Nvidia 8500 GT Cards any good?

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:45

This is the card i am interested in:

Leadtek 8500GT 256MB DDR2 DVI VGA DX10 PCI-E Approx £46

Is this a good card? I can only afford around £60 ish and want a card, Nvidia, that will play most of the newer games out there at medium settings etc.

Is the above card ok? It has DX10 too.

Tooks · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:47

Personally, I'd go for a X1900/X1950, although it will be used at that price.

The 8500GT isn't a BAD card, it's just outgunned by the last of the DX9 cards.

Fothsn · 11 Nov 2007 at 22:49

Can you stretch to £70?? this is unbeatable given the price range http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-063-OK will be much quicker and faster than the 8500GT which isn't aimed at gaming.

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:06

I want to stick with Nvidia guys, always have you see. Any other choices then? I thought the 8500 GT looked like a nice card on paper!

Fothsn · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:09

longshanks said:
I want to stick with Nvidia guys, always have you see. Any other choices then? I thought the 8500 GT looked like a nice card on paper!

Whys that? the ATI X1950Pro beats the anything Nvidia have to offer in this price range,

Rroff · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:11

8500GT is okish if you stick to low res and low or no FSAA...

i.e. at 800x600 with 2x FSAA you can max out the details in games like ETQW and BioShock and get playable framerates, however if you upped the res to say 1280x or the FSAA to 4x it would turn into a slideshow unless you dropped the detail settings.

Heavily OC'd they are about the same speed as a 6800GT at lower res but don't stand upto higher resolutions so well.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=2402000

My 3D Marks 06 score with one running a ~66% OC.

Rroff · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:19

While I'm a big nVidia fan I have to agree with the other posters... ATI own this price range - the 1950 Pro is head an shoulders above the 8500 and 8600GT...

Fothsn · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:28

Rroff said:
While I'm a big nVidia fan I have to agree with the other posters... ATI own this price range - the 1950 Pro is head an shoulders above the 8500 and 8600GT...

Yes

This is coming from someone (me) who has had an XFX 8500GT, X2 X1950Pro (PCIe) & an X1950Pro (agp) and the X1950Pro hammers the 8500GT in every department, if I had the choice of cards to pick regardless of make the X1950Pro is a no brainier!

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:30

So guys, the ATI X1950Pro is a really good card then? If i bought that and put it in my system what would Call Of Duty 4 play like? Would i be able to put settings on medium or high? Thanks for all help so far. Also, i like a quiet PC. Can i attach an after market cooler to it?

Fothsn · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:36

longshanks said:
So guys, the ATI X1950Pro is a really good card then? If i bought that and put it in my system what would Call Of Duty 4 play like? Would i be able to put settings on medium or high? Thanks for all help so far. Also, i like a quiet PC. Can i attach an after market cooler to it?

Depending on what res you are on? 1280*1024 you 'should' be able to play most titles at high/medium settings, have a look on THG here http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=725&model2=856&chart=318 as you can see the 8500GT & X1950 are miles apart.

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:40

The Nvidia 7900 GT is quite high in that list.

gurusan · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:43

for gaming the 8500gt is pretty much worthless.

I had one briefly....and with a 70% overclock on the GPU I got:

3DMark Score 3314 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 1293 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 1142 Marks
CPU Score 2677 Marks

LOL!!!!

Foxor` · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:43

longshanks said:
So guys, the ATI X1950Pro is a really good card then? If i bought that and put it in my system what would Call Of Duty 4 play like? Would i be able to put settings on medium or high? Thanks for all help so far. Also, i like a quiet PC. Can i attach an after market cooler to it?

Yes deffo, my dad has a x1950pro with a P4 3.6ghz 1gb ram, COD4 runs fine with everything high 2xAA (no shadows) @ 1440x900....

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:45

Cheers guys. Can i attach an after-market cooler to the card?

gurusan · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:45

longshanks said:
So guys, the ATI X1950Pro is a really good card then? If i bought that and put it in my system what would Call Of Duty 4 play like? Would i be able to put settings on medium or high? Thanks for all help so far. Also, i like a quiet PC. Can i attach an after market cooler to it?

I can play COD4 on my x1900GT (nearly identical to x1950pro) at almost all high settings and 4x AA and get 45-60+fps. 1440x900

Very efficient engine. When my gpu is at 750/1700 it barely ever dips below 60

gurusan · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:45

longshanks said:
Cheers guys. Can i attach an after-market cooler to the card?

of course you can.

Accelero S1 comes to mind

longshanks · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:46

Hey guys, is this a good one:

512MB Sapphire RX1950Pro, PCI-E(x16), Mem 1400MHz, GDDR3, GPU 580MHz, 36Pipes CrossFire Master/Slave £90

Fothsn · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:47

longshanks said:
The Nvidia 7900 GT is quite high in that list.

There about even tbh the X1950 pips it at most games, I was just showing you the difference between the 8500GT & pro, the X1950 has far superior image quality than the 7900GT, that chart isn't 100% correct.

gurusan · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:47

longshanks said:
Hey guys, is this a good one:

512MB Sapphire RX1950Pro, PCI-E(x16), Mem 1400MHz, GDDR3, GPU 580MHz, 36Pipes CrossFire Master/Slave £90

yes, go for it.

Rroff · 11 Nov 2007 at 23:49

Yeah you can put an aftermarket cooler on it if you wish... I believe people have been getting good results with it and this cooler:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-023-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

EDIT: Ooops beaten to it