Quick Question about Radeon 8500 versions???

[aznboi64]

What is the difference between the retail and oem version I guess? Are they both the same performance?

[TruckChase!]

Retail Core/Mem 275/275
OEM Core/Mem 250/250
Some crappy OEM Core/Mem 230/230

The OEM cards sometimes use the same memory, but the voltages supplied to the gpu and the mem is lesser than that of the retail.

[{PMS}fishy]

Originally posted by TruckChase!
Retail Core/Mem 275/275
OEM Core/Mem 250/250
Some crappy OEM Core/Mem 230/230

The OEM cards sometimes use the same memory, but the voltages supplied to the gpu and the mem is lesser than that of the retail.

That is correcty but forgot to mention some other important things. All of the retails have atleast 3.6ns memory, some lucky people have also gotten some cards with 3.3ns which is going to o/c the best. The oems usually have 4ns memory, but again some of them do have the 3.6ns. Its a gamble on which you want to go with. My OEM has 250/250 w/ 4ns memory. I can't get the memory over 275, but that is still retail speeds. The core is at 280 and I havent tried to push it beyond. To put this all in perspectivte the average o/c on these cards is going to be 300/300 you really dont see anything beound there. The majortiy of the people that are going beyond 300 memory have the 3.3ns and some sort of vmod. Hope this helps.

[AarontheJC]

For Fish: How can I tell which RAM I got on mine?

I overclocked to 295/580 with my 8500 OEM. Is the LE the one clocked at 230/230? I had always thought it was...???

[TranceBear]

Originally posted by {PMS}fishy


That is correcty but forgot to mention some other important things. All of the retails have atleast 3.6ns memory, some lucky people have also gotten some cards with 3.3ns which is going to o/c the best. The oems usually have 4ns memory, but again some of them do have the 3.6ns. Its a gamble on which you want to go with. My OEM has 250/250 w/ 4ns memory. I can't get the memory over 275, but that is still retail speeds. The core is at 280 and I havent tried to push it beyond. To put this all in perspectivte the average o/c on these cards is going to be 300/300 you really dont see anything beound there. The majortiy of the people that are going beyond 300 memory have the 3.3ns and some sort of vmod. Hope this helps.

Thr retail's do not need the volt mod. They are already maxed out. The OEM's need it to be at retail speeds.

[{PMS}fishy]

Originally posted by TranceBear


Thr retail's do not need the volt mod. They are already maxed out. The OEM's need it to be at retail speeds.

Thats what I meant to say but I forgot to put that part in about the oem w/the vmod not the retail. Thanks for correcting me.

The ram speed can be found on the chip, its the last number.

[hrmchan]

Originally posted by {PMS}fishy


That is correcty but forgot to mention some other important things. All of the retails have atleast 3.6ns memory, some lucky people have also gotten some cards with 3.3ns which is going to o/c the best. The oems usually have 4ns memory, but again some of them do have the 3.6ns. Its a gamble on which you want to go with. My OEM has 250/250 w/ 4ns memory. I can't get the memory over 275, but that is still retail speeds. The core is at 280 and I havent tried to push it beyond. To put this all in perspectivte the average o/c on these cards is going to be 300/300 you really dont see anything beound there. The majortiy of the people that are going beyond 300 memory have the 3.3ns and some sort of vmod. Hope this helps.

My OEM luckily is 250/250 w/ 3.6ns. If will OC'ed to a decent 300/340+. The Vmod is needed for higher. The pencil mod is the easiest takes about 10 min and is reversable. You want to Vmod to about 3.9v from about 3.2v-3.4v on most cards. I burnt one card already by pushing the Vod to far. Some people, have gotten their Vmod to 4.2v-4.5v without damage, but I like they are lucky. I FRIED my card at 4.2v. ATI has RMA'ed and replaced that card last week ... thanks.

My other OEM came in at 230/230 w/36.ns ... this is going back.

[hrmchan]

Oh, yes ...

Don't forget to flash your OEM to Retail Bios. The "flasher utility" is available through most 3D and Video sites.

also tweakers ...

1) update you mini-port, 4-in-1 Drivers

[{PMS}fishy]

There is no need to flash the bios, especially if you plan on o/cing the card anyway.

[Starfoxer]

powerstrip works fine for overclocking.

hrmchan, i don't think you can get that kind of memory to
340+, people can bearly get it at 300. im lucky to get
mone at 297.

[AarontheJC]

Yeah, I got mine to 295, but after batch-running 3DMark for hours on end, it started to make some mistakes, so I decided that 295 was just a bit too far. It hasn't made a mistake at 287 yet, and I think I'm running it at 290 now. I haven't noticed any mistakes so far...knock on wood

I'm looking for one of those PCI fan mounts that goes over the card (2x 80mms blowing onto the card from the side). Anybody have a good site to buy the mounting apparatus from?

[PsycoPhreak]

I had my retail 8500's mem at 320Mhz ( 3.3ns ram), but i backed it down due to not having any cooling on the ram, then i decided to pump it back up and loop the 3dm demo.( since i didn't do it before...) After about 15-20 minutes or so I did start to notice little artifacts appearing over the screen, not much, but enough to get me over to the comp to check the card, and upon feeling one of the ram chips, found out cooling is definetly needed to keep it that high...so i'm back to 300, not going to push it any more, just feels good to know the card has more to give and i'm not stressing it...:D