Customer Reviews

ATI Technologies Inc. Radeon DDR AGP 32MB ENG/NA

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Given that most people who look for a video card that can run their 3D games, I was surprised that the Radeon would be able to run up to par with the Nvidia's GeForce2 (of course, not beating it all the time). Though, 3D is not everything. The ATI Radeon has superb 2D quality, which can only be topped by Matrox. Their DVD playback/decoder is one of the best in the industry. So for overall performance, the ATI Radeon is a card that can satisfy you in all areas.

Though, there is only one nagging thing about this video card. In history, ATI has a lot of trouble releasing good performing drivers. This may be important since we are going to have different OS's every two years or so. Though, the hardware potential is there. If ATI would get their driver development straight, I would have given this card 5 stars.

So, if you are looking for speed for your 3D games, buy another 3D card. If you want the whole package, this is the card for you.

The ATI Radeon may not be the fastest video card on the market compared to the GeForce3 but this video card, which is a generation behind has superior image quality be it 2D or 3D. Colors are vibrant on the card and it displays the sharpest text. The beta drivers have problems but the public 7075 drivers make the card run beautifully. Image quality is much better than the GeForce3 and the card is fast enough to play the most demanding game to date at even 1024X768 @ 32-bit. Keep in mind though, the Radeon was optimized for 32-bit and shouldn't be run in 16-bit.

An added bonus, the Radeons have an integrated hardware DVD decoder. It only takes 20% CPU utilization.

I really mean it what I say, "The older the radeon gets, the better it displays !!!". Let us start from the begining. When ATI released the Radeon, it was a excellent piece of hardware comparable to the best in the industry, BUT with very bad software support. The software support was so bad that it moved the product value from Excellent to Average-. The hardware was forced to perform several notches below its capabilities.

Over the last year, ATI's drivers have matured like wine. Now finally with the latest drivers, the Hardware is being used to the max and gives out excellent results. Performance in games under both Win98/ME and Win2K is excellent. The Radeon has always had excellent 2D to back it up and gives beautifull colour saturation. The same photograps on the Radeon look so very beautifull when I compare it to my original Gerforce.

On the negative side, the drawback is apparent. While the drivers have taken their own sweet time to mature, the product has gone down in the frame comparisons when rated with the Geforce 3 and Geforce 2 Ultras. But then I firmly believe that the Video in/out capability and excellent 2D anyday overweighs a few less frames in any game.

Parting shot: People talk of the Radeon giving lesser frames per second in Quake 3. Tell me, how many of you can differentiate between 75 frames/sec and 85 frames/sec ? If you think you cannot, and if you think 2D is important too as is video in/out, just go out and buy the Radeon. But do decide if you want the 32MB DDR or the 64MD DDR based on your needs and usage.

I am avid computer upgrade geek formerly loyal to S3 and 3DFX. Now that they are both out of business I looked to ATI for my graphics needs. For some reason I hate Nvidia, same reason why I use AMD and hate Intel.

This video card just works perfect with my Via KT133A and Athlon 1000Mhz CPU. You just need to install Via's 4-in-1 drivers and DirectX 8. It should work fine afterwards. People shouldn't bash this card without trying to fix the problem.

The best feature that this card has that Nvidia GeForce2 lacks is DVD playback. This thing plays DVDs better than any software based solution. It also plays Counter-Strike and other games with great quality and speed.

I give this video card a perfect score. But I really need to get a new monitor, that has been screwing things up for me.

If you are looking for that card that will give your games that punch needed to run at desired framerate, look no further. The ATI Radeon is at the top of its class. This is an excellent buy for the price and framerate deliverance. Though it is no GeForce 2 GTS 64MB, it gets your games off and running quickly. If you are looking for a game to show off your new card, get Nocturne. I highly recommend this card for everyone and anyone looking to upgrade their PC.

I have a 1.4 Ghz Athlon system with a VIA KT133 chipset. After trying numerous drivers for the AGP port, the card, flashing the motherboard, upgrading from Win 98 to Win ME, and so forth, the system still crashes a lot. It's mentioned in the ATI support page that they have problems. Should have looked there before I bought it.

As one reviewer already noted, ATI has problems releasing stable drivers. My system was rock solid before installing this card. Now I'll be lucky to write this review before the system freezes. I was tempted by the card because the VE model has dual display functions, plus it performs faster than the Geforce 2 MX in higher resolutions and 32bit color modes. Unfortunately ATI's readme file says people with VIA chipsets (a good percentage of us) may experience system crashes. I did driver updates and all that jazz, it just made the problems worse. I popped a note to ATI's tech support, and they did get back to me in a few days it was just the standard "reinstall the drivers" message.

By the way, I was also less than impressed with the 3D image quality. While it played games like Max Payne nice and quick, even in 32bit mode, the images kept dropping in and out. First, Max's head would disappear, then his head would pop back in but his body would disappear. This same problem kept occurring on benchmark utilities like 3DMark2001. Don't know the techie term for it but you certainly don't see this kind of ugliness on Geforce cards.

Lastly, the price of Geforce2 GTS and/or Geforce2 Pro cards, which are about 2x faster than this card, have come down to about this same price level. It doesn't make any sense to buy this card anymore.

Oh yeah, one more important point. Uninstalling the software was a nightmare. Even using their own uninstaller, ATI left so much garbage in my computer, control panel, and registry that I still haven't been able to get everything cleaned out. I hope ATI's software engineers can start releasing better drivers soon or else they're sure to be going the way of now defunct 3DFX.

I bought this item on september 2001 and has played me all the games i have. A friend has a 64mb card and yet, my 32mb radeon is still best. It runs all the games you can imagine. The FS2002 runs it perfectly. I am very pleased with this item. Definitely a must buy product.

I just bought the 64MB model and must say this one delivers the punch-I was also able to buy it for a steal (less than $200) thanks to NVIDIA III being launched Definitely a major improvement from my ATI RAGE PRO, games that wouldn't run before now go smoothly Installation is quick but you may have to resize your video output (no sweat) PS I run a PIII 500 Happy giblets!

I upgraded a Dell 500 MHz PIII stock Rage Pro to this Radeon and the difference is like night and day. Was going to also upgrade the CPU so I could play Ghost Recon, but heck, no need after dropping in a Radeon 32MB DDR. I went from not being able to run the game to getting a fast framerate at 800x600 32 bit color. Save 50% by shopping for an OEM version. Be sure to skip the Radeon VE, Radeon 7000 and 7200 as they are handicapped by either 64 bit data path or half-speed memory.