View Full Version : Radeon 7500
I go through life in a relatively frugal existence, punctuated by compulsive purchases. I have spent the past week and a half struggling to get one of my KT133A motherboards to run stable with my recently acquired Athlon XP 1800 CPU. Not having good luck, I considered moving to a KT266A system. For this reason, I went to the local Best Buy Monday morning to pick up a couple of the Crucial 256MB DDR modules. Needless to say, they were all gone, but while I was there, I spied an open box Radeon 7500 marked down from the regular $199 (rip-off) to $159. Now Best Buy had a deal going, offering a $50 Instant Rebate on new units and after determining that it applied to the open box unit, I "found my wallet". This was not a blind endeavor, as I had been looking at video cards lately since my old GF2MX 32MB was never a stellar performer. Not being a die-hard gamer, I was not interested in spending the big bucks on some "Bleeding Edge of Technology" video card.
Given my old GF2MX was not really that old (<1yr.), I never dreamed it might be what was contributing to my inability to OC my KT7A or KK266. I am very pleased to say that not only is the 7500 a great performer, but it has cured my overclocking challenge as well.
My old (non-overclocked) GF2MX ran 3DMK2K1 at 3321. The 7500, with current drivers loaded ran, it at 5133! With my GF2MX, I could not get either motherboard to run faster than 11.5x133, particularly the KT7A, which ran Prime95 at 12.5x140 @ 1.95V, but would not run 3DMK2K1 faster than 11.5x133. On the converse, my KK266 ran 3DMK2K1 very stable at 11.5x133, but would not run Prime95. Now, on my KT7A, I can run both tests reliably at 12.5x140. The KT7A does not like FSB in excess of 140Mhz regardless of the multiplier with my XP1800. At 12.5x140, the (non-overclocked) Radeon 7500 turns in a 3DMK2K1 score of 5340. I am very happy with the Radeon 7500 and with mail order pricing around $113 (NewEgg) it is an excellent deal. Who knows how fast it will go once I feel like monkeying with overclocking it.
I'm not too concerned about the future of the card, since the future of any add-on card rolls over about every 6 months anyway.
If, like me, you are/were laboring under some older video card, I would recommend buying yourself a Christmas present in the form of a Radeon 7500.
Im totaly enjoying my 7500. Now that you have your Mobo OC in order wait till you see the headroom on the 7500. I have mine modifide with ramsinks and a blorb running sooth as silk 344/272. With stock cooling 330/260 should be achivable depending on which ram you got.
Cisco Kid
12-12-01, 11:26 AM
Love my 7500 as well. Got great value for $199 canadian. They overclock really well and I my best overclock was 342/281.
It is a great card and will last for a while anyways. Crystal Orb and ramsinks with some ASII
Congrats on a great purchase.
Cisco Kid:cool:
Hi Hoot. I have one of those 7500 cards coming from Cali to montreal. Been about a week in the "mail" so far.
Looking forward to getting the card.
I couldn't help but notice your machine running an abit 1.1 kt7a with an xp.
How do you find it? any tips or tricks to get it running on that board?
thx.
FrankMasterFlash
12-12-01, 03:42 PM
Originally posted by Cisco Kid
Love my 7500 as well. Got great value for $199 canadian. They overclock really well and I my best overclock was 342/281.
It is a great card and will last for a while anyways. Crystal Orb and ramsinks with some ASII
Congrats on a great purchase.
Cisco Kid:cool:
Hey, with the crystal orb, did you use adheasive to attach it or the standoff pegs?:cool:
funnyperson1
12-12-01, 04:20 PM
Originally posted by FrankMasterFlash
Hey, with the crystal orb, did you use adheasive to attach it or the standoff pegs?:cool:
i dont believce that ATI cards have stand-off pegs (correct me if im wrong)
Cisco Kid
12-12-01, 04:24 PM
Originally posted by theflycore
Hi Hoot. I have one of those 7500 cards coming from Cali to montreal. Been about a week in the "mail" so far.
Looking forward to getting the card.
I couldn't help but notice your machine running an abit 1.1 kt7a with an xp.
How do you find it? any tips or tricks to get it running on that board?
thx.
Why did you not just buy it at futureshop.ca?? I got mine for $199 canadian at futureshop.ca.
Cisco Kid:cool:
Originally posted by theflycore
Hi Hoot. I have one of those 7500 cards coming from Cali to montreal. Been about a week in the "mail" so far.
Looking forward to getting the card.
I couldn't help but notice your machine running an abit 1.1 kt7a with an xp.
How do you find it? any tips or tricks to get it running on that board?
thx.
No real revelations other than adding a parallel 16ga wire conductor to the +5V path. Everyone has their own approach to reducing the +5V drop across the ATX connector. Someday, I'll do a short article on my approach. Naturally, I believe my way to be the best. :D I had that in place before I migrated to the XP and it helped my Tbird performance as well. Other than keeping the temp inside the case as low as possible, it was, for the most part, a no brainer. I just kept "see-sawing" the multiplier and FSB, slowly upward until I got it as fast as it would go and still run P95 and 3DMK2K1 reliably. Also, I have the Vcore >1.85 mod in all my motherboards.
73, Hoot
Thanks for the info Hoot! I think the new bios might help in that regard as well.
Cisco kid, future shop has the 7500 listed at 299 cad! And out of stock.
I realize you picked it up on sale.
Anyway, mine arrived last night at work. ended up costing me 220 cad. Not that bad!
Went from a savage s3 card to the 7500. Wow! what a difference.
Cisco Kid
12-13-01, 10:35 AM
Originally posted by FrankMasterFlash
Hey, with the crystal orb, did you use adheasive to attach it or the standoff pegs?:cool:
I used ASII on the rasminks and I covered the gpu with ASII as well just be real careful, then I left two corners ASII free on the ram and gpu and put a couple of dabs of superglue there to hold the Orb on.
I did not use the peg attachments.
Cisco Kid:cool:
Cisco Kid
12-13-01, 10:38 AM
Originally posted by theflycore
Thanks for the info Hoot! I think the new bios might help in that regard as well.
Cisco kid, future shop has the 7500 listed at 299 cad! And out of stock.
I realize you picked it up on sale.
Anyway, mine arrived last night at work. ended up costing me 220 cad. Not that bad!
Went from a savage s3 card to the 7500. Wow! what a difference.
If you ever see a sale on at futureshop.ca always get a raincheck if the stuff is not in stock, thats what I did and then I waited till the month was almost up to make sure I would not find it for any cheaper than $199. & I grabbed it up.
Cisco Kid:cool:
Good call cisco kid.
I'll do that next time for sure.
I'm loving this card.
It's great!
Originally posted by theflycore
Thanks for the info Hoot! I think the new bios might help in that regard as well.
Cisco kid, future shop has the 7500 listed at 299 cad! And out of stock.
I realize you picked it up on sale.
Anyway, mine arrived last night at work. ended up costing me 220 cad. Not that bad!
Went from a savage s3 card to the 7500. Wow! what a difference.
After I posted that reply, I remembered that I absolutely had to leave the Enhance Chip Performance turned off. Don't ask me why, as that function is a bit of a mystery to me, but it made the difference between working or not. Sorry to take so long getting this posted.
73, Hoot
More 7500 mod fun, the Blorb wasnt giving me that warm fuzzy feeling. Enter the socket7 cooler :burn: :D :eek:
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze24h2j/Mykex/NewMod.jpg
My Clock was giving artifacts at 345, my ram just keeps going higher :D @279 :D .
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.