Radeon8500LE@ 250/275 3.3ns ram for 99$! (CRT+DVI only!)

[Gene046]

Well I went to a few forums and chatrooms to .. well basically look for an excuse to get this card.

I don't know how reliable this information is, but someone that I talked to complained about the stability of this card on VIA chipset based motherboards. He also said that there are issues with this card and opengl. You have to "tweak" it for it to work. If you own this card, please tell the rest of us if these problems are really an issue. Thanks in advance.

 

[Sm0kes]

There isn't a definitive answer in the matter of "VIA" and AGP .... as any card can have issues. It's a VIA + Windows/driver issue. I have both the 8500 64mb retail and an older Geforce2 GTS ... that each expierence different problems. One of the cards locks constantly, and the other randomly reboots. All in all ...I was able to solve ALL problems on both cards, by upping the core voltage going to the AGP slot in BIOS. Rock solid with any card now

As for this deal......if it is indeed the 250/275 then this is mighty schweet.


sm0kes out.

 

[JameyF]

As for this deal......if it is indeed the 250/275 then this is mighty schweet.


sm0kes out.

The top few reviews list this card as 250/275. We all know that newegg screens the reviews and posts the ones they wish. If they were to post the reviews stating it was a 250/275 and then ship the lower 250/230 card, I would believe a case for false advertising could be made. To make my point clearer....They are choosing to post those reviews as an accurate description as to what should be expected. A quote from their website on their customer reviews:

"The customer opinion reviews are used at the discretion of Newegg.com as a marketing device for positive and constructive ways to share the benefit of the product."

I am ordering one EXPECTING 250/275.

 

[dajo]

Flashradeon8500.zip

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

This is a really nice deal on a DX8 compliant card Jump on it.

 

[PoopedPenguin]

I bought an 8500LE a couple of months back. I have a VIA chipset and I have had no problems at all with the card.

I run OpenGL apps (Quake III) and have no issues either - my 1.33GHz Thunderbird gets 100-140 fps at 1280x1024 all quality settings maxxed out.

Main reason I got it (apart from performance) was the DVI out connector for my flat panel display.

Great 2D and 3D image quality and great perf.

8500 64Mb for just $95 here:-

House of Computers

I have ordered a bunch of stuff from these guys and it always arrives when promised. Great prices too.

 

[m1ke101]

8500 64Mb for just $95 here:

sorry to burst your bubble, but it costs $13.90 to ship to me, and i'm in california, so thats plus tax as well. i don't see how this is a better deal than newegg, since they offer it for 99 plus 8 for shipping.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: m1ke101

8500 64Mb for just $95 here:

sorry to burst your bubble, but it costs $13.90 to ship to me, and i'm in california, so thats plus tax as well. i don't see how this is a better deal than newegg, since they offer it for 99 plus 8 for shipping.

itsd the same cost, but that one is a powered by ATI, and the newegg one is a real ATI

 

[h0vic]

I'm finally upgrading my Geforce DDR.

Go here if you want to flash to retail.
http://www.home.zonnet.nl/Hoek89/

 

[Vostok]

I'm just chiming in again to say it is indeed rated at 250/275 w/3.3 ns ram. In fact, if im not mistaken, this ram is actually faster than that available on retail cards.

There is a baffling array of different 8500 cards available, each with different clock and memory speeds. Many (if not most) 'Powered by ATI' third party cards use lower speed memory; its commonly 250/230 or 230/230. Even among ATI cards the labeling system used is rather strange - is LE better or worse than OEM? The same? No relationship whatsoever? I gather LE actually refers to a 'non-retail' chipset clock speed. Everything else is seemingly random.

The whole reason this card is a good deal is because of its high quality memory. If you check many of the other brands use much slower kinds - from 3.6 to 4.0 and even slower.

I suspect the reason this card is so decent relative to cost, and why newegg took away the description of its clock speed from the product listing (it was there for a few days awhile ago) is because it competes with their previous stocks but is of a much more recent batch. Video RAM costs have gone down i believe, and as time passes (relative) quality of ram is always increasing. So OEM/LE's manufactured 6-9 months ago are going to be obsolete compared to newer cards. Newegg sells its hardware at almost insanely low prices, and so operate probably exclusively on tight margins. If they got older cards at a higher price than these new ones, they just can't afford to lower the older cards as it would be unprofitable. So they have to kind of 'keep the lid' on it ^^.

