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7900gtx vs 3850

N

nreo

Junior Member
Hey guys,

I have a

amd x2 4200 clocked at 2.6ghz
2gb ddr2 800mhz corsair xm2 ram
xfx geforce 7900gtx

Is it worth me selling on the 7900gtx for a amd 3850? Will I see a big performance boost?

Or will the 8800gt only really give me the big performance boost i need.

Thanks

Nreo
 
Mendo meant use Tom's charts to compare the 7900GTX to another card that has been compared to the 3850.

If you look at the chart (Battlefield 2142, 1600x1200, 4AA/8AF) the X1950XTX soundly beats the 7900GTX (39.1 versus 32.6 fps). Then consider that the HD3850 pretty convincingly trounces the X1950XTX in Anandtech's review.

Short answer: the 3850 makes sense as a (relatively) cheap upgrade from your 7900GTX. Especially if you can resell the GTX on eBay or the forums here (should be able to get $100 or more easily--there are 3 7900GTX cards FS on eBay right now with >$85 bids).
 
Going from a 512mb card to 256mb card can also have a ill effect on your games. It might pull 60fps but it's doing twice as much work with whatever vram available to the vid card. I wouldn't upgrade anything less than 512meg card since most modern games use up more than 256mb of vram.

 
hey guys, thanks for the replies.

Azn,
I thought that 256mb should be fine, and that ram was mostly overrated on gpus and only really needed for bigger screens, is this right?
 
what res do you game at? it you're staying at 1680x1050 or lower then you'll probably be ok with the 256mb version, if you're going over that then you'll be better off waiting for the 512 mb 3850 or for 3870 availability to improve.
 
it depends on what you're playing. when you look at anand's review you'll see a very linear dropoff until you go up to 2560x1600. even at 1920x1200 the 3850 produces very playable framerates, even in (gasp) crysis. I would be very interested to see how a 3850 at 3870 speeds compared to the 3870 at all resolutions. If 8800gt 256 scales this well then 3870 is going to get VERY cheap VERY soon.

edit, actually, at least from looking at anand's review, the 3850 appears to scale nearly as well as 3870. are these cards just not vram limited? if they aren't then 3850 is going to be next great thing...wait, it already is, for the next couple of weeks at least...
 
Come on, nVidia, where are your G92 chips?!?

Must resist urge to buy 3850...

EDIT: Regarding the VRAM issue, take another look at the benchmarks I referenced above. The 3850 easily beats out both the 7950GT and the X1950XTX (which was available with a minimum of 512MB). The single exception is Bioshock at 2560x1600 where the X1950XTX manages about 5fps faster, but still unplayable at ~25fps. In all other games the 256MB 3850 manages to beat the XTX at all resolutions.
 
Originally posted by: bryanW1995
what res do you game at? it you're staying at 1680x1050 or lower then you'll probably be ok with the 256mb version, if you're going over that then you'll be better off waiting for the 512 mb 3850 or for 3870 availability to improve.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true. Considering some modern games use up more than 256mb vram like COD4, Crysis, World in Conflict even at 1280x1024 resolution.

http://www.yougamers.com/artic...you_really_need-page7/
 
Originally posted by: nreo
hey guys, thanks for the replies.

Azn,
I thought that 256mb should be fine, and that ram was mostly overrated on gpus and only really needed for bigger screens, is this right?
Click to expand...

That would be true if you said this last year. Not this year. If you want to add any kind of AA into the mix I would suggest you get a 512meg card unless you like texture thrashing.
 
There's obviously a difference in the way Nvidia and Ati card manage memory. From what I have seen, even at 1920x1200 the 256mb 3850 trounces a 512mb 1950xtx, while the 8800gts 320 falls behind a 1950xtx in some cases. Not all 256mb cards are created equal.
 
Originally posted by: Azn
Originally posted by: munky
There's obviously a difference in the way Nvidia and Ati card manage memory. From what I have seen, even at 1920x1200 the 256mb 3850 trounces a 512mb 1950xtx, while the 8800gts 320 falls behind a 1950xtx in some cases. Not all 256mb cards are created equal.
Click to expand...

Flame bait.

Is this why 3850 craws in Crysis considered to 3870?

http://www.firingsquad.com/har...nce_preview/page14.asp

How about COD4?

http://www.firingsquad.com/har...nce_preview/page12.asp
Click to expand...

Don't believe? Look at some results here, and pay attention to the how the 8800gts 320 performs is games like ETQW, Stalker, WIC, and Crysis.

*Edit: actually they used a 512mb version of the 3850, so those results are't entirely accurate for the card. But what I said about the 320mb card still stands.
 
There's a bug with 320meg version of 8800gts. Not all Nvidia cards show this behavior however.
 
512 is standard with a new card, and doesn't cost much more going from 3850 ====>>>> 3870 But being in stock is another story we'll discuss another day 🙂
 
I have the exact same hardware as you, except I have a HD 3850 instead of your 7900GTX. Mine replaced a X800XL, so it isn't quite the same, but the difference is amazing! Crysis on all High settings as actually playable now, and older games like Oblivion look fantastic. I run both at 1280X1024, so the small amount of video ram probably won't affect you as it didn't for me (since you said you ran at lower resolutions).
 
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