Monster Radeon 8500 vs. GeForce3 Ti500 Review

[AGodspeed]

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/vidcards/index.x?pg=1:

It's hard to know exactly what to make of the results we've seen, but some things are clear. In every gaming test we threw at it and in most of the more synthetic benchmarks, the GeForce3 Ti 500 showed that it's the fastest graphics card on the market, bar-none?an absolute screamer. Turn on anti-aliasing, and the Ti 500 only wins by a larger margin. The GeForce3 chips include a bundle of new capabilities that developers are only now beginning to really use, so it's reasonably future-proof, too. On top of all that, the GeForce3 chips handle trilinear and anisotropic filtering perfectly, while the Radeon 8500 seems to fudge a little.

 

[Migroo]

Thanks A!

Argh I still cant decide (not that I can afford the Ti500, but I can still deliberate )

 

[Vegito]

read it earlier.. actually quickly looked at the pretty pictures...

is it me or the voodoo has the better AA ?

to me, ATI needs to get that dual head worked better before I go back.. right now it still kinda sux
game wise, I think it's a pretty good card.. has some bugs but you guys use it for games more than me, i just like dual head stuff..

so me still at matrox g400

 

[BFG10K]

Wow, those Radeon demos look impressive. If ATi can iron out their drivers to look as good and as accurate in real world games then the 8500 will be a real competitor to the GF3.

 

[damocles]

Great review. Overall , the 8500 tends not to be too far behind. Having played Wolfenstein on a GF3 and a Radeon 8500- i'd still choose the Radeon, although the review does show a few faults

 

[BeauJangles]

<< Thanks A!

Argh I still cant decide (not that I can afford the Ti500, but I can still deliberate ) >>



Me too.... I always think about what I would buy if i had the money!

 

[BFG10K]

I just saw those image quality comparisons. I knew the Radeon had problems with anisotropic filtering and trilinear filtering together but I didn't realise what a poor job ATi's trilinear filtering is doing on its own.

The fabled myth that ATi has superior image quality over nVidia and that nVidia degrades image quality to improve performance has just been dealt another blow. The more I see, the more I realise that it's ATi who have the problems with image quality. nVidia's cards are faster and have higher image quality.

 

[Migroo]

<< Me too.... I always think about what I would buy if i had the money! >>



Yeah exactly. Its also highly likely that I will buy something like the Radeon 7500 (or similar performance card) - ie: 'cheaper' high-end.

Its useful to see who is in the lead at the top, as its likely that performance is somewhat related in chipset families.

 

[vash]

Another Nvidia win.

Constantly, it has shown ATI doesn't deliver on their drivers. Features and performance from Radeon 8500 is nice, don't get me wrong, but their driver department should not be allowed to go home until they play EVERY GAME OUT THERE WITH EVERY POSSIBLE OPTION ON.

Nvidia's drivers have a great track record compared to ATI and that's why I won't be buying a non-Nvidia based card any time soon.

vash

 

[flexy]

<< The GeForce3 chips include a bundle of new capabilities that developers are only now beginning to really use, so it's reasonably future-proof, too. On top of all that, the GeForce3 chips handle trilinear and anisotropic filtering perfectly, while the Radeon 8500 seems to fudge a little. [/i] >>




COME ON !!!!!

How can they state that the Geforce has some "new" capabilities that developer are only now beginning....blabla....if the freakin' RADEON is newer and has even MORE features.....do i have to mention truform, REAL hardware dx8.1 support,opengl 1.3....... but they did NOT mention ANYTHING for the Radeon ! How lame !

IMHO...the readeon has MORE real potential to actually DO improve image/object quality (meaning real truform, smooth, rounded, natural objects)....improvement in anisotropic filtering agorithms......AND it's drivers are immature ---> meaning a MUCH HIGHER potential to improve and grow that the GF3....

I think the one who wrote that above has NO CLUE what he is talking about.....he still favours GF3 when everyone talks about GF4 already...and he has NO clue about the POTENTIAL (i say: Potential, knowing how much the drivers s*ck of the Radeon....

 

[flexy]

<< I just saw those image quality comparisons. I knew the Radeon had problems with anisotropic filtering and trilinear filtering together but I didn't realise what a poor job ATi's trilinear filtering is doing on its own.

The fabled myth that ATi has superior image quality over nVidia and that nVidia degrades image quality to improve performance has just been dealt another blow. The more I see, the more I realise that it's ATi who have the problems with image quality. nVidia's cards are faster and have higher image quality. >>



bfg...you're like the biggest radeon basher here anyway....ever since i follow this threads....whatever......

I am happy with the radeon....and with its HARDWARE dx8.1 AND opengl1.3 features, Truform...and better, intelligent aniso filtering.....and if you prefer a card which costs MORE money with LESS features - then be it......

I think the 'truth' will come out IF (and only IF) sometime in the future games will be released which support real, active truform, smartshader features...maybe THEN people will finally realize what their cards are able to do - and what not.

Too bad....i fear however that most developers will code with an eye on the masses (nvidia)...and rather release 'patches' instead of taking advantage of what the radeon is capable of...

 

[aka1nas]

hmm I'm still not sure which one to get. I've been leaning towards ATI because I get a 50% off MSRP sales rep discount. But, I'm kinda spoiled with Nvidia drivers from my last 2 cards. Sigh. What do you guys think is should get? The AIW Radeon 8500 DV for $200 sounds pretty sweet, I haven't found any Nvidia Manufacturers who have a deal like that.

 

[AGodspeed]

bfg...you're like the biggest radeon basher here anyway....ever since i follow this threads....whatever......

Flexy, it's all good. It's not like buying a Radeon 8500 is a stupid thing to do, it's obviously an awesome card that has a leg up on the GeF3 in like 60% of gaming scenarios. It can't quite keep up with the Ti500, but it's no slouce.

I think what BFG10K was trying to say is that people exagerate Nvidia's supposedly "inferior" image quality. When I played with the 8500 a couple weeks back, I noticed that it DID in fact have better image quality than the Ti500 in some cases, HOWEVER that certainly wasn't the case in all the games I played. In the majority of games I played, the Ti500 looked a little better than the 8500, but it wasn't anything great. I think we just get tired of all the same old arguments back and forth about ATI's "superior" image quality. I just don't think that's accurate at all (and neither does this reviewer).

 

[jm0ris0n]

<< I knew the Radeon had problems with anisotropic filtering and trilinear filtering together but I didn't realise what a poor job ATi's trilinear filtering is doing on its own. >>




I've been a radeon owner from day one and I will admit trilinear filter isn't good and trilinear + anisotropic just plain sucks. What the reviewer did not go over is when antistrophic is enabled with bilinear(64 tap) there is 3% performance hit and you get texture quality which surpasses the gf3's best efforts of 16-tap + trilinear and doesn't take near the performance hit as the Geforce.

 

[sMashPiranha]

You can't really blame BFG for bashing Radeon's. In New Zealand only freaks like me buy ATi .

 

[Dormant]

While you are all gushing over the "quality" of nvidia drivers you should check out the latest iteration. The 23.11 "win xp certified" drivers have huge issues with many VIA chipsets and are being bashed all over the net. DVI error reports I do agree that for the most part the Nvidia drivers are better than the bulk of ATI but I'd hardly say they are perfect. I just prey that Creative never gets big enough to buy into another section of the PC industry... Now there is a company that has driver issues. I swore I would never buy another soundblaster and I ment it! Long live Hercules and other Canadian IT firms who push the envelope in performance gaming.