI's. Under the FIC sticker there was ATI silk-screened on the card.