Need help picking which ATI HD3870 to get

[Freejack2]

Edit: Car died so it looks like my computer upgrade fund is going towards the car payment fund.

I'm trying to choose between this card: DIAMOND Viper 3870PE4512SB Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready - $215

And

HIS Hightech H387QS512NP Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ3 - $200

From what Newegg claims the Diamond model has vivo(video in and video out) but that the HIS card doesn't. Also it claims the Diamond has "Built-in HDMI with Multi-channel 5.1 surround audio" and "Unified Video Deoder (UVD) for Blu-ray and HD DVD"
Also the Diamond card seems to have another dongle labeled HDTV cable.

Are these 2 cards really the same but the HIS doesn't come with the HDTV cable or is there really a difference between the two?

Thanks.

P.S. I want a 2 slot card as they keep the coolest, so I'm not even considering the Sapphire one or others without ramsinks.

 

[Quiksilver]

Read the manufactures sites and not newegg? I mean just looking at the cards and you can tell that both have DVI to HDMI adapters so both can use HDMI cables, all 3870's have UVD's, and both cards have VIVO.

The difference between the two is easy as well, the sapphire is stock speeds, the HIS card is one of their overclocked IceQ cards.

P.S. I want a 2 slot card as they keep the coolest, so I'm not even considering the Sapphire one or others without ramsinks.

Thats not always true either, the newer cards by sapphire (the ones stamped with Vapor-X on their coolers) run cooler than stock cards at higher speeds but I don't know of any place selling them yet; it's like they discontinued their Atomic 3870's cards, but they have some new Toxic card's coming using the same cooling tech but it's lower clockspeeds.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i'm deciding between the same two cards
i've just never heard of HIS and don't know anyone else who has .....
but the Blue is definately more appealing to me than the red
otherwise they are exactely the same card as far as i'm concerned

 

[error8]

Both cards are the same, only that the Diamond has the stock cooler( which is not great) and the His has the IceQ one which is way better. I would say to take the HIS card ,being 15 $ cheaper also.

 

[Engineer]

The HIS card from Chiefvalue has free shipping (same price and company as Newegg) and you can use coupon CPFBTRTND27 for $8.00 off.

http://www.chief value.com/product-_-productdetails.cv_-_item--CE00153669010060

(cut and paste link above and remove space between chief and value as link will not work here).

$199.99
-$8.00 coupon CPFBTRTND27
FREE shipping.

$191.99 shipped.

Newegg has it for $206.32 after shipping costs.

Likewise, you can get the Diamond card with Free shipping from Chiefvalue and use the same coupon for an additional $8.00 off. Saves about $15.00 over Newegg.

http://www.chief value.com/product-_-productdetails.cv_-_item--CE00153669010060

(Again, cut and paste and remove space between chief and value)

All else being equal, I would tend to go with the HIS card.

 

[hamltnh]

I'd recommend the Visiontek--all the Visiontek cards come with a lifetime warranty--I just bought this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814129100

Great card--has a modified heatpipe cooler and is factory OC'd.

 

[bryanW1995]

I have the HIS card and it's been great for me. I had it at 857/2600+ until newer cat editions forced me to slow down the ram a little bit. I'm currently at 877/2538, still with absolutely no problems. I don't have the IceQ model with the improved cooling, either, so you should be able to get higher clocks. Of course, you need rivatuner or ati tool to get over 877, I tried 891 but couldn't keep it stable.

 

[taltamir]

8800GT...

9600GT if you are on a budget... more bang for buck on both... and more bang, and everything else is better too..

 

[bryanW1995]

he didn't say "should I get a 3870", he said "which one should I get". That implies a certain amount of thought has gone into this on the OP's part. Maybe he has an intel mobo or spider platform and wants to crossfire at a later date. Maybe he's a fanboi. Maybe he likes the cooling solution. Who knows, but let's try to answer his question. This forum is full of "What card should I buy" queries, this guy seems to have done his homework.

 

[taltamir]

yea.... and what "thought" went into it is either misguided or based on wrong facts... Knowing the prices avilable everywhere the 8800GT can be had for less and beats it in everything, no exception.

The 9600GT goes toe to toe with it and is significantly cheaper.
Whe the 3870 is faster it is 1 or 2% faster, when the 9600GT is faster is it 20-30% faster... The 256MB 8800GT is not a very good choice though... the 9600 makes much more sense being cheaper and faster.

 

[bryanW1995]

ok, most places that have compared a standard clocked 9600gt to a 3870 have not been able to conclusively give the 9600gt the edge. I just read a link that gave 3870 the advantage. Iirc anandtech has them as a virtual draw. Also, prices are within $5 of each other per anandtech, so how exactly is 9600gt "significantly cheaper"? The OP has more posts on this site than both of us put together, he's not a n00b with 2 posts. I've been singing the praises of that msi 8800gt OC for a while now so I'm by no means trying to push amd on anybody, but I gave the OP the benefit of the doubt. He knows how to read the video card forums and would certainly have amended his post or asked another question by now if he was somehow in lala land and just completely missed the incredible amount of buzz regarding the recent releases.

 

[error8]

Maybe the OP is interested into the direct X 10.1 thing, or maybe he has some other reasons to buy a slower ATI card, and we should all respect that and try to answer his question without trying to recommend some other Nvidia cards, taltamir.

 

[Freejack2]

I decided to hold off for a week as family will be visiting this weekend so I won't have time to build it this weekend anyhow. Thank you everyone who responded and to answer people's questions, I wanted to have Direct X 10.1 card and I've heard rumors of ATI cards having better video quality. Also this week I read an article that DX10.1 may end up amounting to nothing. So now I'm unsure what to get. From what I've seen the 3870 and the 8800gt are both substantially faster then my 7900 (GTO at GTX speeds) but the difference between a 3870 and 8800gt seems to be around 15% or so. Prices for the cards in question all seem to be about the same. The HIS 3870 is around $200 and a comparable MSI 8800gt is around $200.

I don't have to decide until Tuesday but it's looking like I probably should get an 8800gt? Good idea or bad idea?
Thanks.

 

[happy medium]

It's hard to beat a 9600gt for 177.00$ SHIPPED.

A small overclock and it beat the 3870 across the board.

http://www.clubit.com/product_...il.cfm?itemno=A9630892