I'm about to buy AIW 8500DV but...

[reptilej]

ok, i have posted many posts and read many posts but i still haven't clicked "order" yet. here's the background, i am upgrading my machine from PIII800 to a P41.6A with the abit 850 chipset board. Since i am getting the 1.6 rather than the 2.0 i have some extra cash to spend. so i am thinking of replacing my geforce2 gts 32 with a AIW radeon 8500dv. why would i do this: 1)i recently bought a sony 19" monitor and noticed that text doesn't look that great at high resolutions, people have said that the radeon has superior text quality, 2)it would be pretty cool to have my computer act as a vcr and use those other cool functions that come wiht a AIW card, and 3)i guess my 3d performance would improve(although i don't have a problem with my geforce2gts performance).

so here's what i want from you guys, tell me my three reasons are valid, or tell me why they're wrong. will there be any negative factors in going from a gts to a radeonDV(i have heard somehting about the drivers, give me details)? and should i feel bad that i am retiring my geforce2gts before i have used it for a full year?

repeat after me, we are all individuals!

 

[profjo00]

if you ask about drivers, the drivers for radeon card ahve never been better. they are great. atlease i think so

 

[lagger]

your reasons are all good ones and I just retired a geforce 3 ti 200 in favor of a radeon 8500 retail .. the geforce was purchased at the end of November 2001 .. no regrets ( I can sell it). I still have my old 8mb ati rage pro aiw I keep it in contemplation of using it as a secondary card in a pci slot because the aiw stuff is so cool

lagger

<b><font color=blue>Alcohol, the source of and the solution to all of lifes problems</font color=blue>

 

[endless_n00b]

Make SURE you get rid of all your Nvidia drivers before you install the Radeon. I know some people go so far as to format their HD and reinstall their OS just to be sure it goes smooth.

----
A newbie is only a newbie for as long as you allow him to be.
-Anonymous Veteran

 

[bront]

1) The 8500 has excelant immage quality, and I love it on my 19" trinitron monitor.

2) If you have lots of HD space, you can record all sorts of TV and Video features. However, keep in mind it takes like 5 GB to record about an hour of high quality MPEG-2 video. (This is an aproximation, ATI does have info on it)

3) It will probably double your 3D performance on current games, and probably last you several years. Also, it will let you run at High Res which will look nice on your monitor.

It's

I do not like it Tom you see,
I do not like green PCB.

 

[hartski]

all your reasons will be met graciously by the AIW R8500DV.
I am currently building 2 PCs for my friends worth 4000 each (identical) and I suggested to them to use AIW R8500DV since the purpose of their PCs to them are for multimedia or make it their second home theater system or music box...anyway nothing comes close to the AIW cards for they have been tested through the years and it would be fun to copy videos back in forth from the VCR and the PC. When it comes to games I read reviews that it didn't do bad at all...it doesn't beat R8500 because it has a lower "speed" and the R8500DV is really intended for the video jock...If I remember right it has a "firewire" for digital cameras and video and also for other gadgets that use this speedy port...I get confused coz the Creative Audigy Platinum has firewire too and this gear is also a good accompaniment for your AIW R8500DV

 

[reptilej]

so the DV means that it's slower, well by how much? and is there an AIW 8500 without the DV?

repeat after me, we are all individuals!