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OK I fried my Radeon. Need new video card quick.

Eug

Eug

Lifer
Story here. Short version is I did something very stupid and fried my Radeon 7200.

I am now posting from a Trident 8900C 1 MB. This card is over a decade old I believe. :Q

So I need something quick. CPU is Celeron 1.4 on a BX board. 100 MHz bus.

If I upgrade, I'd want to be able to do light UT2003 and have good 2D.

People previously have suggested a Radeon 8500 or a Radeon 9100, but the 8500 is $$$ and the Radeon 9100 doesn't seem to exist anywhere.

Radeon 9500 is overkill? Radeon 9000 isn't enough?

I did try a Radeon 9000 Sapphire and wasn't hugely impressed by the 2D quality. The Radeon 7200 beat it handily. Which ATI cards have good 2D? Is powered by ATI Sapphire the same video quality as built by ATI for the same card?

I'm tempted also to get a Radeon 7500 DVI for $60 for the interim, until Radeon 9500 prices drop. I don't have gaming time at the moment anyways.
 
I don't know what you want to spend, but Newegg has the 8500 OEM 64 MB card for $72.00 and the 8500 OEM 128 MB card for $88.00.

Those cards are really the best bang for the buck for the casual gamer, and gives you sharp 2D as well.

And yes, a 9500 on a 1.4 Celeron is extreme overkill.

I think the 64 MB 8500 would be the best for your system.

 
OK. I figured the 8500 is good. What about the 8500 LE?

A couple of other things:

1) Which of these can be modded easily to be quiet? eg. running the fan at low voltage? I was running the 7200 fanless. I want a quiet PC (and in fact just bought a Barracuda IV for this reason).

2) Does anyone have a link to a store in Toronto with the 8500? The places I've seen so far either have $$$ prices or else just don't have it. 🙁
 
but Newegg has the 8500 OEM 64 MB card for $72.00 and the 8500 OEM 128 MB card for $88.00.
Click to expand...
These are made by Sapphire and not ATI themselves, no? Sorry Eug, I don't mean to hijack but allow me one more question in your thread: the ramDACs in ATI built radeon cards are all the same?
 
The 8500 I mentioned were LE's.

Forgot to type that.

I don't know about the fan, but when I built my friends PC, the 8500 LE from Newegg had a pretty quiet fan on already. I never really heard it much.
 
How much do you want to spend on this card? I wouldn't get the 8500 OEM 128MB card at newegg since the memory speed is so much lower than the core clock. The memory speed's on Sapphire's 8500's were never really clear, but I'm glad newegg pointed that out. A GeForce TI4200 is a good card which give a performancy boost to between the Radeon 8500 and 9500Pro, and it's affordable. Peace.
 
OK I just found a local place (45 min drive or else US$6 shipping) which has:

Sapphire 9100 DVI 128 MB: CAD$155 (US$102)
Sapphire 9100 DVI 64 MB: CAD$124 (US$82)

Any reason to go with the 128 MB?

the ramDACs in ATI built radeon cards are all the same?
Click to expand...
Good question. And how do Sapphire 2D compare in general? Like I said earlier, that 9000 didn't have the greatest 2D compared to this now dead 7200. May she rest in peace...
 
I'd say the 64 MB would be sufficient. Having another 64 MB to go to 128 MB can't hurt though.

Here is a chart that should help you:

Tom's
 
You can get a OEM ATI 8500LE 128MB from here for $91. Type "8500LE" in the search page. BCD 2000 is in the Reseller Ratings Top 10. You do need 128MB for todays games. The only difference between the 8500 and 8500LE is the clock speed, which is easily made up for by overclocking, providing the memory is good enough. Peace.
 
So 128 MB it is.

Thanks for the US links, but I'll be buying locally in Canada.

Oh if you want to feel my pain, here is part of a screengrab with this Trident card.
 
Originally posted by: Eug

I did try a Radeon 9000 Sapphire and wasn't hugely impressed by the 2D quality. The Radeon 7200 beat it handily. Which ATI cards have good 2D? Is powered by ATI Sapphire the same video quality as built by ATI for the same card?
Click to expand...

Reading through this article, though long 😉, made me decide against ATI altogether under the 9700 Pro.
If you didn't find the 2d impressive on the 9000, and want to do some light gaming also, I'd have to suggest ATI may not be the answer.
 
