Any computer gamers here? ATI Radeon 8500 video card question
 

I currently own a ATI Radeon 64mb VIVO card, its the first gen of the Radeon series. I current PC config is 1ghz AMD Athlon, 256mb ram, Abit KT7A-RAID mobo, and a ATI 64mb VIVO Radeon.

I want to give this system to my aunt, and build a new system. I debating on whether to keep my exising video card, or buy a ATI Radeon 8500 card w/ tv-out.

Does anyone have this card, or know how much of a performance gain I will get? Ive seen benchmarks for the card, but I would like to here from someone who owns one.

Thanks. :)

thats the card i have. compared to my last card which had gforce2 tech... this thing is awesome. i've had no problems with it. i used to play half life a lot, some unreal tournament, but mostly just starcraft now... and all these games kick even more ass with this card. :]

With those games, you don't need a whole lot of graphical power. I have a Geforce DDR 32 meg card (one of the original DDR cards) and it still cleans house for what I play. I'm building a new system this summer too, and I'm planning on getting a geforce4 4200 card. Great performance, great overclocking potential(not that i really want to), and they'll be under $200. Not too shabby for a 128M card! : )

The ATI Radeon 8500 is a great card from what I hear. I'm not sure if it comes in just 64 or 128M varietys, but they're always a safe bet. If you're going to do A LOT of gaming, I'd reccomend the Geforce4 4200 because you can't go wrong (especially with NVIDIA reference drivers) and it's not all that much more for a 128M card.

What model do you have? I know they come in 64mb ddr and 128mb ddr. Also, they come as a All In Wonder (tv out/in, tuner, etc). I also saw a 8500LE, which is a slightly slower counterpart of the 8500.

I saw a 8500 64mb ddr for $155 on www.newegg.com . It looks like a great price, but im still debating if I need it. I love my Radeon 64mb VIVO that I bought a year ago. Do you have any screenshots of Unreal Tournament? I love that game! The new Unreal Tournament coming out looks absolutly breathtaking! Cant wait. :D

I play Counter Strike, Jedi Outcast most. My GeForce2 MX400 is excellent enough for both games even more so because I overclocked it.

But I want to upgrade my brother's TNT2 video card, with a GeForce4 MX440. Does anyone have experience or know about this card? Is it worth the price? It's selling for pretty cheap and the GeForce3 outperforms it. Or should I just get the GeForce2 MX400? Any comments and advice would be much appreciated.

Do NOT, I repeat do NOT get a Geforce4 MX, they are barely anything more than a Geforce2MX, seriously. I dunno how up to date you guys keep on this stuff (I read about it when i can) but the geforce4mx is NVIDIAs biggest flop ever, it got horrible reviews for being simpley a geforce2mx with slightly higher ram speed I think. It was a big disapointment. Give your brother your geforce2mx, and you have a few options depending on your budget:

Less than $100:
Gainward Geforce2 Ti200... I hear these are great cards, and you can find them for around $90

Less than $200:
Like I said before, look into the Geforce4 4200. They seem to be great cards (the leadtech has an especially nice setup for overclocking, HUGE heatsink on it).

$200 and up...
Depending on what you want to do, get a Geforce4 4600 or an ATI Radeon All in wonder w/ 128M. The AIW runs about $350+, and the Geforce4 4600 is pretty close to that price range right now...

Seeing that you're happy with your GF2MX, spend $90 on the geforce2 Ti series card with 64M, and be done with it. Either that or go for the ATI Radeon 8500 (not AIW) or Geforce4 4200, depending on what you want to do.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much for your advice man. I'll think about the GeForce4 4200 since it has great ocing potential.

Haven't been keeping up with computer stuff lately since so much time is devoted over to the 5. :D