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Radeon 8500 LE or Radeon 8500

The 8500LE uses a 250-MHz core clock and a 250-MHz memory interface.

The 8500 uses a 275-MHz clock and memory interface.

The 8500 edges out the 8500LE.

 
Know what you are buying:

Radeon 8500 128 = 128 MB DDR memory, Dual head display card supporting combinations of CRT(or DFP) + CRT(or DFP) + TV - out.
Radeon 8500 Le = 128MB DDR memory, Single head dual display card supporting VGA and TV out.
Radeon 8500 = 64 MB DDR memory, Dual head display card supporting combinations of CRT(or DFP) + CRT(or DFP) + TV - out.
Radeon 8500 OEM = Slower clocked version of the Radeon 8500
Radeon 8500 OEM LE = Third party built slower clocked version of the Radeon 8500.

So you see, the 8500 and 8500 LE share the same GPU, but have different amounts of memory AND display support options. The clock speeds are a secondary consideration.
 
"So you see, the 8500 and 8500 LE share the same GPU, but have different amounts of memory AND display support options. The clock speeds are a secondary consideration."

I disagree with this. I say clock speed is the ONLY consideration at this point in time. The reviews I've seen of the 128 LEs put it the same as a 8500 retail. In current games, you'd have to be running hi res/hi color/FSAA to exceed 64MB of memory.
At this level of performance, you wouldn't be doing that anyway. By the time the extra memory does make a difference, we'll all have different cards anyway.
 
I'll stand behind my statements that clock speeds are a secondary consideration for these reasons:

The difference in performance performance between a card clocked 250/250 and the same card clocked 275/275 is really only noticed during benchmarking rather than actuall game playability, but you can simply clock the slower card to the same speed as the faster card and they will bench the same.

It is much more difficult to change the hardware however. You cannot make a 64MB card a 128MBcard anymore than you can make a single head card into a dual head card, or a VGA card into a DVI card.

Since there are big hardware differences between the 2 cards, I say THOSE should be your primary concern, not the fact that one is clocked slower than the other.
 
I'll disagree with you for these reasons:

"The difference in performance performance between a card clocked 250/250 and the same card clocked 275/275 is really only noticed during benchmarking rather than actuall game playability,"
The difference in performance between 128 and 64MB cards is even LESS.

" but you can simply clock the slower card to the same speed as the faster card and they will bench the same."
Sure. If you know that bios hack/ use tweaker program, and if your slower RAM will run stable. Of course, the faster RAM on the retail will OC higher than the LE RAM ever will, so that blows this argument as well.

"It is much more difficult to change the hardware however. You cannot make a 64MB card a 128MBcard"
Like I said, there's no real reason to want to.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/02q1/020205/geforce3-10.html
"These results speak very clearly. 128MB are practically useless in current games."

"Since there are big hardware differences between the 2 cards, I say THOSE should be your primary concern,"
Big hardware differences? Oh, you must mean those extra 64MB of RAM that have NO tangible benefit.

"not the fact that one is clocked slower than the other. "
I guess more importantly, how smart is a guy who pays TWICE AS MUCH for a video card to get EXACTLY THE SAME PERFORMANCE?
Enquiring minds want to know....


 


<< Big hardware differences? Oh, you must mean those extra 64MB of RAM that have NO tangible benefit. >>



Actually, I agree with you on every point, except this one.
The "big hardware" difference is the fact that the 8500 is a "dual head card" that supports DVI vs the 8500LE which is a single head VGA card. No support for dual monitors and no DVI support is a HUGE hardware difference.

This is what makes the 8500 the superior card IMHO, the fact that it is nearly $100 cheaper, only makes it better. I'm not even sure which market 8500LE fits in. With no DVI or Dual Head support, it makes it worthless as a graphics workstation card (which is the only real benefit for the 128 MB of RAM IMHO). I'm not sure where you get the idea that I even think the extra RAM of the crippled card is a benefit, I personally think the 8500LE is overpriced marketing trick, you need to reread my Posts.

I still say the hardware differences is the primary consideration. You only assumed (incorrectly) that I was refering to the extra memory. The Retail 8500 is great deal right now.
 
Fair enough rbV5.

"I'm not sure where you get the idea that I even think the extra RAM of the crippled card is a benefit"
From this:
"You cannot make a 64MB card a 128MBcard "

"The Retail 8500 is great deal right now. "
Agreed- I'm using one now, probably until R300 comes out. 🙂

I guess I never considered the DVI thing, I only use one monitor. I suppose if you needed two that would be a big deal.

 
hehe, yea I could have been more clear. I was only using the memory size as an example of hardware being something you can't change vs clockspeed, which is something you likely can change. I've always used my rig in a multiuser/prosumer fashion, so I tend to look more in terms of functionality over raw speed. Dual Monitors and DVI support are attractive in a workstation environment, and I sure wish ATI would come up with a dual head AIW solution, or a TV card based on the Rage Theater chip. Untill then, I can certainly get by with my AIW 7500. Hopefully R300 will support dual monitors, or nVidia will get Personal Cinema working.
 
so u guys are saying that Radeon 8500 retail is far better than Radeon 8500 LE or the OEM version? btw, thnx a lot for the answers, it helps ! ^_^
 
oh yeah, another question is I want to know if it is worth my time to wait for the Radeon produced by another manufacturer such as Gigabyte, etc. Will it be better than the one produced by ATI?
 


