Radeon 8500 & 8500LE


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I'm looking into buying a Radeon Card and when i do a search in pricewatch i mostly come up with the 8500LE cards. Prices for the LE version are way cheaper compared to the 8500. Wondering if anyone could help explain the differences between the Radeon 8500 128mb and Radeon 8500LE 128mb [both Retail].

And also which card to purchase. Thank you.

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Originally posted by Intelligen

I'm looking into buying a Radeon Card and when i do a search in pricewatch i mostly come up with the 8500LE cards. Prices for the LE version are way cheaper compared to the 8500. Wondering if anyone could help explain the differences between the Radeon 8500 128mb and Radeon 8500LE 128mb [both Retail].

And also which card to purchase. Thank you.

Clock Speeds :)

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and no dual monitor out support.

you can have DVI+TV or CRT+TV but no CRT+DVI, or CRT+CRT.

and clock speeds the ATI retail is 250/250 and the OEM is 230/230.

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hmm.... ok.... so in your option, would you say stay away from Ati and just go for Nvidia and the GeForce 3 since prices are so cheap on them. ti500 of course though.

I'm seriously doubting Ati these days and GeForce 3 is a damn good card yet.... but i've seen tests done on both Geforce 3 and Radeon 8500 and it looks as if the Radeon beats geforce but can't beat GeForce4 but i can't afford one of those.

So which way would YOU go as a consumer?

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Originally posted by Intelligen

hmm.... ok.... so in your option, would you say stay away from Ati and just go for Nvidia and the GeForce 3 since prices are so cheap on them. ti500 of course though.

I'm seriously doubting Ati these days and GeForce 3 is a damn good card yet.... but i've seen tests done on both Geforce 3 and Radeon 8500 and it looks as if the Radeon beats geforce but can't beat GeForce4 but i can't afford one of those.

So which way would YOU go as a consumer?

Have ATI and will stick to it. Just because I cant see blowing the bigger bucks for a gf4. Plus the new ATI will take the GF4 on when the R300 hits this month nvidia will be playing catch up for a bit

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Originally posted by Intelligen

hmm.... ok.... so in your option, would you say stay away from Ati and just go for Nvidia and the GeForce 3 since prices are so cheap on them. ti500 of course though.

I'm seriously doubting Ati these days and GeForce 3 is a damn good card yet.... but i've seen tests done on both Geforce 3 and Radeon 8500 and it looks as if the Radeon beats geforce but can't beat GeForce4 but i can't afford one of those.

So which way would YOU go as a consumer?

Skip the 3, Go for a Geforce 4 Ti 4200, It has the best

Price to Performance RATIO. :)

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I own a Radeon 8500 64 meg retail. I love it and the driver support of ATI has gotten considerably better. I will say that the 8500 does outperform the Geforce 3 ti500, if you don't use anti-aliasing. The Geforce 3 has a more efficient algorithm for anti-aliasing. But the image quality of a Radeon is superior (that includes anti-aliasing) and the anistrophic filtering is faster. Both cards are good I chose Radeon because I had bad experiences with nvdia.

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I just got the 8500LE yesterday and must say that I am quite impressed with the graphics quality. The details in Q3A did not improve a whole probably because the game is so old. But the graphics in RtCW amazed me. The only difference between the 8500 and 8500LE is that the LE has fewer connections in the back. You get the monitor plugin and a TV-out. With the 8500 you get more (and pay more of course) plus the Half-Life pack.

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I can't afford a Geforce 4 and 3 would do me just fine.... and i know the new Radeon will take on the geforce4 but still.....

would it be best to go with a Geforce 3 or keep looking into the Ati Radeon???

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Nvidia is way better than ATI. Nvidia's drivers are much better than ATI and many new games are built for Nvidia graphics cards.

Go with the Geforce 3. It will be the best buy you'll ever make.

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The way I see it, as ATI's driver support continues to improve, so will their cards. It would be very wise of you to consider the Radeon as well as the GeForce 3. But my opinion is to get the Radeon since it outperforms the GeForce 3.

