Is the Radeon 9100 the same as the Radeon 8500

[bullion416]

Is the Radeon 9100 the same as the Radeon 8500? I have been looking at getting one of those two models. What can you tell me about them? I noticed that the 9100 seems to have faster memory speeds. I found this Radeon 9100 128mb card that looked good for $91:

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/pro...pid=6351&sid=F53DCKSU5SAA8GF9U2X829BX7Q8V2T6A


At the same site they had the Radeon 9100 64mb card for $78:

http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/pro...pid=6235&sid=F53DCKSU5SAA8GF9U2X829BX7Q8V2T6A


Would you buy a Radeon 9100 over the Radeon 8500? If so, which of the above models (see links) would you buy (128/64mb?)

 

[WarSong]

AFAIK the 9100 and the 8500 are the same. It seems like there might be some kind of typo. The 64MB version you listed has clocks speeds of 250/230 while the 128MB version has a clock speed of 230/250. Hmm, backwards. The 128MB will be the better of the two, but I would try to get an 8500/9100 with standard clock speeds. These sapphires would get smoke by a standard 8500 @ 275/275 or an 8500LE 250/250 which can easily be OC'ed. Any idea what speed memory is on these?

 

[Killrose]

Faster mem speed? From what i've seen they can be lower clocked than the 8500 in some cases.They are the same R200 chip. Ati felt because they outperformed the 9000 that they should be labled higher and that you should pay more.

 

[bullion416]

On those links I posted.......it says the memory speed is 350 Mhz

 

[bullion416]

Sorry........this is what they had listed for the Radeon 9100 128mn card:

RAMDAC 350MHz
Memory Clock 250MHz
Engine Clock 230MHz

 

[bullion416]

So would you go with the Radeon 8500 or the Radeon 9100?

 

[DClark]

If you go with a 64mb card, I'd suggest this Powercolor Radeon 9100 from the same site; it's $77 and clocked to 250/250. The 128mb card you listed above looks fine as well.

I would NOT recommend the 128mb SapphireTech Radeon 8500LE (selling for $92) they have at that site. According to the part number (1024-9149-2B-SA), SapphireTech lists it as being clocked to 250 core, 183 memory.

 

[Rellik]

ATI intended the remaining Radeon 8500 (last model was the 128MB 275/550) to continue under the 9100 name. The 9000, which was released previously, is basically a "MX" version of the 8500, so a kind of 8500le with half the pixel pipelines.

So go for a 9100 if it is a 8500 you crave

 

[SickBeast]

yes, they are the same card, but you have to be careful with the core/memory clocks.

i've seen a sapphire card that was clocked at 250/230; the retail 8500 is 275/275.

 

[bullion416]

Has anyone seen decently priced Radeon 8500 or Radeon 9100 with the 275/275 clock speeds? If so, where?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: bullion416
Has anyone seen decently priced Radeon 8500 or Radeon 9100 with the 275/275 clock speeds? If so, where?

You can get a "built by ATI" Radeon 8500LE 128MB that runs at 250/250 and usually comes with 3.3ns BGA memory, meaning it can overclock over 300/300 without any problems. I had one of these and it was amazing. Make sure it's "built by ATI" and not "powered BY ATI" though, the powerd by.. ones are made by third parties and don't o/c nearly as well.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: bullion416
Sorry........this is what they had listed for the Radeon 9100 128mn card:

RAMDAC 350MHz
Memory Clock 250MHz
Engine Clock 230MHz

By the way - RAMDAC is the monitor driving engine - "DAC" is the digital-to-analog-converter. This has nothing to do with 3d performance, all this tells you is it's maximum resolution/refresh rates.

The memory clock/engine (core) clocks are the one that vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and you should pay attention to. A stock 8500 card runs at 275/275; 8500LE runs at 250/250.

 

[LS20]

my friend ordered a 64mb 8500le from xtremegear... he ended up getting a 128mb sapphire 9100

the thing was clocked at 230/200 or something... and it didnt take a liking to be overclocked...tho its running fine now at 260/260 (iirc) with no artififacts...

lastly, i had it at 275/275 with a ton of artifcats, and it still only benched ~8300 while i got 8200 from my genuine ati 64mb 8500le at 275/275 (from 250/275)

his system: kt333, xp2100+, 256 pc2700,
mine: kt266a, xp1700+, 256 pc2100, both on fresh formats of XP Pro

 

[TimeKeeper]

I had a 8500LE 64MB from NewEgg. It come w/ 3.3ns RAM yet clock at 250/250 default.
(3.3ns=300mhz.)

I then BIOS force FLASH to 9100 so the "fullstream" feature is now enable.
I then use BIOeditor to up the Core/memory to 290/290 w/ stock HSF.

Confused? My point is just get the 64mb 8500LE and BIOS flash to 9100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Edit: can't remember where, but I once read that 128MB version actually perform slower in some application/game compare to 64MB version.

If you can't find the 9100 BIOS, PM me, I will email it to you.