Is the Radeon 8500 a good value? jeepers.....i'm confused

[iamme]

My last card was a GeForce2 MX 32MB and I'm looking to put together a new system. I've been shopping around an notice that the 8500 seems well priced compared to its GeForce counterparts. I understand that ATI's got a bad rep for driver support, but does that make it a bad choice?

I mean, CompUSA has the 8500 for $150 (MIR) which, costwise, puts it in the price class of a GeForce3 Ti200 (Newegg).

This Anandtech review puts the 8500's performance on par w/ the GeForce3 Ti500 ($270+ at Newegg!).

Is my logic wrong in concluding that the 8500's a great value? I'm hoping to play some PC games, but I don't want to spend over $150 for the video card. My old GeForce2MX looked fine when playing Unreal Tournament.

Whatcha guys think?

 

[Killrose]

First off, the drivers are not a problem. Just like Nvidia, some driver sets have certain problems with certain apps (usually games), but Ati has of late been really cleaning up their act on the driver issue.

With the current pricing the Radeon 8500 is one of the best deals now going. And as always, gets better and better the longer you wait.

 

[Mavrick007]

I agree, the 8500 is a great value for the card right now. If you get one, get the retail one with the 275core/275memory and you will be happy. The card is very fast and has nice visuals too. Plus it's great for dvd.

 

[NaGarin]

For the purpose of gaming id say that the best choice would be a GeForce3 Ti200 (since you can push the OC to a Ti500 if you wish), but when it comes to everything else you might want to do with your computer the ATI Radeon 8500 is the absolute power force, especially when it comes to the DVD department as said earlier. It's also perfect when it comes to rendering, e.g. when rendering in 3D Studio MAX.
The driver updates from ATI has been a problem for quite some time but theyve gotten a whole lot better and so today its nothing to worry about.


Godd luck!