Sapphire ATI 8500 LE 128 mb

[jeff8428]

I just purchased a Sapphire ATI 8500 LE 128 mb. Still haven't received it yet. I was wondering if the latest drivers are the best ( the 6-13-10-6193). I also downloaded the R3D Tweak 3.6, I was wondering how much differnce everyone has got by overclocking this card (How much inprovement in 3D Mark scores) and if it is worth it to overclock. Don't know much about ATI always used NVIDIA but thought I would try this one because of the reviews in the forum and the price. APPRECIATE ALL RESPONSES

My System
Athlon XP 2000 running at 1750
Thermalright AX-7 with 80 mm Volcane fan (sounds like a jet)
Windows XP Pro
Shuttle AK32L
Vsiiontek GeForce 4 mx 440 (for now)
maxtor 60 gig 7200
256 pc2100 DDR

 

[Cisco Kid]

yeah it is worth the overclock you will gain points and performance. I am currently at 306/310 and it rocks solid.

I would not bother modding the card, Pinky has a thread up on his 2 hrs hard work to make ram sinks and replace the sink/fan on his 4600 I believe and it did squat but give him 10 mhz on the core.

He proved his point that in most cases these mods we make provide little increase in performance in most cases.

Just have good case flow, I have found the best drivers to be the Catalyst 2.3 ATI built drivers.

BTW what is your card clocked at 250/250?? If soi get powerstrip it will easily do 300/300. Ram should be rated at 3.6 ns and if you have BGA ram as I maybe you have 3.3

Forgot to mention,
stock 250/250 I got 8545 in 3D mark 2K1SE
275/275 I got 9602 stock XP1800
300/300 I got 9804 with a stock XP1800

And with my XP1600 At 1.744 w card at 306/310 I got 10,041 with an Alpha IU cooler on it and no ramsinks no vmod

10,041 http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4888067

9804 http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=4137698

8545 http://service.madonion.com/compare?2k1=3985740

Hope that helps and gives you idea all with Cat 2.3 driver

Cisco KID

 

[skid]

I got a buddy with a Sapphire 8500 LE 128.....she's got 5ns memory clocked at 250/200 needless to say he's not breaking 8000 on 3D mark. He thought he was gettin retail built by ATI... some fly by night night website just bent him over...

 

[Cisco Kid]

I got a buddy with a Sapphire 8500 LE 128.....she's got 5ns memory clocked at 250/200 needless to say he's not breaking 8000 on 3D mark. He thought he was gettin retail built by ATI... some fly by night night website just bent him over...

LO I say they bent him over and inserted it deep

cisco kid

hopefully buddy above got a better card than 5 ns