Sapphire 2D quality?

[mrzed]

How does it compare?

I'm going to be wading into the minefield of 8500le cards. I'm buying local, so that I can verify memory speeds, but if there is any question about 2D quality, I may just spend the $20-30 extra for a built by ATI retail. I assume I get guaranteed 250/250 with one of those, along with quality 2D right?

But any probs with Sapphire 2d?

 

[BMW330ci]

I have the built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro and the Sapphire 9000 64MB; the Sapphire's 2D image quality is identical to the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro! Games run fine at 1024x768 and for $70 from Newegg, you can't go wrong.

Enjoy!

 

[mrzed]

I'm actually considering a 9000pro instead of the 8500, just because of the memory speed troubles.

Any idea how a 9000 pro compares to a 230/230 8500le? Is it even close?

 

[BFG10K]

AFAIK most OEM ATi partners stick very closely to ATi's reference design so you shouldn't have issues with any of them.

 

[mrzed]

What about 8500 64Mb @ 230/230 vs 9000Pro 128Mb?

I assume the 8500 is the better card. Can anyone confirm?

 

[kylebisme]

heck, afaik sapphire is more than just an ati oem partner but they acutlly produce the built by ati boards for ati.

ohh, and a 128mb 9000 is a little slower in some regards but then again it has more ram which can still come in handy depending on what you are going to be doing, plus the 9000 bonuses which realy are so unexciting that i don't even recall but i figured i would point out there is something that makes it "beter". actualy, a slighly higher clocked 8500le would be beter yet for gameing and tends to cost about the same as the 9000.

 

[PricklyPete]

As said in a previous post, ATI contracts Saphire to produce most of ATI's own boards...so pretty much you are getting the real stuff for cheaper.

 

[Eug]

My 2D quality rating (10 is best):

Any DVI: 10
Radeon LE: 8
Sapphire 9100: 8.5
ATI Rage 128 Pro: 8
Sapphire 9000 Pro: 7ish
Asus Geforce4 MX 440 dual DVI-I: 4 in VGA mode (completely unusable)

Fastest card of the bunch is the 9100.

 

[mrzed]

Thanks Eug. Helps to get confirmation from a member that I know is 2d quality obsessed. I'll be going with Sapphire OEM 8500le then.

 

[clicknext]

I have a Sapphire Radeon8500LE. Exact same image quality as my Built By ATI 8500LE.