SG Broadband Community

I am planning on getting a new video card and i idont know which one to get? The radeon 8500 or the geforce 3 with 128mb or ddr memory? Which one is better in performance and features? And overall?

I'd get the Radeon 8500 assuming it's retail (275/550 core/mem). It's comparable to a GF3 Ti 500 with similar features (dual display, hardware T&L, FSAA though not as good as GF3/4, DVI, etc.).

JFYI, an extra 64MB of RAM yields no realistic performance advantage.

If you get the GainWard Gforce 3 Ti 200 you can over clock that card and easily get the Gforce 3 Ti 500 speeds..

THATS WHAT I HAVE

I bought the Gainward GF3 with 128mb DDR. I get mid to high 5000's in 3dmark 2k1 (1Ghz Athlon, 512mb pc133, A7V). In the games I'm playing (Operation Flashpoint, Unreal Tournament etc) it doesn't really seem much better than my Voodoo 5 5500 was. It's definitley less stable than the Voodoo, even with a fresh install of my OS.

Don't know about the Radeon.

Overall...it is a good card but has not lived up to my expectations. I'm not sure if it's because my PC is a weak platform for it or if I just had unrealistic expectations to start with.

Originally posted by Cable_Dood
In the games I'm playing (Operation Flashpoint, Unreal Tournament etc) it doesn't really seem much better than my Voodoo 5 5500 was.

Not sure about OFP, but I think UT is pretty hard on any setup. It seems to be CPU (and RAM, but 512 is enough) depended more than anything else.

Originally posted by Cable_Dood
It's definitley less stable than the Voodoo, even with a fresh install of my OS.

Sounds like you got it o'ced to high.

Originally posted by
Don't know about the Radeon.

Haven't had any problems with my retail 8500. I can play Q3 at 16x12 and RtCW at 1152x864 online with all quality options on/maxed (in-game and driver porperties).

i got a better comparison: the radeon 8500 with 128mb or the geforce 4 ti 4200?

Originally posted by Kastel86
i got a better comparison: the radeon 8500 with 128mb or the geforce 4 ti 4200?

The Ti 4200 isn't even out yet. I think it will be a while before it is. I think the Ti 4400 will be the sweet spot once prices drop and games start utilizing everything the GeForce4 has to offer.

Originally posted by Kastel86
i got a better comparison: the radeon 8500 with 128mb or the geforce 4 ti 4200?

I've got a better idea. Why not just buy the radeon8500 with 64megs? I recently bought one and I'm VERY happy with it. I'm able to get almost 9600 in 3dmark2k1se. Even though I've got heatsinks on the ram, I havent bothered to oc it. Except for that score.

I almost bought the gf4 ti400, until I realized how silly it was. Twice as much money for a marginal performance increase? I only paid 165 for my radeon retail and it even included a game that I had wanted to buy!

rtcw looks amazing at 1152 max settings with truform on too. I was lucky enough to run an msi gf3 ti200 64meg in my system, which was someone else's card. After about a week, I got my radeon and I was impressed. The radeon gave me better 2d and higher quality 3d too.

Originally posted by onetrueday


rtcw looks amazing at 1152 max settings with truform on too.

That's what I run mine at.

TRUFORM!!! CS looks way better with it. The Glock actually looks like a gun and not a paper-like rectangular prism.

why is the radeon 8500le 128mb the same price as the radeon 8500 64mb? Isnt the 8500le 128mb faster?

Originally posted by Kastel86
why is the radeon 8500le 128mb the same price as the radeon 8500 64mb? Isnt the 8500le 128mb faster?

Different clock speeds would be my guess.

64MB 8500 retail 275/550 core/mem
64MB 8500 oem 250/500 core/mem
64MB 8500LE 230/500(?) core/mem

Now I don't know if the clock speeds have changed on the 128MB versions. The natural assumption would be that they have not. This would explain why the 128MB LE is equal in price to the 64MB 8500.

Note that the added 64MB of RAM yields no noticable difference in reality.