GF2 Pro to Radeon 8500LE Users - Opnions?

[gtd2000]

I currently have a Leadtek GF2 Pro which overclocks at 235/465 (roughly Ultra speeds?)

Well I'm considering an "upgrade" to a Radeon 8500LE ($70-72 shipped).

Now in all honesty I've never yet done an "upgrade" where I have been blown away by the performance difference - sure things have been marginally better but normally not to the extent of the $$$'s involved.
For the past few years I've been in the "bang for the buck" upgrade thing going from Riva 128 ---> TNT (free!!!) ---> GF256 (nearly $300 at the time!!) ---> GF2 MX ($70!!!) ---> GF2 Pro ($140)

The biggest jump in performance was the Riva 128 to TNT and the best performance value was the GF2 MX and also a GTS-V card in my secondary system.

So - have any of you out there gone from a GF2 Pro/Ultra to a Radeon 8500LE? If so how did it compare and do you think it is a worthwhile upgrade?

Now video cards are dependent on the applications/games that you run/play.
Currently I am playing SoFII and BF1942 - would this card be an upgrade or not? I also play a lot of DVD's and the Ati card will "supposedly" be an improvement over my generally flawless nVidia graphics cards.

What do you think?

 

[PricklyPete]

Wouldn't recommend...pay $115 for a Geforce 4 4200 64MB...much better performance for you dollar.

 

[markjs]

I went from a GF2MX 400 32MB to a Radeon 8500LE 64MB, and I was not blown away.....Some games really rock on the 8500, UT2K3 runs very nicely at default settings, yet other games like GTA3 and Morrowind seem to stutter and pause too much. The one thing that ATI seems to have all over Nvidia, is the quality of the TV-Out. On all the Nvidia cards I have had it's been bloody awful compared to the ATI cards. All that aside, I'd reccomend you get yourself a cheaper GF4, as they can be had for around $100 and thats only $30 more. Alternatively the Radeon 9100 is going for around $85 on Pricewatch. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go for it. very happy with my 8500LE on my second computer.
it runs some games better than my 4200.

 

[kmmatney]

I wouldn't recommend your upgrade - wait until you can get something a little better in the sub $100 category.

I went from a Radeon LE 32 MB DDR (bios hacked to non-LE version) card to a GeForce4 Ti4200, overclocked to Ti4400 speeds. Somehow, I was NOT blown away by the performance delta. My 3DMark2001 score went from 3600 to 10600, but in games I hardly notice a difference. I guess I don't play the right games (or at high enough resolution).

 

[gtd2000]

Apart from the gaming side - do any of you have any comments regarding the DVD playback performance of the Radeon vs Geforce2?

Essentially - I "could" sell my GF2 Pro for $50 to a co-worker as an upgrade to his system - I'd be shelling out an extra $22 for the 8500 ya see.

Does that make it seem like a good choice? I'm sure the difference would be worth $22 surely?

From what I see in the benchmarks the 8500 outperforms the GF2 Pro by a reasonable margin - then again thats why I ask for user opinions. An older generation Radeon 64 was a card that got spanked by lowly GF2 MX cards in Counterstrike.

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: Yield
I'd go for it. very happy with my 8500LE on my second computer.
it runs some games better than my 4200.

Which games run better/worse on the 8500Le vs 4200?
Do the games generally run better on the 4200 though?

 

[Killrose]

Sell your card to your Co-worker for $50. You shure as hell won't get that much for it on these forums + you'll have to pay shipping. I'd say go for it. But make sure you pick the right OEM 8500, one that has 3.6ns ram and is clocked 250/275 which some have been that Newegg sells.

You will be able to at least have some 2xFSAA and 4xAnisio with the 8500.

 

[JHsu]

hmm...I made a decision to switch from my old Nvidia card to a Radeon 8500LE 128MB....in short, I kinda regret it. It may just be me, but this card has caused me nothing but headaches from day one, despite numerous driver releases and the like....If I were you, I'd buy the 4200...even if it doesn't give much of a speed boost, the stability/compatibility of NVIDIA products(when compared to ATI stuff) will definitely be worth it

 

[Eug]

I bought the Radeon 9100, just because the 8500 LE was harder to find around here. US$82 for the 9100. OK card. Nothing earth shattering.

I went from a Trident 8900C 1 MB to the Radeon 9100 64 MB. Not THAT'S an upgrade. (I had fried my Radeon 7200 a few days earlier.)

I must admit though that I am biased against nVidia cards. The two that I have so far tried have had TERRIBLE 2D image quality. (The last one I tried was a dual DVI-I Asus Geforce4 MX 440. What a piece of junk.)