HD3850 512mb vs 8800GS 384mb?

[hat]

Gee I sure do like making threads like this

I'm leaning twards the HD3850 cause it's got more memory and a higher BUS, and because of the cooler. My PCI slot fan can blow more air through that fan and when the hot air comes out suck that out of the case just like if it was a dual-slot cooler. However with the 8800GS if I used my PCI slot fan, temps would most likely RISE. They are both the same price. Also the 8800gs in battle against this HD3850 is already at the driver locked limit so no possible overclocking aside from multiple, most likely frustrating suicide BIOS flashes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103051
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150276

 

[ShadowFold]

HD 3850 for sure. Get a good cooler for it and OC that beast!!

 

[tiys]

HD3850:

More vRAM
256bit > 192bit
ATi > NVIDIA

 

[ShadowFold]

HD3850:

More vRAM
256bit > 192bit
ATi > NVIDIA

hehe true that


You should get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161215
That diamond cooler would get pwnt by the iceq3

 

[jbunch07]

HD3850:

More vRAM
256bit > 192bit
ATi > NVIDIA

very true!

AMD/ATI

 

[jbunch07]

hehe true that


You should get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161215
That diamond cooler would get pwnt by the iceq3

agree those HIS iceq3 cooleres are awesome

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

they are both on equal footing ... get whichever is cheaper ...

 

[hat]

hehe true that


You should get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161215
That diamond cooler would get pwnt by the iceq3

We'll see what happens around my birthday. Of course I will go for it.

 

[KainXS]

I would say the 3850 because it supports hybrid crossfire and the performance is similar

 

[hat]

No crossfire on a SLI chipset

 

[jbunch07]

No crossfire on a SLI chipset

where your planning on going sli?

 

[hat]

Nope. I think SLI with my processor would be a bottleneck. I think a nice HD3850(or maybe even HD3870 depending on prices) will fit in nicely.

What's the difference between the HD3850 and the HD3870?

 

[ShadowFold]

Nope. I think SLI with my processor would be a bottleneck. I think a nice HD3850(or maybe even HD3870 depending on prices) will fit in nicely.

What's the difference between the HD3850 and the HD3870?

GDDR3 VS GDDR4. I would pick up a 3870 if you could man the GDDR4 helps quite a bit. Also the 3870's are at 777mhz stock vs 667 of the 3850.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Whichever you go for, both are a good bet but the 8800GS is faster, nevermind the 192bit V 256bit it dont count for much if the card is slower, in fact it just shows how good the GS is if with it's narrower bus it can still do some spankin!

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2154749&enterthread=y

 

[Tatty_Two]

I would say the 3850 because it supports hybrid crossfire and the performance is similar

Very true but he would need a new motherboard for that and that alone would probably cost as much as the Gfx card

 

[DanishDevil]

The HIS 3870 is REAL cheap for an HIS card with the IceQ3 cooler. I'm picking one of these up once the price drops or a rebate comes up or my return period on my 3870X2 expires And besides, it's $15 more than the 3850 from HIS!

Look at it this way - if you want to put an aftermarket cooler on it, going with the HIS with that cooler saves you about $30-40 for buying an aftermarket. Get that puppy, slap some good thermal paste on there and OC away

BTW - anyone know if those HIS cards come with a BIOS without the 865mhz OC blocker (or whatever mhz it is)? My Visiontek didn't have it...

 

[niko084]

If your going SLI get the 8800GS, if your staying with a single card or will go crossfire the 512mb 3850 would be my pick for sure, but like also said above the 3870 isn't much more and is a "bit" more of a card.

 

[hat]

Yeah thermal paste is no problem I got some AS5 now.
The good 3870's, at least for now, are about $100 over my price range
We'll see what's up in June.

How do you guys think the 3850 will do in Crysis, 1280x960 medium settings, and a MAX of 4xAA/4xAF?

 

[niko084]

Yeah thermal paste is no problem I got some AS5 now.
The good 3870's, at least for now, are about $100 over my price range
We'll see what's up in June.

How do you guys think the 3850 will do in Crysis, 1280x960 medium settings, and a MAX of 4xAA/4xAF?

You will get perfectly fine fps with a 512 3850 at Very High, but probably not with AA/AF...
I get around 25-30fps Very High 1280x1024, and around 45-50 Medium/High mix.

The review posted before with the 3850 vs 9600gt and 8800gs was comparing a 256mb 3850, not a 512mb 3850....

 

[15th Warlock]

According to Techpowerup's own review of the 8800GS:

When I first looked at the specs of the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GS I wasn't sure if the card had enough steam to compete in the $150-$200 segment which is basically owned by AMD's Radeon HD 3850 and HD 3870. Without overclocking the card sits nicely in between the HD 3850 and the HD 3870 offering great performance for its price.
However the card has some very important advantages over the offerings from AMD. First it is quiet, and by quiet I do not mean just a bit quieter. In our tests the card could claim the number one spot in both idle and load fan noise making it the quietest card we tested so far. With 22.4 dbA under load it is so quiet that you can easily put it into a media PC system and won't be bothered by the fan noise.
The most amazing fact is the overclocking potential of this card. We saw overclocks of 27% on the core and 30% on the memory, matching the GeForce 8800 GT's performance. The only difficulty is getting past the 680 MHz core clock limit of the NVIDIA drivers. For budget oriented overclockers this card is a great deal because you can get huge performance gains for a small price. I have said countless times that I personally would never buy a video card for more than $250 because it's just a waste of money for too little performance gained. With the GeForce 8800 GS you can have both a great price, massive overclocking (= fun) and blazing performance.

Source

Aside having less RAM than the 3850, it would seem the 8800GS is the obvious choice from a pure performance standpoint

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Yeah thermal paste is no problem I got some AS5 now.
The good 3870's, at least for now, are about $100 over my price range
We'll see what's up in June.

How do you guys think the 3850 will do in Crysis, 1280x960 medium settings, and a MAX of 4xAA/4xAF?

iof $$ is a prob get a 8800GS

 

[15th Warlock]

This is worth the extra $10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130328

Also, arent 9600gt cards supposed to have an msrp of $169? So when they hot that price they would make the 8800gs obsolete at that price.

Yes, I was about to mention that too, AMD offering are getting owned from two fronts it seems

 

[JrRacinFan]

Hat, there is one thing you need to include into your decision. The presence of SLi!

My vote in is the 9600GT. But, out of the choice of those 2 cards, 8800GS only due to the presence of your SLi board.

 

[jbunch07]

if your going sli i would do the 9600gt if not then the 3870 or 3850

 

[niko084]

Arent the hd3850s supposed to see a price reduction anyway? That should make them competitve. Also, they overclock a lot. 670mhz -> 900mhz+.

3850's at 900+ is pushin it a bit without some work..

But getting them to 740-760+ isn't too hard, much over that you need to start considering a voltage mod.