Radeon 8500 retail or MSi GF3Ti200??

[romanji]

Hi am just wondering what I should buy.I am getting the Abit KX7333-R to go with. Should I spend the extra $75 to go up from a radeon 8500($275 canadian) to an Abit GF4 4400($350Cndn??How would the MSi GF3ti200($223 cndn) compare?Would it be enough to play the latest games for a while?I am not worried about benching just playing games at 600x800.Anyone know of any good computer shops in Canada for these items?Thanks for any insight into this dilema.

 

[Zukatah]

For a good site: www.ncix.com. The GeForce3 Ti 200 should be more than enough to play games at 800X600 but the Radeon 8500 is a nice boost in performance. For the GeForce4, I'd wait unless you have money burning in your pocket and need top performance (which I don't think you do). See how much money you are willing to spend, the 8500 is faster and has better image quality than the GeForce3. You can find the radeon much cheaper than that.... look around, you may find interesting deals. By the way, the FS/FT forum is a great way of having good products at a reasonable price. Of course it's second hand, but on things like videocards that y ou hang on for 2-3 years, it doesn't matter very much...

 

[zxcv]

Both cards will be able to play the latest games for a while. For the extra cost, the Radeon will definately give you extra performance.

You can also get a GeForce3 ti200 for $189 cdn here at www.a-power.com

 

[Rand]

The Radeon has better performance, and a better feature set in almost all areas, but either card is easily more then adequate to play at 800x600. If that's your intended resolution I wouldnt bother with a GF4 as you really won't see much gain over a GF3/R8500 at such a resolution and either of those cards should last you a decent while.

You may want to look for a Radeon8500LE, it'll still be faster then the GF3 Ti200 and offer all the features the Retail models has. And the LE should be a decent amount cheaper then the full retail R8500.
You can get the OEM Radeon8500 for $207 Cdn at NCIX.

 

[romanji]

Thanks a lot guys, that answers my questions. I have a geforce 2 gts right now so a Radeon 8500 should be a nice step up no matter what.I would like to stick with nvidia but there is nothing suitable in the price range.Does Ati have better drivers now??I have heard bad stories about them in the past.Anyone deal with New Type Computer before??I might order from there because you can at least use your credit card online without sending a money order.Ncix is good too but I want the KX7333-R and they don't have it yet.I wanted to order them both together.Again,thanks for the help.

 

[ShadowDJ]

You can go to Newegg.com and get a powered by ATI 8500LE that ships with 3.3 ns ram and can overclock to 300/300 with the retail bios. The price: $99. The 2d quality is the same and it comes at 250/275 asynchronous.

 

[ShadowDJ]

Thinking about it, either of these cards will play games at 800x600. The 8500 will get you better 2d quality, VIVO, and DVI. The 8500 is also $30 cheaper than all the Ti200s at Newegg (IMO the best consistent low prices)
The 8500 drivers have improved a lot.

 

[romanji]

I am in Canada so Newegg is out,they don't ship here.I can get a gf3Ti200 here in Canada for about $50 cheaper then a Radeon 8500 retail.I might just go with the 8500 retail.Not sure.Thanks again

 

[tenoc]

Canada Computers has the retail R8500 for about CDN 250.

The drivers for mine are solid!

 

[Lord Gwynz]

The only 8500 that has VIVO is the AIW models I think. I wish ATI made an 8500 VIVO card like they did with the Radeon 64MB cards.