Radeon LE

[dajo]

I got a Radeon LE from newegg.com after my video card died. I read Anand's article about this card and thought it would be a good mid-range video card. I'm not a gamer, or anything like that, but, let's face, everybody like good graphics, right?

What I don't understand is that his article, and references I've seen elsewhere on the web, state that the card has a default clock rate of 143MHz, but mine has a 166MHz clock rate. I've checked it on several overclocking utilities and set it back to default - they all put it back to 166.

What does this mean? Is that because these utilities are inaccurately reading the cards default speed?

Also, is there really any point in overclocking this video card if I'm not gaming. Does it make for faster screen rendering (i.e., does it make my system a little bit faster?).

The card has no problem doing 183MHz - is running it at that rate going to hurt it?

Thanks!

 

[Kingofcomputer]

does it have ATI logo?
if it has, it's not LE, it's real Radeon DDR, but oem version at 166Mhz.

 

[dajo]

Thanks for answering.

The card has the ATI Radeon Graphics TM stamped into the PCB. I'm confused about the various versions of this card. Do you know which one I have? It only has the monitor input on the back, and no other in/out ports.

Is there anyway to identify the card further by examing it's components? It supposed to be 32MB. Is there a way to tell if it is 32 or 64? Do you know where I look to indentify the speed on the chips?

Do you think overclocking it to 183 would hurt it?

Lots of questions for you, I know, but if I can just find out exactly which card I have I can research the rest.

Thanx.

PS.
Soft Sandra lists it as an "ATI Technologies Radeon DDR".

 

[DaLurker28]

looks like u have a oem Radeon DDR, which is supposed to be clocked at 166 so dont worry about it. If it runs at 183/183, then u can leave it at that. I've been running my Radeon LE at 190/190 since i got it in march and it's still going strong. no worries. Btw, is there a heatsink fan on ur vid card? or just a heatsink? if it's a heatsink fan, then u can be 100% sure it's a Radeon DDR, and not a Radeon LE>

 

[Brian48]

ATI recently stated that all their OEM cards would be referred to as "LE" regardless of physical markings or configuration. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[AntaresVI]

yeah, i wouldnt worry about it either. I have a radeon LE, and no where on my comp do i find a reference to "LE"...Not SANDRA, not Display properties.

Anyway, if you're really worried, i would look for the ATI logo and the heatsink. The heatsink is a dead giveaway, if it has a fan its an OEM. If it has an ATI logo, its also an oem.

This is a long shot, but...is it a refurb card? Theres the possibility that the card could have been flashed with an OEM bios. It works, i did it. If it is a reurb, and the former owner was an O/C'er, is possible. Other than that....I dunno why it would have a faster clock speed.

 

[dajo]

Well, the card itself has the ATI Radeon logo, but I'll have to check out the heatsink when I get home (at work now). I'm pretty sure that there is not a fan on the heatsink.

I really doubt that the card is refurbished. I bought it from newegg.com which seems to be a very reputable site. I buy a lot of stuff there.

The card looks brand new. I'll pull it tonight and write down some of the specs on the chips, as well as examine the heatsink.

I'm just curious about what card I own.

Thank you for your responses.

BTW, is there a simple file, program, to optimize the registry settings for this card. I am somewhat "graphically challanged" in my knowledge, so while I have programs that allow manipulation of these settings, I do not know what they mean or which ones to enable.

Currently, I am getting about 3209, or something like that, in 3dmark2001. I know that's not that great compared to some cards, but is that a terrible score for this card (running at 166Mhz)? Should it be higher?

I'm trying to figure out if the card is optimized or not.

Thanks again for your support.

 

[Soccerman]

well my Radeon LE bought about a month ago has the ATi logo stamped on it.. that doesn't mean it's a Radeon 32 DDR.

AFAIK ATi basically said to hell with it with this 143mhz Radeon LE, we'll just sell the 32 DDR as an LE becuase prices for competitive products have dropped, so we might as well compete. so AFAIK u have a Radeon 32 DDR with a default clock of 166mhz. I don't know if they continued with the HyperZ being disabled or what. btw, with my Radeon LE at 166 (that's the memory's rating, 6ns=166mhz) and HyperZ disabled in the drivers, I get 2500 3Dmarks in 3DMark2k1. I'm running a Duron 800 with 256 megs of PC133.

 

[dajo]

Thank you for your responses. X-bit labs has an interesting review of the Radeon LE in which they give some info on how to tell the difference between the ATI RADEON DDR and the ATI RADEON LE. There is a picture of a component configuration on part of the PCB that is probably the best indicator.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter much to me. Just curious.

I have the feeling that perhaps all the "LE" boards being sold now may be ATI RADEON DDR boards.

Is it true that, since I'm not a gamer, I would not really notice any difference between the VisionTek Xtasy Geforce2 card (250MHz/400MHz) and the Radeon running at 166/166 in "normal" usage?

 

[Killrose]

First if it's a Real Radeon DDR it will have a heatsink/fan unit. Newegg had some OEM Radeons for a short time. Also I have one of the early Retail Radeon DDR's which were clocked at 166MHz by default, so the 166/183 thing does'nt really mean too much.

So if it has a fan it's the true Radeon, if not, then you need to enable it as a true Radeon with Hyper-Z enabled. Anandtech did an article on the Radeon LE which outlines the how to's of this.

Enableing Hyper-Z and adding a fan to the heatsink and overclocking the card to 183MHz+ will greatly increase your 3DMark2001 score. With mine overclocked 190MHz I get 3540. With it set at 183MHz it does 3420.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

whatever, LE and DDR oem are the good buy.

SDR, SDR oem, VE, VE dualdisplay, VE oem, 7000, 7000 oem, 7200, 7200 oem all are not the good buy unless you want dual display from VE dualdisplay variants.

just make sure you get the Radeon "whatever" with 128Mbit DDR, not 64Mbit DDR (on VE variants) or 128Mbit SDR (on SDR variants).