[sbarrett]

The following article discusses the differences in clock sppeds between the retail and OEM versions of the Radeon 8500:

http://www.tech-report.com/columns/damage/2001q4/ati/


Can someone a little more technical than me let me know what it means that the white box version is clocked @ 250/250 instead of the 275/275 for the retail version?


I have a Pentium II 800mhz I am htpc-ing, and would like to use this card for. At the end of the day, what difference does this clockspeed issue make, and is it worth the $100 difference between the OEM and retail versions price?


Thanks for any help.


-Scott

 

[automagic]

Hello Scott,


Are you just interested in dvd pq or do you play 3d games that need fast frame rate? I believe you know where this is going.


Paul

 

[sbarrett]

Games as well as DVD playback.

 

[sbarrett]

*bump*

 

[Ashley Saldanha]

It's always better to have more rather than less, but at a premium of $100?


In my own testing, the difference between the 275/275 and 250/250 is around 100 points in 3dmark 2001, at driver default settings.


Also: I just checked Pricewatch and see the ATI OEMs as low as $196 on Pricewatch, and the ATI retails starting at $248. But I also see a "PowerMagic 8500 Retail" at $275 and it is clocked at 275/250.

 

[soren]

For information about ATI 8500 you should go to

www.rage3d.com and their forums. There is a special forum just for the 8500.


A warning... those people are a bit fanatic

 

[Figgie]

Ashely


But we also know that ATI has SUCKY drivers. So it might not be an issue with 100 points or not but an issue of crappy drivers.