XFX 8500 GT

Hey everybody,

I just bought an XFX 8500 GT to go with my ASUS P5K SE. Please forgive my ignorance and/or noobishness, but I have two questions:

That little bit of copper-coated connector at the top of the card {http://computermonger.com/wp-content/uploads/Video_Cards/XFX_GeForce_8500_GT.JPG} -- is that the SLI connection?

and

My MoBo only has one PCIe slot. Is there any way to SLI through the use of, say, multiple regular-PCI slots? Or am I SOL with this board altogether?

Thanks,

~Cog

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Q1: Yes, that is n SLI connector
Q2: There is no way to SLI without 2+ PCIe socket.

If planning on SLI 8500GT forget it. Just get a 9600 or even a 8600(if <$90). SLI will NOT double GPU performance.

Message edited by Shadow703793 on 04-08-2008 at 12:45:54 AM

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Reply to Shadow703793

Why would you want to SLI such a weak card? Looking at newegg, the cheapest XFX 8500GT is $74. Two of them, if your motherboard supported it, would run you $150. This could buy you a 9600GT, 8800GT, or a 3870. (the last two would be more like $160-$175) All three of these cards would outperform the hapless 8500GT in SLI.

Your not SOL, just buy a good card.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

You said it! NOOB! LoL. I got a 8500GT and it is great for watching movies and playing solitare. WoW plays nice also. COD4 was pretty good as well. Forget Crysis. Mine scores 2400 3dmark06 LoL. My CPU is 2565 so ya it sucks. I'm gonna drop mine in a customers machine and upgrade to a 3850 or a 9600gt. Oh I am using the P5K SE with a e2180 OC to 3.0.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by roadrunner197069 on 04-08-2008 at 01:22:53 AM

Reply to roadrunner197069

What I've learned about low end cards, is when you do eventually want to SLI them, it's in no way worth it to pay the extra for a SLI motherboard, pay the extra for a more powerful PSU, and then pay the extra for the card that's not even worth it!

Just asking, but why did you buy a 8500GT?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to doomsdaydave11

Ah. Well, because I live in Brazil and an 8800 alpha dog costs around 250% what the 8500 costs. The 8600 is approx. 30% more expensive than the 8500, but I decided to go with the latter because of the passive cooling. I figure if my GC is gonna suck (cf. North American standards) it might as well do it silently.

==Edit==
Oh: Looking round the net I've seen people rant vs. the P5K SE... Which is about the highest-end MoBo one can get here, aside from the P5E (which, again, is ~200% the price of the P5K SE).

Message edited by cognatus on 04-08-2008 at 02:22:03 AM

Reply to cognatus

roadrunner197069 wrote :

You said it! NOOB! LoL. I got a 8500GT and it is great for watching movies and playing solitare. WoW plays nice also. COD4 was pretty good as well. Forget Crysis. Mine scores 2400 3dmark06 LoL. My CPU is 2565 so ya it sucks. I'm gonna drop mine in a customers machine and upgrade to a 3850 or a 9600gt. Oh I am using the P5K SE with a e2180 OC to 3.0.

Thats rude!

------------------------------ I don't have a heart, only an emotion processor.
Reply to Rockstone1

doomsdaydave11 wrote :

What I've learned about low end cards, is when you do eventually want to SLI them, it's in no way worth it to pay the extra for a SLI motherboard, pay the extra for a more powerful PSU, and then pay the extra for the card that's not even worth it!

Just asking, but why did you buy a 8500GT?

Maybe it's all that he could afford, or maybe the marketing tactics made it appear to be something it was not?
Either way, it's not going to play the newest games but it will play games like dark messiah, bf2 and the like.

My word of advice is that if it's the passive cooled one, he might want to put a fan on that sucker.
With a fan, it can overclock a lot and run cool at the same time. If not, you can use it to grill hotdogs.

Going sli or crossfire is definitely worth it, if you can afford to buy two of the better gpus at the same time.
But right now many cards that have fallen into the midrange are still great to buy a second and sli or crossfire.
A perfect example would be the 2900xt radeons, and the gen1 geforce 8800s.

