Building new system x1950xt or 3850 512MB

[severus]

I'm going to be building a new system.
I've pretty much decided on:
IP35-E
Cooler Master 690
E2160
2gb G.Skill
550W Corsair

The hardest thing right now for me to choose is the video card.
I have been eyeing these two cards, 512MB x1950xt for $110 or 512MB HD3850 for $199

Of course I would love to get the cheaper card, but just how big a difference is there between these two ? On some online video charts i've seen that there isn't a huge FPS difference, but I just wanted a second opinion. If anyone could help guide me it would be
appreciated.

 

[soccerballtux]

8800GT. It hurts $30 more, but it's def worth it.

I bought this card with the expectation that if I get the Zalman (crappy) cooler I can buy another cooler for $25.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2135097&enterthread=y

Or this card
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2136206&enterthread=y

Both marginally more expensive, but much much better.

 

[severus]

I want to completely avoid Nvidia. I might decide to get a crossfire capable motherboard instead of the IP35-E so i don't want to go with Nvidia.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

why avoid nvidia?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

He just posted above, he might want crossfire... I think that if you want crossfire, you should do it now instead of later, when one card crushes your two cards.

 

[severus]

Oh if I crossfire it will be by the middle of January, I'll just need a few more weeks pay. Not much further down the road you know.

 

[biostud]

a single 3850 > x1950xt crossfire, so there's absolutely no reason to go for the x1950xt option.

 

[severus]

Well the only reason is because for the games I play and the price tag I am not sure if the x1950xt will be a bad option. I should have probably posted what games I play. They are:
CS 1.6
CS: Source
DOD: Source
DOD 1.6
UT3
COD4

I am also thinking of possibly switching to an athlon 64 x2 4000 with the new msi platinum 790fx motherboard and then upgrading to a better quality phenom in the future, what do you think about this option?

 

[Syntax Error]

Originally posted by: severus
I want to completely avoid Nvidia. I might decide to get a crossfire capable motherboard instead of the IP35-E so i don't want to go with Nvidia.

Brand loyalty gets you nowhere. Go where the performance is at and that's with Nvidia.

 

[severus]

This isn't about brand loyalty, it's about the fact that the more expensive SLI boards don't support the 45nm Intel processors that I will be looking to upgrade to in the coming months, not to mention that crossfire scales higher in the games I want to play than SLI and that the 8800gt is more expensive an for the games I'm playing I don't think that I will need the performance considering the max resolution for my 19" CRT is around 1280

 

[tyler811]

Due the 3870 as it is PCI Express 2.0, DX10.1 (not that makes a huge difference) supports HDCP from both DVI links and shader model 4.1. If your building a new system no sense in putting yourself behind the 8 ball before you shoot.

Also your not always going to have that 19 crt. this card will support the higher resolutions and still give you good fps.

 

[Syntax Error]

Originally posted by: severus
This isn't about brand loyalty, it's about the fact that the more expensive SLI boards don't support the 45nm Intel processors that I will be looking to upgrade to in the coming months, not to mention that crossfire scales higher in the games I want to play than SLI and that the 8800gt is more expensive an for the games I'm playing I don't think that I will need the performance considering the max resolution for my 19" CRT is around 1280

Why would you go Crossfire or SLI if your resolution is 1280 x 1024? Multi-card solutions are notorious for diminishing returns, especially around low resolutions such as that. My honest opinion, you're better off getting a single card for that monitor, unless you plan to get a bigger monitor in the future. 1680 x 1050, and even 1920 x 1200 is fine on an 8800GT.

 

[severus]

If I do upgrade my monitor, I will probably upgrade to a larger CRT. I don't really like the LCD's because they hurt my eyes with my glasses on and without my glasses, I can't see the screen that well.


I should also mention that I usually play on 800X600 or 640X480 in steam games so I can have a larger crosshair. (Please don't laugh) So maybe I will just stick with the single Gigabyte 3850 and the ip35-e. And please let's keep the 8800gt out of this topic because this is between the x1950xt and the 3850.

 

[Brutus04]

Sounds like the 3850 just came out with a 512MB, used to be the 3870... : - /

 

[Sylvanas]

Go the 3850 for sure, alot better than the X1950XT.

 

[daveybrat]

Even the ATI 3850 256MB card will smoke the X1950 512MB card. That's another cheaper option. They can be found for around $169.

 

[BFG10K]

Get the 3850 - it's faster and more modern.

 

[angry hampster]

There's no reason to get the xt. It's outdated and overpriced compared to the 3850. Like davey said, the 256 can even spank it.

 

[tigersty1e]

Get the 3850.

Some other factors to consider is that the 1950 is real loud. Not only does it run hotter, but it's also more a jet engine.

BTW, you can add a console command to make your crosshair larger without decreasing the res.

I haven't played in a while, but it was cl_crosshair something...

 

[severus]

Well about the crosshair, I know i can change the size, but I want the center to be small. See in 1.6 I spray more than aim. I am on a team so it is very important to make every action I do in the game count.

I am probably going for the Gigabyte 3850 thanks to everyones guidance. It has the Zalman cooler which I feel will be better if I decided to try my hand at some overclocking.