ATi 8500LE 128MB Dilemma

I know that I shouldn't post this here, but there seems to be no action in the Graphics section. Sorry about the inconvencience.

Well, although Futureshop is not a prime place to get computer parts, the best deal I could find was the R8500LE 128MB RETAIL for $249CAD. That's about $160USD. I mean it's not great, but it's the best I can hope for. The price definitely won't go down after the R8800 is released cause this is already down from the $329 about 2 weeks ago. I can't find a better price here.

Now my question is. Does all Made by ATi Radeon8500 128MB Retail cards come with the 3.3ns RAM I've heard so much about? This could really be a deciding factor. If it does have the 3.3ns RAM I'm hoping to get the RAM to ~300MHZ DDR.

One other thing, these are my system spces. Please feel frree to tell me if this would be worth it.

P4 1.4GHz Willamette 256KB L2 cache 423 Socket
256MB PC800 RDRAM
40GB Maxtor 7200RPM HDD
RadeonAIW 32MB
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1

P.S. I only have a 250W PSU, could that not be enough for this card? I have a Dell (GRRR...) so I dunno if a new PSU would fit into the allotted space.

What's the deal with lampshades, I mean it's a lamp, why would you want a shade?

But it doesn't have 4ns RAM? So it should go to at least 275MHz DDR RAM, which would be normal R8500 specs right? I'm not so sure about the case and PSU, cause there's really no where I can get those. I'll look around though.

DAMN YOU PEI!! DAMN YOU!!!

What's the deal with lampshades, I mean it's a lamp, why would you want a shade?

1. Dude. I have AMD systems, but I've heard good things about p4 systems. If you can get that 250w psu to work with that combo, start a new thread with that title.

2. Last time I used a dell system (errr...make that "dell desktop system"; I'm using my inspiron 3200 to post), the mainboard and psu were 'proprietary'. The mainboard connector is all kinds of AFU. Maybe they've changed things since then; I understand they ship with restore disks now, too. If you can get that mainboard to work with any non-dell psu, start a new thread with that topic and exactly what kind of splicing you had to do. There are some things that just need to be preserved for posterity.

3. I guess you're wanting a video card really, really fast? That's the only reason I support my local tax base. I've only used Geforces, but I bet that 8500 couldn't take advantage of 128meg of texture memory, even if it had the bandwidth in the first place. A G4 couldn't either, which makes a 128meg G4 pointless as well. At some really f*cking stupid resolution (6789 x 2345 x 56), it would make the game playable (greater than 30fps). Otherwise, you'd never even notice the slightest difference in playability. Unless the game was written exactly for that card, or Ati jinks with the drivers again and makes in-game settings worthless. AA is more a function of the processor than the memory, which means it's not going to give you a boost there either. And that 1.4ghz isn't going to max out the 8500 anyways. Unless you're playing Quake3, and that jump from 300fps to 350fps just floats your boat out to the Indian Ocean and starts launching f18 and KA6 bombing missions toward terrorist hangouts.

Well thanks for everyone's help!! I read a lot of posts on the Dell forums and quite a few people use GF4 Ti4400/4600 in their PIII machines with 200W PSU!! So I'm hoping a R8500 which doesn't use as much power will go ok with my 250W PSU.

I'm going out right now to get it before the store closes. Wish me luck!

What's the deal with lampshades, I mean it's a lamp, why would you want a shade?

Ohhh... a little late. I got it already. I'm kinda dissappointed that it came with only 3.6ns Infineon RAM. Yeah, that's what you get for living on a place like PEI, you always get second rate products . Oh well that's ok, I'll try and get it to 275/275 anyways. As for the price cut, I think it already happened here cause only a week ago it was $329 and now it's $249. The R8500 128MB was $499 and now it's $349. Don't think it'll go down any further so I went out and got it. I'll check the +5V line when I get the chance, I'm not gonna install it tonight cause I probably won't have time so I'll do that tomorrow.

Hope it'll run on my comp fine cause there's a guy with a:

P4 1.7GHz Willy
512MB RDRAM
GF4 Ti4600 128MB
40GB, and 60GB
24x12x40 CD-RW
16x DVD-ROM

All on a Dell with a 250W PSU.

What's the deal with lampshades, I mean it's a lamp, why would you want a shade?

WOW! Nice! Dell probably rates their PSUs very conservatively then. Normally, all that stuff would make the system extremely unstable on a 250W PSU.

Anyway, enjoy your R8500. I can't wait to test mine on my new P4 system. Here are the specs of the system that I'm putting together!

P4 1.6A
Volcano 7+ (I'm going to aim for 2.6GHz so I need good cooling)
512MB Samsung PC2700 (going to overclock it to 400MHz or higher, I might add Thermaltake Heatspreaders)
ABit BD7-RAID
80GB Western Digitial 7200RPM with 8MB cache
Radeon 8500 64MB retail
Lite-On 12X DVD-ROM drive
Lite-ON 40X/12X/48X CD-RW
Floppy Drive
ZIp Drive
Enermax 450W PSU
Antec Case (haven't decided which yet)
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
ATI TV-Wonder
Linksys NIC
Diamond SupraMAX 56K Internal modem (I use it for faxing)


Lol, sorry for showing off, but I'm excited to put this thing together!

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>

Hopefully that $294 was worth it ($249+ stupid 17.7% taxes. Highest in the country I believe.) I'll be aiming for ~6000-6500 3D Marks.

What's the deal with lampshades, I mean it's a lamp, why would you want a shade?

yes you can. a correct quality 250w psu can handle this combo.

haha.

What's so funny? 2.6GHz should be relatively easy to get to.

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>