As you might expect the game and hardware sites on the 'net were quite eager to bring their own perspective to ATI's launch of the Radeon 8500 next-generation chipset. Many of the PC previews of the 8500 and 7500 cards are based upon actual hands-on experience with the cards and include benchmarks, though these are of course from pre-production cards and drivers.

Just to clarify an issue mentioned in our preview of this new chipset, the 7500 and FireGL versions of ATIs lineup do not have Mac OS versions planned, though a future version of the 7500 does seem a natural choice for ATI to make in the future. In our discussions with ATI they did leave the door open to such a possibility.

In any case if you just can't get enough 8500 data and details, here's a quick roundup:

Anandtech has the most impressive preview we've seen, with detailed explanations and actual screen shots of Truform and Smoothvision in action. While the technical language may prove a challenge to those who don't follow the hardware market, their assessment of the card and its feature set seems fair and balanced. While the preview does include numerous benchmarks, they caution that this comparison isn't entirely valid -- after all, they are comparing a card which is four to six weeks from release with cards that have drivers with six or more months of refinement in the marketplace. In any case, this one is worth checking out for the comparison screen shots alone.

Other good PC previews have been posted at Tom's Hardware and GameSpot. VoodooExtreme\ is also collecting developer comments about the new cards and listing them on their news page.

Our fellow Mac sites haven't been slackers either; MacGamer and MacCentral both have previews of the 8500 series to offer. Be sure to check out these numerous resources, and then present your own opinion of ATI's frontal assault on the high-end gaming market in our Hardware forums.

MacGamer's Radeon 8500 Preview

IMG Hardware Forum

Inside ATI's New Radeon 8500 at MacCentral

Tom's Hardware Radeon 8500/7500 Preview

GameSpot Radeon 8500 Preview

Anandtech's Radeon 8500, 7500 Preview

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