x1950xt (AGP) -> HD3870 (PCI-E) a worthwhile upgrade?

[francisA]

Just trying to get an idea if it's worth upgrading from x1950xt (AGP) to a HD3870 (PCI-E).

I have the 4coredual-sata2 board right now but will of course upgrade to a non-crossover board in the future. My board can only do PCI-E 4x. Some say it really doesn't matter (4x vs 16x) unless you go to the high-end cards. Another reason I consider this card is it has DX 10 support and I can possible do XFire on a proper board.

Edit: Forgot to add, I use a Dell 2405FPW 24" monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200. I can say the x1950xt struggles with it.

Thanks

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

More importantly to know, what do you need a new videocard for, and what's it's main function going to be, other than just displaying 1920x1200 in whatever operating system you're using? You didn't even mention what OS you're using and it's not listed in your Sig.

If it's for gaming, yes, a worthy upgrade; though buying the HD4830 would be smarter ($85 @ Newegg).

If it's not for gaming, then no, not really, unless you're really struggling with Aero in Vista or something. In which case, I'd just turn Aero off than wasting time with a new videocard that is already outdated by years. It's not like you sit and stare at your OS's borders, right?

Very best,

 

[francisA]

Oh yeah sorry, I forgot that bit. I use the rig for gaming (Call of Duty series, racing games like GTR, etc) on WinXP Pro

Was thinking if I can get a used HIS 3870 for less than $50, maybe it will be worth it.

 

[Termie]

A 3870 will offer about a 50-60% improvement in performance. The 4830 will be closer to a 90-100% improvement. I think for the price difference ($50 for used 3870 vs. $85 for new 4830 after rebate), I'd go for the 4830. In newer games like COD4/5 at 1920x1200, the difference will be substantial. A 3870 will barely be able to offer adequate performance at native resolution on your monitor.

FYI, I upgraded from an x1900xt to an 8800gt, which is close to a 4830 in performance. Not quite 100% improvement. More like 75-80%. I run a Dell 2408.

 

[francisA]

Thanks. I was initially looking at the 4850 and now that you mentioned it, 4830 as well. Gotcha on the performance boost 4830 will offer over 3870.

The main reason why I only consider the 3870 is because it's the HIS IceQ version clocked at 850/2380 or so claimed, which I believe is close or surpasses 4830/4850 clocks. But only if it does not cost more than $50. Over $50 and I'm going for 4830.

 

[MalVeauX]

FrancisA,

The nVidia 8800gt has a higher core clock than the new nvidia GTX260. Do you think the 8800gt will outperform it then?

The clocks on these cards don't matter when you compare the cards to very different cards. The core itself is different. The rest of the hardware on the card is different. Don't even look at core speeds unless comparing the same model card to see which one is factory overclocked or not.

The 3870, even with a massively overclocked core, cannot even come close to what a single stock clocked 4830 will do. They have different cores, different shader piplines, different memory, etc.

For the money, the HD4830 is simply impossible to beat @ $85.

Very best,

 

[ITPaladin]

funny (?) how I just saw this after paying $85 for a 3870. Oh well. I use a x800 BIOS flashed to open up extra pipelines.
I use CRT widescreen.

 

[francisA]

My noobness is showing

Thanks for the detailed explanations.

I'm second guessing my idea on the 3870 now. Brand new 4830 with warranty and potentially faster if oc'd for $85 is hard to pass up.

Decisions ..................


Thanks for the inputs all.

 

[error8]

3870 is a very bad card to get now. It sucks in AA, it's outperformed by a long margin by the 8800 GT. Frankly, that card was never a good buy, since its price was always around that of the 8800 GT. It was a good match for 9600 GT, but not when AA was turned on.

A 4830/9800 GT are far better choices then that card, even if you pay a bit more for them.

 

[ITPaladin]

I asked in this section on what to get and people said, among other cards, a 3870.... sigh

but...since I am not overly concerned with AA, as I mostly only play Eve Online,
EQ II, TF2, LOTRO, and maybe when I get back around to them, some single player games (Witcher, Rome, etc), they may not be using AA etc that much.
I know there are difficulties (?) enabling AA etc with Eve (maybe just Nvidia cards).

 

[evolucion8]

Don't worry, your card still powerful today. Besides Crysis, there's no other game which cannot be played with that card under resolutions like 1280x1024 or even 1600x1200. Anti Aliasing performance is a bit weak, but when you crank it to 8x in many scenarios, it matches and sometimes outperforms the 8800GT. With recent driver optimizations, the HD 3870 is between 7% and 13% slower than the 8800GT, before those drivers, it was 30% slower, nice accomplishment.

 

[Stumps]

yep, I went from a X1950PRO AGP, Asrock 4coredual VSTA, E4300@3.33ghz setup to a HD3870, GA-EP35-DS3P, E4300@3.33ghz setup and it was a huge difference....but that was over a year ago, if you can budget for it go for a 9800GT, 4830 or something faster, 3870's are a bit old hat now, although in crossfire they still can haul ass pretty good....there are just so many other cards out there now that are better.

 

[nemesismk2]

Although the 4830 and 9800 GT are better than the 3870 the 3870 would provide you a nice performance increase.

Sapphire 3870 vs 1950 XT

 

[Tempered81]

Get the 4830 or 9800GT

 

[francisA]

Thanks all. Based on everyone's response, I skipped the 3870 altogether and worked out a deal on a 4850 instead, just a little $ over newegg's 4830.