HD3850 how long will it last me?

Well I had ordered an 8800GT from Newegg. I've never used Nvidia, not because they are bad.. but because ATI has always worked for me. Well this time, the bang for buck was on Nvidia's side.. since the 8800GT is nearly the same price as the 3870, but with higher performance. Somehow newegg botched my order.. and raised the price of the 8800GT I had picked out. So, I'm having to make another order.

I was thinking of getting a 3850 instead, because I have heard tons of horror stories with the 8800GT and the game I am playing currently.. Everquest 2. I don't play first person shooters on my pc, so the need to play Crysis is not there. My plans are to play Age of Conan (May), and Warhammer (who even knows when that is coming out).

My pc has 2 gigs of ram.

I'm just wonderng if the 3850 is sufficient enough to play at the same or close to same resolutions as I would have been able to do with the 8800GT. Seems like because I only play MMO's that the 3850 would be more than enough, even for Vanguard which right now is the #1 system hog as far as MMO's go thats on the market right now. If I got the 3850, how long will it be before I am having to replace it?

I was gonna get the 512mb version as it is only 20 bucks more expensive than the 256

Go with the 512 version. As for your question..IMO it will last u for at least 1 year from now

PS: i have one also and i'm very satisfied

I mean, as long as it will play the new titles coming out with pretty decent settings.. I am fine. the 9 series is coming soon.. and don't want to spend a boat load of cash on something I am just gonna replace in a year or 2.

Well you may want to wait. If you play at a lower resolution (1280x1024), the Tweak Town review of the 9600GT showed it generally beating the 3870 and sometimes matching the 8800GT. At higher resolutions it performed closer to the 3850 though. It's worth a look depending on the price, I am considering it.

You might want to get an EVGA card. If it works for you, fine. If you want more, then use their "step-up" program to trade in your card for a faster one. Market forces will even out the price/performance between ATI and Nvidia.

Where does the 8800GS fit into the equation? It's $159.99 on newegg and has 384MB of GDDR3 but only a 192bit bus. I wonder how it compares to the 3850 256MB...

hello mate, i got a GeCube HD3850 512mb from newegg, $180 after rebate makes it a steal, it has dual slot cooling, i was able to overclocked it to the Gigabyte fake HD3870 speed @ 801/1003Mhz with stock cooling, it runs fine at 60c under max load and idles around 45c. It plays Crysis on medium so the games you mentioned should be fine at 1280x1024 or even higher.

Get the card, you wont regret it. Its a cracking buy since it has good OC potential, it shares the same platform as the 3870, all it lacks is core/mem speed. Right now the cheapest HD3850 512mb on newegg is going around for 170, i'd say its your best buy since 8800GT and 3870s are 210+ Thats 40 bucks difference you are saving.

I found some benchmarks on the 8800GS last night, I'll see if I can find the link. At $160 is is a much better buy then the 3850 256.

The HD3850 should last you a good 2-4 years depending on how much compromise you'll be willing to make 2 years from now, you'll still be able to play the games very well. The 3800 series bring such a great value that even buying one every 2nd year will average around 70$/year for top graphics. Whereas if you buy a higher end, let's say 8800ultra and replace it every 4th year, you'll end up paying almost 180$ a year for slightly better graphics than what the 3850 can offer. In the end, you'll probably still be able to sell your 3850 for ~50$ 2 years from now so the cost of upgrading every 2nd year would be close to 120$.... I think you can't go wrong with that card no matter what.

Not long, because with the 3870x2 has twice the performance of a 3870 single and your going with 3850. With Nvidia's 9800GX2 pictured below it will have the graphics power of two 8800GTS 512MB cards in SLI.


By systemlord at 2008-02-20


By systemlord at 2008-02-20

@Systemlord: You seem to have forgotten to read the thread. If you had you would know that azmyth doesn't play the most demanding(in terms of graphics) games. So your idea of having him spend around x5 on a grapics card that will be the top of the line when it comes is just bad.

@azmyth: I agree with the rest of the gang that a 3850 with 512 mb of Ram would be the best price/performance for at least some time in the MMO world.