Now whats better XFX or the EVGA 8800GT?

[Spitfire7]

I am going to buy a new graphics card and was wondering which is better. I use to have Radeons and then have been with nVidia for a long time. the 8800GT SSC is looking good, but the HD3870 is about $100 cheaper and still has better memory bandwidth. Here are my computer stats first. Keep in mind, which one would be more compatible with my computer.

EVGA nVidia 680i Mobo
Core 2 Duo E6600
2 BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC (SLI)
2GB Corssair XMS2 DDR2 800
700w OCZ power
320GB Hard drive 16MB cache 7200RPM

Check out GPUreview in the link to see these cards side by side. You may have to overclock the settings to match up to the correct cards that I am refering to. http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=544&card2=547#

Here are the stats. I have the better stats for each in bold.

EVGA 8800GT SSC:
Price $330
Core 700MHz
Shader Clock 1600
Memory Clock 1000
Memory Bandwidth 64
Shader Ops 179200
Pixel Fill rate 11200
Texture fill rate 39200
Texture Units 56

Diamond Radeon HD3870 or PowerColor HD3870
Price $219
Core 775MHz
Shader Clock 775
Memory Clock 1200
Bandwidth 76.8
Shader Ops 248000
Pixel fill rate 12400
Texture fill rate 12400
Texture Units 16

I also looked a little closer and say that the Texture Units were also drastically different too. I am not sure what they are or do so your help an opinions would help me on that too.
So from the looks of it the Radeon card is better unless I am missing something here. Also you cant beat that $100 difference in price. So how important is the shader clock because there is a drastic difference and that is where Radeon falls behind? Also how high is the importance of the Texture fill rate? I haven't really heard of those Radeon companies putting out the Radeon card, but I do know that EVGA is a great company with a great step up program. Please give me your opinion's. Thanks guys.

 

[Maziar]

8800GT beats HD3870

 

[qmalik]

at those prices [performancerice] ratio - Radeon HD3870 is def. better...however if you were lucky like me and got a 8800GT for $250..than i think that would be better. Either get the HD3870 now...or wait and hope (pray to the nvidia gods) the 8800GT falls to around $250..though some don't think it will.

 

[pauldh]

Yeah, I don't like the SSC for $330, but it's clearly the more powerful card. At least it's a $330 down-payment toward's whatever appears next.

 

[homerdog]

The 8800GT would be considerably faster, but not enough in my opinion to warrant the price difference. At those prices the 3870 is the better buy.

 

[ausch30]

The Nvidia card is faster and would leave you the option of SLI if desired.

 

[nhobo]

Get the plain vanilla 8800GT for $249 and O/C it youself.

 

[prodystopian]

The 8800GT is the faster card and is probably a better value at retail. However, if you want to buy soon you may have trouble finding it at a reasonable price. I would go with the 3870 if you can't find a 8800GT for ~$250-$260.

 

[Winly]

i will go with the 8800GT, Ati have to work more on their video card.

 

[gwolfman]

Yeah, I agree with what's said above:

get the 8800GT if you can find it and/or wait. If not, the 3870 is your next best without having to go for a 8800GTX.

 

[echofoxtrot]

I dunno, with the price gap between the two cards its hard to say which is a better deal. I went for the hd3870, not b/c its a better card, but b/c i have an x38 mobo and want to xfire.

I believe that you have a 680 mobo so getting the nvidia is probably a better bet, as you can get one now and if you need to upgrade later then buy a second.

but back to comparing the two cards, I mean with the pricing that the majority of the people are finding the cards at ~$300, and $219 for the 8800gt and hd3870 respectively, you are almost rating two different classes as one is almost one hundred dollars more than the other. I would hope that 100 extra would buy you more! my problem with this situation is that, in my opinion, the 8800gt should have been a lot better for the price gap, and it has only proved to be marginally better. 10 fps max increase for my $80 or so? probably not.


just my 2 cents.

