When did ATI decide to drop the price of the card from $399 (based on all the previews I read) to $299? It is available via preorder on both ATI.com and EBgames.com at that price. I believe this new price point positions ATI much better in relation to the new nVidia cards. I may just pick one up to replace my old Voodoo 3 3000.

-DavidCPA

I believe they made that decision in the last two weeks or so. Granted, the card isn't out yet, and they tell me they're still nailing down the absolute final clock speeds and price. But I do believe it will actually ship at $299.

And yes, it does make for much better competition with the new NVIDIA line. I hope they get in a real speed/price pissing match this fall, so they push real hard and go nutty with the spring release. =)

ATI will have to prove that their drivers have improved dramatically from the original Radeon. I ditched mine over compatibility issues long ago.

I haven't encountered many game related driver problems with the Radeon AIW that I have though I didn't run that many games through it. Quake 3 fine, Rune:HOV fine, D2:LOD fine, HL fine, UT fine but with a slow down issue in some maps.

On the other hand, the video capture utilty in the included multimedia software has nearly driven my wife to tears. ATI has workarounds for most issues, but IMHO there shouldn't be that many issues in the first place. That being said, it is probably the best low cost multimedia solution available right now. I will say that I am excited about the Radeon 8500DV with included firewire ports - sweet!

-DavidCPA

If you act now you can preorder it from Dell (OEM I assume) for $200. 20% off sale ends today though. Normal price is $250.

Is that $200, or a "$200 upgrade" over what comes normally in the system?

Card only, no computer. Unless I'm misunderstanding it. Which is possible, I suppose.

Here's a link: it's crazy...
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.asp?Sku=507994&spagenum=1&category_id=2999&keyword=radeon+8500&mnf=&prst=0&prEnd=0&mnfsku=&orderby=&SearchType=AND&customer_id=04&Pageb4Search=search&page=search%2Easp

Yeah, only sometimes OEM products have different specs than retail versions. Faster or slower memory and chipset clock speeds, etc. I don't know if that's the case with what Dell is selling, but I can't be sure either way.

Brad Grenz

Oh yeah.. I meant the link was crazy not the price. :)