Why is 8800gt better than 3870??

[sketchy69]

why is it that the 8800gt better than 3870 the specs say other wise and the 3870 seems that it should be better can someone explain why. compare the specs and see what i notcied what did ati do wrong

 

[cleeve]

It's not about specs. The 8800 GT is a bit faster, plain and simple.

On the other hand, the 3870 is a bit cheaper. Therefore, both cards supply good performance per dollar.

 

[sketchy69]

that gay wat u talking bout specs dont matter what makes the 8800gt better thats not in the specs

 

[aadamszc]

Magic.

In all seriousness though, I don't actually know. The clocks and whatnot are all higher, but the cards seems to perform less.

 

[WR2]

More pictures here: 3850 / 3870 review @ FiringSquad

 

[gpippas]

Try reading some indepth reviews about the architecture of both the gpu's. As cleeve said the specs mean nothing. And if you really look closely at the specs you will see why the 8800gt is faster.

 

[DrMaV]

Architecture of the 8800gt is different than the HD3870.

 

[homerdog]

The "specs" that you might see on Newegg don't really mean anything when comparing two different architectures. I won't even try to explain it, but if you are interested I would suggest doing some research on GPU architectures starting with this.

 

[mcidfta200]

I don't believe this at all....

Every person refers to one benchmark which shows the GT winning, while I have seen numerous benchmarks of the 3870 winning.

I have heard plenty of complaints about the GT running hot, being noisy, and so forth... none from the 3870.

So how can you tell me that the GT is better? I guess it depends what YOU define as "better". I don't consider a hotter, noisier, 20% more expensive, slightly faster in some cases card better than the 3870.

Plus, there are new drivers coming out for the ATI, so who knows, it might get faster.

 

[zenmaster]

Then go buy your ATI.

There are plenty of reviews of MANY MANY websites comparing the performance in many different categories and their power usage.

If you choose to believe every review site in the World is part of the Conspiracy, you are free to beleive that.

And yes, the ATI card is cheaper and if the cost savings in addition to the benchmarks for the game(s) you will be playing indicate that the ATI is the choice for you, then great.

 

[ethel]

Every person refers to one benchmark which shows the GT winning, while I have seen numerous benchmarks of the 3870 winning.

Link to these numerous benchmarks please.

 

[lakedude]

I don't believe this at all....
Every person refers to one benchmark which shows the GT winning, while I have seen numerous benchmarks of the 3870 winning.

Why don't you post links or pics of these "numerous" benchmarks you speak of?

I have heard plenty of complaints about the GT running hot, being noisy, and so forth... none from the 3870.

I'm sure this is true. The reason the GT is hotter and noisier is because it is a single slot solution hence it has a smaller heatsink and fan. The 3870 is a huge dual slot card so it has room for a much larger heatsink and fan. You make a good point but if you need a single slot solution the GT is the only way to go.

Plus, there are new drivers coming out for the ATI, so who knows, it might get faster.

Perhaps yes perhaps no. Nvidia can also come out with new drivers. Ever heard the saying that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"?

 

[Scaj]

why is it that the 8800gt better than 3870 the specs say other wise and the 3870 seems that it should be better can someone explain why. compare the specs and see what i notcied what did ati do wrong

Nvidia sacrifices image quality for fps, that's why the fan boys prefer them. Ati has always made a video for what it's supposed to do, provide excellent graphics and render it properly. Where as Nvidia's marketing strategy has always designed the video card to run faster to win over the consumers. If if fails to run faster than the competition then Nvidia will tweak their drivers sacrificing even more image quality for those precious fps.

 

[mcidfta200]

Link to these numerous benchmarks please.

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/hardware/grafikkarten/2007/test_ati_radeon_hd_3870/18/

Keep in mind I'm not making a bogus statement that the 3870 is better overall, I'm simply saying that (if it's not enough to see that it's pretty damn close to all the GT benchies, it actually does better at a few.)

Anyways, even if it was considered however many (looking at more reviews coming out, it's definitely not 18%) % slower ... It seems more reasonable for 100$ less.

 

[WR2]

So how can you tell me that the GT is better? I guess it depends what YOU define as "better". I don't consider a hotter, noisier, 20% more expensive, slightly faster in some cases card better than the 3870.

Noise?? Lower!

Power? LOWER! (except at idle)

Temps: (from THG review) 8800GT is almost identical load temps, runs cooler at idle.
"Temperature-wise, the RV670 of the HD 3870 displays 158°F (70°C) when idle and climbs up to 197.6°F (92°C) in peak. In absolute, those are elevated values, but they are often seen on graphic cards that traditionally have a much higher tolerance than CPUs. Therefore, these values don't surprise us."

