Should I Get: HD 3870 or 8800GT 512mb

[JimGoose]

Should I get Sapphire HD 3870 512mb or PNY 8800GT 512mb?

I've been playing Crysis on low quality 1024x768 with 30 fps using a 7600GT, but want to play it in all its beauty.

I also play Frontline Fuel of War beta at 1024x768 at low with 30 fps.

Will the HD 3870 catalyst drivers become good enough that it will put it closer to 8800GT performance range?

The best price I have found locally is $250 for PNY 8800GT 512 and $240 for Sapphire HD 3870.

FYI, the PNY is cheap because it's vanilla, with no free games or fancy packaging, just the refrence 8800GT it looks like. Which is fine, so long as its not substandard components or fan or anything...

Thanks in advanced

 

[slicessoul]

I've been playing Crysis on low quality 1024x768 with 30 fps using a 7600GT, but want to play it in all its beauty.

SLI Threesome ???

I would go with 8800GT.

 

[JimGoose]

Yeah, i'm leaning for the PNY 8800GT, the only thing i'm worried about is the stock fan, which I hear gets noisey and doesn't cool very well O_O

I think I should be able to run crysis on high settings at 1024x768 with 2x AA above 30 FPS with the 8800gt, right? That's the impression i've gotten from benchmarks i've seen.

 

[jrnyfan]

SLI Threesome ???

sure wish people would do some reading before they post. There will be no 3-way SLI for the 8800gt's, that is exclusive territory of the 8800gtx's and the ultra's.

and to the OP, i say the same thing. do your own research first. come in here with something more than 'should i get *insert latest and greatest component here* or should i get *insert latest and greatest component here*. anyone who does any sort of research would realize which card is better.

 

[bornking]

Uh with the new 780i mobo's you can three way sli the 8800 gts's no?
AM I wrong?

 

[jrnyfan]

As I stated earlier, the 3-way SLI is exclusive territory of the GTX's and the Ultra's

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3183

You are correct in that the 780i chipset will allow you to do this.

 

[JimGoose]

Can't hurt to get a second opinion... or third, or fourth, or fifth

 

[big_cheese]

Yeah, i'm leaning for the PNY 8800GT, the only thing i'm worried about is the stock fan, which I hear gets noisey and doesn't cool very well O_O

Some companies like XFX and EVGA swtiched to a bigger quieter fan that cools about 2-3C better, but it's quiter so I think you can use Rivatuner and turn it up to 100% to get even better cooling performance.

 

[thepinkpanther]

do what i did, get a 3870 and save up cash to get another 3870. i think crossfire 3870s will beat sli 8800gt, also the price of two 3870s will be like $100 less than 8800gt.

 

[thepinkpanther]

any 1 have any links to 8800gt sli vs 8800gtx sli vs 3870 CF benchmarks?

 

[jrnyfan]

do what i did, get a 3870 and save up cash to get another 3870. i think crossfire 3870s will beat sli 8800gt, also the price of two 3870s will be like $100 less than 8800gt.

Maybe you should read the OP's original post where he said the price difference was 10$ between the two...then you wouldn't appear foolish by posting what you did.

 

[JimGoose]

Crossfire is out of the option, because i'm using an A8N-SLi board

I thought about just getting another 7600GT and SLi it but it seems pointless to spend $100 for a 2nd video card and get a 30% performance increase at best.

I have one final question before I leave the house... my PSU (Ultra Xfinity 500w) has a dual-rail 12v. The 12v1 says 16A, and 12v2 says 18A and the 8800GT requires 26A, so does my PSU combine the two rails Amperage to get 34A, therefor meeting and exceeding the 26A required by the 8800GT?

 

[50bmg]

2 3870s will cost about the same as 1 8800GTX.

3870 and 8800GT are good cards. I thinnk, the image quality of ATI is slightly better, IMHO. I read the 8800gt gets better FPS. I run my 3870 at all high settings, COD4 at 4xAA, 8xAF and i can get 80FPS plus. I do lock it at 75FPS with vert sync tho. Any FPS over a constant 60 is hard to detect. I can play Crysis at medium, but i have not benched my crysis FPS. I plays very smooth. What is the FPS command for Crysis and i will check it?

Nvidia's drivers are easier to use. My last card was a e-vga 7600GT. The nvidia drivers were install and forget. I had to tweak the ATI drivers for days.

My 500w antec has the same setup. It runs my 3870 just fine. The 3870 spec say it requires 32A. So my 2 12V-18A rails handle it just fine.

If you have a good SLI board i would stick with nvidia.

