Radeon 9100, 9000, 8500

[Kenshinn]

Which of these cards are better if they are all 64MB?

the radeon 9100 is either by powercolor, sapphire, or powered by ATI tech

the radeon 9000 pro is by TYAN

the radeon 8500LE is powered by ATI

So i wonder what would go best to play games w/ a CRT monitor

would a geforce3 ti200 be better? thanks

Finally, my system is this
CRT monitor
abit kt7a motherboard
1.2ghz duron processor
512MB PC100 SDRAM
TNT2 card

 

[AnAndAustin]

The Rad9000 is significantly worse while even the Rad9000PRO is still a fair bit behind the Rad8500LE or Rad9100. The Rad9100 is essentially a rebadged Rad8500LE while the Rad8500 (full) tends to be a slightly higher clocked Rad8500LE. The Rad8500/9100 series are faster than the Rad9000PRO but the Rad9000PRO are far more cinsistent esp where it matters, clock speeds. The Rad8500LE and Rad9100 should be at 250/250 while the Rad8500 should be at 275/275, going as low as 230/230 still gives marginally better perf than a Rad9000PRO at 275/275. So basicly Rad9100 is the best on your list although the Rad8500LE SHOULD be practicly identical, what ever one you go for CHECK THE CLOCK SPEEDS before you buy!

As a side-note, the Rad8500 series (therfore presumable 9100 too) also gains a little perf boost from having 128MB RAM whether or not the app/game needs more than 64MB. So a Rad8500LE_128MB @ 230/230 is a better idea than a Rad8500_64MB @ 250/250 etc. See what the prices are like, there's no great need to have 128MB but do bear in mind it boosts your perf as much as the slightly higher clocks AND will give you that little better perf in the more demanding games.

 

[Auric]

Try to get an 8500 with 275/275 default core/mem clocks. The RAM part number should end in 36 for 3.6ns. These were common in both 64 and 128MB versions. There should be plenty on eBay. There were also some good ones with default clocks of 250/250 but had 3.3ns memory and could clock much higher, especially with a voltage mod. These lacked the secondary on-board RAMDAC though so could not do dual analog CRT.

 

[Mingon]

the 64mb powercolour 9100 is infact the 8500le low profile but with faster ram (250mhz ddr) unsure of core speed but I think its either 230 or 250.

 

[Kenshinn]

so the 9100 is a no go? they are all the same price at pricewatch.com

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

Of the three, I would go for the 9100 128MB.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Check the clock speeds, here's what you should get...

1. Rad8500LE = 250/250
2. Rad8500 = 275/275
3. Rad9100 = 250/250

But do remember there are plenty of manus who deviate from this, each step (230, 250, 275) knocks perf by about 10% so bear this in mind, check out the prices and rem that 128MB on these cards should run about 5-7% faster than the clocks alone suggest!

 

[ScrewFace]

No, I believe that the RADEON 9100 will be a 275/275 part not 250/250 or 230/230. ATI knows the popularity of thier fully clocked RADEON 8500 and are bringing it back as the RADEON 9100.

 

[AnAndAustin]

ATI don't sell their own brand cards in Europe so here's the info I found a week ago when looking into Rad9100 clock speeds...

Elsa - www.elsa.de - no Rad9100
FIC - www.fic.com.tw - no Rad9100
Hercules (Guillemot) - http://europe.hercules.com/index_products.php?t=1 - no Rad9100
High Tech - http://www.hightech.com.hk/html/VGA.htm - no Rad9100
Jetway - http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/index.html - no Rad9100
Supergrace (Super) - http://www.supergrace.com/OurProducts.asp?CategoryID=2 - no Rad9100
Tyan - http://www.tyan.com/products/html/graphics_cards.html - no Rad9100
Visiontek - www.visiontek.com - closed (no longer producing)
Wistron - http://www.wistron.com/index.html - no Rad9100
Xelo - www.xelo.net - no Rad9100
Yuan - http://www.yuan.com.tw/ - no Rad9100

Connect3D - http://www.connect3d.com/products/products_radeon_9100.htm - 250/240
Gigabyte - www.giga-byte.com - 64MB & 128MB versions but no mention of clock speeds
Joytech (Apollo) - http://www.joytech.com/apollo9100.htm - no mention of clocks BUT "Memory Configurations:128MB/64MB with fastest DDR memory"
PowerColor (part of CP Tech) - http://www.cptech.com.tw/powercolor/web/product_inside.asp?prd_id=RADEON9100 - ?/250 (RAM at 250mhz DDR)
Sapphire (Triton) - http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9100.asp - 64MB=250/230 & 128MB=250/200
Unitech - http://www.unitech-na.com/ - *** site is down ***

As you can see memory clocks are Rad8500LE level, 230-250, still better than a Rad9000PRO @ 275/275 BUT certainly below almost all full Rad8500 cards.

 

[Goi]

Originally posted by: ScrewFace
No, I believe that the RADEON 9100 will be a 275/275 part not 250/250 or 230/230. ATI knows the popularity of thier fully clocked RADEON 8500 and are bringing it back as the RADEON 9100.

Not entirely correct. I'm not sure of the BBA Radeon 9100s, but at least one card manufacturer, Sapphire, are already making Radeon 9100 cards that aren't 275/275. The 128MB version of their Atlantis 9100 is clocked at 250/200 and the 64MB version is clocked at 250/230, pretty much 8500LE speeds and slower.