Beware the "LE" Graphics card!

[4_Series_Scania]

Theres a new breed of card creeping onto the market, the "LE" variants.

In a nutshell, these are akin to the old Geforce 2 & 4 "MX" ranges, i.e. there produced for OEM manufacturers to place into there PC specs to look good on paper, alas, they don't look good in "real world" performance.

For example, an Nvidia 6800LE is CONSIDERABLY slower than the Nvidia 6800 (Non-LE). The 6800LE costs about

[Iroquois]

I have an Jaton FX5200LE. They have a standard FX5200 as well/ They only difference with it I can see is that they used four ram chips instead of the 8 that their non-LE has. Same clock speeds, same 128mb of RAM.

You know

[Gixer]

Bit less than that

[Iroquois]

[quote]Bit less than that

[Gixer]

LMAO, Dollars r crazy! U got US dollars, Canadian Dollars, Australian Dollars! why cant they all be the same  ;D a dollar is a dollar surely hehehe  ;D

[Ivan]

I have an Jaton FX5200LE. They have a standard FX5200 as well/ They only difference with it I can see is that they used four ram chips instead of the 8 that their non-LE has. Same clock speeds, same 128mb of RAM.

NOT the same 128MB of RAM... you are technically running a 256MB card that has been castrated into a 128MB one, while the 128MB one is a true 128MB card that even with the same clock speeds will get higher performance. Memory Bank Interleave... same thing that made you hate SIMM modules in the past now gives you extra performance. 4 empty spots out of 8 mean that they only connected one of the two memory channels.

[Delta_]

LE models use half bandwidth memory.  They are the same as ATis SE models.  Atleast they are labelling them LE, they never used to do that on Nvidia cards.  

Also the 5200LE is 64-bit memory, instead of the 128-bit you get on the normal model, so it runs at half the performance.

[Iroquois]

It's not the amout of memory. I double checked. My card runs at 250/365 clock speeds where a regular runs at 250/400. I might OC the memory to bring it up to par.

[Delta_]

I said bit not MB, bit is the bandwidth, MB is the capacity.  That is if you were commenting on my post?

[4_Series_Scania]

Opps! stirred up a nest here me thinks.....

[congo]

LE and some other suffixes and sub names are not specified names by the chipmakers, but merely made up by the manufacturers to designate their particular versions.

LE has, however, become a common, manufacturers suffix for de-powered models of many genres of GPU's; it didn't just start with the 6800 GPU.

Some LE models in the past have represented good value for money, while others have not. It really is important to get right down to the specification in order to know what  you are buying, as names are becoming increasingly cryptic

[4_Series_Scania]

Thanks congo, you put in 3 paragraphs what I could'nt fit clearly into two posts!  Nice!  ;D

[congo]

It took me a while to figure the LE thing out, it wasn't until I read a good article on some nv 9800's that it all clicked into place.

I was looking at an LE model at the time, based on price, but then found out it was really just a 9800XT, with reduced memory speed as well!

I phoned the dealer prior to resolving the issue, and they were not helpful in providing details, so I had to find out myself.

[Iroquois]

It took me a while to figure the LE thing out, it wasn't until I read a good article on some nv 9800's that it all clicked into place.

I was looking at an LE model at the time, based on price, but then found out it was really just a 9800XT, with reduced memory speed as well!

I phoned the dealer prior to resolving the issue, and they were not helpful in providing details, so I had to find out myself.

I know you can flash the BIOS on a 9800pro to make it an XT. Not sure about the LE.

[congo]

EEEEEK ! ! !

I didn't mean 9800's, very sorry, my brain must be slightly bruised.

I meant the nv 5900 series, in which the LE models usually reflect the slightly crippled 5900XT models.

Just thought I'd clarify that in case I caused some confusion.