Oh right I didn't notice the price, that is pretty good for £100

OCUK are stating £130 for the 3850 at launch, but expect that to drop. I'd expect the 8800GT 512 to drop to £150 and the 8800GT 256 to drop to £130 to compete with the 3850.

Another 3870 review:

ASUS Radeon HD 3870 512MB G-DDR4 :: TweakTown

It looks like with some decent drivers this card might be able to pull the same frames as the 8800GT.

so the 9800's arnt comming out untill feb? is that early or late feb?

I always seem to buy a video card and then find out 1 month later that I could of got a better video card for either the same or less...

Does evga still do their step up plan? Im thinkin if I buy a evga 8800gt I could stepup as soon as the 9800 comes out

Quote: Originally Posted by DavidVaini so the 9800's arnt comming out untill feb? is that early or late feb? I always seem to buy a video card and then find out 1 month later that I could of got a better video card for either the same or less... Does evga still do their step up plan? Im thinkin if I buy a evga 8800gt I could stepup as soon as the 9800 comes out

It's nothing but rumours at the moment. It could be February but depending on how well the revised 8800-series does and what consumer demand is like that date may be pushed back even further. And yes, EVGA does still offer the 90-day step-up. I'm considering getting an EVGA card and stepping-up to something better when it appears.

OK...question....

I've seen in Anandtech's review that two HD3850s are as fast as an 8800GTX, even at higher resolutions. But Crossfire only gives me a 256mb frame buffer with the HD3850s yes? So therefore would my setup struggle with playing at 1680x1050 (native res)?

AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition

As far as I know, two 256MB cards in SLI/Crossfire would equate to a 512MB frame buffer (or at least thats what would make sense to me).

Anyway I'm pretty much set on a HD3850PRO now. Looks pretty much twice as good as my current card. And I'm more interested in how it will perform against my current card rather than other top end cards.
AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition

They have them for sale at OcUK again, and at Scan soon (£110 for the PRO + £150 for the XT)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=416
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan As far as I know, two 256MB cards in SLI/Crossfire would equate to a 512MB frame buffer (or at least thats what would make sense to me). Anyway I'm pretty much set on a HD3850PRO now. Looks pretty much twice as good as my current card. And I'm more interested in how it will perform against my current card rather than other top end cards. AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 & 3850: A Return to Competition They have them for sale at OcUK again, and at Scan soon (£110 for the PRO + £150 for the XT) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=416 Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

I dunno that 3870 has a nice puch, it nearly matches the 8800GT and a goo bit of benchmarks, yea its slower, but what kinda overclocking can you getoutta 55nm?

I might jump for a 3870, but most definately am going with AMD/ATI now...w00t

Well in the end I impulse bought an HD3870. Should be here tomorrow.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Well in the end I impulse bought an HD3870. Should be here tomorrow.

Nice I expect full Crysis testing and 3Dmark 01/03/05/06/Aquamark scores ASAP then. Was it from OcUK? There normally quick with deliveries so you should have all that tested by the end of my lectures at 12pm tomorrow!

Regardless though you won't be disappointed with that.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Nice I expect full Crysis testing and 3Dmark 01/03/05/06/Aquamark scores ASAP then. Was it from OcUK? There normally quick with deliveries so you should have all that tested by the end of my lectures at 12pm tomorrow! Regardless though you won't be disappointed with that.

Haha...well, the CityLink man usually comes at around midday...so I don't think I'll have anything for you by then. Yeah, OCUK - I couldn't put it off any longer. I have a graphics card fetish and they make me come out in a cold sweat . I am a bit wary about switching to the red team though.

It is a bit of a disappointing card though, and not because of the specs. Hexus.net state in their review that the only reason the 8800GT outperforms the 3870 is the lack of a proper developer relations scheme from ATi - the fact that all the big name titles come under 'The Way It's Meant To Be Played' banner. With some better drivers, better game support and some overclocking I should be able kick some 8800GT butt. Makes me wonder why ATi don't just properly reinstate their dev/rel program and charge a bit more for the cards.

