About to purchase Radeon 8500

[Guest]

Ok I think i'm about to purchase a Radeon 8500. I have taken my original high-end $330+ video board beyond its limits for quite some time and I'm finally going to update it since the rest of my rig is running at a good pace. I'm an extreme gamerso video performance is critical for me. I've been sitting here drooling over the thought of getting a G4TI4600 for about 2 hours and then it occurred to me that I don't have to be so selfish. If I can find an excellent graphics solution for a reasonable price then I can also add perhaps another 'perk component' to my system as well instead of pumping all the cash into the video board.

From everything I'm reading so far it sounds as though the RADEON-8500 is a DAMN nice solution at a very reasonable price (considering i'm willing to pay double+ the cost of this board) so is there a particular 8500 I should go for? Don't care about the AIW because it has features I could care less about. I simply want to crank up the resolution and features in my games and have it run sweet.

- I came here to chew gum and kick ass, but I broke my foot and my teeth fell out.

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Hercules or ATI. they have the ATI at best buy for $140.

its not that intel CANT make a good processor, its that they just dont try

 

[Guest]

$140?? Jesus that sort of scares me man. Hard to imagine I can get *what i'm after* for such an excellent price. I'm used to paying through the nose for the very best I can aquire at the time so I suppose i'm a favorite sucker of companies since i'm one of those that'll purchase something that barely has the prototype stamp scrubbed off the chips. But if I can actually get an 8500 that produces comparable GF3TI500 performance for $140 I'm gonna have to check into this for sure. If it sucks I can always go back and stab the manager in the neck with it.

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Yes, thats the one im talking about, hard to believe isn't it. If i wasnt getting a GeForce 4 Ti 4400, the R8500 would be what i would be getting. Hmm, wierd sentence. Anyways theres also a 128MB R8500 for around 300, but thats in a different league, since for that price you could get a Ti 4400. The Ti500's are down to around $250 if youre interested, but performance is pretty close, so why not save a hundred bucks.

its not that intel CANT make a good processor, its that they just dont try

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Oh yeah, the Hercules one is about $150, i dont know that its any better, but maybe it looks cooler, if thats important to you.

its not that intel CANT make a good processor, its that they just dont try

 

[AMD_Man]

The 128MB version of the Radeon 8500 (assuming there aren't any other improvements) should give it free FSAA performance. Along with improved FSAA algorithms and enhanced that are rumoured to be released in new drivers, the 128MB Radeon 8500 should perform about as well as the Ti4400 overall.

Also, I recommend against any non-ATI branded R8500. The Hercules card runs at 250/250 instead of 275/275. Also, the latest ATI R8500s have 3.3ns RAM which allow for more extreme overclocks. Yes, you can get the R8500 for $160, but that's because ATI is aiming them on the Ti4200 which currently provides similar performance. Don't be scared about anything, the driver support is top-notch and the performance is improving by the day.

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

 

[Guest]

Hmm. I did a search on BestBuys website but the only thing it comes up with is the 7500 for $149. Can't seem to get an answer on the phone here from local bestbuy store (just rings to infinity). You sure you meant the 8500?

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Yes im sure, im not stupid. But i did mean to say $150 not $140. Maybe its just this particular best buy, but last sundays add did say R8500 for $150, there might have been a mail in rebate i dont know. If that price is wrong its because the add was wrong not me.

its not that intel CANT make a good processor, its that they just dont try

 

[Guest]

lol you seem a bit touchy dude. I was simply trying to 'confirm' the model since I found the price you quoted for the 7500 not the 8500. In any event I'm heading out the door and just going down there to see what 'my' local store has and doesn't have since they've got 1 salesperson per 100 customers apparently, or the phone is just turned off.

 

[Crashman]

I was just at Best Buy a few days ago. They had the card for $139 after rebate. I think the rebate ended yesterday!

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[hotbbq]

Yeah, the rebate ended Saturday. I bought one but had to take it back. It didn't work with my setup. It was $189.99 with a $50 mail-in-rebate.

<b>Only in America would a drive-up ATM have brail numbers.</b>