Videocard suggestion

[knirfie]

Maybe, since ATI still had a big stock lying around of 8500's as well as 8500 LE's.

I might get one if the price is right.

[Kurt]

I've found some 8500LE 64MB VIVO for less than 100 EUR + VAT
But I think the 9100 should be cheaper...

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Does anybody know if 9100 are only BBA?

[knirfie]

it's gonna be sold to OEM's and other builders.

[funky-d-munky]

You want to get a 8500 or 8500LE. These cards are being renamed 9100's, and perform a fair bit faster than the 9000 series.
Get one while you can because they are obviously clearing them out of stock and can be had for dirt cheap.
My local store has a 8500LE dual head 128mb for $149CAN, or like $90USD.
That is cheap for such a nice card.
Also don't worry about the differance between 8500 and 8500LE. They bench very close to each other and o/c to about the same.

[Drizzt]

I'm an ****ole...
Why the hell each time I forget I sell hardware?

I'll see if I can afford a Parhelia right now...
However, is the bandwith problem really an issue? I never play in a window, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?

How does it performance in regard of a G400?

[drslump]

Parhelia is way faster than a G400, you can play any current game at 10x76 win AF and AA turn on. (3DMark : 1400 for a Marvel G400, 7900 for a Parhelia retail)

Anyway what computer do you have? If your processing power is limited you will not be able to manage a card like Parhelia at 100% and from your post I can see that you don't really need the extra features, like multi-head or gigacolor ...

Almost any Ati 8500 or 9x00 will give you a display quality quite good. And they are quite fast to run current games at medium detail. By the way, if you have to choose go for the pro versions intead of a non-pro with more ram, extra ram will not help you in a budget range video-card.

btw I found out that using 3Danalyzer solves many problems with Ati drivers.

ciao

[2Whyzzi]

uhg

Anandtech has a nice review on GF2/MX/3/4/MX/Radeon7500/8500/LE/Parhelia/Kyro2 if you want to compare UT2003 scores.

As for my upgrade (from 32Meg DDR RadeonLE), and cause I'm near broke, I'm going for 8500LE 128MB for $149 Canadian (I had thought they had all disappeared after the 9000s came out, but I was able to find a local store still carrying them!).

FYI: 9000s are NOT repackaged 8500s. They took out one of the TMU's but updated the triagle setup engine and added a scaled down version of R300 Pixel Shader (direct from Anandtech) and renamed the GPU the R250. Near similar 3DMark scores (about 1000 points difference).

Are they actually going to release the 9100? Google shows me that ATI has an unlinked promo page and Sapphire tech seems to have a model ready ... but where the heck is the announcement?

[mmp121]

Re: uhg

Originally posted by 2Whyzzi
Are they actually going to release the 9100? Google shows me that ATI has an unlinked promo page and Sapphire tech seems to have a model ready ... but where the heck is the announcement?

I know that ATI is not selling any 9100's with their name on it. 9100's are 8500's renamed and sold to OEM's (Sapphire, Sparkle & the like) for them to then sell.

ATI will still, in all likelyhood, continue to sell ATI 8500's.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by drslump
Parhelia is way faster than a G400, you can play any current game at 10x76 win AF and AA turn on. (3DMark : 1400 for a Marvel G400, 7900 for a Parhelia retail)

Anyway what computer do you have? If your processing power is limited you will not be able to manage a card like Parhelia at 100% and from your post I can see that you don't really need the extra features, like multi-head or gigacolor ...

Almost any Ati 8500 or 9x00 will give you a display quality quite good. And they are quite fast to run current games at medium detail. By the way, if you have to choose go for the pro versions intead of a non-pro with more ram, extra ram will not help you in a budget range video-card.

I'll see how much I'm going to pay for the Parhelia before taking a decision.
I really like to have a Matrox card in my system, as since my first G100 I've have never had any problem.

[Evildead666]

while we're talking about the 9100, does anyone have any idea whether it will be simple rebadge, or whether the card layout could be different?
Extra things or not...seems shame to name it 9100 for no reason, don't you think?

[Gurm]

ATI.

8500/9100 or... if you can swing it a 9500.

- Gurm

[2Whyzzi]

Originally posted by Evildead666
while we're talking about the 9100, does anyone have any idea whether it will be simple rebadge, or whether the card layout could be different?
Extra things or not...seems shame to name it 9100 for no reason, don't you think?

Speaking of the 'lil devil, news of a 9100 launch is here with Sapphire product version here. The news article says the chips core is the R200, but the Triton 9100 product page states

VIDEO IMMERSION™ II technology enables integration of industry-leading digital video features, including advanced de-interlacing algorithms for unprecedented video quality

Video Immersion II included in the original 8500/RV200 design? If not, do any of you think that it will actually be RV250 or the rumoured RV280 (with updated Vertex & Pixel shaders and AGP8X) core WITH the extra TMU?

[Gurm]

Well, the 9000 has the updated core, just a crappy clock speed.

But ATI has been using SUCH a confusing numbering scheme lately, and doing simple rebadges...

Original Radeons were rebadged as numbers in the 7000 series.

So were Radeon DDR's, SDR's, and VIVO's.

*shrug*

- Gurm