Radeons: 7000/7200/7500/8500? huh?

[smp]

I have a radeon AIW card that I got mroe than a year ago.
My radeon has clock speeds of 166/166 .. I checked the ATI site and I can't really tell the difference between all the different radeon cards... I know the difference between DDR/SDR and memory size etc. and features (AIW, VIVO, tv-out etc)..
Are the clock speeds of all the different models different?
I'm getting a card for my dad's system and he doesn't play games. What he does do though, is CAD. The reason that I am choosing radeon is because I have one, the price is right (for the classic radeon 32meg DDR card, 85 CND) and the colour quality and 2D is top notch. Since he needs good colour resolution and good crisp 2D to keep his eyes in good shape I have settled on the Radeon. I'm not going Matrox because there is no 3D (well, crappy anyways) and I think that I might play the occasional game on his machine (LAN) when a friend is over or something.
So, what is the difference between the different Radeon cards and should I maybe consider another card for my old man? (remember, price is a big factor here)
Thanks.

 

[ElFenix]

7000 - old radeon ve (shouldn't even have been called a radeon, its missing some big pieces)
7200 - old retail radeon (183/183 i think)
7500 - old radeon on steroids (RV200 i think)
8500 - new radeon (R200? R250?, not sure which, about ti500 levels)

 

[smp]

Thank you... that helps.

I'm just curious though, which one of those is the classic radeon? Just the "ATI radeon 32mg DDR OEM" .. which one is that? I can get one for 85CND here locally and that is CHEAP.
You think it'll be okay for CAD? Should perform the same as the 8500 as far as 2d is concerned no?
Do you think this is 183/183 ?? or 166/166 like my AIW OEM?
Thanks.

edit: Please take a look here, this is where I'm getting my prices from. I just want a stock radeon 32 meg DDR .. that will have the same graphic performance as my AIW radeon.

 

[lamga]

None of them are. The closest one chip-wise is the 7200, but it has 64MB SDR in it, as opposed to 32MB DDR.

To clarify:

7000 = essentially the Radeon VE (missing texture and lighting unit)
7200 = 64MB SDR Radeon (R100) version
7500 = higher clocked Radeon R100 core, now called RV200)
8500 = DirectX 8.1 part, fastest of them all (R200)

IMHO, 7200 is nice, since it has 64MB, which will make the card last longer. Have you tried finding a competitive price quote from computers-canada.com? They're like the pricematch.com for Canada.

 

[Martin]

I suggest you go for the 7200 model, which is the classic radeon.

the retail runs at 183/183 and has ViVo (which is really useful, since you can take an old cable converter box and have yourself a free TV Wonder)

 

[BFG10K]

The 7200 is a slower 64 MB Radeon SDR, not a rehash of the much faster 64 MB DDR Radeon VIVO. The 7200 is only slightly faster than the Radeon 7000.

 

[lastig21]

I believe most retail Radeon 64meg VIVO's are shipping @ 198/198. I know mine did when I bought it from newegg last summer.

I would stay away from the 32meg versions. The VIVO's are too expensive now for the performance they offer (unless you need the VIVO function then it is still a great card). If you need a card now, for the "occasional" gamer I would suggest the 7500. If you can wait a couple more weeks the 8500 prices should keep going down (but even the current price is a great deal for the performance you get) as the 128meg versions are released. The 8500 is an excellent all around card (my current card) and supports dual display and tv-out.

 

[DrumminBoy]

C-source.com has a FIC Radeon 7200 with 64 mb DDR and s-video out for 85.00. Might want to check that out.

 

[smp]

None of them are. The closest one chip-wise is the 7200, but it has 64MB SDR in it, as opposed to 32MB DDR.
Damn! So you're saying that if I want the same kind of performance out of a new Radeon as my old AIW radeon, I'de have to get the 7500 ... unless that SDR card can perform well. How does it add up vs. the DDR cards? Is the SDR a serious performance limiter?
I kind of like the dual monitor capabilities of the 7500, that is nice and might come in handy one day.

