Should I go with ATI 3870 or Nvidia 8800GT need some advice..

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Rcoplien

Member
Sep 26, 2003
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Ok the prices on both of these have dropped the past few weeks at newegg and both are about the same price running between $219 and $259. I currently am running an X1950XT with 256mb of ram and with the new 24" LCD I am getting would like to upgrade my video card.
With my budget it's now narrowed down to the ATI 3870 or NVidia 8800GT. Both have 512 ram and from Tomhardware it shows that the 8800GT has the edge even though the 3870 has a higher clock speed. I also noticed that the 8800Gt's don't take up an extra slot but they run hotter and the heat doesn't escape better like the 3870's do.

Just need some feedback on what you guys think. I play ArmA, Americas Army, BF2, COD4, Lock on and Falcon AF.

BTW I may be selling my X1950XT soon. Works perfect and still have the box with all accessories :) I will keep you posted.
 
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Martimus

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2007
4,490
157
106
The 8800 GT is faster, but the HD 3870 is quieter and runs cooler. It is really up to you as to which is more important to you. The performance difference isn't so big that it is a slam dunk decision. Anandtech review on the 3870 vs. the 8800

One other thing to take into account is that the HD 3870 has support for DX10.1 and the 8800 does not. That won't matter in any current games, but may in a few years if you don't plan on upgrading by then.
 
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Ares202

Senior member
Jun 3, 2007
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8800gt is a fair amount faster, which negates the fact that the 8800gt is a little on the warm side The only real problem with the heat is that it warms other components in the case, the card doesnt have any more heat related problems than any other card such as artifacting and BSOD crashes

as for the x1900xt sell it on ebay ;)
 
tigersty1e

tigersty1e

Golden Member
Dec 13, 2004
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1 more thing to add...

I'm not sure if your monitor has 1:1 pixel ratio in the hardware..(running BF2 with black bars on the sides)... or if ATI can do this through the drivers..

I also had a 1950xt and it couldn't bring up black bars on my widescreen monitor while playing BF2.. but my new 8800GT can bring up black bars for BF2.
 
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NinjaJedi

Senior member
Jan 31, 2008
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Originally posted by: JACKDRUID
8800gt is abt 10-30% faster depends on app, definately 8800gt for the same price, with better driver support for linux as well. this 8800gt for $186.31 will probably run cooler and produce less noise than 3870.



or this one w. s1 accelero cooler $219
Click to expand...

You would still need to fork out $226 for the 1st one you listed and $270 for the 2nd. The prices you listed are after MIR. I always like listing prices before MIR because that is the out of pocket expense. Not everyone will qualiy for a MIR depending on the situation.

Here are 3 great deals for the cards you are looking at.
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0279319
Super clocked for $10 more
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0276270
The only drawback for this card is the 7-21 business day wait on shipping.
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0277058
 
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angry hampster

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2007
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www.lexaphoto.com
With those games you listed, you don't need anything more than a 3870, maybe not even more than a 3850 with 512mb VRAM. It all depends on how much gaming you intend to do in the future.
 
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Rcoplien

Member
Sep 26, 2003
150
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Wow thanks for all the great reply's guys. Keep them coming. Very good info I am seeing here.
 
Spicedaddy

Spicedaddy

Platinum Member
Apr 18, 2002
2,305
77
91
Price was about the same when I was in the market for a vid card, I went with a Diamond HD3870... The 8800GT is a little faster, but I couldn't find one with a decent/quiet cooler. (that Galaxy one is noisy)

Anyways, I'm sure I couldn't even notice the extra 2 fps the 8800GT would give me. At least it's quiet and ATI's image quality is slightly better IMO.
 
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v8envy

Platinum Member
Sep 7, 2002
2,720
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I bought the 8800GT with the Accelero cooler from newegg yesterday. That's what I voted for with my wallet, FWIW.

$256.32 shipped to my door. $50 rebate. I can deal with that. The power usage difference is minimal, noise should be lower and it works well with Linux today, not a year from now.
 
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Rusin

Senior member
Jun 25, 2007
573
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Originally posted by: Ares202
8800gt is a fair amount faster, which negates the fact that the 8800gt is a little on the warm side The only real problem with the heat is that it warms other components in the case, the card doesnt have any more heat related problems than any other card such as artifacting and BSOD crashes

as for the x1900xt sell it on ebay ;)
Click to expand...
Hmm didn't the new cooler version fix this mostly?
 
N

Nurn

Member
Sep 18, 2007
115
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0
Originally posted by: tigersty1e
1 more thing to add...

I'm not sure if your monitor has 1:1 pixel ratio in the hardware..(running BF2 with black bars on the sides)... or if ATI can do this through the drivers..

I also had a 1950xt and it couldn't bring up black bars on my widescreen monitor while playing BF2.. but my new 8800GT can bring up black bars for BF2.
Click to expand...

I had a 1900XTX and always ran BF2 at 1400 x 960 (or whatever is the closest resolution to that) with the black bars on the side. There is a setting in CCC (under attributes, IIRC) regarding scaling.

Switched over to a new-build PC with two 3870's (but kept my Viewsonic 20" LCD), and darned if I can figure out how to do it now in BF2 (can't even choose that resolution that I used to play at), although no problem with other apps.
 
rivan

rivan

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2003
9,677
3
81
When I bought, the 512M 3870 was on par price-wise with the 256M 8800GT. I was happy to give a win to AMD - not because I'm a fanboy, but because I've been a) burned by nVidia cards in the past and b) fear the loss of competition.

I'm quite happy with the gaming results of the 3870.
 
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Blacklash

Member
Feb 22, 2007
181
0
0
The 8800GT and GTS 512Mb are much more balanced cards than the HD 3870. In some titles you'll get stellar performance from the HD 3870 and in others dismal by comparison. Often when I am reading reviews and going from chart to chart it looks to me like the HD 3870 is getting switched with a cheaper card due to its inconsistent performance.

In titles like "Rainbow 6: Vegas" it will do fantastic, then in other titles like; "SupCom", "Gothic 3", "NWN2", "WiC", "DiRT", "Crysis" and "Lost Planet" it will do poorly by comparison to an 8800GT.

If you don't keep your cards longer than two years you may want to look at the ECS 8800GT @ Newegg. It comes with a great cooler installed, and is 209usd. I say two years because that is the length of their warranty. So if you plan on keeping the card longer than two years try Evga or XFX.

Another place some nVidia dealers beat ATi is supported end user overclocking and with things like HSF replacement. ATi will let you OC and after you do so they say, "You're on your own." XFX and Evga both support end user overclocking plus HSF replacement and your card will remain under warranty doing those things.
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
the geforce 9 SHOULD come out in less then a month... I am waiting on it to make my decision.
 
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