Ati 3870 Vs 3850

[colin]

I plan on updating my GPU but I want to spend the least amount of money possible. My question is if both of the GPU's listed below have the same core and amount of memory only difference is one being GDDR4 and the other GDDR3 how much difference would there be performance wise? Couldnt I OC the 3850 core speed to equal the 3870?

I compared the two cards on tomshardware VGA Chart and I dont think the extra FPS is worth $50-$60 The most demanding game I play CSS
I might get into other games like COD4 or somethin idk but what are your guys opinions?
I will be using the GPU with a 22inch LCD

ATI 3870 $250
LINK HERE
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100215L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

ATI 3850 $190
LINK HERE
ClubIT Product - GIGABYTE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256bit GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 HDCP & CrossFire Ready Video Card Retail GV-RX385512H

 

[aaronkupen]

I'd say get the 3850, I've owned the card and used a 3850 and I didn't see a performance increase that was worth 60 bucks. If you are going to spend anymore money than what the 3850 costs I'd say you should end up going nvidia or waiting for the 3870 x2 to get released.

But my vote is for the 3850.

 

[veg1992]

hd3850- louder (not by much), 1 slot cooling solution performance a bit higher than the 8800gts 320mb

hd3870- quieter, 2 slot cooling solution, supposed to be on with the 8800gt but its a bit weaker

honestly, for $60 I don't see the hd3870 to be a viable solution, get the hd3850

 

[maroon1]

From here you can get 8800GT 512MB for $225
NCIXUS.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT 600MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-N801-AR.

Thats a good deal

 

[colin]

That is a good deal.

 

[Poizen22]

im buying 2 3870's ad from bench marks, ive seen quite an improvement between the 2 cards, i just dotn see where the improvement comes from, especially since there both the same card preaty much.

 

[psp_crazy1]

how much better is the 8800gt then the 3870, and 3850?

 

[Poizen22]

they are preaty much even when over clocked each to there fullest potentiel, the 8800gt is about like 11% faster at stock and liek 27% faster then the 3850 at stock, the 3870, will oc the most out of all of them, the 3850 is out of the 8800gt's league, and when in xfire the 3870 pulls ahead.

 

[psp_crazy1]

yeah, like 9-11 percent. That's like 5 FPS at 50FPS. not noticeable.

Also consider

better power consumption
runs cooler
runs quieter (not sure, but I heard)
better image quality
dx 10.1
does better in multi gpu setup
CHEAPER

 

[Poizen22]

the 3870 all around is a great card.