 

[JimGoose]

okay thanks, i just read the 26A is from combined rails too.

you can mix and match 3870 with 3850? that's awesome, if i didn't have an nvidia chipset mobo i wish you could mix and match nvidia cards...

i'm out to get it, thanks for your suggestions

 

[bfellow]

If you have a choice go for the 8800GT

 

[cah027]

Maybe by the time 4xCrossfire comes we can get the 3870's for about $199 or get the 3850's for $150. Then you could upgrade the board and buy more cards for full on crysis action !

 

[cpburns]

if you're willing to spend more, go for the 8800GT. it is faster. if you're on a budget, consider the HD3870.

personally, i'm very interested in the 3870 because i don't believe the difference between 60fps and 66fps (10% speed bump) is meaningful. nor is 28fps and 31fps. it's also cheaper.

my only fear the R600 architecture's problem with antialiasing and anistropic filtering. the use of the shaders, as opposed to a dedicated hardware unit didn't pan out as well for ATI speedwise as they'd hoped.

i've heard the HD3870 has better image quality though. the 3870 is larger, being dual-slot. this was a good decision though, as it stays cooler. the 8800GT should have been a dual-slot, but nvidia eeked in under the thermal limit as a single-slotter... barely. the 3870 is known as a good overclocker. both cards can do about 100MHz more than stock at least. i know i've heard of the 3870 going to 920MHz even, a full 145MHz more.

i am personally interested in the 3870, but i'm recommending the 8800GT to my friend a bit confusing lol.

 

[ethel]

For $10 difference, the 8800GT is the one to go for.

 

[cpburns]

this is true. i forgot about the minor cost difference. i'm still waiting for the 3870 to go back to 220 MSRP before i get one.

 

[JimGoose]

With the 8800GT i'm getting 30-40fps constant using a mix of medium/high settings at 1024x768 (shadow = medium, corpse = low, skybox = low, shader = medium, physics = high, textures = high, motion blur on etc).

i'm using the r_edgeredrawAA 2 console command instead of AAx2, as it isn't as big of a performance hit and gets the job done for smoothing/bluring edges on foliage

everything looks beautiful and runs smoothly...most of the time.

to get FPS to show in crysis, you have to use r_displayinfo 1 in the console (~)

the card is so long i had to reposition an HD to get it to fit, but the biggest surprise is that the fan is no louder than my CPU fan (arctic cooler 64) which isn't loud at all. I think i only heard it spinning at 100% and loud during the first POST. Anyways, i'm happy, will give it a spin with Frontline:FoW later.

EDIT: i figured out why the fan was so quiet, it was running at 29% by default, so i installed nTune and set it to 50%, it's still not audible over the CPU fan, but any higher and it is.

 

[Evilonigiri]

If you want the best performance for your money, 8800GT wins hands down. If you like the dual slot heatsink on the 3870, getting it wouldn't be bad either.

 

[aznstriker92]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8636666&type=product&id=1194053242087
If you wait then you might be able to get this 3870 for $215

Or maybe 2 3850's for $160 each. And a new mobo.
Oops you are from toronto so I need to give you Canadian sites.


http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26985&vpn=H387F512&manufacture=HIS
Here you go. A 3870 for $225 CAD.

 

[MikosNZ]

sure wish people would do some reading before they post. There will be no 3-way SLI for the 8800gt's, that is exclusive territory of the 8800gtx's and the ultra's.

Slightly ironic considering it is you that didnt read correctly. 'slicessoul' never suggested the 8800GT could be put in 3X SLI. His comment on 3X SLI was a tounge in cheek reference to the original poster wanting to play crysis 'in all its beauty' and the fact that the closest you can get to that is using a 3X SLI setup, not a comment on the choice between the two cards..

 

[T8RR8R]

I think it all depends on what mobo you have. If you can SLI go Nvidia if you can use Crossfire get an ATI card, but if you only have 1 slot or only have the intention of filling 1 slot with a graphics card then I'd choose the 8800GT.

I still think we should all rally up to Nvidia and get them to let us use SLI on Intel chipsets, but that's just me.

 

[jrnyfan]

Slightly ironic considering it is you that didnt read correctly. 'slicessoul' never suggested the 8800GT could be put in 3X SLI. His comment on 3X SLI was a tounge in cheek reference to the original poster wanting to play crysis 'in all its beauty' and the fact that the closest you can get to that is using a 3X SLI setup, not a comment on the choice between the two cards..

JRNYFAN = pwnd as my little brother might say. you pointed out the error of my ways...i stand corrected