HD3850x2? or stick with HD4850?

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

Seen overclockers.co.uk are shifting Asus HD3850x2 1GB for just £55.99 seems a bargin to me.

Now i've been saving for a HD4890 but thing is i'm not that much a gamer mainly just COD4 & NFS shift so i'm not really bothered bout the latest DX11 hardware. I'm only running xp anyway. ( Carnt aford to shell out on Win7 & a HD5850 )

Now the thing is I already have a sapphire HD4850 512mb ( Blue pcb ) would a HD3850x2 1GB be an upgrade?

Even a small gain is worth it to me. Its like £140 for a HD4890 or £56 for a HD3850x2 :confused:

zithe · Oct 26, 2009

It's not worth the money. Why not buy windows 7 instead of a new graphic's card if it's not all that important?

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

zithe said:
It's not worth the money. Why not buy windows 7 instead of a new graphic's card if it's not all that important?

Wot will i gain from buying win7 ? Sod all really ! I run vista themes on my xp rigs anyway.

I'm gunna hang on abit before getting win7.

Wot i'm really after knowing, HD3850X2 1gb performace more or less than a single HD4850 512mb ?

devguy · Oct 26, 2009

FWIW, dual 3870s (gDDR4) at stock ~ 4830 at 4870 clocks ~ 4850 at stock.

BTW, the 1GB on the 3850 will be shared amongst the two cores, meaning 512mb per core.

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

devguy said:
FWIW, dual 3870s (gDDR4) at stock ~ 4830 at 4870 clocks ~ 4850 at stock.

BTW, the 1GB on the 3850 will be shared amongst the two cores, meaning 512mb per core.

Hmmm Well after googling i didnt find strait HD3850X2 vs HD4850 comparisons !

However i did read a HD3870x2 is just a factory overclocked HD3850x2 with no hardware differences. Also hd3850x2 easy oc to hd3870 speeds.

Anyway i did find this: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/13/

Seems a hd3870x2 whips a hd4850 in 3dmark06. Not so in some other test though !

TheLaughingMan · Oct 26, 2009

Well that is a synthetic benchmark and it will show you raw number crunching and some benchmarks give arbitrary bonus points for PhysX, have two GPU cores, etc. But I am not going to start an arguement about benchmarking and why I never got into it. It is a good indicating, but real world performance will vary.

In this case, the issue is games now are leaning more and more toward being really texture heavy. The 4850 has 40 texture units and the 3850 has 16 a piece. Performance will depend on task. Older games will be more favorable to the 3850 x2, so will benchmarks. newer games and F@H will favor the 4850.

With the two games you are planning, it would be a downgrade, but not enough to matter or notice, so you might as well save your money.

As for the 4890, you can get a second 4850 and 4850 x2 will out perform a single 4890 any day of the weak. Please they are really cheap as of now. Not sure what you are using your second computer for, but I personal would get the 4850 out of it, run your primary rig with the two 4850's and get a HD 4670, HD 4830, or Nvidia 8600 GT for cheap for the second computer.

Gjohnst4 · Oct 26, 2009

I agree with laughing man. I saw a 4850 go for 67$ on ebay the other day. A 4850 x2 setup will last you a real long time if you are not concerned with windows 7

Velvet Wafer · Oct 26, 2009

build you a raid, if you want useful performance for small money. HDDs arent that expensive these days,am i right?

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

Doh ! I hadnt updated my system specs sorry done now. I no longer have a PQ5 pro it nackered up & got sent back.
I dont av a crossfire mobo in eva pc anymore so 2x hd4850's not an option without shelling out on a new mobo that is.

Never mind think i'll just stick with plan A & get myself a HD4890 & keep the best oveclocker HD4850 in the second rig. Thanks for replys.

niko084 · Oct 26, 2009

HD4850 stands nearly on level with a 3870x2.

A 3850x2 is really not worth it.

Zubasa · Oct 26, 2009

The HD3k series is more of a downgrade, these suckers gets annihilated in AA by the 4ks.
I mean even the 4670 can take on the 3870.

BazookaJoe · Oct 26, 2009

It's all still DX10 - I wouldn't bother & wait for a reasonable DX11 card...

Zubasa · Oct 26, 2009

BazookaJoe said:
It's all still DX10 - I wouldn't bother & wait for a reasonable DX11 card...

Both the 5850 and 5770 seems very reasonable to me.

niko084 · Oct 26, 2009

Zubasa said:
The HD3k series is more of a downgrade, these suckers gets annihilated in AA by the 4ks.
I mean even the 4670 can take on the 3870.

4670 can take on the 3850, they lose to the 3870s TBH. *Barely but they do*
I have done side by side comparisons recently and near the time of release.

LagunaX · Oct 26, 2009

Used 4870 1gb.
Otherwise a 5770.

There's a used 4870 512mb for 56 pounds with one hour left on ebay uk now too.

pantherx12 · Oct 26, 2009

Going to have to agree with the others, buy another 4850 or 70, import from America you can get a 50 for around 55 pounds shipped second hand from America.

Another suggestion is I have a 3850 and 3870 for sale if you wanna go crossfire stylee.

mikek75 · Oct 26, 2009

Sir_Real said:
Seen overclockers.co.uk are shifting Asus HD3850x2 1GB for just £55.99 seems a bargin to me.

