8800GT or HD3870 ?

By Dark Ride
in Hardware Hangout

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8800GT vs HD3870  

90 members have voted

  1. 1. 8800GT vs HD3870

    • 8800GT
      69
    • HD3870
      21

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Grand Master

NienorGT

Posted
Posted

The 8800GT is clearly the fastest card out there. unless you have high rez monitor (22" and more) it will even go versus the 8800GTX and maybe the 8800Ultra.

The Radeon HD3870 play the price point, it's cheaper, and get more technologies as PCI-E 2.0, DirectX 10.1 and Shaders Models 4.1.

But it barely get over the performance of the HD 2900XT and even if they worked on the ROPs, it still lack of AA power. So if you play all your games with AA, you will have huge performance impact.

If you have money, nVidia will release in few weeks the Geforce 8800GTS 512MB (or GTS V2). This card use the same GPU as the 8800GT (the D8P) but have more shader units and slightly faster clocks. The rest is the same, it will have a 2 slot cooler though. This one will really hit the GTX and Ultra very hard...

Veteran

+.Vamp Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

8800GT has better performance, but is a bit more expensive at the moment because retailers are pushing up prices due to very high demand. Can't find the link because I'm at work, but there was a good comparison of the two through games and applications etc. somewhere.

So 8800GT better performance, higher price, by about 30 or 40 pounds i think, assuming the HD3870 doesn't also get an inflated price. My choice is the 8800GT, as I've also just bought one myself for my new computer build :)

Grand Master

Dark Ride

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

There's one problem with the 8800GT tho - availability. Can't seem to find it in any of the local shops. I've also heard that the 8800GT generates a lot more heat and noise than the HD3870. Is that true ?

If I can't get hold of a 8800GT, the HD3870 would be a viable alternative ?

Edited by Dark Ride
Grand Master

NienorGT

Posted
Posted

Actually, I'm wondering if the CF x1950PRO would not already beat the HD3870... :/

As for heat, tbh I don't see why nVIDIA didn't put it on a Dual Slot Cooler, the fan is noisy as the hd2900xt, but it don't use mush more power than the hd3870, the difference is at the cooler, where the 8800gt crappy cooler is only 1 slot, the hd3870 have a nice dual slot.

Anyway, you will get all your answers in that review:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151

Experienced

bobbytomorow

Posted
Posted

3870 is very power efficient, has a better price point than the GT and is nearly equal to it in performance. I would go with what you are comfortable with though,having owned 4 ATi cards in a row I like to stick with them as I am familiar with their driver sets.

Rookie

koosh

Posted
Posted

seems like the consensus in this thread is the 8800 gt! i would like to point out however, the 512mb 8800GTS is to be released in the next few weeks, though likely at $50-75 more than the GT. and that the benchmarks i've seen place the 512mb 3750 right in line with the 8800gt, so if the price is right, it wouldn't be a mistake.

Proficient

Tuffgong4

Posted
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non ridiculous deal speaking there is about a 30-70 dollar difference between the two, the price difference is less than the perfomance difference though and if you have the money to spend go with the 8800GT, BUT there is nothing wrong with the 3870 which is cheaper (MSRP wise) and there are reports of a price drop on the amd/ati part.

The best performance for the price you want to pay is always the best.

Grand Master

ANova

Posted
Posted

Both are good cards but they both have pros and cons. The 3870 is cheaper (sometimes by quite a bit), runs cooler, and isn't much slower. On the other hand, it is well, slower and has poor AA performance compared to the GT. I wouldn't bother with the new GTS, it's only about 2% faster than a GT and it will be at least $50 more.

Veteran

toadeater

Posted
Posted
I've also heard that the 8800GT generates a lot more heat and noise than the HD3870. Is that true ?

Not really. The 8800GT has a terrible single-slot cooler which doesn't work very well and makes more noise. So it's not the card design itself, it is the cooler Nvidia designed for marketing purposes instead of good design.

In December there is yet another new GTS "2.0" coming out with 128 shaders and 512MB*, which is going to be somewhat better than the GT. Maybe someone will decide to put it's much better dual-slot cooler on an 8800GT and make the perfect card. A couple of months after that new dual-core 8800s and 3800s are coming out, but I'm sure they will be very expensive.

* Here it is, I am not imaging it:

nv_8800gts_side.jpg

nv_8800gts_top.jpg

Experienced

bobbytomorow

Posted
Posted
The HD3870 is a lot cheaper and is probably a better value. The 8800GT is way faster and still in the same general price range. If you don't mind forking over the cash for the 8800GT, it's no contest.

"Way faster"? no. It beats the 3870 in most benchmarks by a small margin. It is not "way" faster.

Contributor

kilimanjaro

Posted
Posted

8800GT FTW! It's the best bang-for-buck video card I've purchased in a long time. I missed the early part of the 8-series saga, so moving up from a 7800GT to a 8800GT was like getting a new lease of life. The 8800Gt runs everything I throw at it (except crysis lol) at 1920x1200 and high or max graphical settings, without any hiccups...truly amazing for such an inexpensive card.

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