 

[goog]

I have one of the 64MB SDR versions on order to put in my soon to be old rig before passing it on to my mom or sister, neither of which would have use for anything fancy. It's supposed to have TV out and be OEM so we'll see, supposed to arrive Friday.
I currently have an AIW Radeon Retail 32MB DDR from fall 2000 that I'm moving into my new P4 system since i rarely play games.

 

[usas]

Theoretically, since the 7200 has less memory bandwidth compared to the 7500, or even the classic 64mb DDR, it will perform drastically slower then its DDR brethren. Just check out the 32mb SDR review here on Anandtech, it compares it with the 32mb DDR I think.

 

[bluemax]

Negative on that ^^^ ... The 7200 performs almost exactly the same as the older lower-clocked DDR cards. And even if it is a bit slower, it's not DRASTIC as you say... a hair's breadth is more like it. It'll perform within +/- 10% of your old Radeon AIW card.

The 7200 seems to be discontinued and dropping off store shelves... I missed out o the chance to get one real cheap! Maybe you can get one on discount...

A 7500 OEM card is certainly worth considering as it will be faster than your old card fairly significantly.
If you're willing to spend a bit of money - do it right and just get an 8500 (@275 clock) or 8500LE (@250 clk) or even the OEM, LELE (@230 clk) whatever you can afford. You'll gain DX8.1 support and just plain fancier graphics.

 

[bluemax]

OOPS! This is for your non-gaming dad.
Get either a Matrox G450 or Radeon VE. He'll probably appreciate the dual-monitor stuff a lot more than occasional-gaming prowess.
And besides, with a fast processor, both cards are quite capable of playing 3D games fairly well.

 

[PG]

If he does CAD work then forget ATI. Nvidia drivers for openGL are much better and CAD benchmarks will show that. Get a Geforce2 and use the softquadro hack to give him quadro-like performance.

 

[Studdyman]

I've been an ATI fan forever it seems, started with the old Mach64. Anyway the classic RADEON 32 DDR is a good card at a good price even for the very little gaming fans out there. Has good 3D performance (not compared to todays cards) but for CAD good none the less, and has excellent 2D performance. As for the other cards, never liked the 7000 series, farely good price but I think they were just a go between until the better cards came out. RADEON 8500 64DDR is a great card and you can get them now at a farelly good price $150.00. Currently I own the RADEON 32DDR, RADEON AIW 32DDR, and the RADEON 8500. I think they have made the RADEON cards now with 128DDR option, but it looks like you don't want to spend alot of money.

 

[bluemax]

CAD = OpenGL 3D?? I thought only 3D rendering-and-design packages fell into that category. Maybe you're lumping "CAD" in there? For 3D rendering, yeah, the Quadro hack would be best.
Flat 2D CAD, does it matter much, so long as your 2D output is nice and clear? (and fast.)

 

[454Casull]

Err, CAD is Computer-Assisted Drafting and Design. AFAIK, you don't need a Quadro to do it.

 

[jhu]

what kind of cad programs is your dad using? if you're debating between a radeon or geforce2, he's probably not going to see much difference between the two. if you can afford it, a 3dlabs wildcat ii 5110 should give him the best cad performance. ati's firegl4 should also give decent performance for cad.

 

[smp]

He's using AutoCad, he's an architect and from what i can tell his floor plans and drafts are all 2D, all the time. Do I need a GeForce2? I was always under the impression that 2D performance on those cards left something to be desired.. am I wrong?

I definately am not in the know about Cad applications, but I do know that he uses AutoCad.
Thanks for all the replies.. keep em coming.

 

[kgraeme]

Any of the Radeon cards will be fine. Even the SDR ones should be plenty good enough. The DDR is for handling the extremely high throughput of constant 3D. With CAD, even though a lot of those drawings are very complex, I'm pretty sure that your cpu and amount of ram are more of a bottleneck than the speed of the video card memory.

Curiously, I just upgraded the drivers on my Radeon 64 VIVO and it now identifies itself as a 7200 in the Device Manager.

 

[bluemax]

I still suggest the 7000 for dual-monitor output. Or a Matrox G450. The speed is still good for the rare 3D game, depending on processor speed.

If you want gaming capability, the Radeon 8500LELE (almost crippled underclock) would be right snazzy! Dual monitor of awesome quality and very nice gaming too! And quite cheap!