HD3870 Ice q GDDR-4 (HIS) VS. 9800 GT GDDR-3 (XFX) ? both (512MB)

[binomial]

Hy Everyone!

I m gonna go for a gammin pc!.....For that I need a good graphic card in rang of 150$'s........I am stuck in a decision b/w a HIS HD3870 Ice-Q GDDR-4 (http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_sp.php?id=364) and a XFX 9800GT GDDR-3 (http://www.xfxforce.com/en-us/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=2071&ProductType=graphiccard&SeriesID=185&ModelID=2043) ............. The price difference b/w them is around 10$'s (Ati one is cheaper)...........wat do u ppl suggest me to go for?........rite now I m tilted towards the GDDR-4 Technology! I havent found any comparisions of the above too ( i mean a GDDR-4 monster vs. a GDDR-3 monster) .........so thats why I posted.......... I know a 3870 GDDR-3 is a poor match for a 9800 GT GDDR-3........

Thanks

 

[yonef]

I suggest you go for this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121272 $149.99 after mail-in-rebate !!!
preOC to 680/2100, this HD4850 can be clocked easy to 730+ which is much closer to 4870s. Plus you get brand new 4000 series of ATI!
This HD4850 is faster than 9800GT and 3870s especially when you OC. I suggest you to go for the newer chips rather than last year's techlology.

P.S.
Look at the graphs that shows pure GPU-score on 3dMark vantage: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/9791-geforce-9800-gt-roundup-evga-asus-gigabyte-palit-11.html
This shows only GPU rating without mentioning the CPU.

 

[outlw6669]

If those are your only choices, the 9800GT will be a little faster.
If you can scrape a few extra $ together, a 4850 would be just a little more and would outperform either.

 

[binomial]

wat bout GDDR-4??? I've heard its low on power consumption and gives u better bandwidth than a GDDR-3 based card......http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/143539-gddr3-vs-gddr4-review.html.??

 

[outlw6669]

GDDR3 => GDDR4 is not much of a jump.
The increases in speed are mostly offset by a corresponding increase in latency.
The big jump in performance comes with GDDR5 which doubles the theoretical bandwidth of GDDR3.
Currently, the only card that runs GDDR5 would be the 4870 and variants.

I would not base your purchase only on what type of RAM is on the card.
Look a little more in depth to the actual performance of the card before purchasing.
The 3870 is not a bad card but a 8800GT/9800GT (exact same card, BTW) is a bit faster.
For not much more, you can get a 4850 which outperforms nVidia's 9800GTX+.

 

[binomial]

Thnx man I'm gonna go for the 4850 now.....my next question wud be which 3rd party manufacture I'd opt for........I mean like HIS / Force3d / Asus......the former two are readily available in my country......donno bout asus.......but one could order it............cant buy it from newegg cuz i dunt have a visa card.....

 

[outlw6669]

I would go with the HIS card.
They are known to be one of the better manufacturers.
If you can afford the minor premium over a reference card, I would highly recommend the IceQ version of the 4850.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey