Radeon 32MB DDR keeps dropping - $91.99 (caution: LE (low end) model?!)

[UDMA69]

same exact deal here but if I do RMA will I have to pay the 15% restocking fee? if so it isn't worth it... I'll just resell it on e bay and buy a new one from buy.com

 

[oldfart]

Breaking news! I found out how to turn on and off Hyper-Z in OpenGL. The other reg settings are for D3D. If someone wants to try this, please do so and report back. Here are the settings: This assumes your location is \Driver\0000. It may be different. If so, change the text below. The best way to do this is to copy the below into notepad. Name the file ogl.reg Right click on the file and pick "merge". This will put the settings in the registry. Be sure the location is correct! To turn off Hyper-Z, set them all to zero.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ATI Technologies\Driver\0000\OpenGL\Private]
"enableFastZMaskClear"=dword:00000001
"enableHierarchicalZ"=dword:00000001
"enableZCompression"=dword:00000001
"ZCompForAllConfigs"=dword:00000001

Try a Q3 benckmark and report back.

BTW, for those that are returning your cards, I don't blame you at all. I'm just trying to find out what these cards are and can do for people who are keeping them.

 

[goog40]

Conspiracy theory: what if the first batch of LEs are actually the same as the regular 32 mb ddr version, with just the hyper-z off by default?

Anyone have both versions and try running the benchmarks at the same clock speed?

 

[Engineer]

oldfart,

I tested the OpenGL registry entries above and gained nothing by having them set to 1:

QuakeIII (32 bit with 32 bit textures)...1.11 with timedemo 1 running the Demo0001 that came with the game:

800 x 600 x 32: 98.4
1024 x 768 x 32: 76.2
1280 x 1024 x 32: 46.1

But...with the 4 entries turned to 0 (off):

800 x 600 x 32: 91.2
1024 x 768 x 32: 62.6
1280 x 1024 x 32: 39.2

A big dropoff! apparantely OpenGL HyperZ is ENABLED by default!

 

[oldfart]

Thanks again, Engineer, your help has been very valuable!

 

[arod324]

So does this mean that they are THE SAME CARD, but without fan and clocked lower? Engineer just proved that opengl hyperz was enabled, but what about direct3d? Basically, with a few tweaks would I be able to "have and own" a normal Radeon DDR 32MB?

 

[OlivarBandwidth]

SO does this card still appear to be a good deal or should i spend the extra 50 bucks on a geforce 2 gts 32mb, i just want a good all around card i am using a 32mb tnt 2 m64 right now and just want the most bang for the buck, is there a way to enable hyper z in the LE models? does it appear to perform almost as good as a geforce 2 gts? I wanna order one today but i have doubts if this version of the card sucks

 

[OlivarBandwidth]

Any more test results how does she look?

 

[Engineer]

arod324,

Yes, you can enable and disable HyperZ in this card. There are several posts (by myself) in this thread a few pages back showing the difference between the 2....about 20% faster with HyperZ enabled.

Also, this card has been stable overclocked from the default 148MHz to 193MHz (with no fan, only a blower in the front of the case blowing air across the card) with absolutely no stability problems.

As far as speed, the card does very well (so far) at the 32 bit tests (4700 for my GeForce 2 GTS 32 DDR vs the 4545 Range for the Radeon (overclocked to about the same speed as the GeForce card)...but on the 16 bit test...the GeForce eats the Radeon LE for lunch....7009 vs 5200...tests run on 3DMark 2000 @ 1024 x 768.

This card may indeed be stripped down from a normal Radeon, but I'm not sure what was stripped. It does have the "acclaimed" image quality of the Radeons (Better than GeForce Card.....crisper text...and suprisingly, crisper 3d (3D by just a little)....)

I'm not trying to justify (as oldfart testified above) the actions by the sellers (Newegg, etc) for falsly advertising this as a regular OEM Radeon 32 DDR...I'm just trying to see where this card fits in to the picture and is worth keeping...for both myself and the many others that ordered

 

[aatechforum]

engineer, how do you overclock this card? in the bios or under windows setting or using additional software? where can I get the software? sorry I'm new for o/c a vid card.

 

[UDMA69]

Guys-

What should I do now? I have this card in my computer. I could sell the thing on e-bay and be back at square one. Nothing lost nothing gained. Then i could buy a 64MD DDR Radeon over at buy.com for a total of $193. What should I do? Keep it? Or should I upgrade to the 64MB DDR? This is a new computer I am making for myself with 1GIG TBIRD, KT7A-RAID, 256MB PC133 CL2 Ram, etc. Would the Radeon LE be the bottleneck of my system?

-Help me!

 

[Merc7]

I recently purchased one of these cards from Newegg. I got mine a few weeks ago when the price was $120 or so. Mine came with just a heatsink, as many of you described, but it doesn't have an LE sticker on the side. It was clocked at 148/148, but I was able to raise that to 190/190 no prob. I had it installed for a while and then decided to get the 64 meg version of the card since I wanted the VIVO functionality. I bought a retail Radeon 64 VIVO from buy.com that I received a couple days ago. I did run some benchmarks in Q3 when I had the 32 meg card installed. Here they are compared to my new 64meg card:

Res: 1024x768 (32-bit everything)

OEM 32DDR
Clock (166/166) FPS - 67.2
Clock (183/183) FPS - 71.4
Clock (190/190) FPS - 73.5

Retail 64DDR
Clock (default 183/183) FPS - 71.9
Clock (190/190) FPS - 73.2

As you can see there is little difference, and the 32meg DDR actually out-performed my 64meg DDR by a small margin for some reason. I had both card using the same registry settings, and the same D3D and OpenGL settings in case you're wondering. Just though i'd let you guys know about this.

