opinion on vid card upgrade [8500 Ret/OEM/LE]

[Kaczor]

It's time to upgrade my AIW128 32MB. Party because I am unhappy with the quality of the tv-out, plus something faster would be nice. I find I don't do any capturing so i am not getting an AIW card.
I am considering one of the 8500 Ret/OEM/LE or maybe even the 7500. I can get the LE and OEM for the same price ($45cdn less than Retail).

I know about the clock speed diff between the Ret and OEM, but how does the LE compare in terms of clock speed and overclocking capabilities?

How much difference is there in performance between these cards?

Keep in mind that I don't do any gaming, all I want is a card that I will not be needing to upgrade withing a couple years.

Any thoughs?
oh yeah, my system: TBird 800 (to be upgraded to XP 1900+)/ A7V133/512 SDRAM/Hercules GTXP/AIW128 32MB....

kaczor
Kingston, ON

 

[Duvie]

In my opinion ATI products are often enough of a pain...don't add to it with an le model what ever you do!!!! I have a powered bt ati board and tv-out looks like crap, driver support is not as good as retail, cards often can't oc the slightest, and they often break much faster...trust me I have owned 2 diff. le boards and on my 2nd radeon 8500le now with possible additional rma....

 

[tenoc]

Well, these guys are on Princess St., you could visit them and discuss the various options.

A lot of people buy LEs (which come in 57 flavours), flash retail bios to them and/or o/c them to retail levels and beyond.

Look at the ones that interest you and check that the memory chips are 3.6ns or 3.3ns for best chance at o/c. (Take a magnifying glass with you.)

o/c results vary a lot. The retail 64meg I bought last fall doesn't o/c worth a f*rt, but it's still plenty fast!

 

[Kaczor]

Thanks tenoc,

I was at canadacomp earlier today, but i will go back to look at the memory on the cards.

pawel

 

[AnAndAustin]

It would be very wise to get a Rad8500LE minimum for an XP1900+, although if your gaming ambitions are very modest a Rad7500 should be a bargain. Rad8500LE is only about 10% slower than Rad8500, and a Rad8500LE 128MB is a much wiser purchase than a Rad8500 64MB.

As you mentioned there are a number of things to watch out for when buying any Radeon card. OEM often use cheaper RAM, lower clocks and o/c VERY poorly compared to a RETAIL version. Similarly 'POWERED by ATI' also often use cheaper RAM, lower clocks and o/c VERY poorly compared to 'BUILT by ATI', but the 'POWERED' cards often sacrifice build and image quality too. See what the price diffs are like, a POWERED and OEM Radeon shouldn't be ALL that bad, esp if you get one very cheaply. A 128MB will be a much better long term buy, it will last longer and can often make a diff in current games but will definitely be of importance in future games. When it does come to o/c'ing ability it is the RAM ns rating which matters most. The lower the ns rating the faster the RAM should go, you can read it from the RAM chips themselves, 2nd line down last 2 numbers.

If you are in the US and Canada then the Radeons are generally great value, if you are outside then be sure to consider the alternatives.