8500 still not here. Good or Bad?

[somerandomguy]

I don't know what the official release date was supposed to be but I expected the Radeon 8500 to be out by now, and I can't help but wonder what the delay is.
On one hand, they might be holding it back until the drivers are 100% complete, and they are ensuring that it can outperform even the ti 500.
On the other hand, they might be having problems. Not all of the features were working in Tom's preview, and the performance of the drivers was not as high as we would have liked.
How do you think the Radeon 8500 will turn out?

"Ignorance is bliss, but I tend to get screwed over."

 

[Guest]

I believe the delay is purely driver related.. basically they want to get to a clean start unlike the previous graphic cards. The Radeon itself took many revisions before being decent.

Personally, i prefer to wait a awhile for a hardware that works 100% instead of downloading drivers after drivers weeks or months afterwards.

Remember, good things come to those who wait..

<A HREF="http://www.alexchiu.com/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=Silverforce" target="_new">I want to live forever!</A>

 

[Guest]

It's supposed to ship on tuesday.

 

[Guest]

I think I messed up when I was so quick to jump on buying my GeForce2 GTS (Creative Annihilator2). I love the card, don't get me wrong it rocks, but it wasn't too long before 64MB was mainstream and the Pro and Ultra versions were released within 6 months or so....

I am going to upgrade to either a GeForce3 or an ATI 8500, but this time I'll let the Jones go on their merry way and watch to see how it all plays out.

These things cost too much to do this too often, so I'm going to wait a bit if I do the 8500.

For what it's worth, I have liked the GF2 enough that I may go GF3 even if the 8500 is slightly faster. Just the familiarity factor... the differences are going to be superficial (IMHO)

 

[AMD_Man]

The differences? You make it sound like you expect compatibility problems with the Radeon 8500. I can assure you there probably won't be. The Radeon series has always been nearly universally compatible with all games.

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Guest]

OOPS!

I was trying to say the speed differences probably won't be significant in practical use. Actually, I am with you. I think the 8500 will be a drop-in!

I know the GF3 rocks, and fully expect the 8500 to as well.
main point was I learned not to buy on first release because this industry is always racing to release and they will release first functional version as fast as possible to secure market position and then go into development cycle and release one that is even better in the very near future (usually)


PS: superficial means same thing as insignificant :/
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Insidious on 10/06/01 09:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[rcf84]

Well ATi wants 100% working drivers. i'm guessing some last second tweaks thats all.

Nice Nvidia and ATi users get a Cookie.... Yummy