 

[Techie333]

I'm going to buy this card....although I am probably the first one buying it knowing it is a radeon LE. I think it is the best bang for buck. I am also in the same position as UDMA69
I'm building a 1ghz t-bird, asus a7v133, 128mb pc133, etc.

 

[oldfart]

UDMA, its up to you. I have a 64 retail, and am quite happy with it. The LE is very cheap. You enable the HyperZ, clock it up a few notches with Powerstrip, and you basically have a "normal" 32 DDR for le$$.

 

[oldfart]

If you guys want to look at or contribute any findings to the technical discussion, post it HERE on the video card forum.

With everyones help, I think we know what these cards are. Here is the Readers Digest version:

32 meg 6ns DDR
clocked at 148/148, but can easily go well above that
larger, but passive HS
HyperZ disabled in D3D only, but can be enabled via registry
Very Cheap

When above changes are made, runs as well as a "normal" 32 DDR.

 

[arod324]

Oldfart,
Have there been any DIRECT comparisons between the "normal" radeon and the radeon LE, or just playing around with hyper-z with the LE (it would be great if someone who has both cards could do a comparison). Another thing is that do you think the LE will perform, clock for clock, the same as a "normal" radeon?

 

[Engineer]

Go back about 4 posts....a comparison between this card and the 64Meg VIVO using Quake 3

 

[rpzero]

hi. I bought this card as well for someone else. What driver version are you guys using by the way? I didn't check what version came with the card. Does this card work with the regular Radeon drivers or does it use a special driver for the LE? If this card uses regular drivers, should we assume that all the features such as hyper z is already enabled?

Anyways, it seems this card is okay for the price. I have the a Radeon All in Wonder and it seems to perform about the same as this LE version, based on the benchmarks posted here and my personal benchmarks (I have a P3 1 GHz and I didn't overclock my card). This certainly was not that bad of deal. You get a card that performs just about as good as the regular radeon with some easy overclocking.

But it does suck that the price of this card has dropped $7 since I ordered it for $99.99. I think I will call to get a price adjustment.

 

[rpzero]

For comparison, I'm posting my benchmark scores for Quake 3 using my All in Wonder Radeon. My systems specs are P3 1 GHz, BE6 II ver. 2.0, 128 MB RAM, IBM 45 GB ATA100 HD.

All tests were run on the High Quality setting.

At default 166/166
800x600: 104.8
1024x768: 72.1
1280x1024: 46.2
1600x1200: 32.7

overclocked to 180/180
800x600: 112.2
1024x768: 79.0
1280x1024: 50.8
1600x1200: 35.9


So it seems the LE's performance isn't that much of a difference than a regular Radeon, I guess in this case in comparison to the Radeon AIW. But consider the price! The AIW is about $250 while the LE is $92.99!

 

[hans007]

back during the ati rage128 days there were several xpert128 cards. Some clocked at 75/75 , some at 90/90/ some at 103/103 and some at 100/110. reactorcritical had the bios files and a hacked bios flasher for it, and you could flash the 75/75 one (i had that) to even 100/110. But it wouldn't work if you just straigt used power strip, because in my theory the memory timings were faster at 75/75 in the cards bios. Hopefully someone can get us the bios files for the new radeon LEs (i have a 148/148 oem radeon, but it doesnt say LE on it). a

 

[oldfart]

It wont "say" LE on it. The telltale signs are the 148/148 and the passive HS.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

bump i should have mine today, so the first thing to do is do power strip??

 

[FredC]

No longer free shipping, but the price dropped to $85. $4 fedex saver is $89 shipped. Sounds like a deal even for LE considering comparisons done here.

Changed back to free shipping but price at $89. So net is the same. Any bets on where the price will be at the end of the week?

 

[bigbootydaddy]

where are you seeing that??

ATI Radeon 32MB DDR 4X AGP Video Card Powered by the ATI RADEON graphics processing unit (GPU) Featuring ATI's CHARISMA ENGINE, PIXEL TAPESTRY and VIDEO IMMERSION technologies-OEM Version Free Fedex Saver Shipping
Detail Specs - Product Link -See It! (14-102-165)

89.00....maybe if i add it to cart.?? nope, still 89..

edit: ok im retarded, 85+4...isnt that false advertising to say free shipping??

also id recommend everyone print out the specs newegg gives/point to in case we do get something. (about how it doesnt say LE)

 

[OldPro]

Says LE now, but the page I printed and saved at home doesn't say it. Has anyone been able to figure out if there is any support from ATI for this card? (i.e. bios upgrades, driver support, etc). Also the link to the specifications on their web site (the first one, not the one to ATI's site) specify that the product runs at 166Mhz and uses HyperZ technology. My card isn't due until tomorrow.

Has anyone tried calling NewEgg? How about ATI. Anyone have any luck getting any info from them?