Radeon x850 Plat V.S. Radeon x3850

[Zellyn]

Ok, here's my deal. I've got a P4 3.2EE, on a Abit IC7-G motherboard. I have not over clocked the system ever, but considering it based on my situation.

I recently had a huge voltage spike come from my Radeon X850PE, totally fried my PSU, and probably the extra power connector on my x850. As the system seems to be taking a huge hit on the 3.3v line when ever I do anything graphic intense on the card with all my stuff plugged in to the system, causing my system to reset. Dropping it down to minimums, my 3.3v line hits 2.5v or lower. But doesn't reset. Testing the system with a lower end card, no issues with 3.3v line at all, which leads me to believe that my card is not getting enough power threw the Molex connector, and would explain the huge pull on my 3.3v line in 3d games.

Anyway, I've got the Sapphire Radeon HD3850 on order and waiting for it to arrive, to totally rule out a flaky PSU, and to confirm my suspicions on my x850 pulling more from the AGP connector to compensate for a bad power supply threw the smoked female Molex.

So I've been reading around on the site about the HD3850 and I was wondering if I could get some input from other users on the card. I'd like to know exactly how much horse power I can expect to get out of this card compared to the x850. I would also like to know how bad the bottlenecking is from others with a similar P4 setup, and if over clocking will help any. My System's FSB is 800, and I have 2 gigs of ram.

Thanks

 

[DaMulta]

About 500% more power

 

[3870x2]

thats bothering me... its hd3850, not x3850...
also i dont believe in the CPU bottleneck from my personal experience:
Doom3 just came out, and of course no stock computer could ever dream of running it. I had an old Radeon 7500 64 in my system that was only an 800MHZ AMD K-8 128mb ram, couldnt run it on the easiest settings. Got a 9800PRO AGP, ran it max settings 1280x1024 full AA smooth as butter, never checked FPS. My buddy had a 2.2GHZ P4 and couldnt do squat on the 9500 that came with his computer.
Maybe im wrong with this, but it is my personal experience and ill stick to it.

 

[Zellyn]

I apologize for the newb mistake of calling it the x3850, I’ve updated my post to reflect the correct name, but I don't think I can change the title. >.<

 

[3870x2]

not noob, we all do it i kinda liked the X theme myself, x is cool...
XTX, XT, XXX, X1950 XTX XXX OC, X-men, etc...

 

[mrw1986]

thats bothering me... its hd3850, not x3850...
also i dont believe in the CPU bottleneck from my personal experience:
Doom3 just came out, and of course no stock computer could ever dream of running it. I had an old Radeon 7500 64 in my system that was only an 800MHZ AMD K-8 128mb ram, couldnt run it on the easiest settings. Got a 9800PRO AGP, ran it max settings 1280x1024 full AA smooth as butter, never checked FPS. My buddy had a 2.2GHZ P4 and couldnt do squat on the 9500 that came with his computer.
Maybe im wrong with this, but it is my personal experience and ill stick to it.

I don't think you ran Doom 3 on a 9800 Pro 1280x1024 Full AA Max settings at a playable FPS. There's simply no way. I had that card and a much more powerful cpu than you and couldn't do that. Hell, my X700 struggled at those settings.

 

[pbmaster]

Yeah I'll have to agree, Doom 3 is kind of steep to run. Not with today's stuff of course, but back then it was quite a beast.

 

[FatForester]

thats bothering me... its hd3850, not x3850...
also i dont believe in the CPU bottleneck from my personal experience:
Doom3 just came out, and of course no stock computer could ever dream of running it. I had an old Radeon 7500 64 in my system that was only an 800MHZ AMD K-8 128mb ram, couldnt run it on the easiest settings. Got a 9800PRO AGP, ran it max settings 1280x1024 full AA smooth as butter, never checked FPS. My buddy had a 2.2GHZ P4 and couldnt do squat on the 9500 that came with his computer.
Maybe im wrong with this, but it is my personal experience and ill stick to it.

Eh, my X800XT was able to do it, but barely. I totally agree with what you're saying though. I just had to get a bit technical, you know how it goes.

As far as OP, the HD3850 will give you a ton more power. To be honest I wouldn't want to be spending money on an AGP card. If you don't plan to upgrade the rest of your system for a while then I'd go ahead, but if you're thinking it then I'd hold off.

 

[Zellyn]

Yah, a total system upgrade is in the works, but not for a good year or more. Other wise I would hold off, but I need a good card to last me tell then, and this is good for the price, considering I got the x850 when it was brand new, and 600 dollars.

 

[Viscarious]

HD 3870 is great. I've got three and am using two. I dont think I'll need to upgrade for some time. Its going to be quite a jump in performance. Hope you enjoy it.

Also, the whole X naming scheme is confusing for me. I get lost in the GTX, XT, XL, ect.

 

[3870x2]

I don't think you ran Doom 3 on a 9800 Pro 1280x1024 Full AA Max settings at a playable FPS. There's simply no way. I had that card and a much more powerful cpu than you and couldn't do that. Hell, my X700 struggled at those settings.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDc0LDI=
plz dont call me a liar w/out proof
the 9800PRO was a beast, you forget?
EDIT: there was no AF, dont forget that...

 

[OtopC]

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDc0LDI=
plz dont call me a liar w/out proof
the 9800PRO was a beast, you forget?
EDIT: there was no AF, dont forget that...

i ran doom 3 with a 9800pro and amd thunderbird (1.0 ghz) and it also run very smooth at 1280x1024. it is posible

 

[Zellyn]

Well, as of last night, it looks like the 3.3v drops might be because my MB is failing, it shutdown last night, and won't reboot, it tries to power the MB but then immediately stops, doesn't even post. So now I've got a replacement MB on order, and will see if that fixes it. Looks like I won't be gaming for a few days. >.<

 

[mrw1986]

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDc0LDI=
plz dont call me a liar w/out proof
the 9800PRO was a beast, you forget?
EDIT: there was no AF, dont forget that...

