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HD3870 vs 8800GT review @ legionhardware.com

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A number of observations and opinions:

1. Legion Hardware used 7.9 Catalyst drivers on the 3870, 7.10 on the 2900, and the 7.11 Catalysts are due to be released in the next week or two...
2. I am not surprised to see a 10% or so framerate difference between the 8800GT and the 3870... let's hope that the prices reflect that difference
3. It has been reported that only 40,000 8800GT's were manufactured for the launch, so supply has been and will continue to be an issue. Compare this to more than 250,000 units of the 38XX hard launch. Many people simply won't be able to find a 8800GT for sale during the next few months.
4. Crossfire potential on the X38 motherboards will allow full utilization of the PCIe2 16X on each card in crossfire.
5. 38XX series will be DirectX 10.1 cards (look for the ATI White Paper on the subject - some pretty nifty graphic enhancements happening with 10.1)
6. 38XX should be cooler and quiter based on the shrink to 55nm

I personally plan to jump on the Xfire wagon, grab two 3870's and an ASUS Maximus motherboard for a cost effective, greaat bang-for-the-buck rig that should get me through the next 3 years.

I am impressed with the 8800GT. I am equally impressed with the 3870. Competitition is still alive.
 
Why is the card so damn hot? Its using a dual SLot copper HSF and has similair temps to a single slot 8800GT??

Lets wait for other reviews like techreport, AT etc.
 
If I've waited this long for 3870, one more week for 7.11 Catalyst and possible $200-250 price point isn't too bad. Also, dual-slot cooler is almost a must-have, if I'm to install the card in my soon-to-be Lian Li A05B
 
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Why is the card so damn hot? Its using a dual SLot copper HSF and has similair temps to a single slot 8800GT??

Lets wait for other reviews like techreport, AT etc.
Click to expand...


If you look closly at the 3870 the heatsink is pretty piddly but the plastic surround makes it look bigger.
 
Anyone know how well the 3870 is supposed to overclock? I run my 2900Pro @ 700mhz (haven't gone more more, it does everything I need) and am just curious what impact the shrink has had on the GPU as far as overclocking is concerned.
 
What if the first day 8800GT came out..was the best deal of the year....and now ATI is going to suck and 8800GT will cost $300....I AM SOOO HAPPY I ORDERED MY 8800GT Superclocked for $249!
 
Originally posted by: sirjonk
When the 256mb GT drops in a couple weeks at $200 or less, and if it performs as close to its big brother as the two 320/640 GTS siblings performed, the 3870 looks like a nice paperweight.

I noticed the GT draws considerably less power than the GTS at idle, but draws slightly more at stress. Why's that?
Click to expand...

As close as the 320/640? If you've seen any recent benches of games with AA enabled, the 320mb gets slaughtered in just about every one. I'm glad I didn't gamble on the 320mb model, and I hope the people who did learned their lesson the first time around. The 8-series seem to be even more sensitive to memory limitations than previous generation cards, I don't want to see anyone recommending these crippled cards for any resolution above 1280.
 
requiem1

Your making determinations off of pre-release info. I am waiting until I see what this new driver does before I decide how much ati "sucks". I am a bit skeptical of anyone's review that breaks the NDA agreement to give out early specs.
 
" am not surprised to see a 10% or so framerate difference between the 8800GT and the 3870... let's hope that the prices reflect that difference "



10% difference? If you read the review it shows the 3870 is an AVERAGE of 22% slower up to 40% in some cases.
 
Originally posted by: wildstrike1516
requiem1

Your making determinations off of pre-release info. I am waiting until I see what this new driver does before I decide how much ati "sucks". I am a bit skeptical of anyone's review that breaks the NDA agreement to give out early specs.
Click to expand...

tru that. im just tryign to make myself feel better...lol
 
As I suspected, HD 3870 is nothing more than a die-shurnk 2900XT with slower default clocks and less memory bandwidth. They obviously did not fix the slow AA so I wouldnt expect miracles from the drivers. I've been waiting for one of those miracles for my 2900XT.

 
Originally posted by: requiem1
What if the first day 8800GT came out..was the best deal of the year....and now ATI is going to suck and 8800GT will cost $300....I AM SOOO HAPPY I ORDERED MY 8800GT Superclocked for $249!
Click to expand...

Dude, we know, you already said this about 40 times. Chill.



Overall this sucks as I was hoping for a little more fight from ATIMD. I think cmdrdredd summed up my thoughts best in the other review thread:

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
I'm curious why everyone gives a crap about cards that are no better at current games (in reality) than cards that came out LAST YEAR! Think about it. An 8800GTX was released one year ago, and even the 8800gts parts. These cards are quite adept at everything short of DX10. Why does everyone care so much about playing DX9 at 120fps vs 100fps?

Does nobody realize that we're all getting shafted because we have no cards that can play DX10 stuff properly. We need cards that are faster than last years. Yes I know these are priced low. Still, I think the manufacturers are cheating everyone.
Click to expand...

QFT

I understand these are an awesome deal for people still playing on last gen cards (79XX or 19XX) or older, but I was hoping for a litle more oomph by the end of 2007. Guess that will not be happening until 08. 🙁

KT
 
Nevermind, the review I linked to I just noticed they are using crossfire I think for one of the stats. Although I'd still like to know how they even have the cards.
 
If there ends up being a huge difference in speed between the two, that will be bad news for everyone.... as it will be continued jacked up price gouging by Newegg... probably lasting into next year.
 
From what I've seen from the tweaktown and vr-zone reviews the card is relatively competitive usually losing by only 5 - 10% in most occasions and winning in others. It also seems to be quieter and a fantastic overclocker. If AMD can SUPPLY this card at a decent price ($230 US or less) they should have a winner. The Legion Hardware review seems REALLY biased towards nvidia.

Edit: Wow their review is pretty useless, the 8800GTX scored 48.4 fps 1440x900 while the 8800GT scores only 36 fps in crysis in DX10. Since when is the 8800GT nearly 40% slower than a GTX?
 
The thing is that the 8800GT is a fantastic OCer too. It would normally hit 750MHz~ on the core (600MHz stock) using stock vcore.

Another thing i could see is the lack of AA/AF tests.
 
tcool93:
Basically all tests say that there are huge difference when AA is enabled. If that difference is like 30-60%.. theres huge difference.

Therk:
Competitive without AA enabled (which is still needed at 1680x1050..at least).

Since 512MB became too small for decent frame buffer. In some cases 8800 GTS 640MB can beat 8800 GT 512MB just because of that extra 128MB frame buffer.
 
Well, if AMD/ATI have a lot these videocards at launch, people will buy them since the 8800GT is kinda hard to find.
 
Originally posted by: Rusin
tcool93:
Basically all tests say that there are huge difference when AA is enabled. If that difference is like 30-60%.. theres huge difference.

Therk:
Competitive without AA enabled (which is still needed at 1680x1050..at least).

Since 512MB became too small for decent frame buffer. In some cases 8800 GTS 640MB can beat 8800 GT 512MB just because of that extra 128MB frame buffer.
Click to expand...

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I never use AA. Even when I'm playing an older game that I wouldn't even see a performance penalty, I don't use it. I use a 22" monitor, 1680x1050. To me the slow down it adds for the little benefit (my opinion only) is not worth it. I'm sure most people like it, but to me it's just not a big deal.
 
Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
The thing is that the 8800GT is a fantastic OCer too. It would normally hit 750MHz~ on the core (600MHz stock) using stock vcore.

Another thing i could see is the lack of AA/AF tests.
Click to expand...

there is a test for AA/AF...

it is the last test they did and in the GT had 40% over the 3870
 
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