Ti 200 or Radeon 8500

[epiGamer]

Hi everyone. It's time I got a new graphics card. I'm currently divided between the Hercules Prophet III Ti 200 (at £206 (yes I live in the much more expensive UK)) or an ATi Radeon 8500 at £230.

Looking at the Anandtech Radeon review it seems to outperform the Ti 200 in some areas, and then the Ti 200 is better in others.

I currently lean towards the Ti 200 (becuase of the proven performance of the Ti 200). I need to know what peoples opinions are considering current and future drivers.

Thanks everyone.

 

[stevens]

I got my 8500 in the dell deal, but i wouldnt have paid more that $230 for it. It also depend on what you are going to be doing. If you need dual monitors then go 8500, but if you want fps then go ti200. I have heard that the visiual quality of the 8500 is better that the ti200, but havnt gotten my card from dell to see for myself. If you go ti200 dont get a hercules. They are way overpriced. You could probobly find a much less expensive ti200 card. Some favorates of mine are Leadtek cards and Gainward.

 

[PressureXP]

To put it someway, ATi's drivers can only improve and the quicker the better!
Im playing with an OEM Radeon 8500 produced by ATi for one of its OEM's. Clocked at 250/250Mhz. It's a fine card and I even noticed a nice improvement in 2d over my ATi Radeon 64DDR. (Im not just an ATi owner, I also own a GeForce 2 PRO, Quadro 2MXR and a GeForce 256 SDR). I prefer the Radeon 64DDR because of the noticeable difference in 2d but its place is really threaten now that I have laid my hands on this Radeon 8500. I will send this OEM card back for a retail ATi produced Radeon 8500. In my view it offers the best bang for the buck, followed closely by the GeForce 3 Ti 200 (it looses because of less stellar 2d quality). The Radeon 8500 really has some potential but it is up to ATi's driver department to release its power...
Here is a untweaked compare (Note, it is clocked at 285/275Mhz though) and it is running on my crappy ass machine

 

[epiGamer]

<< I got my 8500 in the dell deal, but i wouldnt have paid more that $230 for it. It also depend on what you are going to be doing. If you need dual monitors then go 8500, but if you want fps then go ti200. I have heard that the visiual quality of the 8500 is better that the ti200, but havnt gotten my card from dell to see for myself. If you go ti200 dont get a hercules. They are way overpriced. You could probobly find a much less expensive ti200 card. Some favorates of mine are Leadtek cards and Gainward. >>



In fact. the Hercules is the cheepest card I can find at the moment.

I intend to use the graphics card for getting the hightest frames per second, and the best image quality in games .

P.S. I don't want to overclock my card, so "overclockability" isn't a factor.

 

[ZzB]

I got my Hercules Ti200 a couple of days ago (for £206 actually) and it is bloody brilliant. I may not be the most objective person to ask seeing as I upgraded from a GF2mx, so the improvement is obviously huge. But by way of proof I ran the first level of Max payne at 1024x7hundred-and-whatever-it-is with all sliders set to max, all textures on 32bit colour, anisotrophic filtering and 4x sample antialiasing on without a single jitter (!). So you won't be disappointed. I'll plonk my system specs below 'cos Max Payne kinda relies on the whole system anyway...

Current system:
Athlon XP 1600+
Gigabyte kt266a (I forget the model number)
512mb Crucial DDR
Prophet III Ti200
Fortissimo II

I was having similar concerns to you over whether to go for the Radeon or a Ti200, but the tried and tested GF3 stability was what won it for me (that and the blue PCB ), I just wouldn't want to risk £200 on a card that's gonna BSOD on me until ATI fix the drivers.

P.S. The herc apparently has 250mhz qualified Ram but when I checked the card properties it was clocked at 200mhz, I dunno if it is 250mhz ram that has been underclocked or a bloody annoying misprint - if anyone can clarify do post.

 

[ZzB]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention ebuyer (www.ebuyer.com) are now carrying the asus Ti200, with the pure version at £171.79 inc VAT and 3 day free delivery. I thought about going for it but I think the PCB is a manky yellow colour which would quite have gone with my blue MoBo and soundcard, but if you don't mind the colour it 'aint a bad deal.

The choice is yours...