I see their charts, yet when I played it on my 9800Pro 256mb it was NEVER that smooth. I played 1280x1024 and could never max it out. Two of my friends had the same video card as me and couldn't max it out. Three people with the same card trying to max it out even without AA and we couldn't run it smooth....Something's wrong here. If I could find my card I still have my old Athlon XP + A7N8X Deluxe combo kicking around and I'll test this. I also have an Athlon 3400+ to prevent bottlenecking.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Instead of everyone constantly asking, it's a good idea to fill in your system specification. To do this, go to your User Control Panel and on the left hand pane it's under Edit Specifications. Fill in your current set up, make it easier for us to troubleshoot.

As for your issue, what PSU d'you have? The HD3850 is a fantastic card, I suggest you read through this thread 'ere as that'll definitely help you.

You have to becareful with the power requirements of the HD3850, it requires at least 25AMPs on the 12v rail if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[3870x2]

I see their charts, yet when I played it on my 9800Pro 256mb it was NEVER that smooth. I played 1280x1024 and could never max it out. Two of my friends had the same video card as me and couldn't max it out. Three people with the same card trying to max it out even without AA and we couldn't run it smooth....Something's wrong here. If I could find my card I still have my old Athlon XP + A7N8X Deluxe combo kicking around and I'll test this. I also have an Athlon 3400+ to prevent bottlenecking.

sounds great, let me know what you find. That is alot of friends you have with a high dollar GPU... All i can say is i provided proof, look all around the interwebz, and you will find all similar framerates. Happy hunting!~
Also, i never did max shadows, that was dumb, it close to halves your framerates. The testers did, and they still got 30+ FPS minimum.

Edit: never meant to flame bro, these are my experiences, and i hold them dearly, 9800PRO changed my life

 

[Sasqui]

Desktop VGA charts from Tomshardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...,1639,1610,1604,1575,1630,1566,1620,1621,1617

Poke around... click the "show all products" at the bottom to get the 850XT to show. Looks like a significant boost, though it's amazing how good that card was for it's time (I have a modded X800 that I still use in a second machine and as temporary card for my primary rig).

 

[Deleted member 24505]

In 2001 i payed £230 for a 9700pro,i pwnd all my mates goodstyle.they all had fx5200's and similar.

The 3850 is a good card,i got 11400 on 06 out of mine at 840core.

 

[intel igent]

OP your problem sound's PSU related......

x850 vs HD3850 no comparisson, as someone who switched directly from the 850 to the 3850 it is a noticeable improvement....

 

[InnocentCriminal]

I presume your 3850 is PCIe Tigger, am I right? I'm only, 1803 marks behind that.

 

[Zellyn]

I've added my system specs. My original power supply was stock in my raid max case. Raid max 420w PSU. Sense the fuse blew in that one, I picked up a cheep on at Frys, the Panther from Rhino. It's a 450w PSU, I have to double check on the 12v line, but you are correct I do remember seeing a AMP rating for that card.

 

[mrw1986]

sounds great, let me know what you find. That is alot of friends you have with a high dollar GPU... All i can say is i provided proof, look all around the interwebz, and you will find all similar framerates. Happy hunting!~
Also, i never did max shadows, that was dumb, it close to halves your framerates. The testers did, and they still got 30+ FPS minimum.

Edit: never meant to flame bro, these are my experiences, and i hold them dearly, 9800PRO changed my life

I'm not flaming either, just giving you real life experiences from numerous people.

 

[Zellyn]

OP your problem sound's PSU related......

x850 vs HD3850 no comparisson, as someone who switched directly from the 850 to the 3850 it is a noticeable improvement....

Well, it could be the PSU. I’ve tried too get the MB with nothing installed to post with 2 different PSU’s with no luck. But I don’t know if the 2nd PSU works for sure. I’m mainly testing with spare parts from my friend’s computer which also recently won’t boot after it was turned off for an extended period of time. His MB doesn’t post with my Panther or his gray box PSU. And my MB doesn’t post with his gray box, or my PSU. The boards are getting power, as the led indicator that the system is receiving power does light up; it just instantly shuts down whey I try to power up my MB. Guess it just isn’t our lucky week for Computers. >.<

 

[zithe]

thats bothering me... its hd3850, not x3850...
also i dont believe in the CPU bottleneck from my personal experience:
Doom3 just came out, and of course no stock computer could ever dream of running it. I had an old Radeon 7500 64 in my system that was only an 800MHZ AMD K-8 128mb ram, couldnt run it on the easiest settings. Got a 9800PRO AGP, ran it max settings 1280x1024 full AA smooth as butter, never checked FPS. My buddy had a 2.2GHZ P4 and couldnt do squat on the 9500 that came with his computer.
Maybe im wrong with this, but it is my personal experience and ill stick to it.

P4 will bottleneck a 3850 severely. I've had bottlenecks with single core processors and it's severe. I saw no difference going from a 9250 to an x1800xt. The e2180 made a HUGE difference though. I suggest he at least get a budget dual core...

Also, AMDs single core processors were significantly faster than Intel's. Probably a larger % difference than between AMD and Intel today.

My average FPS in WoW between 2 different CPUs:
Celeron D 330 @ 3.4ghz - 25fps (lowest settings)
E2180 @ stock - 50fps (Graphical console commands + 6x FSAA)

A processor upgrade makes a world of difference.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Your gains compared to the X850 will be about 100% (typical game) to 500% on synthetic benchmarks (3Dmark06, FurMark).

NONESENSE to the person who said a P4EE will severely bottleneck your 3850. I pitty the fool.