I am thinking about upgrading my graphics card from an ATI X1950 Pro 512MB to one of the cards listed below. I do a lot of video editing, and for now, only play Flight Simulator X, and Tiger Woods Golf. I do not like nVidia cards. So which card would be best for my upgrade?
Hmm, even though the Diamond mentions VIVO, I did not think any of the HD3xxx cards had video capture abilities. Seems a typo to me, but I could be wrong. If you capture analog video, do you currently use the X1950 pro to capture video or do you have a seperate capture device? I'd look into this before buying.
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MSI P6N SLI Platinum, Q6600, 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC8000, SLI BFG 8800GT OC 512MB, SB X-Fi Fatality, Antec TruePower Trio 550W, Windows XP pro
The third one is 3850 instead of 3870 and somehow more expensive.
Don't get it, it makes no sense. There's no real difference between the
first two, so buy the first one, as it's cheaper. Keep in mind x1950 is
the best of its time, which isn't that long ago. You'll notice an
improvment, but it won't be night and day. You many want to consider
keeping the x1950 until the end of May, when 4870 comes out. If early
benchmarks are real, the 4870 outperforms 9800gx2 by as much as 50% on
some tests, and at least 25% on others. It should be a monster, and
produce a night and day difference against your x1950.
I agree with dagger - for FSX the X1950 is a decent card and the HD 3870 not enough of an improvement to consider upgrading at this time IMO. From the THG video charts
For what it's worth, I have been a long time ATI fan as well, used to hate nvida cards. X700, X850XT PE, X1950Pro (which I loved, and truely was one of the greatest cards of it's time)
I finally gave in and bought a BFG 8800GTS 512 OC card a few weeks ago on sale for $215 at Frys. What the heck, lots of good reviews and pretty darn good price, so I did it.
Uh, I hate to say it, but ATI is definetly sucking at this point.
I am completely blown away, impressed, shocked, and yes I have to say happy with my new 8800, both with the raw speed, it overclocks to hell without a hiccup, and the quality of the graphics is excellent.
Wait for the new ATI cards and see what's up with them if you really want to stay with ATI........if you really want to stay with ATI.....if you really........
OK, just wanted to clarify it since you mentioned video editing.
I think the HD3870 is a fine upgrade to be honest. Your two games may not benefit that much, but in other games, the HD3870 offers much higher performance than the X1950XTX even. The Slower HD380 >= X1950XTX, so given the right games, you are looking at a solid 100%+ performance increase going from the X1950 pro to HD3870. Given the current low prices, that's not bad at all. You just need to explore some other games to better take advantage of it. Look at these links:
Also...as shows up int he FS review - One big difference this generation is, ATI is behind in fsaa performance. Back in the X1950/X1900 days, ATI ruled FSAA performance. So the HD3870 will fall behind with fsaa similar to how a 7900GT fell behind with fsaa.
Message edited by pauldh on 05-03-2008 at 06:18:16 PM
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MSI P6N SLI Platinum, Q6600, 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC8000, SLI BFG 8800GT OC 512MB, SB X-Fi Fatality, Antec TruePower Trio 550W, Windows XP pro
Actually since your 1950Pro sold it's helping pay for a new video card that should increase your enjoyment of FSX at least a bit.
Im sure you know (and already do) back off on the Autogen Density and Traffic to get good playability. The same for the 3870 -leaving AA turned off - and you'll enjoy the 3870.
