GF3 Ti500 (64MB) or 8500LE (128MB)

[Resh]

The GF3 is an Asus (bulk card) and the Radeon is a retail box card. The price diff. is a little more than $5CDN.

I plan to use the card as a steeping stone to a 9700Pro or 9500 in the next 6-10 months. At that point, the card will end up in my wife's comp that is used for 95% web-surfing.

What would you guys do? Help me!

Thanks all!

 

[Tates]

8500LE (128MB)

 

[Resh]

Thanks! Anyone else care to weigh-in?

 

[shurato]

Get the Radeon 8500LE....the new drivers let it perform very competitively with the ti4200's. It even beats it in certain benchmarks. Plus 128 mb would be better to tide you over for future games like ut2k3, doom, etc that require more memory bandwidth for textures.

 

[Resh]

Another vote for the Radeon! The memory question was something I was thinking about too.

Any thoughts on image quality. My gut tells me Radeon beats GF3 in 2D quality and at least on par in 3D.
This is very helpful as I have to make a decision today.

Thanks again and keep the thoughts coming.

 

[rizge]

Are you joking guys:Q
Absolutely get the geforce 3 ti 500 if u got the money!!!!!!
Did u guys forget that the ti 500 is on the par and even better than the 8500LE's big brother (R8500)
I assure u that u will never been disappointed
THAT I AM COMPLETELY SURE THE ti500 will smoke the 8500le in any and every game or bench

 

[Tates]

Are you joking guys:Q
Absolutely get the geforce 3 ti 500 if u got the money!!!!!!
Did u guys forget that the ti 500 is on the par and even better than the 8500LE's big brother (R8500)
I assure u that u will never been disappointed
THAT I AM COMPLETELY SURE THE ti500 will smoke the 8500le in any and every game or bench

Pure Hogwash


Here's a good read

 

[Lizardman]

you can always overclock the 8500le with a simple bios flash of the vid card. I did that to mine and now it runs at 285/295 with no problems. Stock was 250/250.

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: rizge
Are you joking guys:Q
Absolutely get the geforce 3 ti 500 if u got the money!!!!!!
Did u guys forget that the ti 500 is on the par and even better than the 8500LE's big brother (R8500)
I assure u that u will never been disappointed
THAT I AM COMPLETELY SURE THE ti500 will smoke the 8500le in any and every game or bench

You may not want to say that too often because you are wrong.

Many times the 8500 beats the 4200 and even gets the 4600 now and then.

You are foolish.

EDIT : Proof from the very site you posted your hogwash! Look at the second graph sir.

 

[brunswickite]

Many times the 8500 beats the 4200 and even gets the 4600 now and then.

highly dubios
8500 cant beat a 4200 , on anything, and it wont even come near a 4600


Proof your post is Hogwash

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: brunswickite

Many times the 8500 beats the 4200 and even gets the 4600 now and then.

highly dubios
8500 cant beat a 4200 , on anything, and it wont even come near a 4600


Proof your post is Hogwash

Hehe nothing like the old turnaround post with the same info comeback. j/k

Alot has changed since July believe it or not. ATi's drivers have come leaps and bounds even it that little time span. Let me dig up a few more recent comparisons and I'll show you. If I can't, I'll admit I'm wrong.

BRB with an edit!

 

[EdipisReks]

get the radeon.

 

[Orbius]

The Radeon 8500 is a great card I couldnt be more pleased with it. I had to use my old Voodoo 3 for a few days when it was being shipped to me and I can tell you this ATi's 2d quality really is as good as people say. The Voodoo 3 gave me a serious headche, whereas the Radeon is a pleasure to use.

Gaming wise the 8500 is very nice too.

 

[BFG10K]

Get the 8500LE as it's faster, has more features and anisotropic filtering can be enabled with only a minimal performance hit.

THAT I AM COMPLETELY SURE THE ti500 will smoke the 8500le in any and every game or bench

8500 cant beat a 4200 , on anything, and it wont even come near a 4600

It sounds like you people need to do a bit of research. ATi's drivers have improved by leaps and bounds to the point where the 8500 beats the Ti4200 in most cases and occasionally even beats the Ti4600.

Here are some good recent benchmarks.

 

[Resh]

Thanks everyone!

Got the Radeon installed. Works very nicely.

Any suggestions on good tweak programs. I'll scour the forums for suggestions.

Again, thanks for the advice.

 

[PepperBreath]

Any suggestions on good tweak programs.

Use Rage3D tweak. Radeonator is also pretty good although I don't use it.

And as mentioned before, flash your bios to a higher clock. I have a 8500LE myself but I flashed the bios so that it runs at 275/275 which is 8500 speeds without any problems.

Between the 8500LE and the GF3 TI 500, you made the right choice. I don't think the 8500LE is quite as fast as a GF4 but it is faster than the GF3s and the image quality is excellent. Considering the 8500 is cheaper than a GF3 and so easy to overclock, it's the better deal.

