Top performer for relatively little money
Written: Jan 13 '02 (Updated Jan 13 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Image quality and performance are tops. Supports dual monitors and DirectX 8.1
Cons: Drivers are solid but could be updated more frequently
The Bottom Line: Performance is up among the very best; it has more features than the rest. The price makes it a bargain.
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| otheipi's Full Review: ATI RADEON 8500, (64 MB) AGP Video Card |
Setup
You are guided step wise through both hardware and software installation. The manual is to the point and well written.
How easy is it to update drivers?
Driver installation is a snap. When you want to install new drivers, you just use the Add/Remove Software applet in the control panel; Restart; Run the new driver executable and you're back in business.
Who should buy this video card?
Suitable for someone wanting to run their games fast at higher resolutions (1024*768 and above - I usually play at 1280*1024*32...) and who will want to play the new DirectX 8.1 games (that have all those cool new light and shadow effects). If you are just a casual gamer then I would suggest an ATI Radeon 7500 or an Nvidia Ti200.
General Thoughts:
This card bests my initial impressions of any card I've previously owned (and I've owned other cards by 3DFX, ATI, and Nvidia). It does everything exceptionally well and it is very fast. I have an older intel cpu (PIII 866) my desktop and games run beautifully. In Quake 3 Arena 1.32 with the latest drivers (beta, not release (Quake/Quack) drivers) I get a timedemo score of 84 fps at 1600*1200*32 with everything maxxed! Giants, Rune, Alice, Half-life, UT, etc all run at very high framerates and look absolutely stunning. It is a little trite to say it, but I have occasionally been fragged because I get distracted by just how beautiful this card makes my games look.
If you've ever had a bad experience with ATI and their drivers, then I'll just say this: their drivers are getting better all the time and they are really focusing on development.
Excellent value and it will serve you well until DX9 arrives sometime in early 2003. By the way, the Radeon 8500 (and 8800 for workstations...) is the only fully DX8.1 compliant video card on the market.
Please don't misunderstand: The Nvidia GeForce 3 Ti 500 is an awesome card, too, but the Radeon 8500 (retail) has more features and comparable performance for less money. You can also find OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) boards that are even cheaper, although they aren't quite as fast.
I've had the card for about two months now and I would recommend it without reservation.
Hope this helps
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 275
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Epinions.com ID:
otheipi
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Reviews written: 1
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