Radeon 8500LE 64 vs 128 DDR

[mikeford]

Looking at Newegg.com I see the Sapphire Radeon 8500LE 64mb DDR for $40, and the same with 128 mb DDR for $69, whats the performance hit?

 

[canadianpsycho]

Video Card Comparison.

 

[DannyBoy]

Actually this link provides the information you want.

The only real difference is the memory increase. Besides that there is an un-noticeable change in clock frequencys.

 

[rogue1979]

If you have a fast system and play games at 1600 x 1200 or use alot of AA and AF, the extra memory will make a difference. While you maximum frame rates will be almost the same, and the average will just be slightly better with 128MB, the minimum will be noticably higher. Games that are getting pushed down below 40fps will be definately smoother.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I think on pretty much all games at 1024X768 and below it makes no difference. Especially if you don't use AA or AF (which slow down the card immensely anyways).

 

[big4x4]

*ignore*

 

[big4x4]

Where did you see these cards? I cannot find them in the refurb section. BTW, i bought a sapphire 9100 64 mb from new egg refurb section. The only problem is it was 64 bit as I think the 8500le's are too! I would stay away from sapphire if I were you

 

[BFG10K]

Picking up 128 MB cards is a no-brainer these days. Even the 8500 LE sees a large performance difference between the different amounts of VRAM.

 

[clicknext]

My Radeon8500LE 128MB @ 250/250 is noticably faster than my Radeon8500 Retail 64MB @ 275/300. I get about 10 extra fps in UT2003.

 

[mikeford]

I use a Lacie Electron22blue 22 inch monitor, which I run all the time at 1600x1200, but for gaming I don't have much of a problem stepping down to 1280x960 or something like that.

Maybe for perspective I should say my current fastest video card (not including my Voodoo 5500 which I have driver issues with too much) is a Geforce3 Ti200, and my everyday game system uses a Geforce2 mx400 32 mb card. I am guessing the 8500LE 64 mb DDR is going to be a BIG step up, but maybe not enough to handle the new games. Thats OK, since the new games aren't out yet.

My big lesson on buying upgrades, wait until you really need it and can use it immediately.

 

[mikeford]

I bought the $40 8500LE, and will report back next week once I get it into a system.

 

[mikeford]

I popped the 8500LE into the first system that was handy, maybe a mistake as this KK266R+ is a bit fussy, installed Directx 9 and the latest drivers from ATi.

Unfortunately this is a new bare system running W98se and no software at all otherwise (other than what W98se installs, and thats all updated to current).

I've tried 3 things plus just surfing etc, and while web surfing the video is GREAT, all attempts at checking the 3d peformance have sucked.

Aquamark3 seems to run forever, ie more than half an hour, and my system kept going to sleep. How long should it take?

Counter Strike, installed full game from CD and downloaded and installed the update. Grainy, lousy slow video.

Halo, pc demo, downloaded and it warns me about trouble with my card and driver, but its playable at 640x480, sucks beyond that.

Bad card or am I just picking poor tests, or what?

 

[railer]

Glad to see you got the 64 meg card and saved some $$$. Some people just get silly with the vid card memory.

Are you running the cat 3.8's? Try dropping back to the 3.7's.

Counter Strike is like a 5 year old game. A Trident 512k ISA card should play that fine.

Run 3dmark 2001 and see what you get. Assuming you have a modern processor you should be in the 8000's with that card.

 

[rogue1979]

You shouldn't need any updates for Win98SE to run games smoothly. I would suggest a clean install and go back to DX8.1 and the Cat 3.2 drivers. The 8500 doesn't support any DX9 features and doesn't need to. Make sure the motherboard has the proper AGP driver loaded.

 

[Blastman]

Does that 64MB 8500LE have 4 double sided memory modules or only 2?

8500LE - 2 double sided modules

9100 (8500LE) - 4 double sided modules

Becasue if it has only 2 double sided modules, it's a 64bit memory bus = big performance hit.

 

[CraigRT]

wow, 40 bucks for an 8500LE.. that's a good price, i almost want to buy one just to have a spare

they are great cards, i have 2 8500LE's in my house

 

[mikeford]

Mine have 4 double sided modules (total of 8 chips), each chip is

Samsung 313
K4D64163HF-TC40
U9B647B3 Korea

I think the Iwill KK266R+ is maybe funky, and its reaching my max time wasted point, so I am going to try a different system tonight.

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: mikeford
Mine have 4 double sided modules (total of 8 chips), each chip is

Samsung 313
K4D64163HF-TC40
U9B647B3 Korea

Good. You have the good 128bit version.

 

[BFG10K]

Some people just get silly with the vid card memory.

Not in this case. 128 MB cards will serve you well in almost every game made after Quake III, often showing very large performance differences when max detail textures are used.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

Some people just get silly with the vid card memory.

Not in this case. 128 MB cards will serve you well in almost every game made after Quake III, often showing very large performance differences when max detail textures are used.

Primarily at 1280X960 and above, and with AF and/or AA on. Without said eye candy, at 1024 and below, it doesn't make much of a difference.