Thumbs up for ATI! (just installed a Radeon 7200 32MB DDR)

[ndee]

I just replaced my Voodoo 3 2000 with a Radeon 7200 32MB DDR(the normal old Radeon). It was clocked at 153MHz, but had no problem to bump it to 183MHz(no artifacts), core and memory. I saw artifacts on 193MHz, so I just downclocked it again. I installed the newest offical drivers 3276 and had absolutely no problems so far. The games looked sooo much better. Fifa 2002 playing at max. details on 1280x1024 is absolutely amazing, or Max Payne @ 1024x768x32 max. details. I heard so many bad things about ATi (also from a lot of guys which I think never had personal experience with an ATi product), which I can't confirm. I'm using Windows XP and I'm really satisfied with the performance. I have to load Unreal Tournament once to see how that looks. I think the "bad-driver"-image was a big myth. Of course, in the beginnings there were troubles, no doubt, but I think people, who are now screaming that the drivers for the old Radeon are bad, are just nvidiots.

Just wanted to give a thumbs-up to ATi.

 

[sMashPiranha]

Good to hear it, I've been looking to upgrade to a 7500, but with the way people bash ATi in here I've been a bit reluctant.

 

[Raincity]

When you setup UT make sure you use the UT Open GL renderer and install the compression textures off of disc 2 and have a towel handy to wipe off the drool of your desk after playing UT for a hour on the Radeon.

Rain

 

[ndee]

I have no personal experience with the 7500/8500 series, but as much as I read, there aren't problems with the compatibility, but "just" with the performance. I also was worried, if I bought the right card, but for 50$, it can't compare to a 200$ GF3 Ti 200 card of course.

 

[Thor_Sevan]

One of my friend has a geforce2 pro and plays UT in opengl WITH the extra textures and its just AMAZING how beautifull it is. Well, of course, sometimes u see textures that should not be compressed (flares, sky) but thats ok.

Can ATI radeon play UT in opengl very fast ? Cause we don't see UT benchmarked with Opengl these days... can someone post some ?

THor

 

[sMashPiranha]

Hey I just thought of this, Deus Ex is built on the Unreal engine right? Would the Radeon give me good performance in Deus Ex? As this is my fav game at the moment.

 

[Soccerman]

ya, Radeons can run UT in OpenGL at good speed. I think probably as fast, if not faster than the Direct3D version.

but even if you lose 5 fps, it's probably worth it to everyone except the most hardcore player.. I have yet to try it myself (my copy of UT went bad somehow it gives me GPF's when I try to install :-( ) since I got this Radeon LE, but the pictures show a massive improvement, in texture quality, so I can't wait to see it in real motion..

 

[Thor_Sevan]

cool !

Thor

 

[ndee]

Can anyone provide me with screenies from this UT compressed textures? I know how they look like, but I want to show it a friend at work, and I can't find them.

Thanx