ATI Radeon video cards and their manufacturers

[Beetle B.]

Hi,

I'm looking at getting an ATI Radeon video card.

How much does it matter who manufactured the cards? How's Sapphire? And Powercolor? Either good?

I can afford:

ATI / SAPPHIRE Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB DDR W/TV out/DVI (OEM) (doesn't specify AGP...)

ATI Radeon 8500 LE Dual 64MB DDR TV/DVI OEM (Sapphire)

PowerColor Radeon 9000 : 64MB DDR AGP TV/DVI (bulk)

The Sapphire 9000 (non-Pro) is being sold for cheaper than the 8500 LE listed above (from the same retailer), which makes me wonder.

To sum it up, I'm confused - and thought I'd check with y'all first.

Which of the above is "best"?

Basically, I'm looking at paying up to $80 (please don't list anything higher unless it's only a few dollars more (like $85 AND the gain is much more than what I'd get for up to $80) - what's the best I can get? Assume I have the hardware to support everything.

Many thanks,

[Surge1243]

I've heard that the Radeon 9000's are not that great of a card. If your choosing from that list, I'd go with the 8500. I've never heard of any problems with Sapphire cards, but wait and see what some other people say.

[shifty]

I have a Radeon 8500LE by Sapphire and I it runs just about every game I've tried.I also have an Asus Gforce4 440MX and the Radeon is a much better card for just a few bucks more.It was $72 at Newegg.The gforce was $66.

[glc]

The 9000 does not perform as well as the 8500 - that's why ATI is renumbering the 8500 to the 9100. Nothing wrong with Sapphire, as a matter of fact I hear they manufacture some of the ATI-branded cards for them.

[smokealotapotimus]

Personally at the moment, out of those cards, I would get a 9000 Pro (as long as it is a Pro). They aren't a bad card from the benchmarks I have seen. And you never know what kind of 8500LE your going to get, some come clocked as low as around 200/175, which in that case it will suck alot.

[HAL9000]

I use the Powercolour Radeons in our builds at work and they have all been running great.

[Beetle B.]

BTW, before the rest of you reply, keep in mind that all the cards I listed above are about the same price. So I just want the one that's best overall - so if the 9000 listed is indeed better than the 8500 LE listed, then say so (even if the gain is only very minimal).

Thanks,

[smokealotapotimus]

It depends on what kind of shipment of 8500LE's they got, some are worse than others. But with the 9000 Pro (make sure it is the pro), you won't be guessing at what you will recieve.

[Furius92]

My Powercolor Radeon 9500 Pro is running great, so I assume their other cards are just as good. I think ATI, Sapphire or Powercolor would be fine... get whatever is cheapest.

[Alfie]

The companies mentioned are ATI certified and ATI partner companies.
Sapphire is the manufacturer for ATI cards.
Powercolor makes good cards.
The 9000 pro has a faster clock and faster memory,the 9100 mentioned is also affordable,so look at them as well.
The 3 cards run very close to each other,so any of them will get the job done,pick out the best price,get the latest drivers,avoid using the drivers that ship with the card.

[morriswindgate]

What I have found is that ATI seems to hold it's pardner companies to a higher standard than NVIDIA. I almost never use the actual ATI brand cards anymore, instead I use the Sapphires.

[BackBreaka]

what is the best site to find these sapphire cards???

[morriswindgate]

newegg

[cliffboy]

What's commonly available here in my country, the Philippines, Morris are these:

1] Sapphire ATI Radeon 8500LE 64Mb DDR
2] Sapphire ATI Radeon 9000 64Mb DDR

I'm planning to upgrade my old Radeon 7200 LE [which I bought from the states] with any one of the two above would be convincing, Morris?

[morriswindgate]

Anyone of those would be fine, although I have heard that the 8500 performs better than the 9000.

[glc]

The 8500 does perform better than the 9000, but what about the 8500LE? I would think that would be pretty close. Anyone got the specific numbers for that comparison?

[lil Jimmie]

The 8500LE gets about 2000 points less than the 8500/9100 on my systems running 3D Mark 2002 SE.

[glc]

Makes sense - but how does that compare to the 9000 and the 9000 Pro?

[smokealotapotimus]

The 9000 Pro is pretty much as as good as a 8500/LE. That is if the OEM LE you get is clocked at 250/250. But alot of them are coming clocked at as low as 200/175, you really don't know what your getting. Even the BBA cards are now coming at 230/230, which would probably put their performance below a 9000 Pro.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic...218/index.html

[cliffboy]

...so goin' with the 8500.