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Video Card under $200 Radeon 8500 vs GF4 Ti4200

H

Hanpan

Diamond Member
IT seems that ATI has lowered it's MSRP for the Radeon 8500 to $199 right in line with the upcomming GF4 Ti4200. Of course street for the radeon is now at about $150-160 and I expect the ti4200 to be available for about that.

My question is assuming both are in fact available at close to the same price (perhaps favouring ATI by $15-20) which card would you choose and why. It seems that the Radeon offers some nicer features but teh Ti4200 has marginally better 3d performance. For now I would say the jury is still out on 2D.

Please if you post list at least one reason why you choose the card you do. I am not looking to get in to a flame war over which company is better I simply want to know people thoughts on what look to be two relatively well priced products.

THanks 🙂

SOme more links.

Radeon 8500 retail $160.00 at enpc.com


$199 direct from ATI
 
I wouldnt buy either yet.
The GeForce4 Ti4200 hasnt yet been released, so it's impossible to buy as yet even if I did prefer it.
And the Radeon 8500, is about to be replaced by the faster Radeon8500XT at the same price point so it would make little sense t buy it as it's about to be superseded by a faster Radeon in about a month or so.
 


<< What enhancements does the new radeon enjoy? >>



It's based on the RV250 core, and is clocked at 300/300 with 128MB RAM.
As for what enhancements the RV250 core contains well... damned if I know, ask ATi 😉
Hopefully an improved memory controller...

It's supposed to take over for the R8500LE at $188, while the Radeon 8800 takes over for the Retail R8500 as ATi's flagship card.
 
Rand Hardocp has said this card won;t be out for months. The upcomming card will just be a Radeon 8500 clocked slightly higher with 128mb of ram. However it will retail at 299.00. Consider one can now get a radeon 8500 retail for about 130.00 i find it hard to justify the extra cost...
 
Personally, I would definitely go with nVidia just because their driver is superior than ATi in every possible way.
 
Out of those 2, Ti 4200. It beats soundly the 8500 and is worth the extra $50. I dunno what to say about the 8500XT, but considering how the 8500 had at it's launch more memory bandwidth than nVidia's flagship (GF3 Ti500) and still could barely keep up with it, I think we will see similar with the 8500XT, so go Ti4200 once it's out.
 
It seems that the Radeon offers some nicer features

Exactly, it depends on what you are looking for. Myself I need a great TV-out card, and above average 3d, so I just chose the 8500 to replace my Ti200 w/128 mb ram.

128mb ram is definitely not need at the moment, so don't let that sway you.

Then it comes down to pricing. What will the 4200 settle at? How much better will the new radeon be? When will it be here? How much will IT cost? Lotta issues.
 


<< Rand Hardocp has said this card won;t be out for months. The upcomming card will just be a Radeon 8500 clocked slightly higher with 128mb of ram. However it will retail at 299.00. Consider one can now get a radeon 8500 retail for about 130.00 i find it hard to justify the extra cost... >>



*shrugs*
HardOCP says one thing, XBit Labs, Digit-Life, and Inquirer all say another.
I'm gonna have to go with the majority on this one.
 
Considering the Ti4200 isn't even available yet I really don't see how you can make a choice. Wait for it and the new Radeon cards to be released before you make a decision.

What enhancements does the new radeon enjoy?

I've read 350/350 memory (which should put it faster than even a Ti4600) and a beefed up T&L unit.
 
Wow. I guess there is a lot of infromation out there. So does anyone know the actual release date for this phantom card.

I
 
What is the expected release date on the Radeon 8500XT, I might just have to trade in my current 8500 for that one.
 


<< What is the expected release date on the Radeon 8500XT, I might just have to trade in my current 8500 for that one. >>



Rumours say it'll be announced at Cebit and launched shortly after, but personally I'm expecting it to ship right along with initial announcement probably 2-3 weeks after CeBit.
 
i can't see any games in the near future using more than 64mb of onboard texture memory anyway - so u're safe w/ a 64mb card until your next upgrade.

i'd personally go 8500 for the money and current availability - as well as the controversially higher image quality and better feature set.
 


<< GF4 Ti4400 is a horrific waste of money IMO >>


Why do you say that? For $234 it seems like a good deal to me.
 
Bdog, you are ignoring the fact that you can't buy the damn 4200 yet. It's either the 4400 or 4600 for the next couple of months. Plus, at 235 shipped, how can you not get the 4400? The 4600 is about 100 dollars more, and I dont need that extra 5-10 fps, especially because im using a 18.1" flat panel thats native resolution is only 1280-1024.

What game currently demands the full power of the 4600 at a resolution above 1280-1024?

-Steve
 
Yes, the Ti4200 shouldn't be out for at least 2 months. When you see Ti4600's on the shelf, give it about another 2 months and it should show up then.

Where can you get the cheapest deal for a Radeon 8500 retail with 275/275 right now? All I see are the OEM or LE versions for the low prices.
 
My question is assuming both are in fact available at close to the same price (perhaps favouring ATI by $15-20) which card would you choose and why. It seems that the Radeon offers some nicer features but teh Ti4200 has marginally better 3d performance. For now I would say the jury is still out on 2D.

Since the GeForce4 Ti 4200 will not be out for a while you really can't include it, but still all GeForce4 Ti cards blow the Radeon 8500 away. With two pixel shaders making use of that 128MB RAM it's a real beast.

It's based on the RV250 core, and is clocked at 300/300 with 128MB RAM.

So basically it's a Radeon 8500 clocked to 300/300. The 128MB RAM won't make a difference on that card (just like 128MB didn't make a difference for the GeForce3 Ti 200). Only a card like the GeForce4 Ti will make use of that much RAM.
 
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