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Originally posted by Intelligen

I can't afford a Geforce 4 and 3 would do me just fine.... and i know the new Radeon will take on the geforce4 but still.....

would it be best to go with a Geforce 3 or keep looking into the Ati Radeon???

How much is a Geforce 4 Ti 4200? Looks like 132.00 US on Pricewatch, thats too much? :ermm:

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Geforce 4 ti 4200 64mb - $137

Ati Radeon 8500 64mb - $102

Ati Radeon 8500LE 128mb - $105

Ati Radeon 8500 128mb - $135

(All Retail)

I guess since i wouldn't go with the LE version of radeon, the geforce 4 ti 4200 would be the better buy..... crap i dunno.... only thing is the Geforce 4ti 4200 is only 64mb while the radeon is 128... i wonder how much the geforce4 ti4200 128mb costs....

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Originally posted by Intelligen

Geforce 4 ti 4200 64mb - $137

Ati Radeon 8500 64mb - $102

Ati Radeon 8500LE 128mb - $105

Ati Radeon 8500 128mb - $135

(All Retail)

I guess since i wouldn't go with the LE version of radeon, the geforce 4 ti 4200 would be the better buy..... crap i dunno.... only thing is the Geforce 4ti 4200 is only 64mb while the radeon is 128... i wonder how much the geforce4 ti4200 128mb costs....

are you playing any games that require the 128 MB for textures?

the 128MB starts around 150.00 - 160.00 US. i'm playing all the current games, and none of them need 128MB. i've got a Geforce 4 440 Go 64MB on my inspiron laptop, and its great, 64MB is a great amount of video ram :)

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Well, first let me correct this: Radeon 8500 retail is 275/275, 8500LE or 8500 OEM is 250/250 and 8500LE OEM is 230/230. 8500LE is NOT a good overclocker cuz it's core works in a lower voltage than the original 8500 core. If you mod your card (exchange resistors and stuff) plus having 3.3ns ram on your 8500LE, then you can use a hacked bios (which I don't have, unfortunately) and you can overclock it to 8500 retail levels.

So, let's consider this: the radeon 8500 retail does at least 500 more marks than 8500LE, the 8500LE does something between 500 and 800 more marks than Ti500, and the Ti4200 smacks everyone with at least 1000 more marks than the 8500 retail.

My suggestion: get a 8500 or a Ti4200 if you have a few extra bucks, but if you get a Ti4200, don't get the 128MB ones (they have slower memory). I'm gonna get myself a 8500 since they're cheap right now, and later get the 9700 or something (9000 is slower, so forget about it).

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I am buying an ABIT GF4 Ti 4200 w/ 64MB for $149.99. The Leadtek one is $139.99. This is not from some ripoff on-line retailer, this is from a local computer shop. The Radeon 8500 is basically the same price so you mite as well buy the nvidia

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heh don't buy a card jus cuz one person says its good, and another person says its bad who doesn't have the card. I got to test the 8500 for a month and it is amazing. All my games were alot faster and better, like RTCW, the gfx looked better, and in quake since i play in 1600X1200 its better since the FPS is good at that resolution :). The drivers for ATI are fine in my view, the new Catalysts rock. Since you don't seem like you got alot of $ get the 8500 or 8500 LE it doesn't make a big difference but its a good card for that price :)

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Originally posted by Killa-b

and no dual monitor out support.

you can have DVI+TV or CRT+TV but no CRT+DVI, or CRT+CRT.

and clock speeds the ATI retail is 250/250 and the OEM is 230/230.

My ATi Radeon 8500LE 128meg has dual monitor support, running it right now

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listen to me! listen to me!

heh, that was giddy, anyways, this is what I have to say:

I was just talking to a person with the specs of P4 2.2 GHz, 1 Gig of Ram and Radeon 8500. Let me first say, the specs is impressive. But he was telling me how it bogs down for him in UT2003... and he's running in 640x480.

And let me tell ya, my specs is tbird 1.0 GHz and 512MB of ram, and a 4200 (clocked higher than 4600 tho). I run UT2003 in 1024x768 and total smoothness. (I was describing it to another friend, "smooth as steve's ass (steve being a close friend))

I do believe I can go higher tho :)

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