If ATI isn't the answer, then what is? I've tried an Asus Geforce4 MX 440 and the 2D was completely unusable. And the Matrox cards are useless for any sort of gaming.

Anyways, I found something interesting that is pushing me away from the 9100 128 MB version.

Sapphire 9100 64 MB: 250/230
Sapphire 9100 128 MB: 250/200

Of course, who knows what the OEM clocks are.
 
Okay, you must not have read the article....

I'm running a GeForce 4 Ti4200 with 128megs of ram, myself, and am perfectly happy with it.
Do what you want, it's not my computer.
 
cripes, even my pos 9000pro is 275/275 standard.

i don't see any dif between my retail 9000 p[ro and 7200 retail i had b4. then again.. retail costs are absurd unless u get a hot deal🙂
 
Originally posted by: godmare
Okay, you must not have read the article....

I'm running a GeForce 4 Ti4200 with 128megs of ram, myself, and am perfectly happy with it.
Do what you want, it's not my computer.
Click to expand...

What's so special about that article?? 😕 (besides the fact that TechTV reviews are useless... 😉)


ATI has the edge in 2D, and OEM shouldn't make a difference since you're using DVI. I'd go with the 9100, 128MB would be better but try to find out their memory speeds...
 
I have a Retail ATI 8500 128mb that is not only overclocked to 300/300, but it is totally fanless. I'm not sure how much work you want to put into it, but all I did was replace the stock HSF unit with one of these 45mm Alpha HS. Also, even though in that picture they look silver, they are black annodized.

🙂
 
Originally posted by: Insane3D
I have a Retail ATI 8500 128mb that is not only overclocked to 300/300, but it is totally fanless. I'm not sure how much work you want to put into it, but all I did was replace the stock HSF unit with one of these 45mm Alpha HS. Also, even though in that picture they look silver, they are black annodized.

🙂
Click to expand...
Does it take up another PCI slot? I'm outa PCI slots.
 
Originally posted by: Eug
Originally posted by: Insane3D
I have a Retail ATI 8500 128mb that is not only overclocked to 300/300, but it is totally fanless. I'm not sure how much work you want to put into it, but all I did was replace the stock HSF unit with one of these 45mm Alpha HS. Also, even though in that picture they look silver, they are black annodized.

🙂
Click to expand...
Does it take up another PCI slot? I'm outa PCI slots.
Click to expand...

Nope..especially with no fan. Not only that, but ATI puts a white outline around the GPU for the HS, and the Alpha fits perfectly inside it. Also, it is less than 10mm high...9.5mm to be exact. 🙂

 
Originally posted by: Insane3D
I have a Retail ATI 8500 128mb that is not only overclocked to 300/300, but it is totally fanless. I'm not sure how much work you want to put into it, but all I did was replace the stock HSF unit with one of these 45mm Alpha HS. Also, even though in that picture they look silver, they are black annodized.

🙂
Click to expand...
Cool! I'd be willing to get one of those with some Arctic Epoxy or something. How much case air flow do you have though? Right now I have only a Panaflo 80 mm in the PSU, running at 7V. The CPU retail Intel fan is running at 5 V. The case is very cool, but that's because I only have that damn Trident card. 😛

I'm thinking a Radeon 9100 will definite make the case a bit more toasty. I suppose I can always add a second Panaflo, running at 5V or something. (To my surprise the Panaflos start up just fine at 5V. Must be running at a measly 1000 rpm or something.)

What about the Zalman heatsink? Whatever the situation, I just want a quiet Radeon (with fan or without) that doesn't block a PCI slot.

i don't see any dif between my retail 9000 p[ro and 7200 retail i had b4. then again.. retail costs are absurd unless u get a hot deal
Click to expand...
No difference in terms of what? 2D? 3D? 2D I can understand. Maybe I just had a bum 9000 Pro.

--

By the way, how truly important is 128 MB in UT2003? I'd never run higher than 1280x1024 even if I had a faster CPU, simply because my LCD won't support it. Indeed, I'd might only run 1024x768, for the sake of FPS. I'm thinking 64 MB might be enough for my needs, esp. if it ends up that the card has faster memory than the 128 MB version.
 
Eug! The first thing you HAVE to do is get yourself on RedFlagDeals forums! 😀

Red Flag

We'll help you find a good price on a Canadian card. Staples 150% price match guarantee (if you fight for it) will get you a retail Radeon 9000 128MB for $150. Not too bad....
 
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