2900XT 1GB vs 3850 512MB

[sabwafare2001]

Hello. I just received a 2900XT 1GB at a great price and originally intended to sell it again to try to get more money toward a 3870. I currently have a 3850 512MB card. My question is would the 2900xt 1GB perform better than the 3850 512GB in most instances? If it does I may consider selling the 3850.

 

[Narse]

Wait for apopin he knows for sure, but I thought you could crossfire them. So why not do that!

 

[angry hampster]

The 3850 stays even with it until about 1900 wide or higher.

 

[sabwafare2001]

I haven't though about crossfiring them together.

 

[HannibalX]

Take a look at the charts in AnandTech's review of the 3850.

Click.

 

[spittledip]

No doubt really- the 2900xt

 

[Sylvanas]

I have both of these cards. My 2900 clocks alot higher and the added framebuffer can only help at High rez. However the 2900 does generate alot more heat and consume more power. If Crossfire is not an option a single 2900 will have better performance than a single 3850.

 

[BFG10K]

I'd sell both and wait for the 4870 rumored to be coming on 31st May.

Among other things they've doubled the TMUs and decoupled the shader clocks from the core so it should be quite a bit faster than the 3870 or 2900.

 

[Pelu]

lol less than 4 weeks for the 4870.... and i got the 3870 like a month ago... looks like I am going to change once again the stupid cards... oh well...

 

[Pelu]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Take a look at the charts in AnandTech's review of the 3850.

Click.

I dont get it... how the 3xxx series is slower than the 2xxx.... I thought they had more ROP and such... to make it better...

 

[Dman877]

Originally posted by: Pelu

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
Take a look at the charts in AnandTech's review of the 3850.

Click.

I dont get it... how the 3xxx series is slower than the 2xxx.... I thought they had more ROP and such... to make it better...

The 2900's were high end parts. The 3800's were mid-range parts. Hence the parity in performance. The difference here is that the 3800's are much cheaper and run much more efficiently while equaling the 2900's in performance.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Narse
Wait for apopin he knows for sure, but I thought you could crossfire them. So why not do that!

Yes, you can easily run them together in crossfire on an appropriate non-NVidia board.

The two cards have the same GPU design (but 80nm vs 55nm), and the 2900XT core runs at a faster clockspeed.

The 2900XT vRAM has approx twice the bandwidth (512bit vs 256bit), and of course twice the frame buffer size (1GB vs 512MB).

2900XT wins on raw performance, 3850 wins on power/heat/noise/features.

 

[Foxery]

The main thing you'll notice is the "121 Gigawatts of power!" that the 2900XT consumes.

But seriously... take the money. If nothing else, the 3850 will remain usable and resellable for longer.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Foxery
The main thing you'll notice is the "121 Gigawatts of power!" that the 2900XT consumes.

But seriously... take the money. If nothing else, the 3850 will remain usable and resellable for longer.

I think the 2900XT with 1GB will be useable longer. It's faster then the 3850, generally overclocks higher then the 3850, has twice the memory as the 3850, and has more memory bandwidth then the 3850. The 3850 has Directx 10.1 support (2900 is Directx 10) and HD acceleration. The 3850 is also easier on your power supply. As others have mentioned, the 2900XT is a better performer, but 3850 has more features and uses less power.