<< so u guys are saying that Radeon 8500 retail is far better than Radeon 8500 LE or the OEM version? >>



What I'm saying is you have to know what you are buying. (Newegg prices)With Retail 8500 275/275 available for $169, I'm not sure why you would look at the $149 8500 OEM LE 230/230 card(I'm assuming this is what you mean by 8500LE, (8500LE's are 128MB single head cards supposed to retail for $199 I haven't seen them for sale yet), ATI makes an 8500OEM clocked at 250/250, I guess assume it to price between the OEM LE and Retail Models, so about $159), the faster memory/warranty is worth more than $20 to me. For $255 the 8500 128 Retail will only give you marginal performance benefit for an extra $86, not worth it to me.

So, not far better than the 8500 OEM (ATI's own 250/250 white box card), but the better warranty/clockspeed and almost the same price for the Retail Model makes it a no-brainer. The 230/230 OEM LE is a 3rd party model that IMHO is not worth consideration due to its pricing/performance, and I think you aren't refering to the 8500LE (128MB model)

The Gigabyte Radeon cards look to be nice cards, how much? where?
 
Gigabyte model does look nice, but I haven't seen any review about them yet. That's why I'm not sure if it's better than ATI. I'm living in Taiwan,Lot of gigabytre products here, I guess I can find this one if I go to the computer center. Don't know the price yet.
 
It seems to be the general thought that there is no 8500LE with 64mb of ram...but...there is.

There is 64mb versions:
-8500 Retail (275/275) has the extra dual head features which the LE doesn't
-8500 LE Retail (250/250) running with the same hardware as the full radeon but with lower voltages and lower speeds. (pencil trick it to full speeds)
-8500 OEM (250/250) these boards are similar to the LE's made by ATI they can also be penciled, come in "white boxes", "powered by ATI"
-8500 "LELE" (230/230) not made by ati, have slower cores and memory (sometimes 4ns instead of 3.6ns), if they have 4ns I don't believe they can be penciled.

-The fastest 64mb cards are the full radeon 8500 models that are made by ATI
-ATI makes 8500LE's. They come in boxes that look like full 8500 boxes...except they say LE after 8500!
-Cards made by different companies that are "powered by ATI" are either running 250 or 230 speeds, none of them except the full retail 8500 runs 275.

As for cards that have an extra useless bit of ram....
-8500 Retail w/ 128mb
-8500LE Retail w/ 128
both made by ATI
both come in a RETAIL box
both have RETAIL warenty

I personally wouldn't buy the 128mb version until I knew it had the r250 core, these will be 8700 and 8800, but at the current time there is no reason not to get the Full Retail 8500 for the price.

BTW...not sure about any other models of the 128mb versions, as they are pretty new. Also the 128mb r250 cored versions are suppose to run something like (300/300) or (350/300).
 
I actually returned my 8500 today, couldn't get it to run w/o lockups on my Epox 8KHA+. Liked the card a lot, but don't like the reboots. Got a Ti4400 instead.
 
Do Gigabyte or Hercules (both LE's, I know), offer any better driver/hardware tweaks than a normal ATI 8500 or the ATI LE?
I know Gigabyte's GPU/RAMsink combo looks great. Hercules slapped some sort of blue orb looking thing on their GPU, but didn't bother with the memory cooling.
 
I just received a Radeon 8500 LE 64MB w/ 3.6 ns Hynix memory and a DVI & s-video out.

What is this "pencil trick" for radeon cards?
 


<< Radeon 8500 128 = 128 MB DDR memory, Dual head display card supporting combinations of CRT(or DFP) + CRT(or DFP) + TV - out.
Radeon 8500 Le = 128MB DDR memory, Single head dual display card supporting VGA and TV out.
Radeon 8500 = 64 MB DDR memory, Dual head display card supporting combinations of CRT(or DFP) + CRT(or DFP) + TV - out.
Radeon 8500 OEM = Slower clocked version of the Radeon 8500
Radeon 8500 OEM LE = Third party built slower clocked version of the Radeon 8500. >>


That's not right and incomplete.

Before ATI released 8500LE 64MB retail, I bought a 8500 oem card.
The sticker says "8500LE 250/250, made in Canada", the pcb has ATI logo, which is definitely original ATI card. This should be the same card as 8500LE retail. This card has vga, dvi, s-video. I've never seen a 8500LE with just vga and s-video but dvi.
 


<< some of the oem 8500 LE have 230mhz cores as opposed to 250mhz so make sure you know what youre buying. >>



Some people actually call the 230MHz version the Radeon 8500 LE LE. No joke. I'm not sure if any websites/stores do (doubtful) but, as stated above, make sure you know which version you're getting.
 
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