 

[UCDznutz]

with the ti4200s coming out i was going to get a GF3 ti200 but man, looks like its going to be Radeon 8500 time in a couple of weeks

 

[dajo]

I still don't quite get the advantage of flashing to the retail BIOS. Can someone explain what is to be gained by doing this? If the clock speed is 250/275 isn't that the same as the retail? What retail version does this card correspond to? (i.e., why is this such a great deal?).

I am somewhat video card challanged and find the subject a little confusing and over-whelming.

 

[Solarium]

that brings it to my question What's the difference of the hacked version of the retail bios (flashradeonv201.zip) and the retail version bios (flashradeon8500.zip)? I'm not sure which one to flash the card with :/

 

[hans007]

i just bought a card on ebay. i guess it was an older ATI made, 250/250 8500 OEM. 8500LE i guess.


most 8500LE's are 128mb it seems.


there are tons of card speeds out there. most 8500 non ATI built are 250 / 230 or 230 / 230.

i read the low profile cards are even slower like 200/200. the 8500 DV is like 195/200 or something like that.

i just tried the retail 8500 275/275 flash on my OEM 8500LE, and i guess it overheated or something, because i got wierd corruption in jk2. i read the OEM ones use lower voltages on the ram and GPU also though so i dunno, i dont care enough to try, its a 2-3% improvement in most benchmarks anyways.

 

[JameyF]

Originally posted by: Solarium
that brings it to my question What's the difference of the hacked version of the retail bios (flashradeonv201.zip) and the retail version bios (flashradeon8500.zip)? I'm not sure which one to flash the card with :/

yea...what he said.

 

[Solarium]

anyone knows the answer to the... matrix? well if you don't answer my questions 1st

 

[dethman]

how exactly does this compare to a ti200 and a ti500? reviews i've read seem to be inconsistent, some read that the 8500 is better, some read that the ti500 is marginally faster. any comments? also is there a difference between the 8500 and the 8500LE?

 

[hans007]

with the newest v.7.70 drivers the radeon 8500 is faster than both the ti500 and ti200 and is faster than a ti4200 at some things. check sharkyextreme.com's recent reviews of ti4600 cards. they have updated all their benchmarks to the 8500 with 7.70 drivers and it is very competitive with the geforce4.

 

[Souka]

soo tempting.

Been happy with my GF2-GTS 32mb card, but recently been playing Dungeon Siege.

My GF-2 card is barely holding 17 fps at max everything........ugh...

 

[Ruined]

i took the plunge and ordered one...time to upgrade the savage s3 32mb ehh hee hee. I ordered the newegg dvi adapter too, just as a warning they added 6 dollars to the shipping cost for the 5 dollar adapter! Oh well, I'll let everyone know what the speed of the currently shipping card is when it arrives.

-TRO

 

[sleefer]

This is getting interesting. Pricewatch description for Newegg shows the card 250/275. The model # they have there NEG14102226 doesn't exactly match the one on their website N82E16814102226 which shows it as 250/230. I'm hesitant to order without knowing for sure which it is going to be.

 

[muttster]

From what I see, it is competitive and sometimes better than the t1200 and tI 500 at the higher resolutions. Pricewatch is showing the Geforce3 TI 200 for right around $95.00. Is the Radeon 8500LE worth the extra $10-15 dollars

 

[VirginiaDonkey]

I got mine yesterday................it is a 250/275 board with the 3.3ns memory chips. I think with all the features and the fact that the drivers are finally starting to take advantage of the 8500`s power, made it an easy choice

I think the Ti200/500 is a very nice card, but I perfer ATI, so it basically all boils down to preference now that the prices are similar.

 

[muttster]

I think the Ti200/500 is a very nice card, but I perfer ATI, so it basically all boils down to preference now that the prices are similar.

Either way a very good deal

 

[RandomCoil]

Does anyone have any first-hand experience with 8500LE (or 8500) under linux? Is dual monitors (with Xinerama, I assume) "easy" to get going? (easy here being a relative term... is the process more RedHat or more Debian...)

Thanks.