Noobie question. Use an AIW8500DV or ATI 9200 w/TV Tuner?

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Clint

I'm upgrading my Radeon AIW card to one of the above cards. Which one would
you use, and why?

Clint
 
Clint said:
I'm upgrading my Radeon AIW card to one of the above cards. Which one would
you use, and why?
Click to expand...
The straight 8500 and AIW 8500 is a great card, but the AIW 8500DV is
clocked a lot slower for GPU and memory speeds. Speed is 275/550 GPU/memory
for the normal 8500 64Mb/128 Mb and AIW 8500 128Mb; the AIW 8500DV is down
at 230/380. This is a substantial drop. It's still a lot better than any
9200 or 9000 AIW card, even though they may be clocked faster than the
8500DV. The big difference is that all 8500/9100's use the R200 GPU which
processes 2 textures per pass. The 9000/9200's use a crippled version, the
R250, which can only do 1 texture per cycle. A better choice is the actual
ATI 8500 AIW 128Mb card. They run with ease at 300/600 and will flog the DV
version at any task.
 
You can't get a new 8500 series card anymore. I have just recently had a
8500LE gone dead on me.

Beside, 9200/9000 cards do have only 1 tex unit per cycle, but their shaders
are somewhat faster and more stable than 8500. I read it on Tom's i think.
So go for 9200 if you get a good 2-3 year warranti with it.
 
Oh, and that 8500LE that went bad on me, had bought it from online auction.
Only about 2-3 months old, no warranti. So had to plain throw it away.
 
Asestar said:
You can't get a new 8500 series card anymore. I have just recently had a
8500LE gone dead on me.

Beside, 9200/9000 cards do have only 1 tex unit per cycle, but their shaders
are somewhat faster and more stable than 8500. I read it on Tom's i think.
So go for 9200 if you get a good 2-3 year warranti with it.
Click to expand...

True, they're not available new anymore. But there's plenty of 8500's
available in great condition on Ebay. Simply because your used LE died after
3 months isn't indicative of typical quality. I've bought 2 over the last 6
months...one for me and one for my wife. Both are still working fine. Try
benching an 8500 128Mb against a 9200 or 9000 128Mb. The 8500 will get
scores 50 to 100% higher. On my Barton 2500 @ 3200 my 8500 does just under
12,000 in 3D Mark 2001 SE.
 
Both cards are used, so warranty probably isn't available in either case.

I guess my thinking was the 8500 might be a little faster, but the 9200/TV
Tuner combination means I can upgrade the video card portion later without
worrying about getting another AIW card (i.e. 9800 pro).

Clint
 
Considering that HDTV will be the norm in just a few years, I would settle
on a separate TV / 3D card unless you plan on only using an AIW card for two
years or so.
 
Not a bad choice.

Gonzo said:
Considering that HDTV will be the norm in just a few years, I would settle
on a separate TV / 3D card unless you plan on only using an AIW card for two
years or so.
Click to expand...
 
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