I am looking for a video/graphics card for my new system. I've been thinking of going with A Radeon 8350 or 8370, depending on the prices when I buy it. However, in the past, I haven't bought Radeon cards from ATI's partners (like VisionTek, et al), I've always bought the basic card that ATI itself puts out. After doing some online searching, I can't find any references to ATI selling a Radeon 8350 that they themselves built (aside from OEM versions). Has ATI (or, I guess, AMD now) stopped creating their own graphic cards? Are you now required to get one from one of their partners?

Addendum: Sorry, I had a confused moment there... I meant Radeon 3850, 3870 and 3800 series. No idea where the other numbers came from...

where have you been living all this time??
there is no 8350 and 8370
but there is 3870x2>3870>3850

Wow...


Ok first things first. Its the 3800 series, not the 8300 series.

And yes, you are correct, ATI doesn't sell their cards to end users, they sell through their vendors, HIS, Sapphire, etc. You can't but an ATI Radeon 3870, you must buy a Sapphire Radeon 3870.

ATi 8300? Sure you don't mean Nvidia 8300?

where have you been living all this time??
there is no 8350 and 8370
but there is 3870x2>3870>3850

Dyslexia?

When did ATI quit selling BBA (Built by ATi) Products? My old X1900XTX was a BBA Card..

Um. There is no reason to be a @#ck abut it.

I wouldn't worry about ATI making the card themselvs. They all have the same chips in them and most are reference board replicas anyways. I have an HIS and it runs cool. Very cool. It also runs quiet. You won't go wrong with the HIS if you can do double slots. Also, double slot video cards are actually a good thing. They take the heat from the card and put it right out of the case. Get the HIS and you won't be disatisfied at all. Also, get either the 3850 or 3870. don't go any lower. The 3870 is awsome. The color quality is top notch and image quality is more important the FPS. I know not everyone will agree with me on that, but its my opinion. ATI has great image quality. HIS all the way!!!

As long as you are buying an official part, all the boards are the same. A 3850 with 512 or 1024 MB of ram or a 3870 with GDDR3 are examples of partners straying from reference with the former using different ram densities, and the latter is probably a 3870 GPU on a 3850 board with a custom bios.

good input. I would add, however, that not all reference cards cool the same or are as quiet. This is important. Some even come with a game included. Look at the packaging, warrenty and reviews to find one that cools well, is not as loud as a hair dryer and one that comes with items that you might want. price is also definately a factor.

[coolfactsfortheday]

Diamond made all of the ATI branded video cards.

[/coolfactsfortheday]

Once upon a time Sapphire made the BBA cards.

can you ever forgive me?

All is forgiven.