Radeon 8500 or Leadtek G3Ti200 ?

[EternalNemesis]

I can get a leadtek g3ti200 $170 (270 CDN tax-in)

or a radeon 8500 oem for $200 (320 CDN tax-in)


Note: these prices are from local canadian retailers (toronto), I converted them to American dollars and included taxes

I am a gamer with an athlonxp 1600 system running dual boot (98se and xp)
-ecs k7s5a w/256 megs ddr +sblive audio

-my concerns are as follows:
1) performance difference between the two cards (NOTICEABLE not benchmarks)
2) 2D and 3D quality differences between the two cards
3) ATI drivers --> will they EVER be stable/efficient?

Thanks in advance for input

 

[Hard_Boiled]

I was in this same boat myself, deciding between the Ti200 and the radeon oem. I decided on the Leadtek.

1) I doubt you'll notice any difference in performance, especially since the 8500 oem is a little slower than the 8500 retail. Either way you can overclock the card, my Leadtek Ti200 overclocks to 220/500 no problem, could probably push it more.

2) I have always heard that the Radeon does have better 2D than the GeForce cards, but I've also heard GeForce cards can vary quite a bit on the 2D so it's tough to tell. Leadtek's have always had fine 2D in my opinion, I've owned a few before and this Ti200 seems to have perfectly fine 2D quality. In 3D I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two cards. I've been playing Wolfenstein and Max Payne with my new card here and it looks fantastic.

3) One would think that Ati drivers will continue to get better, I wouldn't worry about their drivers being inadequate. Nvidia drivers are solid.

I chose the Leadtek basically because I'm familiar and comfortable with the Nvidia cards and drivers. My main reason for wanting the 8500 was to see if the 2D really looked much better. But in your situation, saving $30 would be enough reason for me to go with the leadtek and hope you get one that overclocks well in the memory department.

 

[Onearmedmidget]

Hey, which store did you find the geforce 3ti 200 for 270 incl tax?

 

[vitocorleone]

well, if you're tight on cash, the ti200 is a fine card, and I would take it in a heartbeat over the radeon 7500. however, don't make the mistake that just because the radeon costs less than the ti500 that it is somehow inferior. for all intents and purposes, the ti500 and 8500 are equal (esp. with latest driver release) - each one excels more here or there (the only major prob the 8500 has right now is in UT - also, you have to disable fast writes with non-intel chipsets and maybe some other stuff (check www.rage3d.com)). the oem 8500 is 5 - 10% slower than the retail version, which does put it closer to the ti200... so... keep in mind the strengths of each card and what your needs are.

 

[darktyco]

Definatly get the 8500 OEM. Although it is clocked slower, it doesn't make a HUGE difference in performance compared to retail, plus your can flash it to retail BIOS or normally overlock it to retail levels if you want to. So you'll get all the favorable features of the 8500 plus better speed than a Ti200 for just 30 bucks more. I myself had a Ti200 on backorder until I realized how stupid I was NOT to go with the 8500 OEM!

 

[Tomek]

I recently had to decide whether I should get the Radeon 8500 ($195) or a GeForce3 ($230)... I want with the Radeon primarily because it has much better performance (equivalent to the TI500) for a lower price. Also, as darktyco said above, you can always flash the BIOS on the Radeon to the retail version.

 

[Bovinicus]

I would go with the 8500. Currently, the 8500 performs slightly better than the Ti200 in all games except UT. The feature set is slightly better. Also, there is a much higher potential for performance increases further down the line that with the Ti200. The image quality doesn't seem to differ too much in 3D. Radeon cards typically have better 2D and TVOUT than NVIDIA cards. Of course, unless you mess around in really high resolutions 1600x1200 or more, you probably won't notice.

 

[pookguy88]

can all OEM 8500s be clocked/flashed to retail 8500??

 

[VidmanII]

yes , they can be flashed if you know where to get the flash utility and have an 8500 retail BIOS file.

 

[TBC]

<< I would go with the 8500. Currently, the 8500 performs slightly better than the Ti200 in all games except UT. The feature set is slightly better. Also, there is a much higher potential for performance increases further down the line that with the Ti200. The image quality doesn't seem to differ too much in 3D. Radeon cards typically have better 2D and TVOUT than NVIDIA cards. Of course, unless you mess around in really high resolutions 1600x1200 or more, you probably won't notice. >>



I recently owned both the 8500 and the Geforce3 Ti200. I benchmarked both in 3dmark2001. While the 8500 beat out the ti200 in overall score, the Ti200 beat the 8500 in half the benchmark tests. This was done on my computer with the exact same hardware, just switching the video cards around. I would have expected the 8500 to kill the Ti200 in every benchmark, but it didn't.

Anyone buying a 8500 is also taking a risk of it not working for you. I returned mine because it would crash in every game I tried after about 10 minutes. This is either a driver problem, or a batch of defective cards they have. Anyone interested in it should check out the rage3d.com forums and see how many other people have the same problem.

I would have kept the 8500 though if it hadn't locked up in every game I tried, including the ATI demos.

 

[tazdevl]

Sounds like someone didn't go through and take out the reg keys from the nVIDIA card before plopping in the 8500.

 

[anime]

i have both card and like them both--just a matter of prefrence.....
see my sig for my system config..