Radeon LE Question

[MB]

I got this itch to upgrade my video card so... here's the sordid
details. My machine is a Dell 4400 2.0Ghz P4, 1Gb PC2100 Ram running
WinXP Pro. This machine was originally equipped with a GeForce3
Ti200/64Mb. Things ran ok until I encountered Battlefield 1942. Since
I'm a cheap SOB when it came time for me to replace I looked around
and purchased a 128Mb Geforce FX5200 non-ultra card. Worked fine, was
marginally faster than the GF3 it replaced but still liked to go into
stop-action mode when all the eye-candy was turned on so I decided to
take one last stab at the cheap route. I looked around and purchased a
Sapphire 8500 LE 128Mb card. This is the cheaper variety with 5ns TSOP
memory. Original clock speed was 250Mhz core and 200/400Mhz memory. I
upped it to 275Mhz core and 250/500Mhz memory and it works fine. It is
faster and has a better, sharper display. Now, questions are....

My understanding is the 8500 LE (RV200?) has 4 pixel pipelines and 2
TMUs like the original 8500 but at a slower speed - is that right or
??

Is there anything out there in the $150 or less range that would
provide a major performance increase over this card or would it make
sense just to sit tight with the LE and wait for the 9700/9800 to be
superceded so they drop in price?

 

[Shrivel]

8500LEs are merely clocked-down 8500s. They are often capable of running at
the same speeds - although there are many (like the one I bought) that use
4ns memory chips and they usually can't be clocked up to the same level.
These are commonly known as "8500LELE"s - although you usually won't see
them advertised as such.

 

[Ian Merrithew]

(e-mail address removed) (MB) wrote in @posting.google.com:

This is the cheaper variety with 5ns TSOP
memory. Original clock speed was 250Mhz core and 200/400Mhz memory. I
upped it to 275Mhz core and 250/500Mhz memory and it works fine.

You're either very lucky or running on borrowed time. 5 ns memory should
only be capable of properly operating at 200 MHz (1/5ns=200MHz).

If you wanted a faster card, why not just pay the extra $$ for a faster
card (a retail 8500, or one of the newer 9700/9800s)? It would probably
serve you better in the long run. Yeah, I know, it sucks that new video
cards alone can run you more than the consoles, but this is the gaming
route you've chosen to go down.