8800GT ($265) vs. HD 3870 ($225) - which should I buy?

[qmalik]

Well my 2 options are 8800GT Superclocked for $265 (pre-ordered) or a HD 3870 for $225 - both prices are after shipping. I plan to use the card for 3-4 years...which do you guys think I should get?

Also, any word on how much and when the new 8800GTS are coming?

 

[myerz]

8800 GT end of discussion lol.....i read that the new GTS will be $100 more than the GT and it wont offer THAT much of a performance boost. Ive seen them at a couple places this week online....newegg had them last time i checked. I would stick with the GT and spend the extra $100 on something else!

 

[Maziar]

8800GT

 

[DrMaV]

December 3rd for the new GTS,

8800gt for fps,
3870 for image quality.

 

[Ironnads]

3870 for overall price/framerate (plus image quality) best deal..

 

[Ironnads]

of course if your not bothered about price/framerate - get a gtx..

 

[johnyeah]

3870 unless you can get your 8800GT at ~$240 after shipping etc.

 

[Kazzi1]

3870 probably.
Does it matter that the 8800GT is better if you can't get one?

 

[myerz]

3870 probably.
Does it matter that the 8800GT is better if you can't get one?

lol very true....

 

[crabdog]

I would suggest reading Toms' 15 page 8800GT review along with Toms' 20 page 3800 review (as well as reviews from numerous other sites) and deciding for yourself.

?

 

[elbert]

Well my 2 options are 8800GT Superclocked for $265 (pre-ordered) or a HD 3870 for $225 - both prices are after shipping. I plan to use the card for 3-4 years...which do you guys think I should get?

Also, any word on how much and when the new 8800GTS are coming?

HD 3870 because its more forward looking compatible with DX10.1. Over 4 years you could have 4 of these running in 4X something the 8800GT cant do. Price is cheaper and by tomshardware article it will save you money on power bills as its idle wattage is as low as the 8600GT. If a new GPU were to come out like a 3970 using 2 of these GPU's this card could work like a 3X setup. This is by an article I read stating the new 3000's can work even in a 2 card 3870 3850 combo.

 

[chuckshissle]

Both of them are good cards but I'm putting my money on the HD3870 512Mb for it's cheaper and can do just about as 8800GT.

 

[TSIMonster]

I think the 3870 is the better buy. If I hadn't bought my 8800GTS, I would get the 3870.

 

[dwe_khal]

i would buy the 3870...it's the best price/performance

 

[pauldh]

How long until your preorder comes? I ordered well over two weeks ago and mine from amazon says it won't ship until Dec 31'st. Tough to wait if you could use the card.

 

[tricky trees]

8800gt. Who cares about direct x10.1? You'll be after a new card by the time that matters.

 

[oswold]

8800GT - Better performance and single slot but more expensive, louder, hotter.

3870 - cheaper, cooler, better perforamnce/price ratio and you might actually be able to find one unlike the 8800GT.

I would get the ATI, as I could potentially CF it latter. Its a close and tough desision between the two I think.

Theres a powercolor 3850 that is highly OCed (720/900) and has 512mb, and is about £10 more than the standard 3850

 

[ethel]

8800GT.

18% more money, 18% better performance with filters (from Toms review).

If you can afford the extra $40, then get it - it will have better longevity.

 

[Reynod]

3870 - saves heaps of power on idle, runs cooler, likely to overclock well (once they start playing with the coolers).

Toms review is just crap - look at what the other sites are saying ... their reviews are mostly very positive. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151
It's another anti-ATI / AMD piece ... sigh.

Plus the 8800GT can't be had ... tried and failed here.

I just hope DAAMIT price them well and pull the rug completely out from under NVidia ... who have been overcharging us something chronic.

I hope there are plenty for Christmas.

Santa ... you know what I want now !!

 

[cappster]

I say look at the resolution you are gaming at and if it's 1280by1024, go for the 3870. If you want to game at 1920by1280, get the 8800gt. I purchased the 3870 because it was 225 shipped, it was in stock, and multi-GPU future looks to be "user/money friendly" because crossfire X looks to be cheaper than tri-sli.

 

[jevon]

I like the CrossFire X options, too. I think My build is going to chance to include a X38 motherboard so that down the road I can add a second 3870, or possibly the next 'high end' from ATI because you don't need 2x of the exact same card anymore for CrossFire. Or maybe I'll just go with 3x3870s, but then one has to run @ 4x I think. Decisions, decisions!

 

[jay2tall]

NEITHER!!!! wait until after Xmas so the supplies are backup, people already got what they want as gifts so the price might creap down, and the 8800GTS refresh will be out.

 

[trooper1947]

Well my 2 options are 8800GT Superclocked for $265 (pre-ordered) or a HD 3870 for $225 - both prices are after shipping. I plan to use the card for 3-4 years...which do you guys think I should get?

Also, any word on how much and when the new 8800GTS are coming?

For 3-4 years of future use the 3870 is the winner hands down . The 8800 series are all old hat with NO DX10.1 support and never will. It's a shame Tom's Hardware did the old "test em on Winxp " deal again . GET REAL .... XP will soon be dead as no updates or support from microsoft will very soon take the scene . Like it or not VISTA is the big boy on the OS block and stop testing old games on an old Operating system and advising consumers to buy outdated hardware ... for outdated games !!! I often wonder how much nvidia slips in the bank acounts of the execs here ????? Can we even trust these guys at all ?

For any and all future development ... why would anyone buy a video card that is and will be way outdated ??? Only an idiot would . Only idiots would tell you to ! I like how they tested a card with benchmarks on old last year games on a system with a soon defunct operating system ... where's the 1680x1050 res benchmarks for directx 10 and 10.1 ????? That's the native resolution for 85-90 % of the monitors out there ? For complete dx10 or 10.1 which will be the norm and only OS system as soon as microsoft ... which they are very shortly ... dumps XP ???

That new benchmark testing and comparison by TH is a joke and really very useless . GET WITH IT TOM'S HARDWARE TESTERS ... WINXP is about dead and STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC !! Buy a Directx 10.1 card ... common sense tells anyone that .... Win XP is only DX9 ..... the past ... get with it !

 

[Phenium 4 FX]

8800gt. Who cares about direct x10.1? You'll be after a new card by the time that matters.

this is true, you can't even utilize ati's card feature for the moment & it might take months or years to support many games. But many of us are aiming for smooth fps not just sight seeing inside the game.

 

[Heyyou27]

What's with all the people saying "3870 for image quality"? Direct X10.1 likely won't be used for another year.