new review 3870 crossfire VS 8800gt SLI

[John]

I really enjoy the reviews @ Hardware Canucks, and his 3870 review doesn't disappoint.

HIS has a good bundle with their HD3870 card but there is still one area where I find it falls completely flat: the warranty. Many Nvidia?s largest board partners are now offering lifetime warranties with their cards while ATI?s partners are languishing in the background with their one, two or three-year warranties. Personally, I think that HIS?s single year of warranty coverage is paltry at best. AMD really needs to step in here and slap some sense into their board partners because their lack of competitive warranties is costing AMD sales.

I've always wondered the same thing.

 

[bryanW1995]

I'm not as concerned about the warranty as I am getting it to run a benchmark...any benchmark...

 

[hclarkjr]

bump

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
keep in mind that amd deliberately has kept the gpu at that temp under load b/c they're more concerned about noise. you can manually adjust fan speed on the gpu fan, I would highly recommend trying that first before buying an aftermarket cooler.

music to my ears

bought a 3850 because it was exactly $179 shipped @ newegg as amd said it would be. i missed the 8800 gt at $220 or whatever it debuted at, but i won't pay $300 for it when i know it's supposed to be far cheaper. didn't wait for the 256mb version because i expect more of the same, sadly.

this will be my first ati (amd) card in a long history of nvidia ownership. maybe it's me giving them a chance? i know the performance is less but i expect drivers to even up the 3800s to the 8 series GT and GTS in the long run. all i know is that the games that i want to play (bioshock, crysis, oblivion, etc.) play at *good enough* fps at my resolution of choice (1650x1080). any more fps that the drivers can squeeze out is gravy AFAIC.

of course when new games roll around i'll be hurting a bit more than the 8 series owners, but by that time i should be in the mood for a major system-wide upgrade to all sata/usb connections (hard drives, optical drives, input), penryn, ddr3, either an hdmi LCD or a really nice 24" DVI, and 4GB ddr3. yummy (and wallet-breaking, but yummy).

i chose 3850 over 3870 for the price and also the fact that i am an avid overclocker and generally buy lesser products in order to overclock them and get the best price/performance. i consider the 3850 vs. the 3870 like i considered the a64 3000+ venice to the 3800+ venice so long ago. made from the same stuff, i just get more bragging rights with the former.

 

[hclarkjr]

BUMP

 

[JPB]

.

 

[hclarkjr]

y

 

[bryanW1995]

ttt

 

[darkxknight]

i'd like to see a comparison of a 3870 in crossfire with a p35 and a x38 just to see the real difference of having 2 full pci-e's and if the x38 boards are really worth it.

 

[bryanW1995]

anand did a story on it a few months back iirc. I have several bookmarks...sniff...before my memory started goin haywire and I needlessly reinstalled windows...

 

[bryanW1995]

just found 3870 back in stock at newegg. the main 38x0 menu shows them oos, but in the sapphire page it shows in stock. too bad it's still 269...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16814102713

 

[hclarkjr]

Originally posted by: bryanW1995
just found 3870 back in stock at newegg. the main 38x0 menu shows them oos, but in the sapphire page it shows in stock. too bad it's still 269...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16814102713

yeah i am not going to get a card from them, i keep looking at other sites and the geforce 8800. there are a few 640mb 8800GTS's in the for sale forums here that i am thinking about getting instead of the radeon 3870. have not made my mind up yet

 

[hclarkjr]

new review added

 

[bryanW1995]

how cheap would an 8800gts 640 have to be to make it worth it over a new 3870? let's say that you can get a new 3870 for around $225. 3870 is what, 10% faster than 8800gts 640? so $205 new for the 8800gts640, however, it's been replaced...uses older technology so it will certainly fall farther and farther behind with each driver release...I wouldn't pay more than $170 for that card if I were you. If you can find it that cheap then it might just be worth it, but your budget is obviously higher or you wouldn't have started looking at 3870 in the first place.

 

[hclarkjr]

ttt

 

[hclarkjr]

look

 

[hclarkjr]

ttt

 

[yacoub]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr

new review added 11/27 SLI VS CROSSFIRE
HD 3870 CROSSFIRE VS 8800GT SLI
http://en.expreview.com/?p=53

Not really a good one, apparently:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1246096
Specifically: http://www.hardforum.com/showp...031723939&postcount=27

 

[trajan2050]

Now there some real fact!

 

[hclarkjr]

Originally posted by: yacoub

Originally posted by: hclarkjr

new review added 11/27 SLI VS CROSSFIRE
HD 3870 CROSSFIRE VS 8800GT SLI
http://en.expreview.com/?p=53

Not really a good one, apparently:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1246096
Specifically: http://www.hardforum.com/showp...031723939&postcount=27

never said if it was good or bad, that is up to the people reading them

 

[taltamir]

I got on the dell deal and got a 8800OC for 207 + tax with free shipping.
@225 shipped it costs less then the 3870. (which is priced gouged everywhere BUT dell, where it is 220 + tax)

 

[hclarkjr]

you would think that with the way AMD\ATI is struggling right now they would clamp down on the retailers for the price fixing that is going on

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
you would think that with the way AMD\ATI is struggling right now they would clamp down on the retailers for the price fixing that is going on

it's not price-fixing, it's the market. everybody and his dog wants either 8800gt or 38x0, so prices are going up on the limited-availability 8800gt and 3870. the 3850 was shipped in higher volume so it hasn't gone up. if/when 8800gt 256 comes out there should be an interesting battle in the true midrange.

 

[idiotekniQues]

man these reviews are all over the place.

anandtech puts the 3870 very close to the 8800gt in many things. heck in cod4 in 1920x1200 mode it is a very close race, but other sites like hexxus have the 8800gt beating the 3870 more soundly.

what is the right answer? i am deciding between the two cards now and am torn.

i want the 3870 cause i could go crossfire later, maybe, but i get the option to at least. also i get to run audio out an hdmi cable to my flat screen for watchin avi's and the such. but i dont want to sacrifice a lot of gaming performance. and now the cards are about hte same price.

so much disparity in reviews!

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
man these reviews are all over the place.

anandtech puts the 3870 very close to the 8800gt in many things. heck in cod4 in 1920x1200 mode it is a very close race, but other sites like hexxus have the 8800gt beating the 3870 more soundly.

what is the right answer? i am deciding between the two cards now and am torn.

i want the 3870 cause i could go crossfire later, maybe, but i get the option to at least. also i get to run audio out an hdmi cable to my flat screen for watchin avi's and the such. but i dont want to sacrifice a lot of gaming performance. and now the cards are about hte same price.

so much disparity in reviews!

The 8800GT has more horsepower, hands down. Crossfire scales better in some games than SLI does. However, for a single card, the 8800GT will almost always get better framerates in games.