Both cards are still very good by today's standard.

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Reply to righteous

righteous wrote :

Maybe it's all that he could afford, or maybe the marketing tactics made it appear to be something it was not?
Either way, it's not going to play the newest games but it will play games like dark messiah, bf2 and the like.

My word of advice is that if it's the passive cooled one, he might want to put a fan on that sucker.
With a fan, it can overclock a lot and run cool at the same time. If not, you can use it to grill hotdogs.

Well... I am hungry. So tempting as the alternative may be... How do I attach a fan to the heatsink? I don't suppose silicon/gluegun glue would work?
And would the fan blow hot air out from or cool air in to the heatsink?

TY,
~C

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to cognatus

righteous wrote :

Maybe it's all that he could afford, or maybe the marketing tactics made it appear to be something it was not?
Either way, it's not going to play the newest games but it will play games like dark messiah, bf2 and the like.

My word of advice is that if it's the passive cooled one, he might want to put a fan on that sucker.
With a fan, it can overclock a lot and run cool at the same time. If not, you can use it to grill hotdogs.

Going sli or crossfire is definitely worth it, if you can afford to buy two of the better gpus at the same time.
But right now many cards that have fallen into the midrange are still great to buy a second and sli or crossfire.
A perfect example would be the 2900xt radeons, and the gen1 geforce 8800s.

Both cards are still very good by today's standard.

I wasn't trying to diss him, I was just asking. I am well aware of other peoples budgets (I built my first rig a long while ago when I was 12. The best I could afford is a $100 processor with onboard graphics for the time being ), and especially the inflated prices in other countries.

Reply to doomsdaydave11

lol... see me here? --> not offended <--

And doomsday, it's not so much a matter of price inflation per se, but more importantly pure and simple availability. Which is linked pretty closely to the price...

...Anyway. I think I'll add a fan and OC the GC. Can anyone suggest a good way to hook up the fan to the GC passive heatsink?

Message edited by cognatus on 04-08-2008 at 03:21:21 AM

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Reply to cognatus

I've done this before, you use screws. The trick is finding the right sized screws. Take the card and fan to a hardware store and find four of them there.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

cognatus wrote :

Well... I am hungry. So tempting as the alternative may be... How do I attach a fan to the heatsink? I don't suppose silicon/gluegun glue would work?
And would the fan blow hot air out from or cool air in to the heatsink?

TY,
~C

Actually, silicone works quite well. I attached a 120mm fan to my OCZ Vanquisher this way.

Message edited by Shadow703793 on 04-08-2008 at 04:25:04 AM

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Reply to Shadow703793

8600 series passively cooled cards are available in the US... even the humble 8600 would trounce his 8500. That thirty percent premium for the 8600 would buy you a nearly one hundred percent increase in performance.

I'm almost ashamed to post a link to this site, but the numbers appear to be accurate...

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inqu [...] s-are-here

Reply to rodney_ws

^ :lol: At least its not FUDZilla.

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Reply to Shadow703793

Funny thing is a 8600GT goes pretty much neck n neck with my buddies X1650 Pro 512MB, thats on AGP too.

------------------------------ The computer allows you to make mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila- Mitch Ratcliffe
Reply to bildo123

An 8600GT is a bit faster then the 7600GT. The x1650pro is a bit behind it, so the cards (on older games) should be close. The bus doesn't really matter.

The problem is that he has an 8500GT, which is as fast as a 7300GT. Quite a difference there.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

4745454b wrote :

An 8600GT is a bit faster then the 7600GT. The x1650pro is a bit behind it, so the cards (on older games) should be close. The bus doesn't really matter.

The problem is that he has an 8500GT, which is as fast as a 7300GT. Quite a difference there.

How would a ATI 9800 Pro 128MB compare to the 8600GT?

------------------------------ The computer allows you to make mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila- Mitch Ratcliffe
Reply to bildo123

Poorly.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
Reply to 4745454b

Forum Graphic & Displays : Nvidia - XFX 8500 GT

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XFX 8500 GT

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