3DMark06:

3850 stock factory OC 700/875 {9326} e6300 @2.8Ghz

3850 Max OC so far 800/960 {10956} e6300 @2.8Ghz


2900PRo stock 588/800 {8954} e6300 @2.8Ghz

2900Pro OC'd to 748/1000 {10014} e6300 @2.8Ghz

2900Pro OC'd to 850/1000 {11050} e6300 @2.8Ghz


The max OC from the 2900Pro beats the 3850's 512mb's OC so far. I didn't really like to use the 2900Pro at 850/1000 because it got to the point of being a little sketchy. I usually left it at 790/1000 which gave me around 10500 3Dmarks, not enough to beat the 3850 512 on it's max OC.

At stock, the 3850 512mb seems to beat the 2900Pro, but keep in mind that my 3850 512mb was factory OC'd. If I get around to it, I'll clock the 3850 512mb down to stock speeds and see what it gets.

As far as gaming is concerned, I've only tried it on Crysis. It gives me about 34FPS with my OC on it. The 2900Pro gave me around 30FPS, but the 3850 512mb had a smoother constant FPS.

All in all, the 3850 512mb isn't a bad card and if I can get it to OC more, it'll definitely earn it's keep. Oddly enough, my 2900Pro ran at 43c @39% fan speed, which is inaudible in my case, where as the 3850 @stock fan settings gives me around 55c. For some reason, I can't control the fan with Rivatuner, so I can't up it from it's what I think to be 40% fan speed.

So far I'd say, if you are the tight budget and have a decent enough power supply, and like to OC, I'd say get the 2900 Pro. If you want to use less power and aren't into OCing, then the 3850 512mb is the way to go.

Which oc did you have on the 2900pro for the crysis 30fps results you mentioned? 790 or 850? What settings?

cheers, and thanks for posting your results!

The 790, the 850 didn't make much difference in real world performance, but it did run a little hotter and I had to turn the fan up to a noise level I wasn't comfortable with. I also noticed some artifacts when playing in DX10 mode using the 850 settings.

damn, that's a lot of performance for 150 bucks!
Sounds like a good buy mate. If only I wasn't bottlenecked from my CPU, I'd get one. Maybe the 3870 even. (aren't those two exactly the same chip but lower clocks for the 3850??)
That totaly beats my 3700 3Dmark06 points at stock (4400 with OC)

interesting, thanks for sharing