So for those buying today, is the Radeon 8500 a waste of money? Because of its aggressive pricing, you can find Radeon 8500 cards well below the MSRP of $299. Assuming a street price of $250, the Radeon 8500 can give you performance approximately equal to that of a $199 GeForce3 Ti 200 (street price of $179). The potential and additional features of the Radeon 8500 could justify the increase in cost but at this point, we'd recommend more of a wait and see strategy. If you need solid performance today at the best overall price, the GeForce3 Ti 200 is perfect for you. That may change as the Radeon 8500's drivers improve but for now it's just not worth it.