Which one!? WHICH!? lol

[ClippedWings]

i am upgrading my video card. i currently use a Geforce 8600GTS 256MB

looking at the 512MB 8800GT or 1GB Radeon HD 3850... both around $250 CAD.

im thinking the ati card would outperform, its onboard memory is insane and i run @ 1680x1050 on my 20 inch widescreen, so the extra memory is needed. input?

[knightley]

As always ATI cards look great on paper but in the real world they are constantly out performed by Nvidia cards.

1GB Radeon HD 3850 - Except for rare games, such as Microsoft Simulator X, you’ll hardly ever find a game that’ll find a way to utilize this amount of memory.

From what I've seen on tests and by personal choice I'd chose the 8800GT every time.

[Howling]

Originally Posted by knightley

As always ATI cards look great on paper but in the real world they are constantly out performed by Nvidia cards.

I'd like to see your evidence...

And the HD3850 I believe (off the top of my head) that it's the dual core card? Same as the Nvidia 9800GX2 and 7900GX2 . So it's actually 2 cards working crossfire, performance comparable to 2x 8800GT SLi, hence then 1gb memory as it's 2 cards in 1..

I am an ATi fan, but, even though Knightly is very wrong in his statement, nVidia are still the better cards. ATi are not "constantly" outperformed, and they do perform very very well when given the right software. If you look at the benchmarks for similar priced cards of ATi and nVidia, you will find most of the time less than 2% power difference, with nVidia ahead by that 2%.. but you find some pieces which ATi shreads nVidia by huge differences up to 30% - whereas nVidia rarely gets more than 5% higher than ATi.

So back to your question, expect the HD3850 to perform much much better than a single 8800GT at the resolution you suggested. Only buy the 8800GT if you plan on adding a second 1 at a later date, and make sure it's got the G92 core.

[knightley]

I don’t want to get into an argument, but first you ask for evidence then go on to say on average there’s a 2% power difference. You’ve left me feeling very confused.

In my opinion at those resolutions you’ll get a better performance from a single card then any crossfire or SLI setup.

Chances are I’m completely wrong and I think Howling probably knows more about ATI cards than I do.

[Diablo]

On the low end you get the better bang for the buck with ATI and at the high end ussually Nvidia, but currently Nvidia reigns supreme in the middle with the 8800 GTS 512 (G92) being the most bang for your buck and the 8800 GT slightly better than the GTS but more expensive.

This changes month to month so go to review sites, there are some in the Sticky and figure what you need and what you can afford and figure it out.

[Kalean]

Thankfully my years of system building and up to date computer knowledge can come in handy ^_^.

In terms of which is better..The 8800GT will obviously offer better performance for the money compared to the 3850. But if you do decide to go the 3850, drop the 1gb model and just pick up a 512...1gb is unrealistic and won't be used up for a very long time. With your resolution, 512 mb is plenty.

In terms of quality/performance. It's been a known fact in that past that ATI cards offer better visual quality, in the past it was a massive lead..Now-a-days it's smaller but still can be seen between the two. In terms of performance...The r6x0 architecture is not good for anti aliasing...If you plan to bump up the AA..you'd be better off going with a Nvidia based solution. But also, do keep in mind that nvidia does tweak their drivers a bit to cheat on frame rates...yes you get high frame rates..but the visual quality is not as good as the ATI based solutions. Also note that ATI is much better with driver support and releases then nvidia...

In terms of which route, do keep in mind with a ATI solution you have the ability to crossfire on any platform unlike Nvidia. If you ever decide to throw in a second card, you can, but with nvidia....You'd be forced to pick up a bug filled Nvidia intel chipset. But do keep in mind you need dual pci-e 16x slots...Hopefully running a 8x/8x or 16x/16x mode...and not 16x/4x =P..(always check the specifications on boards you purchase..they state dual pci-e 16x...but when both are filled they are limited in bandwidth. X38/x48 is capable of dual 16x...but p35/p45 doesn't..it's either 16x/4x or 8x/8x).

BTW..you didn't mention if you have a amd system or intel..=P

Whichever route you want to go, just drop a reply and I will help to the best of my ability ^_^.

[Celestin]

Originally Posted by Kalean

Thankfully my years of system building and up to date computer knowledge can come in handy ^_^.

In terms of which is better..The 8800GT will obviously offer better performance for the money compared to the 3850. But if you do decide to go the 3850, drop the 1gb model and just pick up a 512...1gb is unrealistic and won't be used up for a very long time. With your resolution, 512 mb is plenty.

In terms of quality/performance. It's been a known fact in that past that ATI cards offer better visual quality, in the past it was a massive lead..Now-a-days it's smaller but still can be seen between the two. In terms of performance...The r6x0 architecture is not good for anti aliasing...If you plan to bump up the AA..you'd be better off going with a Nvidia based solution. But also, do keep in mind that nvidia does tweak their drivers a bit to cheat on frame rates...yes you get high frame rates..but the visual quality is not as good as the ATI based solutions. Also note that ATI is much better with driver support and releases then nvidia...