 

[Spitfire7]

Well thanks guys. So I guess the 8800GT is winning everyones vote. I cant seem to even find these cards anymore. Everywhere says backordered. If you guys see the EVGA SSC 8800GT or equivelant in core and memory clock speeds without overclocking it please let me know. I am still not quite sure what makes the 8800GT so much better, because of the physical numbers on the HD3870 looks so much better including that high memory bandwidth. But I am no expert. What are you guys going by to see that the 8800GT is so much better? Just trying to learn.

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

8800GT is better

 

[computertech82]

Get the 8800GT. Your motherboard supports SLI, so it's wise getting a card that supports it. If you get a high resolution monitor, having the options for sli would be a VERY good thing.....

 

[aznstriker92]

If you get a 8800GT, just dont get the SSC, its a waste of money.
Otherwise get a 3870

 

[Spitfire7]

If you get a 8800GT, just dont get the SSC, its a waste of money.
Otherwise get a 3870

Why a waste of money? That card has the overclocked specs of 700 core and 1000 memory. Which one do you recommend then?

 

[Anoobis]

GPUReview is good for hardware specifications only and not a good place to judge performance from. I suggest you follow up on a few other sites for more info.

You can overclock a plain jane 8800GT on your own and save some money.

 

[Spitfire7]

GPUReview is good for hardware specifications only and not a good place to judge performance from. I suggest you follow up on a few other sites for more info.

You can overclock a plain jane 8800GT on your own and save some money.

I ran into some issues trying to overclock my current SLI 7600GTOC. For some reason they wouldn't overclock at all and when I tried, nothing would happen and there was no difference at all. Its like there was a safe guard on or something and nothing ever happened and I couldn't figure it out so I just gave up. Any suggestions?

 

[Spitfire7]

Hey guys I just found an MSI 8800GTOC 660 core and 950 mem for $300. Should I go with that one or is MSI crap? Also are there better deals out there even if I wait a few weeks or so?

 

[lakedude]

NewEgg has 3 XFX 8800GTs in stock from $269 (600MHz) to $309 (670MHz) and all include Company Of Heroes free! NewEgg is great, XFX is great and COH is great (from what I hear), what are you waiting for?

600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150252

640: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150253

670: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150254

 

[Dahak]

Ditto.The 8800GT outperforms the 3870 by a fair bit.As someone else mentioned,buy the default version of the card and overclock it yourself.You'll still get the same performance as the SSC version as long as you use the same clock speeds.Also EVGA supports oc'ing and covers it in their warranty.You also have the benefit of EVGAs 90 day step up program which allows you to trade your recently purchased 8800GT up to say a 9800GTX and you only pay the difference between what you paid for your card and the new card price.Not to mention a limited lifetime warranty,and,what I consider to be very good customer support.So ya,over all the 8800GT is the better way to go for now.And don't forget you can always purchase another 8800GT at a later date and run them in SLI.Hope we've helped you some.Goodluck.

Dahak

M2N32-SLI DELUXE WE
X2 5600+ STOCK (2.8GHZ)
2X1GIG DDR2 800 IN DC MODE
TOUGHPOWER 850WATT PSU
EVGA 7950 GX2 500/1200
SMILIDON RAIDMAX GAMING CASE
ACER 22IN WS LCD 1680X1050
250GIG HD/320GIG HD
G5 GAMING MOUSE
LOGITECH Z-5500 5.1 SURROUND SYSTEM
500WATS CONTINUOUS,1000 PEAK
WIN XP MCE SP2
3DMARK 05 13,685

 

[mustardman24]

get the evga GT card then step up to a better card when it comes out. It even gives you the possibility to SLI on your board.

 

[Spitfire7]

Hey whats that mean a 90 day step up program? Does that mean if I exceed the 90 days then no more step up program for me?

 

[Spitfire7]

I am looking at the XFX which lakedude recommended and am ready to buy, but you really think I should wait a while for the EVGA instead? Also, please reply to my 90 day question right above this one.

 

[Spitfire7]

ok an EVGA 8800GT Superclocked just became available for $289. Should I take it now?