Now i've been saving for a HD4890 but thing is i'm not that much a gamer mainly just COD4 & NFS shift so i'm not really bothered bout the latest DX11 hardware. I'm only running xp anyway. ( Carnt aford to shell out on Win7 & a HD5850 )

Now the thing is I already have a sapphire HD4850 512mb ( Blue pcb ) would a HD3850x2 1GB be an upgrade?

Even a small gain is worth it to me. Its like £140 for a HD4890 or £56 for a HD3850x2

If you want to play NFS Shift I'd go for an Nvidia card, ATI performance in this game in particular is abysmal. I have dual 1gb 4870's and framerates go as low as 20FPS at random points on certain tracks with high numbers of AI cars.

I bought a cheap GTX 260 and performance in Shift is transformed, between 45-70 FPS all through the game.

I'm generally an ATI fan (this 260 is the first Nvidia I've owned apart from a FX5500 six years ago), but in this game theres no comparison.

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

LagunaX said:
Used 4870 1gb.
Otherwise a 5770.

There's a used 4870 512mb for 56 pounds with one hour left on ebay uk now too.

Thanks but its prob gunna go up to high 60's or even more ! Ive had interest in this my HD4850 gunna see if i sell that before rushing into buying another GPU. I have enough cash to get myself a HD4890 or HD5770. Or even a nice HD5850 Hmmm £200 odd :ohwell:

Maybe not lol

TheMailMan78 · Oct 26, 2009

Sir_Real said:
Thanks but its prob gunna go up to high 60's or even more ! Ive had interest in this my HD4850 gunna see if i sell that before rushing into buying another GPU. I have enough cash to get myself a HD4890 or HD5770. Or even a nice HD5850 Hmmm £200 odd Maybe not lol

Stay with the 4850.

1. Its on par and above the 3870x2
2. Any x2 card is considered crossfire and not all games scale well with crossfire. A single powerful card is always better than two lesser cards combined.
3. The 4850 draws less power. That might not be a selling point to you but it will be to your PSU. If that puppy starts to strain pushing that x2 you'll know it via instability.

What I could do if I were you is get a good aftermarket cooler and OC the CPU you got.

Your system has a lot of raw power I don't think you have tapped into yet.

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

mikek75 said:
If you want to play NFS Shift I'd go for an Nvidia card, ATI performance in this game in particular is abysmal. I have dual 1gb 4870's and framerates go as low as 20FPS at random points on certain tracks with high numbers of AI cars.

I bought a cheap GTX 260 and performance in Shift is transformed, between 45-70 FPS all through the game.

I'm generally an ATI fan (this 260 is the first Nvidia I've owned apart from a FX5500 six years ago), but in this game theres no comparison.

I run a single HD4850 512mb & play quite smooth @ 2048x1536 high settings

Thing is though 3.1MP on 21" CRT the picture is that defind it still looks nice with AA turned off. & that makes a big difference to my frame rates.
Frame rates do still drop a tad to low with alot of cars in shot though.

& yeah if i run max AA even at 1600x1200 its gurky as hell :ohwell:

So im no saying your wrong or owt

TheMailMan78 · Oct 26, 2009

Sir_Real said:
I run a single HD4850 512mb & play quite smooth @ 2048x1536 high settings Thing is though 3.1MP on 21" CRT the picture is that defind it still looks nice with AA turned off. & that makes a big difference to my frame rates.
Frame rates do still drop a tad to low with alot of cars in shot though.

& yeah if i run max AA even at 1600x1200 its gurky as hell So im no saying your wrong or owt

It will only get worse with what you are proposing.

mikek75 · Oct 26, 2009

Sir_Real said:
I run a single HD4850 512mb & play quite smooth @ 2048x1536 high settings Thing is though 3.1MP on 21" CRT the picture is that defind it still looks nice with AA turned off. & that makes a big difference to my frame rates.
Frame rates do still drop a tad to low with alot of cars in shot though.

& yeah if i run max AA even at 1600x1200 its gurky as hell So im no saying your wrong or owt

Aye, but play with 15AI on Tokyo, Laguna Seca or Dakota, thats where its bad. EA have admitted there is a problem on ATi cards, and ATI complained about the performance to EA before the game was released. Its an Nvidia optimised title, of that theres no doubt.

Sir_Real · Oct 26, 2009

@ TheMailMan78 What I could do if I were you is get a good aftermarket cooler and OC the CPU you got. Your system has a lot of raw power I don't think you have tapped into yet.

The rig i use 24/7 settings. Now theres not alot more this box of cheap bits as to give.

Zubasa · Oct 26, 2009

mikek75 said:
Aye, but play with 15AI on Tokyo, Laguna Seca or Dakota, thats where its bad. EA have admitted there is a problem on ATi cards, and ATI complained about the performance to EA before the game was released. Its an Nvidia optimised title, of that theres no doubt.

Good that I blacklist every other generation of NFS.
That includes Need for Speed Noob Street and Shi(f)t.
I go play Gran Turismo if I want that kind of game play.

DrPepper · Oct 26, 2009

4850 is faster than a 3850X2.

Stick with the 4850, i've got a feeling that you want to just buy it because it's cheap but it's not worth it.

Processor	PC 1: Q6600@3.25,1.34v / PC 2: E8200@3.88,1.35v
Motherboard	PC 1: Asus P5Q-SE / PC 2: Asus P5Q-E
Cooling	PC 1: Air / PC 2: Air
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Video Card(s)	PC 1: Saphirre HD4870x2 2GB / PC 2: 2x XFX HD4870 1GB in xfire
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HD3850x2? or stick with HD4850?

Sir_Real

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