Under $80 Video Card

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Bovinicus

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2001
3,145
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ATi is far faster with anisotropic filtering enabled... though with slightlyy lower quality.
I've seen some closeup screenshots that say otherwise. Either way, your point is made.
 

dave404

Junior Member
Nov 13, 2002
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All the reviews I have seen of Sapphire have been OK, but as I said in an earlier post on General Hardware, be very careful about the spec of the card you are buying on an 8500LE. Sapphire make quite a variety, clocked from 250/250 down to 250/183 (!), with corresponding qualities of memory. If in any doubt, get the model number from the vendor, and check it out at the Sapphiretech website.
 

DDDavey

Member
Oct 20, 2000
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I don't see true ATI 8500LE's on newegg.com, just the ones made by Sapphire...am I missing something? I too would like an "Under $100 card" that will perform decent in Counterstrike etc.

Not sure if a GeForce is the way to go or not...
 

thatbox

Senior member
Dec 5, 2002
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Hmm. I just talked to some of my friends today, and they said that ATi had sucky drivers. They suggested I find an Nvidia card. What's the best value GeForce card under 90 bucks?

Oh yeah...My Compusa was out of 128MB 8500LEs...
 

adlep

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2001
5,287
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81
It was the case a year or two ago, but ATI is working hard in order to try to change their image....
They are updating their drivers like once in a month these days. They even have a driver for linux which works perfectly with 8500....
Go ATI....
 

thatbox

Senior member
Dec 5, 2002
253
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Okay. Another question. Are "white box" models worse than the retail version?

And another: Go for an AGP 4x Radeon 8500LE or an AGP 8x Asus GeForce 4 MX440?
 

Viper96720

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2002
4,390
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radeon and look for a review about the 8500le here on anandtech. Had something about changing registry settings to enable disabled pipelines or something.
 

Tobias

Junior Member
Nov 14, 2002
12
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I disagree, the 8500LE is a better card than the GF3Ti200, aslong as it is a good 8500LE.

AGP 8X isn't going to do you squat, the memory bandwidth on the vid card is way higher than the system memory bandwidth which is supported by AGP8X. And with 64 or 128Mb, you won't touch the system bandwidth. Plus, the 8500LE mops up any GF4MX.
 

RaynorWolfcastle

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
8,968
16
81
The radeon 8500LE kicks ass, I got the Built By ATI, 128 MB version, about one month ago for $150 CDN + tax (bought locally so no shipping). That's about $93 USD. A word of advice, this card does jnot have a DVI out, or dual monitor support, it only has a VGA out and a TV out.

Also, it overclocks very nicely, I've got mine running stably at 305/305 which is 10% faster than the non-LE's stock speed.

Highly recommended if you can still find it :)
 

thatbox

Senior member
Dec 5, 2002
253
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76
Radeon 8500LE. Made/built by ATi. Preferably 128MB. For under 100, no exceptions. I know what I want; now I just have to find it.
[Edit: And about the white box thing... Are white boxes bad?]
[Edit Edit: How's this? I heard someone says Sapphire was good... the only problem is that you cant use a DVI - VGA adapter.

ATI RADEON 8500 LE 128MB DDR DVI/CRT/TV Features TRUFORM technology to make characters more life-like- High-resolution 32-bit 3D gaming up to 2048x1536- HYPER Z II technology conserves memory bandwidth for improved performance in demanding applications -
Specifications:
GPU: RADEON 8500LE
MEM:128MB DDR, 128-bit memory.
Maximium memory Interface :12GB/s with 250MHZ DDR
Bus Interface: AGP2X/4X
3D Acceleration Features: TRUFORM, SMARTSHADER, SMOOTHVISION anti-aliasing,PIXEL TAPESTRY II, VIDEO IMMERSION II
(comes with Driver and S-Video cable) This card cannot be used in conjunction with a DVI adapter Powered by ATI Manufactured by Sapphire -OEM
Computer Hardware > Video Cards > SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED > N82E16814102213

Item: N82E16814102213 Model# RADEON 8500 LE 128M
Rating: (avg rating out of 77 voters) Shipping: Special Free FedEx Saver Shipping
Price: $94.00
 

thatbox

Senior member
Dec 5, 2002
253
0
76
I'm heading off to CompUsa in half an hour to get the Radeon 8500LE 64MB for US $70, after 30 bucks in rebates. I still want to know if white boxes are bad, though.
 

Viper96720

Diamond Member
Jul 15, 2002
4,390
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No not bad you don't have to pay for all the extras. Like fancy packaging that gets thrown away or extra software you'll never use. It's the same thing that computer builders buy. Then they can build for less and sell for more.
 

thatbox

Senior member
Dec 5, 2002
253
0
76
Do you know of anywhere i can get a 128MB 8500le that has vga, dvi, and s-video out, and can use a dvi -> vga agapter?