I can?t convince myself to buy a Radeon 8500LE!

[Warthog]

I started out with a PowerVR card, then went to a 3DFX Banshee, a Voodoo 3, and finally my GF2 MX. My personal limit was always never spend more than $100 on a VC.

All the tech data and performance data I have seen on the Radeon 8500 tells me it is the best buy on Pricewatch right now. My only concern is some of the stories I have read about the driver problems. (I now Nvidia has some of the best drivers out there.) My main function for the card would be games and office applications. I have a P3 800, 256MB RAM, currently a GF2 MX.

Do any current/former Radeon owners, or anybody else, have any advice/feedback for me? Should I be concerned?

 

[Actaeon]

ATi's Drivers have drasticly improved as of late. The Radeon 8500 is faster than the Ti500 now! $100 for this card is a STEAL. Performance wise, go with this card, 2d and features are exceptional, much better than Nvidias. Though ATi's drivers have matured, I would have to agree with Nvidia having the best drivers. You can't go wrong with the R8500LE.

Your CPU is rather slow for such an exceptional videocard, if you wish to spend a little less, I would Suggest a Ti200. Though not as high as a performer as a Radeon8500, most overclock very nicely, and if lucky Probally faster than an Radeon8500. It uses Nvidia's matured drivers, and still has DirectX 8 features you'd want in a Video card. All for a little less. Your CPU does limit the power of both cards, so performance on such a CPU will be the same.

Though, depending how lazy you are, you are running a Nvidia card, it'll be alot easier to just switch your MX out for another Nvidia card. With the Radeon, you'd have to reformat. Which might not be a big deal to some people, but to others, that'll be an issue.

Either way, the Radeon will be a better performer, little extra money, and a bit of work, but well worth it.
If you're lazy like me, want to not go over the $100 mark, and want to save a bit of money, go with the Ti200.

Both cards are great!

Hope this helped a little
-Jonathan

 

[Warthog]

Thanks for the advice.

"Though, depending how lazy you are, you are running a Nvidia card, it'll be alot easier to just switch your MX out for another Nvidia card. With the Radeon, you'd have to reformat. "

When you say reformat, how much reformatting are you talking about. Is it just unistalling the Nvidia drivers, are are you talking HD reformat and reload the OS. I am running XP home edition. It took me about 10 times to get it installed. Now it has work fine for about the past 6-months. I don't want to go through that again.

 

[spanky]

HD reformat and reload the OS

that is the format he means. but... some ppl have had success using detonator destroyer to wipe out all nvidia drivers. u might wanna read into that.

 

[BlueFlem]

The thing with nvidia is that they place allot of emphasis on games and 3D applications. Once you stray outside of the 3D realm nvidia drivers tend to show cracks.

I spent some time playing with Personal Cinema and the DShow WDM drivers that nvidia provided were not very good, I expected better from them. I went to an AIW 8500DV and the wdm drivers and software were much more stable. I havn't had any problems with the latest Catalyst drivers.

From what I have seen, it seems the 8500 cards are the best bang for the buck.

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: spankyOO7

HD reformat and reload the OS

that is the format he means. but... some ppl have had success using detonator destroyer to wipe out all nvidia drivers. u might wanna read into that.

Exactly what I mean. Rip everything of that harddrive, and start brand spanking new. But, like Spanky said (which I should have mentioned), you COULD use Detonator Destroyer, its a program which wipes all the Nvidia based drivers from your OS and harddrive. BUT it doesn't always work, sometimes causes more problems than just reformatting. Which will probally end up happening if it doesn't successfully work. Not sure on the success rate of a successful Detonator Destroyer, its hit and miss from what I understand. But of course, the usual reformat is the best way to go.

You said you do plan on using it for games and office applications. If you're using word, powerpoint, and small office programs and stuff like that, either card would be fine for the job. But if you are video editing, dvd playback, and all those other goodies, go with the ATi.

Hope that cleared things up a bit.
-Jonathan

 

[Deeko]

The Radeon is a great card for the money. I'd say go for it. You may or may not have troubles with the old nvidia drivers....frankly its not always that bad, I had a TNT2u with the old Dets and I installed a Voodoo5 without even uninstalling the old ones...but that was like 2 years ago lol the new Dets might have become harder to remove

 

[KGB]

You do not need to re-format to install the Radeon.
I'm running Win2K and just migrated from a GF2 GTS to a Radeon 8500 and it works beautifully.

 

[ToXiCRaGE]

ATi's Drivers have drasticly improved as of late. The Radeon 8500 is faster than the Ti500 now

I woudn't go that far. I'd say the 8500 is the same performence wise (if not lower on very high resolutions) than the regular GF3.

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: ToXiCRaGE
ATi's Drivers have drasticly improved as of late. The Radeon 8500 is faster than the Ti500 now

I woudn't go that far. I'd say the 8500 is the same performence wise (if not lower on very high resolutions) than the regular GF3.

Benchmark #1

Hrm, R8500 beats the Ti500 in everything but Max Payne. R8500 is faster.

Benchmark #2

R8500 beats the Ti500 in any res over 640x480 in the 1st map, and in the 2nd map, ATi is a bit behind. None the less, R8500 is on par with this benchmark.

-Jonathan