 

[Can Not]

why is it that the 8800gt better than 3870 the specs say other wise and the 3870 seems that it should be better can someone explain why. compare the specs and see what i notcied what did ati do wrong

The facts lay in the part where you have no idea what the specs mean, not in whether or not the specs are higher.

 

[mcidfta200]

Noise?? Lower!

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1222/17/page_17_temperature_and_sound_tests/index.html

 

[lakedude]

Nvidia sacrifices image quality for fps, that's why the fan boys prefer them. Ati has always made a video for what it's supposed to do, provide excellent graphics and render it properly. Where as Nvidia's marketing strategy has always designed the video card to run faster to win over the consumers. If if fails to run faster than the competition then Nvidia will tweak their drivers sacrificing even more image quality for those precious fps.

Nvidia has done this in the past but I don't think that image quality is a problem these days. If you have proof of what you say please post links/pic/whatever.

 

[sseerrggiioo]

I think that the shader clocks make a lot of difference, since ati´s shaders are at the same clock as the core (775 mhz) and the shaders of the 8800 gt run at 1500 mhz - so imagine a hd 3870 with 320 stream processors running at 1.5 ghz, it would be a monster card...

 

[lakedude]

I think that the shader clocks make a lot of difference, since ati´s shaders are at the same clock as the core (775 mhz) and the shaders of the 8800 gt run at 1500 mhz - so imagine a hd 3870 with 320 stream processors running at 1.5 ghz, it would be a monster card...

Is this true (I honestly don't know, just asking)? Or is it just 2 ways of reporting a similar speed (like ddr)?

Example:

PC 3200 runs at 200MHz but is often called 400MHz or perhaps 400MHz effective.

 

[Gravemind123]

The much higher shader clocks of the 8800s help, as does the fact that they have more ROPs(Render Output Unit) then the 3870s do is a vital factor in the reason the 8800s are faster.

 

[trooper1947]

NVIDIA = Yes maybe faster here but less capable there ..... that's nvidia ... older design ... yes .... future advancement capable no ..... lousey fan and shroud ...yes .... already running HOT under heavy load ... Yes ... 50% more expesive .... yes .... better video quality ... no --- there's alot more to benchmarks showing best for the buck and swaying buyer points ... wait until all tests on common setups are performed at usual settings for most systems .... and advanced drivers are put out before flaming a card . At least ATI did'nt produce an older generation card that runs hot and charge almost 50 % more than it should be for it ! And don't let some of these yo-yo's tell you the game developers won't be using dx10.1 attributes in their games soon .... that old " Joe Blow at Suckem Corp. " said they won't .... is crap . I was a 85 % Nvidia owner ... I'm not an ATI fanboy but I'll be DAM*ED if I'll pay nvidia $270.00 for a dx10 only card that's going to have heat problems which no new set of drivers can fix ! And that lousey program overdriving the speed on an inferior fan will cause it to fail quickly .... voiding any warranty ..... plus why does nvidia have to overclock to the max to get these results from the factory ? The 3870's are not and can be and then what can they do ?

Added bit from teaktown .... " While the card is warm it's not as bad as the 8800GT. That extra 5c really seems to make a difference when you place your hand around the card. "

 

[enewmen]

I will not get the 8800gt, even if a little faster.
The 8800gt will be faster, for a few months.
However, once games start using DX10.1 and Tessellation, the HD 3800s will rocket past. (Even the 2600 will blow away a 8800GTX in a Tessellation benchmark)
No proof, but if this is like introduction of the T&L vs DX6 cards, then the 3800s will be a whole lot faster in complex high polygon scenes (like the mountain Ruby scene)
This can be proven when a Tessellation benchmark comes out. I wish ATI will release one. Surprised they didn't. I think nVidia is working really hard to prevent DX10.1 benchmarks from being released.
Experts, please slam if this is totally wrong.

 

[boner]

folks but the thing is that the HD3800 versions are faster in MHz

 

[randomizer]

Why is the 2900XT slower than the 8800GTX? (rhetorical) It's specs are crazy. 512-bit memory bus wow! Yet it just plain stinks for the price, the 3870 beats it often, and is alot cheaper. Big numbers sell. In australia, the 8800GT is actually <= the price of the 3870, so the decision is a harder one. But neither card surpasses my x1950 pro enough to upgrade it.