 

[rizge]

Ok
this 'http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000262' doesn't proof anything
where is the geforce 3 guys
there are only the geforce 4 and the 8500 and from what i can see the 8500 is behind even the ti 4200
even the crap mx 440 is slightly behind
that is nothing gals

 

[rogue1979]

Jeez, the Radeon 8500 is whipping some serious butt! I was gonna try the Geforce4 Ti4200, but looks like the Radeon 8500 is a much better choice at $35 cheaper. I have the Radeon 9000 at 300/250 and I like it, but is has a problem running high AGP speeds, at least with a AMD 761 chipset. I also had a Radeon 8500 LE on the Epox 8K7A, and just like my Radeon 9000 on my Abit KG7-Raid, around 150MHz is the absolute max fsb speed you can run and remain 100% stable. That's too bad for me, because I popped a Geforce Pro in here and it ran like a champ at 172MHz!

 

[HiTek21]

This may be a little off topic but what does everyone think about the ATi All In Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB? Been looking for something with DVI that can perform like GeForce 3 or better and Since i'm shelling out some bucks why not get a TV Tuner card built in?

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: rizge
Ok
this 'http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000262' doesn't proof anything
where is the geforce 3 guys
there are only the geforce 4 and the 8500 and from what i can see the 8500 is behind even the ti 4200
even the crap mx 440 is slightly behind
that is nothing gals

Sir, the next time you decide you have a good thought in your head and hurry off to post please lay down for a nap or something first and think about what you were about to say.

See those bottom colored lines next to 1600 x 1200? See how the 8500's line is farther to the right than the 4600? This means at the highest resoloution (most trying on the card) the 8500 beats EVERY card on the graph.

Please think about what you post before you make yourself look silly. Thanks

 

[rizge]

U might be right about this man but look at these articles published by anandtech the host of this forum
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1647&p=15
and
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1647&p=10
they are both 1600*1200 resolution
apart from the geforce 3 ti 500 and the radeon 8500 issue where we can see that every one wins in a round u can see there is at least 4-6 fps margin between either one of them and the 4200 so imagine what the 4600 does
Mr. Gregor47,
U can't judge any hardware only by one benchmark
the one from acehardware DOES show that the 8500 is better than the 4600 in a specifiec test
that doesn't mean that it is better in EVERY test
to sum up i just wanted to say that the 8500 and the ti 500 are good cards manufactured to compete with each other not to compete with the ti 4xxx line but it is not that weird that the 4xxx ones lose in a test or two
with all the respect to you

 

[gregor7777]

Originally posted by: rizge
U might be right about this man but look at these articles published by anandtech the host of this forum
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1647&p=15
and
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1647&p=10
they are both 1600*1200 resolution
apart from the geforce 3 ti 500 and the radeon 8500 issue where we can see that every one wins in a round u can see there is at least 4-6 fps margin between either one of them and the 4200 so imagine what the 4600 does
Mr. Gregor47,
U can't judge any hardware only by one benchmark
the one from acehardware DOES show that the 8500 is better than the 4600 in a specifiec test
that doesn't mean that it is better in EVERY test
to sum up i just wanted to say that the 8500 and the ti 500 are good cards manufactured to compete with each other not to compete with the ti 4xxx line but it is not that weird that the 4xxx ones lose in a test or two
with all the respect to you

Respect to you as well sir.

Agreed that they are both fine cards and he will do well by both of them.

Granted that is only one bench but I KNOW there are others out ther I just can't find them (yeah right )

I'm sure I remember seeing the 8500 smoke everyone in Jedi Knight II a week or two back, but oh well.

 

[BFG10K]

Ok this 'http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000262' doesn't proof anything

Why?

where is the geforce 3 guys

Who cares?

there are only the geforce 4 and the 8500 and from what i can see the 8500 is behind even the ti 4200

At 1600 x 1200 x 32 the Radeon 8500 is beating even the Ti4600 in JK2. The rest of the benchmarks vary but usually you'll find the 8500 beating the Ti4200 at 1600 x 1200 including in Dungeon Siege and Warrior Kings where it gives even the Ti4600 an utter pasting.

U might be right about this man but look at these articles published by anandtech the host of this forum

That article was written in July and it is now September. A lot has changed in that time.

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: HiTek21
This may be a little off topic but what does everyone think about the ATi All In Wonder Radeon 8500 128MB? Been looking for something with DVI that can perform like GeForce 3 or better and Since i'm shelling out some bucks why not get a TV Tuner card built in?

why? because you can get one on a pci card and it will last you though multiple video card upgrades. thats how i look at it anyway.

 

[Blaize]

OK, I have to admit, I don't get this at all.

I'm a gamer, more or less, and I'm planning to buy a video card in the $150 range in the next month or so. This thread piqued my interest - the Radeon 8500 and (maybe) the GF4 Ti4200 are at the top of my list.

So...Gregor and BFG10K are arguing that an 8500 will consistently beat a Ti4200. I read Anand's Radeon 9000 review (from July) and saw the 4200 usually beat the 8500. But I understand that drivers can change significantly in three months.

I read the Ace's Hardware article and saw the 8500 do well against the Ti4200. However, I noticed it was from July too, about a week after Anand's.

Lastly and MOST CONFUSINGLY, I read a Radeon 9000 round-up from yesterday, 9/18, with benchmarks including the 8500 and Ti4200. The Ti4200 consistently outperformed the 8500, usually by a wide margin. They're the 64mb parts, but since they're both 64mb, it should still be meaningful. From what I can tell, they used current drivers for the NVidia and ATI parts.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/r9000-3.html


...I don't get it. I'm pretty sure I know less about hardware than most people on these forums. So what am I missing?

-Ryan