In terms of which route, do keep in mind with a ATI solution you have the ability to crossfire on any platform unlike Nvidia. If you ever decide to throw in a second card, you can, but with nvidia....You'd be forced to pick up a bug filled Nvidia intel chipset. But do keep in mind you need dual pci-e 16x slots...Hopefully running a 8x/8x or 16x/16x mode...and not 16x/4x =P..(always check the specifications on boards you purchase..they state dual pci-e 16x...but when both are filled they are limited in bandwidth. X38/x48 is capable of dual 16x...but p35/p45 doesn't..it's either 16x/4x or 8x/8x).

BTW..you didn't mention if you have a amd system or intel..=P

Whichever route you want to go, just drop a reply and I will help to the best of my ability ^_^.

I hate to admit it, but this guy is good.

About the memory, yes, 1GB is overkill but additional RAM is always good ( as long as you map it correctly ). If you plan on playing DX10 games and don't want to upgrade again in the future, 1GB may work out pretty well. DX10 does have a lot of new stuff ( as in increased cap on old stuff ) like unlimited texture sizes. As you can imagine, as developers start getting their hands dirty with this stuff, memory usage may jump ( though texture caching might help a lot ).

I was not aware that ATI produces better image quality and nVidia, could you point where you saw this? I know nVidia has that bug with the crazy zebra strip shadows but other than that, I can't really think of any.

[Kalean]

In terms of image quality...For those who have looked into it, in the past there was a clear difference between ATI's quality and nvidia's..We know that for sure. Unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of testing any of the new nvidia based cards (I will though on tuesday ^_^, will drop my opinion at that time)...But from all the forum related topics I've seen of people picking up an ATI card...Whether it be from a older Nvidia card..or a new generation lower end nvidia card, they always state they notice a quality improvement. In terms of reviews displaying the differences...There are hardly many up to date...If I had the funds for a 3850/3870...I'd do one myself..I have my new rig coming in on tuesday with dual 8800 GT's on a skulltrail board ^_^ (no I didn't buy the rig..I won it in a contest =P). So all I need is a 3850/3870 in order to test the difference and write my own review =P...

But yea, there are many who clearly state seeing differences...So still going off that although I haven't seen the new generation cards compared in a apple to apple comparison.

[Howling]

Just to correct my earlier post, the 3850 is just a single GPU, it's the 3870 thats dual gpu.. And really, the g92 cores now in the 8800GT and GTS far out-do any single core ATi on the market right now.. So yeah the 8800GT is the better option.

And as Cele said, I didn't know about the image quality difference between the 2 either Kalean, I'm sure I'll be looking into it shortly

[Kalean]

Originally Posted by Howling

Just to correct my earlier post, the 3850 is just a single GPU, it's the 3870 thats dual gpu.. And really, the g92 cores now in the 8800GT and GTS far out-do any single core ATi on the market right now.. So yeah the 8800GT is the better option.

And as Cele said, I didn't know about the image quality difference between the 2 either Kalean, I'm sure I'll be looking into it shortly

Once I get my dual 8800 GT rig, I'll try to get my hands on a 3870 to run a quality comparison for everyone..

BTW howling..It's the 3870x2 that has dual r670 gpu's (codename for the card is r680 =P)..The 3870 is still a single solution. The 3850 is identical to the 3870 except for a slower clock on the memory/core.

[ClippedWings]

mmmm well i read in PC Gamer that the specs of the 3850 are amazing but the memory might be restricting it (256mb) so if i had a 1gb version it would probably out do a 8800 GT...seeing as with 256mb versus the 512mb 8800GT the fps is only about 15 less usually...
yea i heard ATI cards have better image quality too.. not sure which to get :/

[Kalean]

You won't be able to outdo a 8800 GT period with the 3850/3870..The 8800 GT is a vastly superior card in terms of frame rate/performance. Don't let ram size fool you...It only helps when it comes to textures and your resolution. 512mb is perfect for 1650x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions. Going above that would be a waste of money...The 8800 GT will still spank the 3850 1gb model =P.

But choice is yours...Don't be suckered into the 1gb fiasco though..It won't be helping much at all =P.

[Howling]

Unless you run 1920x1200 with max details and full AA - the 1gb ram could be a factor at that point. But you're still liable to see the GT come out on top, you really need crossfire on ATi to make it challenging for nVidia cards - but even then I wouldn't get the 1gb 3850 to crossfire it, I'd get 2 of the 512mb 3870s if anything ATi.. 2gigs of video ram is a huge waste. Hell, SLi 2 GTX or Ultras, 1.5GB video ram - you're never going to use it all. At least not with the current games roster

[[PhiberOpticks]]

I want a skulltrail board >.<

Buy the 8800GT or the 3850 512MB. With the 3850 512MB model, you can put the money saved on the 1GB model towards a second 3850. That way, you'll still get your 1GB of video memory, even though it's not all that necessary.

[Kalean]

Do keep in mind though, when you crossfire or SLI...You don't add the memory together...If you have two 256 mb cards and sli them at 1650 or 1920 res...you'll still see a performance hit due to the lower memory....They are still independent, and not added together.