Should i buy a Radeon 8500 for $165?

[LongCoolMother]

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Is that a good price...? I dont pay much attention to the Radeon 8500 in terms of prices. but it does seem to beat out the G3 Ti500 occasionally right? Anything above a G3 Ti200 would make me super happy
I need to upgrade my Voodoo 5500 cuz its having probs with my audigy. (im using my friend's voodoo 3) My system just deserves a faster vid card!

 

[LuDaCriS66]

That's probably the 230/230 version... the retail card runs at 275/275. It's your choice. Still a good card at that speed but not as fast

 

[LongCoolMother]

u think i can overclock that to the retail speed? Or at least close....? How would that card perform compared to a Geforce 3 ti200...they are around the same price..so im debating which one to get

 

[sc0tty8]

If it has the 3.6 ram on it, it should OC well. You will need to volt mod it, voiding your warranty of course. The 8500 will give you the best quality, and the ti200 can OC to the ti500 speeds, and you can even flash the bios. The 8500's, some can not be flashed.

 

[Rand]

<< That's probably the 230/230 version... the retail card runs at 275/275. It's your choice. Still a good card at that speed but not as fast >>



Just as correction, Hercules R8500 runs at 250/250 same as ATi's own OEM Radeon 8500.
I'd say it should be a reasonably safe bet that it will get to the 275/275 of ATi's retail model, and possibly up to 290 or 300 if you get a nicely overclockable card.
It will of course most definitely outperform a GF3 Ti200 at stock clockspeeds, generally it will perform approximately as well as the original GF3.

At $166 I'd say it's a pretty nice buy.

 

[Jolt2]

I believe that the ATI 8500 is clocked at 275/275, the ATI 8500 OEM cards are clocked at 250/250, and the powered by ATI 8500 LE boards are clocked at 230/230.

I could be wrong but this is what I have seen reading posts at Rage3d. It looks like most people can get their cards up to the next level by just overclocking; 230/230 cards to 250/250 and 250/250 cards to 275/275. As with all overclocking, your mileage may vary.

As for the voltage mod to get higher clock speed, I look at it this way; Can I afford to burn this new 8500 card up. If you can not afford doing that, then do not try the voltage mod. The type of lead pencil, how hard you push on the pencil, how wide the lead trace is put on, will all change the amount of voltage that is jumpered around the resister to do this voltage mod. This is not the same as the jumper mod on an AMD chip. Here the pencil lead is used to bypass the resister and increase the voltage. You are dealing with small voltage changes that can easily damage the card. If you can not afford to throw the new card away, then the voltage mod is not worth the gamble in my eyes.

 

[AA0]

I've seen a few people flash their LE radeons up to full 8500s. One had a problem but was able to fix it.

 

[sc0tty8]

I would go with the herc card. They are a reputable company, and ya get a blue pcb

Plus, the herc cards are pry better quality, I hear more of herc. then power color.