Still, ATi should do well until January when Nvidia finally gets a decent amount of 8800GTs out the door.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Hexus.net state in their review that the only reason the 8800GT outperforms the 3870 is the lack of a proper developer relations scheme from ATi - the fact that all the big name titles come under 'The Way It's Meant To Be Played' banner. With some better drivers, better game support and some overclocking I should be able kick some 8800GT butt. Makes me wonder why ATi don't just properly reinstate their dev/rel program and charge a bit more for the cards.

I think ATI sort of stopped there "Best Played on ATI" thing best they spent about $7m on Half Life 2 and I doubt they made anything from that. I'm sure you'll be getting some nice scores man, hurry up and sell the 8800GTS and buy another HD3870 too! Is your board 8x8 or 16x4 Crossfire (not that it makes much of a difference)?

Good Luck with it!

Just read this on the Inquirer! CRAZY NEWS (sorry if its been mentioned!). R680 is a dualcore version of RV670 apparently!
INQ reveals the R680, Radeon HD 3870 X2 - The INQUIRER

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan I think ATI sort of stopped there "Best Played on ATI" thing best they spent about $7m on Half Life 2 and I doubt they made anything from that. I'm sure you'll be getting some nice scores man, hurry up and sell the 8800GTS and buy another HD3870 too! Is your board 8x8 or 16x4 Crossfire (not that it makes much of a difference)? Good Luck with it!

My board is basic P35 - so 16x4. Anandtech and Bit-Tech both report there's no point in getting CrossFire on P35 so I'm not going to bother. The performance difference is definitely noticeable, and when you consider the poor game support for multi-GPU and the fact that the GeForce 9800 is on the horizon, the head won out over the heart here.

bit-tech.net | CrossFire Comparison: Intel X38 vs. P35 - Final Thoughts

Oh, I wasn't aware that it was that bad on P35.

2,200th post!

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan Oh, I wasn't aware that it was that bad on P35. 2,200th post!

Yeah I didn't realise either until I saw that. I just wish that there was one modern board with 2x16 lane PCI-E slots that you could stick any brand of card into. And it would be nice if the games and hardware manufacturers could guarantee their solutions would work in every game. Dual graphics are cool, but impractical.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Dual graphics are cool, but impractical.

Perhaps but 2 years ago everyone was saying "just get the fastest single core CPU you can afford for gaming" and now virtually every gamer (and every game) is using a dualcore. nVidia and ATI roadmaps are moving towards multicore GPU's. And by the end of next year I'm sure game developers will notice the need to start programming games to work properly with multi GPU systems.

Quote: Originally Posted by Zaltan And by the end of next year I'm sure game developers will notice the need to start programming games to work properly with multi GPU systems.

You know, this is exactly why I'm *still* running a single-core, socket 478 Intel P4 2.8GHz chip ... only 800FSB ... on 2GB of DDR (2-2-2-5, of course).

I still play all the games, and seem to only be bottlenecked at the graphics side (7800gs).

So my question, which is actually related to this topic, is: why not get the AGP version of the 38xx ?? Someone said the CPU would bottleneck the performance ... how? I'll need more information before deciding whether to build a whole new rig (currently scheduled for Mar-Apr timeframe) or simply get the AGP 38xx and last another year on a system I build 5 years ago.

Answers, anyone?

Much appreciated ...

-godling

Quote: Originally Posted by godling You know, this is exactly why I'm *still* running a single-core, socket 478 Intel P4 2.8GHz chip ... only 800FSB ... on 2GB of DDR (2-2-2-5, of course). I still play all the games, and seem to only be bottlenecked at the graphics side (7800gs). So my question, which is actually related to this topic, is: why not get the AGP version of the 38xx ?? Someone said the CPU would bottleneck the performance ... how? I'll need more information before deciding whether to build a whole new rig (currently scheduled for Mar-Apr timeframe) or simply get the AGP 38xx and last another year on a system I build 5 years ago. Answers, anyone? Much appreciated ... -godling

You aren't bottlenecked on the graphics side, but on the CPU side.

I'm going to say that I'm 100% certain there won't be an AGP3800 of anykind. The best DX10 AGP is probably a HD2600XT.

HD3870 X2/R680 in crossfire pictures!
Legit Reviews - ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 (R680) Pictured in CrossFire - AMD Has R680 Running Stable in CrossFire