What do you guys think of the Radeon 8500 LE 128MB DDR, TV-Out, OEM ?

[EmoshBZ]

My gf needs a new video card for her Dell dimension 2300. She does not want to spend more than $200 canadian for a card either.

What do you guys think of the ATI Radeon 8500 LE 128MB DDR, TV-Out, OEM?

or should I get the ATI Radeon 9000 128MB DDR, Dual ,TV-Out, OEM?

This a tough one because the 9000 is only $17 dollars more and newer technology.

How is the 2d quality on the 8500? DVD? Mpeg2?

any negatives at all about the 8500 LE?

 

[CraigRT]

it's a great card all round... i have the 64MB version.. i am pleased for how it performs considering the low cost I paid.

no negatives as far as I can see.

 

[EmoshBZ]

I have yet to find someone who has anything negative to say about the 8500 LE!!!



haha!!!

looks like a winner then

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I'd get the Retail Built by ATI board if you're concerned with 2D quality; the OEM vendors are really a crapshoot. I have a Built By ATI Radeon 8500LE (128 MB) and I am very happy with the bang for the buck

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: EmoshBZ
I have yet to find someone who has anything negative to say about the 8500 LE!!!



haha!!!

looks like a winner then

what can i say they're good cards!!
they're not expensive, and perform like they are expensive.
go for that 8500LE....

 

[EmoshBZ]

what if I buy the 8500 LE OEM and flash the bios to retail?

how hard is this? tricky?

 

[Bovinicus]

I have a Radeon 8500 64MB. I am very pleased with the performance. It has served me well for quite a while now. The 128MB version is just more icing on the cake, especially in higher resolutions. The LE loses an almost negligible amount of performance as compared to the retail version.

The Radeon 9000 is not newer technology. It is in a sense, but it lacks a texture unit of the 8500. This will be worse, especially for future games. The Radeon 9700 also lacks the second texture unit, but it makes up for it with loop-back texturing.

The DVD playback on the card is excellent. I did have a slight problem when trying to FF or RW certain DVDs, but ATi's tech support suggested I changed a BIOS option which solved the problem.

The biggest negative I can think of is the fact that FSAA is unusable in newer games. Super-sampling looks good, but it does a number of performance. However, you should be able to turn up the resolution and acheive the same results, so it is a minor negative.

 

[sandorski]

Either card would be good.

 

[optimistic]

Does Canadian * 1/2 = USD? Because AIW 7500 is $150 USD. And if she got cable internet *cough*spliter*cough*, and does not game, it would be sweet to surf and watch tv all from the same box.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: optimistic
Does Canadian * 1/2 = USD? Because AIW 7500 is $150 USD. And if she got cable internet *cough*spliter*cough*, and does not game, it would be sweet to surf and watch tv all from the same box.

approx

 

[MadRat]

The 8500LE and 9000PRO are comparable. The framerates are so close its insignificant to compare the numbers. One advantage as I see it is that my 9000PRO is very compact and runs cool compared to my brothers 8500LE. If you like progress then go 9000PRO. If you like price go 8500LE.

Then again I've reverted to a TBred from a Palomino to keep the noise in the case minimalized. Its all personal preference.

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: optimistic
Does Canadian * 1/2 = USD? Because AIW 7500 is $150 USD. And if she got cable internet *cough*spliter*cough*, and does not game, it would be sweet to surf and watch tv all from the same box.

Canadian * 2/3 = USD or roughly 1 USD = 1.5 CDN

 

[Aiden]

if you plan on that board, check compusa they are selling it for 70$. hard to find,but if you live in a major city can pricematch it.

i went to circuty city,with the printable compusa add,they called around and price matched it for me.

was the radeon 8500LE 128mb version.

picked this card up,will move it to another system im building for family once the 9700 pro prices drop in the next month or 2 probably.