Written By:
Date Posted: June 24, 2002

Installation and Performance

Test System Configuration
Mainboard: MSI K7D Master
Processor(s): 2x AMD Athlon XP 1700+
RAM: 2x 256 MB Kingmax PC2100 DDR CAS Latency 2
Hard Drive: Maxtor 7200 RPM 10 GB
OS: Windows XP Professional
ATi Driver revision: 6.13.10.6071 Released May 9, 2002
Cards used for comparison: MSI GeForce3, MSI GeForce3 ti200
NVidia Driver revision: 28.32 released April 26, 2002

Installation went as smoothly as we could have hoped. I slid the card into the AGP slot and it booted the first time around. Since we format and reinstall Windows XP for every product review, there were no previous drivers to uninstall. Windows XP detected the Radeon 8500 as a Standard SVGA card, so I proceeded to install the latest drivers from the ATI web site. There are still a lot of people who refuse to buy cards based on ATI chips because of ATI spotted history with software and driver support. ATI has slowly but surely gotten their driver and software support to a very acceptable level. Early driver revisions had their share of problems, but the latest revisions have caused absolutely no problems with our test system.

Direct 3D Performance: 3D Mark 2001 SE

640x480 32 BIT

ATI Radeon 8500 128 MEG=10233 3D Marks
ATI Radeon 8500 128 MEG (overclocked to 302 MHZ)=10355 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3 ti200=8803 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3=9209 3D Marks

Here we see the Radeon thoroughly embarrass both of the MSI GeForce 3 cards in the lower resolution test. There is over a 1,000 point spread between the GeForce 3 and Radeon 8500.

800x600 32 BIT

ATI Radeon 8500 128 Meg=9633 3D Marks
ATI Radeon 8500 128 MEG (overclocked to 302 MHZ)=9866 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3 ti200=7802 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3=8504 3D Marks

When we bump up the resolution the results are the same, the Radeon beats out the GeForce3 by over 1,000 3D Marks once again.

1024x768 32 BIT

ATI Radeon 8500 128 Meg=8708
ATI Radeon 8500 128 MEG (overclocked to 302 MHZ)=8909 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3 ti200=5792 3D Marks
MSI GeForce3=7402

Since 1024x768 is the resolution that most gamers play at, I feel it tells the most about whether a card is worthy for gaming. The Radeon 8500 manages an extremely respectable 8908 3D Marks in our tests, while the GeForce3 continues the trend of lagging behind the Radeon 8500 by about 1,000 3D Marks. When overclocked the Radeon 8500 didn't produce any visual abnormalities.

Previous Page - A Closer Look

Next Page - OpenGL Tests and Final Words