Should I send it back? Radeon 8500 is only 250/220

[Tab]

I recently got a Radeon 8500 64Mb for Christmas. So far I can play every game I have ever wanted too! However, its only at 250/220 for default clock and memory speeds. Supposedly, the default speeds are 275/275, I tried o/c'ing them to these speeds however, I instantly get artifacts on my desktop. The card is made by Apollo and has EMST Memory on it. The core is a R200. Should I RMA it or keep it?

 

[railer]

Sounds like you got a 3rd party OEM card. There's nothing wrong with it, so you reaally have no grounds to RMA. Unless it was advertised 275/275.... How high can you clock it without artifacts? 260/260? There's not a tremendous overall performance diff between a 275/275 card and a card clocked a few mhz less than that. I wouldn't worry about it unless you were led to belieive that it was a 275/275 card in the 1st place.

 

[kurt454]

I would keep it. 'Built by ATI' Retail cards are the only ones guaranteed to be 275/275, and they are usually a good bit more expensive.

 

[Orbius]

Personally I'd try sending it back and getting a different 8500, if you overclock to 250/250 the card will run hotter plus it will likely be less stable.

 

[EdipisReks]

Originally posted by: Orbius
Personally I'd try sending it back and getting a different 8500, if you overclock to 250/250 the card will run hotter plus it will likely be less stable.

Bull$hit. running the RAM 30 mHz faster isn't going to cause a heat problem. and it will most likely be perfectly stable.

 

[Tab]

It wont let me even do 250/250 without artifacts.

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: Tabb
It wont let me even do 250/250 without artifacts.

You lose out on this deal bud. It's either you ebay it or stick with the card you're using now. Only built by ATI guarantees you a 275/275.

 

[Tab]

Heh, I just found out the 8500 LE's are 250/250. I got screwed.

 

[Viper96720]

Originally posted by: Tabb
Heh, I just found out the 8500 LE's are 250/250. I got screwed.

Actually LE versions can have any clock speed the manufacuturer wants. Most knows about the LE versions having lower clocks than the built by ati versions. They cores that couldn't reach 275 were used for LE versions. Plus they stuck cheaper slower memory on to keep costs down. Apollo made cards that ran 250/250 and 250/230 for the 128mb version. It is possible apollo clocked memory slower for the 64mb version You may have gotten one of those that is supposed to run at 250/230. But the batch of memory the had for when they made the card could only do 220. So instead of scraping the cards they just lower the memory clock and sell the cards anyway. Try looking up your memory chips see what speed their rated for.

8500LE roundup w/apollo

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: Tabb
Heh, I just found out the 8500 LE's are 250/250. I got screwed.

NOT ALL versions of LE will have 250/250. Those that I know guarantee you a 250/250 is ATI. The rest are pretty random.

 

[anazoal]

Tabb, if your card has 3.6 RAM try flashing the bios.

pillage, wrong! Newer retail ATI 8500LE's are 230/230 -- I bought one a few weeks ago. The card had 3.6 Hynix RAM and I was able to flash it to retail bios (275/275). Before flashing I was only able to get the memory up to 245 without artifacts in 3DMark.

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: anazoal
Tabb, if your card has 3.6 RAM try flashing the bios.

pillage, wrong! Newer retail ATI 8500LE's are 230/230 -- I bought one a few weeks ago. The card had 3.6 Hynix RAM and I was able to flash it to retail bios (275/275). Before flashing I was only able to get the memory up to 245 without artifacts in 3DMark.

Really?? Dayum.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks

Originally posted by: Orbius
Personally I'd try sending it back and getting a different 8500, if you overclock to 250/250 the card will run hotter plus it will likely be less stable.

Bull$hit. running the RAM 30 mHz faster isn't going to cause a heat problem. and it will most likely be perfectly stable.

it really depends on the ram. so it is not bull pooh.

 

[Tab]

Its Enwst Ram or something or other. I just look at my order forum and it specifically says 'Radeon 8500 64MB DDR'. I emailed www.hoct.com and no respone so far. I wont be ordering from them again.

 

[Slaimus]

I think they want the whole string of numbers and letters found on each of the memory chips.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: Tabb
Its Enwst Ram or something or other. I just look at my order forum and it specifically says 'Radeon 8500 64MB DDR'. I emailed www.hoct.com and no respone so far. I wont be ordering from them again.

sometimes u have to look at the item description. if it says "powered by ati"... the its a toss up as to which 3rd party mfr it could be. if it says "built by ati"... then it should be a stock ati card.

 

[anazoal]

Tabb, sorry, but it looks like you've been screwed by shady marketing. Is this your card? In their product listing, Joytech only make 8500LE cards (128 & 64).

Here are a couple of reviews with the 128 Apollo card: 1 & 2.

 

[NEVERwinter]

is it radeon 8500 or radeon 8500LE?
8500 is the one clocked at 275/275, as for LE the default clokc is 250/250 but there are some 3rd party manufacturers clocked it 225/225, 220/220, or even to 225/183 or any combination between 183 to 250

as for me, i'm using Sapphire Radeon 8500 250/250 o/c'ed to 275/275